Autodesk has announced a series of updates that provide a new look and feel to the Autodesk SketchBook product line, spanning both the desktop and apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

“The latest releases mark an important step forward, offering a complete suite of sketching and illustration products that address a more complete spectrum of form factors and capabilities,” says Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president of the Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk.

Autodesk SketchBook Pro 2011 sports a new user interface and toolbar designed to provide more intuitive access to key SketchBook Pro tools, together with enhanced brushes that enable users to more easily switch between drawing modes for lines, rectangles, circles, along with more extensive customization.

Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2011 illustration software joins the SketchBook product line. Formerly known as Autodesk Alias Sketch, Autodesk SketchBook Designer provides professional designers and artists from all industries with a hybrid of paint and vector workflows. SketchBook Designer combines the same freehand drawing capabilities of SketchBook Pro with editing capabilities using mouse or pen interactions. What’s more, Autodesk SketchBook Designer for AutoCAD is an add-in that integrates sketching and image manipulation capabilities into AutoCAD.

The Autodesk SketchBook Mobile and SketchBook Pro Apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch combine digital pencils, markers and brushes with a multi-touch gesture-based interface. The latest update for the SketchBook Mobile and SketchBook Pro Apps addresses key customer requests including 20 new brushes, user interface enhancements and adds a SketchBook News page.

Autodesk SketchBook Pro 2011 and Autodesk SketchBook Designer are compatible with Mac OS X and Windows. SketchBook Pro is available immediately in eight languages. SketchBook Designer is expected to be available in English, starting Oct. 15. For purchase options at online retail outlets and authorized resellers, go to http://www.autodesk.com/purchaseoptions .

The SketchBook Mobile App (iPhone and iPod touch) and SketchBook Pro App (iPad) are available from the Apple App Store. To celebrate the launch, special pricing for both apps will be available starting Oct. 7, for a limited time.