Autodesk software has been used in many fields, and on projects from the One World Trade Center[3] to Tesla electric cars.

This tool made it affordable for smaller design, engineering, and architecture companies to create detailed technical drawings.

Subsequent to AutoCAD Release 13, the company stopped supporting the Unix environment and the Apple Macintosh platform.

[13] The native file formats written by AutoCAD, DXF and DWG, are also widely used for CAD data interoperability.

[8] With the purchase of Softdesk in 1997, Autodesk started to develop specialty versions of AutoCAD, targeted to broad industry segments, including architecture, civil engineering, and manufacturing.

Since the late 1990s, the company has added several significant non-AutoCAD-based products, including Revit, a parametric building modeling application (acquired in 2002, from Massachusetts-based Revit Technologies for $133 million), and Inventor, an internally developed parametric mechanical design CAD application.

[14] A federal district judge in Washington denied Autodesk's initial motion to dismiss in early 2008.

In February and March 2009, both sides filed motions for summary judgment addressing the issue whether the First Sale Doctrine applies to previously licensed software.

[15] The Court ruled in Vernor's favor, holding that when the transfer of software to the purchaser materially resembled a sale (non-recurring price, right to perpetual possession of copy) it was, in fact, a "sale with restrictions on use"[16] giving rise to a right to resell the copy under the first-sale doctrine.

As such, Autodesk could not pursue an action for copyright infringement against Vernor, who sought to resell used versions of its software on eBay.

The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry group is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, in a LEED Platinum building[89] designed and built using Autodesk software.

[90] Autodesk's architecture, engineering, and construction solutions include AutoCAD, and Revit, which is their flagship product for relational Building information modeling.

The Autodesk Services Marketplace offering helps its clients train their team in AEC Industry.

[91] Projects that have used software from the Autodesk AEC division include the NASA Ames building,[92] the San Francisco Bay Bridge,[93] the Shanghai Tower, and New York's One World Trade Center.

Autodesk software enabled Avatar director James Cameron to aim a camera at actors wearing motion-capture suits in a studio and see them as characters in the fictional world of Pandora in the film.

[100] Autodesk software also played a role in the visual effects of Alice in Wonderland, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Inception, Iron Man 2, King Kong, Gladiator, Titanic, and other films.