NEW DELHI, INDIA: Autodesk, a provider in 2D and 3D software is now making AutoCAD 2010 software, its flagship product for 2D and 3D design and documentation, available for free to members of its global student engineering and design community.

The Student Community is an online resource that offers numerous benefits to students and educators, including free design software, self-paced training, innovative curricula, global social networking, job listings and more, said a press release.

 “We created the Student Community three years ago to help architecture, engineering and digital entertainment students gain the educational resources and technical expertise they need to be successful in their future careers,” said Joe Astroth, Ph.D., Autodesk vice president of Learning and Education.

He added that the demand for AutoCAD skills spans many industries. By expanding their offerings to include AutoCAD 2010, students now have easy access to software and resources to help them build those vital skills needed in today’s competitive marketplace.

The latest release, AutoCAD 2010, includes groundbreaking new capabilities introducing free-form design tools, parametric drawing, and enhanced PDF and 3D printing capabilities to help users tackle their most challenging design problems.

The addition of AutoCAD 2010 to the Student Community allows students to take full advantage of these new design tools, while adding to the portfolio of products they can use to develop skills in key industry concepts such as Digital Prototyping, building information modeling (BIM) and sustainable design.

With the addition of AutoCAD 2010 software, the Student Community now offers more than two dozen free software products. Since its launch in 2006, the Community has expanded to more than 570,000 members representing more than 19,000 schools in 139 countries, the release added.