Autodesk User Honored by Design News Magazine; Graham Hawkes Uses AutoCAD R13 and Mechanical Desktop For Design Winning Craft.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 1997--Yesterday Graham Hawkes received the annual "Special Achievement Award" from Design News Magazine for his ground-breaking engineering and design work on manned ocean submersibles.

In the fall of 1996 Hawkes demonstrated that underwater flight was possible, with the maiden voyage Deep Flight I. This underwater plane, designed with AutoCAD R13 and Autodesk Mechanical Desktop software, opened the door to the possibility of deep ocean exploration.

Deep Flight I is the first Hydro-Acrobatic Winged Craft (HAWC) that is smaller, faster, and more maneuverable than conventional submarines. Developed using leading-edge software from Autodesk, Deep Flight 1 has been praised for its advanced ergonometric and revolutionary controls. The Deep Flight pilot is buckled in and lies prone -- controlling the craft with joysticks in his hands. It can descend at 480 feet per minute and ascend, helped by natural buoyancy, at 650 feet per minute.

"The minute that we saw Deep Flight 1, we were thrilled to see the type of innovation that Autodesk software users create," said Jim D'Arezzo, vice president of corporate marketing at Autodesk (NASDAQ/NMS:ADSK). "We congratulate Graham for his revolutionary accomplishments and look forward to assisting him in the development and visualization of Deep Flight II."

The object-oriented technology in AutoCAD R13 software let Hawkes Ocean Technologies (HOT) build its initial prototype, and at the same time, access information contained in the intelligent design models. Working with objects reduces design errors, speeds up the process, and keeps the designs and design data up to date.

As portions of the drawing move or change, so does the information behind the objects. And the 2D and 3D capabilities of Mechanical Desktop also increased the speed of the design process by providing rendering and visualization capabilities to communicate technical ideas to non-technical people. "AutoCAD R13 and Mechanical Desktop let us easily visualize and manipulate the information needed to build Deep Flight I," said Graham Hawkes, president of HOT.

"The object-oriented capabilities in AutoCAD R13 software let our developers move portions of a drawing (an object) and the intelligence behind the drawing together. It's a real time-saver and it helps build smarter drawings. We'll be able to access that same data behind the drawings for Deep Flight II, and our newest submersibles, Wet Flight, which was also designed using Autodesk software."

Design News Magazine is read twice monthly by 180,000 engineers who design products ranging from autos to spacecraft. It is published by Cahners Publishing Co., Newton, Mass., the nation's leading publisher of specialized business magazines.

Design News will honor Hawkes with two educational grants. One will go to the Department of Ocean Engineering at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., and the other grant will go to the Faculty of Technology at Brunel University in Uxbridge, England.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading supplier of PC design software and PC multimedia tools. The company's 2D and 3D products, geographic information systems, and data management tools are used in many industries for mapping, architectural design, mechanical design, film and video production, video/game development and Web content development. Its Kinetix division is the leader in PC-based 3D modeling and animation software, providing a full range of products for digital media and design professionals.

The fourth-largest PC software company in the world, Autodesk has 3 million customers in over 140 countries. Autodesk products are sold through Autodesk Systems Centers, Dealers and Distributors worldwide. For more information on Autodesk, please call 415/507-5000, type GO ADESK on CompuServe, or visit its World Wide Web site at http://www.autodesk.com . Kinetix can be reached by calling 800/879-4233 or through its World Wide Web site at http://www.ktx.com .

Autodesk shares are traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ADSK. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, ACAD and AutoCAD are registered and the Mechanical Desktop is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

CONTACT: Autodesk Inc.

Jennifer Reidy, 415/507-6536

[e-mail]

or

Hawkes Ocean Technologies

Karen Hawkes, 415/256-9272