Making AutoCAD Collaborative: Implementation and Application of CoAutoCAD

Collaborative technology plays an important role in pervasive computing environment and there are more and more multi-user applications for people to use. However, AutoCAD, as a powerful tool for CAD (computer aided design), still lacks efficient interactive functions. This paper will present CoAutoCAD which makes AutoCAD collaborative from its implementation and application aspects. Three important layers of CoAutoCAD Kernel are shown as Coadapter, Coordinator and Engine. Coadapter layer can get user commands through the API offered by AutoCAD; Coordinator layer deliver messages among users in P2P environments; Engine layer is based on Mark & Retrace algorithm to make collaboration reliable. According to its implementation, CoAutoCAD has some features. The adaptation from AutoCAD is transparent for users and it does not need the source code of AutoCAD. CoAutoCAD can have the functions which AutoCAD has and these two tools are compatible. Users send their messages directly to each other and the collaboration of CoAutoCAD is efficient.