IntrinSIM Unveils Inaugural Generative Design Workflow Assessment for Autodesk Fusion 360

Report evaluates Autodesk Fusion 360 against key capability areas and workflows for generative design applications.

Report evaluates Autodesk Fusion 360 against key capability areas and workflows for generative design applications.

IntrimSIM’s assessment of Autodesk Fusion 360’s generative design capabilities is the first such benchmark released by the firm. Image courtesy of Autodesk.


intrinSIM has released an intrinSIM Market Report on its assessment of the Autodesk Fusion 360 Generative Design workflow. This market report provides an assessment of the Generative Design workflow based on the January 2020 version of Autodesk Fusion 360.

The report is based on the capability assessment model related to the Key Capability Areas of Generative Design for General Applicability and their associated criteria outlined in the intrinSIM Market Report entitled “A Vision for Generative Design” which explores the potential paradigm shift enabled by generative design and what is required to enable that shift. intrinSIM has developed a process for a quantified assessment of each key capability area in the model and criteria outlined in that earlier report. The first assessment looks at the Autodesk Fusion 360 Generative Design (Fusion 360 GD) workflow with respect to those capability areas and the software's suitability for generative design workflows in five sample applications.

“Generative design has the potential to dramatically change the design process as we know it. However, deployment of generative design is slow beyond the use by innovators as it is unclear to most if they can use generative design for their application,” says Joe Walsh, CEO of intrinSIM LLC. “This report sets a precedent in the generative design space by establishing a quantitative and objective means to evaluate workflow capabilities and requirements. The methodology used enables determination of the potential suitability of a specific generative design workflow for a specific application without the need for complex software evaluations.”

intrinSIM reviewed the January 2020 Fusion 360 GD workflow capabilities in collaboration with Autodesk and did a preliminary review of ten other generative design workflow capabilities based on publicly available information. The detailed assessment of the Fusion 360 GD workflow was combined with the preliminary detailed reviews of the ten other generative design workflows to develop an overall “industry” generative design mean and maximum rankings for all 11 Key Capability Areas of Generative Design for General Applicability.

Those key capability areas include:

1. Handling all appropriate objectives and constraints

2. Handling multiple operational (load) conditions

3. Handling multi-physics

4. Handling multiple manufacturing processes

5. Handling cost as an objective or constraint

6. Handling generative design in an assembly/system context

7. Enabling informed, comprehensive and efficient exploration of viable design alternatives

8. Enabling efficient & effective transformation to detailed design analysis

9. Enabling efficient selection guidance of generated design concepts

10. Enabling generative design within the designer’s process, context & terminology

11. Enabling broad accessibility to Generative Design

According to intrinSIM, the assessment of the Autodesk Fusion 360 Generative Design workflow also illustrates how the workflow compares to the “industry” rankings for each the 11 capability areas.

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

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