Inventor HSM Express Now in Public Beta

Eight months ago, Autodesk bought the technology of HSMWorks, considered a leading computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software house. The acquisition is now bearing fruit. This week, Autodesk released a public beta version of Autodesk Inventor HSM Express, a plug-in that lets you study and simulate machining operations from inside Autodesk Inventor.

Before the acquisition, HSMWorks had already made a name for itself with the popular SolidWorks add-on, HSMXpress for SolidWorks. Despite the slight variation in spelling (Xpress for SolidWorks, Express for Inventor), the two packages offer identical feature sets, according to Anthony Graves, a HSMWorks veteran who joined Autodesk as a product manager after the acquisition.

Like HSMXpress for SolidWorks, HSM Express for Inventor is free. Both are limited to 2.5-axis milling operations. To simulate more complex operations (such as 3-axis or 5-axis machining), you'll need the paid version. For those who work with organic shapes and surfaces, the commercial versions are a better option.

Like the commercial versions, the free versions are also programmed for distributed computing, which tends to speed up tool-path generation when dealing with complex geometry. However, the type of geometry possible with 2.5-axel is not usually complex enough to justify multicore processing, so users will not likely take advantage of it.

The free versions, Graves said, target "designers and engineers who are interested i subtractive manufacturing or machining. The express products give them a risk-free way to explore CAM, right inside the design tool they're used to working with."

To sign up for beta version of Inventor HSM Express, go to the product home page here.