Autodesk is launching its new 3D design and engineering software portfolio for manufacturers, including the new Autodesk Product Design Suite that is said to make design, visualisation and simulation software easier to adopt, use and maintain. The complete Autodesk Digital Prototyping software portfolio helps manufacturers to design and build better, more sustainable products, reduce development costs and get to market faster.
Robert 'Buzz' Kross, the senior vice president for the manufacturing industry group at Autodesk, states: "No product design and development challenge is too complex to overcome when you combine the powerful 3D mechanical design capabilities of Autodesk Inventor together with world-leading Autodesk visualisation and simulation software. Our customers need to create remarkable products more efficiently. The new Autodesk Product Design Suite makes it easier for manufacturers to adopt Digital Prototyping workflows to achieve this goal."
Autodesk Product Design Suite is a new, comprehensive and cost-effective design suite. Containing Autodesk's design, visualisation and simulation software for manufacturers, the new suite provides the flexibility to innovate and more easily respond to changing business requirements from early concepts to detailed engineering and simulation. Autodesk Product Design Suite is also claimed to provide significant cost savings and is easier to deploy, maintain and manage than standalone products.
Autodesk offers three editions of the Product Design Suite:
Launched in 2010 and updated this year, Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2012 is a factory layout and optimisation package that helps manufacturers make better layout decisions through the creation of a digital factory model, thereby helping them to save time and money. It offers factory-specific functionality in both AutoCAD Architecture and Autodesk Inventor, combined with Autodesk Navisworks' powerful visualisation and analysis and Autodesk Vault to improve collaboration. New additions to the suite in 2012 include AutoCAD Mechanical for automating mechanical CAD tasks and 3ds Max Design and Showcase for enhancing communication and bids.
As a result of the strategic partnership announced in October 2010, Autodesk and Granta Design have built new design methods into Autodesk Inventor 2012 software that help designers estimate a product's environmental impact and make more sustainable design decisions. The new Eco Materials Adviser in Inventor 2012 addresses sustainable design requirements early in the design process, enabling manufacturers to choose better materials without compromising cost or performance. Powered by Granta's extensive materials database, the Eco Materials Adviser helps guide material selection and generates reports so engineers can communicate the benefits of their sustainable design decisions.
Autodesk Inventor Fusion makes its commercial debut following its popular technology preview on Autodesk Labs. It is now included at no extra cost as a companion application to Autodesk Alias Design and Alias Automotive, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Simulation and AutoCAD products. Inventor Fusion provides robust 3D modelling ease-of-use and direct modelling for rapid design changes. It also unites direct and parametric workflows within a single digital model created in Autodesk Inventor.
Along with the Autodesk Product Design Suite, each product in the Autodesk Manufacturing portfolio offers powerful new capabilities, spanning conceptual design, engineering, manufacturing and technical documentation.
AutoCAD Electrical 2012 expands its support for international standards and now enables electrical controls designers to view, edit and share their DWG files on web browsers or mobile devices through AutoCAD WS.
AutoCAD Mechanical 2012 now enables editing of 3D models from any source with Inventor Fusion and intelligent drawing view creation with a new model documentation feature. Also new is mobile and web viewing and editing through AutoCAD WS.
Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 visualisation software enables users to demonstrate the operation of designs in real-world settings, providing seamless aggregation of CAD data and transforming digital prototypes into high-quality visuals with 'push-button' rendering, cinematic-quality animation and effects, and an extensive library of materials and textures.
Autodesk Alias 2012 products (Alias Design, Alias Surface and Alias Automotive software) are said to make it easier to create accurate 3D models with Class-A surfaces and feature improvements to the technical surfacing process with modelling tools that are said to be dramatically easier to use.
Autodesk Inventor 2012 provides easier ways to interact with 3D mechanical design data, as well as new opportunities for sharing, accepting and updating CAD data regardless of the source and complexity. It also offers high-impact performance and productivity improvements for both users and IT departments.
Autodesk Inventor Publisher 2012 makes it easy to create highly visual and interactive assembly instructions, operating procedures and technical documentation from 2D and 3D CAD data. Users can publish interactive, 3D instructions in multiple formats directly to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch mobile devices.
Autodesk Moldflow 2012 introduces new real-time injection-moulding simulation functionality, enabling dynamic evaluation of a range of plastic part design alternatives in a fraction of the time it takes to perform a standard simulation.
Autodesk Showcase 2012 visualisation software is a key element of the Product Design Suite, transforming CAD data into compelling imagery, movies, and interactive presentations to improve the design review process, secure internal buy-in and win competitive bids.
Autodesk Simulation 2012, previously known as Autodesk Algor Simulation, offers an all-new user interface as well as Autodesk Vault integration, introducing new revision management capabilities for easier management of design and engineering information.
Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2012 provides digital sketching and illustration to enhance the creative process. Design professionals can export vector artwork from SketchBook Designer and bring it into Alias as curve data, transforming 2D concept sketches directly into 3D product designs.
Autodesk Vault 2012 product data management software gives workgroups across multiple locations more control over engineering data and documents from design through manufacturing, expanding its integration to additional Autodesk applications, including Navisworks, Inventor Publisher and Autodesk Simulation.
Visit the Autodesk website to find out more about these software packages.