Autodesk Launches Inventor 2011

By DE Editors

Autodesk, Inc. has introduced its new 2D and 3D design and engineering software lineup for manufacturers. The integration of Autodesk Inventor 2011 software with the Autodesk Digital Prototyping software portfolio helps enable designers and engineers do more work in house.

“Over the last several years, Digital Prototyping workflows have torn down historic barriers to innovation—time, money, distance, language—and helped foster manufacturing teams in which designers, engineers, marketers, and end customers collaborate continuously from concept to production,” says Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “Autodesk’s 2011 product lineup makes huge strides in technology integration and productivity, extending the benefits of digital prototyping to even more small and large manufacturers seeking to make better products.”

Autodesk has enhanced its specialized tools for product development professionals focused on conceptual design, design visualization, engineering, and manufacturing disciplines. It has also embedded functionality from these tools within its core Autodesk Inventor 3D mechanical design and engineering software. According to the company, new direct manipulation capabilities in Inventor 2011 helps accelerate design times compared with Inventor 2010 software by approximately 40 percent on common tasks such as assembly modeling. Inventor 2011 software also incorporates Autodesk’s design visualization capabilities within the CAD application. New shading, lighting, and material properties give users a photo-realistic representation of their designs, with Inventor software rendering designs as the user works.

Other highlights of Inventor 2011 include:

• Simulation: With added frame analysis, users can test responses of frame models to gravity and other loads and record animations of displacement and stress results. The software guides users through the steps required to define the best testing scenario.
• Tooling: Inventor Tooling 2011 improves performance for a number of key operations, supports dynamic simulation of mold assemblies, and helps enable users to automatically generate the mold core and cavity for a broader range of plastic parts, whether using native Inventor or imported files.
• Design Automation: Inventor iLogic technology is now fully integrated into Inventor 2011. The new iCopy feature enables customization of commonly used assemblies by automating the process of copying and positioning similar components.
• Freeform Shape Modeling: Autodesk Alias Design for Inventor 2011 is a new product that integrates freeform shape-modeling capabilities in the Inventor parametric modeling environment.

Along with Inventor software, new applications within the Autodesk solution for digital prototyping offer capabilities spanning conceptual design, engineering, and manufacturing workflows:

• AutoCAD Electrical 2011 software helps electrical controls designers create control system designs and access catalog information for large electrical controls projects.
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2011 software’s streamlined design environment gives users access to power dimensioning functionality without opening a dialog box.
• Autodesk Algor Simulation 2011 mechanical simulation tools now feature integration with Autodesk Moldflow 2011 software.
• The Autodesk Alias 2011 family ― Alias Sketch, Alias Design, Alias Surface, and Alias Automotive ― delivers surfacing capabilities supported by sketching, modeling, and visualization tools.
• Autodesk Inventor Publisher makes its commercial debut after its recent Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs. The software for creating product documentation helps manufacturers provide customers with clearer and more comprehensive technical instructions.
• Autodesk Moldflow 2011 software helps users validate and optimize plastic part and injection mold designs before manufacturing begins. Users can now easily export their Moldflow simulation results to Autodesk Showcase 2011 visualization software to expose defects and see how the part will look in real life.
• Autodesk Vault 2011 family, a workgroup solution for managing the complete digital prototype, now features a new visual experience for graphically mapping Vault information directly to Inventor models.

The latest releases of Autodesk software have been enhanced with new features for 3D design and visualization. A consistent user experience across the flagship products will also facilitate working with and moving between multiple Autodesk products.

Key 2011 Autodesk products, including the AutoCAD software products, Autodesk Inventor software for Digital Prototyping, Autodesk Revit software for Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Autodesk 3ds Max software, have been enhanced with a consistent user interface that features new tools for interacting with 3D models directly in the design canvas, reducing the number of menus.

For more information, visit Autodesk.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.