CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

18 February 2009

Product News

Autodesk 2010 Manufacturing Software Demonstrates Power of Digital Prototyping

Autodesk unveiled the latest releases of its 2D and 3D design and engineering software for manufacturers. Significant enhancements and newly packaged suites of the company's products can help manufacturers build better products, ranging from mobile phones to bulldozers, in less time.

The new 2010 product lineup for manufacturers includes Autodesk Inventor family of products, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, Autodesk Alias family of products, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Navisworks, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk 3ds Max Design and Autodesk Vault software -- applications that constitute the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. The 2010 software releases introduce an even greater range of design, visualization and simulation capabilities, along with tighter interoperability than ever before with both Autodesk software applications and other CAD tools.

"Putting powerful 2D and 3D software within the reach of mainstream manufacturers positions companies of all sizes--not just large enterprises--to compete on a global scale," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. "With our 2010 product line, customers can achieve greater collaboration than ever before between industrial design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing teams that are all responsible for bringing quality products to market."

Autodesk Digital Prototyping software gives manufacturers the ability to digitally design, visualize and simulate how a product will work under real-world conditions before it is built. Digital Prototyping reduces reliance on physical prototypes, which helps reduce cost and accelerate time to market in highly competitive industries.

Autodesk Inventor 2010: The Key to Design, Visualize, and Simulate Products Digitally

As the foundation for Digital Prototyping, Autodesk Inventor software helps produce an accurate 3D model that validates the form, fit and function of a design before it is built. The Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line introduces new usability and productivity enhancements for 2D product documentation, 3D product design, extended simulation capabilities, a strong focus on plastic part creation and new data management and exchange capabilities.

New features in the Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line include:

  --  Plastic part design and tooling: The Autodesk Inventor product line

      simplifies the design of high-quality molded part models with

      automated capabilities for designing injection molds for plastic

      parts. Incorporating Autodesk Moldflow technology, Inventor enables

      users to design complex plastic parts and create and validate

      their corresponding mold design, helping to reduce errors and improve

      mold performance -- resulting in higher product quality and faster

      time to market.

  --  Ability to simulate product performance: The Autodesk Inventor 2010

      product line provides improved support for motion simulation and

      static and modal finite element analysis at both the part and assembly

      level.

  --  Design productivity: Continuing to improve usability and productivity,

      Inventor offers a new user interface that combines an intuitive 3D

      design environment for creating parts and assemblies with tools that

      enable engineers to focus on a design's function to drive the

      automatic creation of intelligent components such as plastic parts,

      steel frames, and rotating machinery.

In addition, Inventor 2010 incorporates an enhanced architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) Exchange functionality that enables building products manufacturers to publish 3D data in a format that is easy to use in building information modeling (BIM) applications, such as the Autodesk Revit 2010 product line.

"The Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping allows us to design and manufacture at the speed of thought. Using Inventor to simulate real-world conditions means we don't need full-scale physical prototypes," said Kurt Bender, CAD manager at Viking Yacht Company, which produces luxurious, high-performance sport and cruising yachts. "We're also doing design reviews and marketing with digital prototyping, saving substantial time and money on each boat design. We're especially looking forward to the latest simulation capabilities coming in the 2010 release."

Along with the Inventor software, Autodesk is releasing new Digital Prototyping applications that support and streamline design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing workflows, including:

  --  AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite: Introduced in the 2010 release, this new

      suite combines Autodesk Inventor LT and AutoCAD LT to make it more

      practical and affordable for mechanical design professionals to start

      designing in 3D and participate in Digital Prototyping workflows.

      Autodesk Inventor LT offers part-level 3D parametric

      modeling, multi-CAD translation capabilities, automated DWG drawing

      views, and many other advanced capabilities found in Inventor.

  --  AutoCAD Mechanical: Now with even more intelligent drafting features

      for automating common design tasks, AutoCAD Mechanical offers

      mechanical designers and drafters significant productivity gains. New

      features include a streamlined design environment and bill of

      materials enhancements that help produce consistent results on the

      shop floor.

  --  AutoCAD Electrical: Purpose-built to accelerate the creation of

      electrical control systems, AutoCAD Electrical now offers a

      streamlined design environment and a new "one-line" circuit symbol

      library that help to increase productivity for control engineers.

      Enhancements to the powerful Circuit Builder tool enable designers to

      analyze the energy efficiency of circuits and help them to make

      "green" engineering decisions.

  --  Autodesk Alias family of products: Autodesk Alias 2010 industrial

      design software marks a major milestone with its first release on the

      Macintosh platform. Now available on Mac OS X, the new product family

      focuses on the specific needs and workflow requirements of three user

      profiles: creative professionals, digital modeler/sculptors and

      automotive/transportation designers. New and improved functionality

      further lowers barriers of adoption and helps to increase modeling

      productivity and quality. One of the world's best surface modelers,

      the Alias family or products provides fast, high-quality data

      integration and exchange with Autodesk Inventor and other third-party

      CAD software.

  --  Autodesk Showcase: Now with integrated raytracing, the 2010 design

      visualization software enables design, engineering, and marketing

      teams to quickly and efficiently create accurate, photorealistic, and

      compelling imagery from 3D CAD data to convey form and create

      environmental context to communicate brand character. Users can easily

      change the appearance and position of a product and manipulate parts

      such as wheels, body panels or mirrors.

  --  Autodesk 3ds Max Design: 3ds Max Design software makes it easier to

      prepare digital prototypes and create photorealistic design imagery. A

      render-quality viewport in the 2010 version facilitates the creative

      process by enabling users to iterate quickly and explore more design

      options.

  --  Autodesk Vault: The Autodesk Vault product line features extensive new

      document management capabilities that enable users to easily manage

      design revisions and control who can access data, and when. New

      revision control processes are built directly into Autodesk Inventor

      software, resulting in faster cycle times and better-quality

      engineering data. It also helps workgroups maintain control over the

      digital prototype at all times, so design departments can efficiently

      create and share Digital Prototyping information.

  --  Autodesk Navisworks: A new part of the Autodesk solution for Digital

      Prototyping, the Autodesk Navisworks product line for manufacturing

      helps extended project teams visualize, optimize and collaborate on

      the most complex projects. Customers can combine large assemblies

      consisting of machinery, tooling, layout and facilities data from

      multiple CAD vendors to create a single, lightweight 3D digital model

      of factories and manufacturing plants. Navisworks reliably aggregates

      data to enable a real-time, whole-project view.

  --  Autodesk Moldflow: Autodesk has simplified the Moldflow product line

      in the 2010 release to bring customers more value at a lower cost. The

      software suite for simulation, analysis, optimization and validation

      of plastic parts and their associated molds introduces new

      sustainability features, along with enhanced performance and quality.

      Autodesk Moldflow Insight offers in-depth simulation of the

      advanced molding processes using the world's largest

      plastics material database. Autodesk Moldflow Adviser simplifies

      plastics injection molding simulation and guides designers through

      analysis and interpretation, helping to avoid manufacturing delays and

      costly mold rework.

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