Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 20, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The new 2010 versions include the Autodesk Inventor product family, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, the Autodesk Alias product family, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Navisworks, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk 3ds Max Design and Autodesk Vault software. Together, these applications form the Autodesk solution package for Digital Prototyping. The 2010 releases contain an even more comprehensive range of design, visualisation and simulation functions. They also offer better interoperability with both Autodesk applications and other manufacturers’ CAD products.
Autodesk’s Digital Prototyping software allows developers and engineers to digitally analyse, visualise and simulate how their products operate under real-world conditions. This reduces the need to create physical prototypes. It helps save costs and accelerates time to market in highly competitive industries.
Autodesk Inventor 2010: Design, Visualise and Simulate Products Digitally
Autodesk Inventor is the foundation for Digital Prototyping. The software enables the creation of accurate 3D models that can be used to check the form and function of a designed product before production begins. Autodesk Inventor 2010 offers the following improvements: greater ease of use and productivity for 3D design and 2D drawing creation, extended simulation functions, better functions for developing plastic parts and new functions for data management and exchange. New Autodesk Inventor 2010 functions include:
• Design and analysis of plastic parts: Autodesk Inventor simplifies the design of plastic parts and offers automated functions for developing injection moulds. Using Autodesk Moldflow technology, Autodesk Inventor allows plastic injection moulds to be tested and optimised. This can reduce errors and improve injection-mould performance, which in turn improves product quality and increases productivity through shorter cycle times.
•Better analysis and simulation: Autodesk Inventor 2010 offers integrated motion simulations and static and dynamic finite element analysis, both for individual components and for complete assemblies.
•Greater productivity: To further improve ease of use and productivity, Autodesk Inventor offers a new user interface. This combines an intuitively designed 3D design environment for developing parts and assemblies with corresponding tools for engineers, allowing them to concentrate on the function of their designs. This supports the automatic development of intelligent components such as plastic parts and steel frames.
Autodesk Inventor 2010 also has an improved function for exchanging data with architectural and civil engineering software. This allows 3D data such as escalators or lifts to be transferred easily from Autodesk Inventor to architectural and BIM (Building Information Modeling) applications such as Autodesk Revit 2010.
Alongside Inventor software, Autodesk is also launching new Digital Prototyping applications to support and streamline design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing processes, including:
•AutoCAD Mechanical: AutoCAD Mechanical now includes even more intelligent drawing functions to automate drawing creation. The software enables significant productivity gains for mechanical engineers. New functions include an optimised user interface and an improved bill-of-materials function.
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•AutoCAD Electrical: AutoCAD Electrical is optimised for developing electrical circuit diagrams. An improved design environment and a new symbol library increase productivity in electrical design. Engineers can now analyse the energy efficiency of circuits in AutoCAD Electrical and make better decisions as a result.
•Autodesk Alias product family: For Autodesk Alias 2010 industrial design software, the first release on the Mac platform marks an important milestone. The new product family is now available on Mac OS X. Autodesk Alias is tailored to the requirements of designers in the consumer goods and automotive industries. The improved new functions help further improve productivity and the quality of modelling results. As one of the world’s best surface-modelling systems, Autodesk Alias offers fast, high-quality modelling and simple, seamless data exchange with Autodesk Inventor and other manufacturers’ CAD systems.
•Autodesk Showcase: The 2010 release of this design-visualisation software now also offers integrated ray tracing. The system enables design, engineering and marketing teams to create accurate, photorealistic and attractive images from 3D CAD data quickly and efficiently. Realistic visualisation with Showcase helps accelerate coordination processes during the design phase, bring out the visual character of a product brand more clearly and attract new customers.
•Autodesk Vault: The Autodesk Vault product range offers numerous new document-management functions that can be used to control release and change processes in product development. It also makes it easier to manage who gets access to design data and when. Release and change management are integrated directly into Autodesk Inventor software, enabling shorter turnaround times and helping to avoid errors. Collaboration between workgroups, including those at distributed locations, becomes more efficient.
•Autodesk Navisworks: Autodesk Navisworks is a new component of Autodesk’s Digital Prototyping solution. This application supports project teams with visualisation, optimisation and collaboration on large-scale projects. Customers can combine a large quantity of machine and plant data from different CAD systems and bring it together in a single digital 3D model. In Navisworks, this data can be consolidated to obtain a current-state view of the overall project.
•Autodesk Moldflow: The packaging of the Moldflow product range has been simplified to improve value for money for customers. The software suite for simulating, analysing, optimising and validating plastic parts and their associated injection moulds offers new functions, higher performance and greater quality. The Autodesk Moldflow Adviser system component simulates the injection-moulding process. The application guides the design engineer through a process of analysis and interpretation, helping to avoid production delays and costly tool modifications. Autodesk Moldflow Insight also enables powerful, detailed simulation of the most innovative moulding processes using the world’s largest database of plastic materials.
Availability
Availability of the new versions may vary by country. Details will be available online from 24 March 2009 at http://www.autodesk.de. Autodesk Inventor 2010 and AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 are available from 4 April 2009.
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