Autodesk has officially released (April 13, 2015) their Product Design Suite and Factory Design Suites for 2016, in concert with their Simulation software lineup, and Inventor HSM. This package represents a very large range of solutions for its manufacturing industry customers, and includes some great updates to existing products as well as a few new features too.
Autodesk Inventor took the Lion’s share of improvements in what the company is calling an open, connected, end-to-end seamless product development ecosystem. The following are a few highlights from these portfolios.
Product Design Suite (PDS) and Inventor
Recently, we detailed the enhancements in Autodesk Inventor 2016; 387 additions and valuable enhancements such as multi-body sheet metal and model to free-form tools. One addition that stood out was the 3D Printing Environment within Inventor. This allows users to prepare their components for specific vendor’s machines, orienting and partitioning their parts in print spaces that are too limiting. The partition tools include alignment tabs, and the ability to reposition the remaining portions of the part in the void areas of the printer’s effective printing space. Watching the company’s demo of this functionality was kind of cool.
Once a print is prepared, users can then send the oriented parts from the 3D Printing Environment to Autodesk’s new 3D Print Studio, an application that helps users build supports and prints the project directly to the large list of known commercial printers.
AnyCAD, Autodesk’s name for their new technology for importing and maintaining most popular CAD model formats inside Inventor assemblies. This allows users the option of importing almost any CAD model for use in their designs, and maintaining the relationship between the original file and the model. If the original file is modified (or overwritten), the imported model is updated dynamically.
Buzz Kross, senior vice president, Design, Lifecycle and Simulation at Autodesk noted:
“The new AnyCAD technology in Inventor alone is worth moving to the 2016 version, but we’re also improving every part of the product workflow from concept through product delivery to help companies meet the challenges that lie ahead”
Watch Scott’s great video of AnyCAD in action.
Other really nice areas of improvement include Sheet Metal environment, 2D Sketching, Drawing Environment, and Presentation Environment (yes, believe it or not).
Product Design Suite Software Titles
PDS Premium includes:
- Inventor
- AutoCAD( + Mechanical)
- AutoCAD Raster Design
- ReCap
- Vault Basic
- 3ds Max Design
- Navisworks Simulate
- Showcase (downloaded separately)
- 3D Print Studio
- Fusion 360
PDS Ultimate adds:
- Inventor Professional
- AutoCAD Electrical
- Navisworks Manage (replaces Simulate)
- Alias Design (downloaded separately)
Factory Design Suite
Additional enhancements for Factory design Suite include:
- Batch convert legacy CAD items into Factory Assets
- Quickly convert AutoCAD facility layouts to 3D in Navisworks.
- Point Clouds display laser scan location map and synchronize across AutoCAD, Inventor, and Navisworks.
- Create Factory Design Suite assets from Point Clouds
Factory Design Suite Softare Titles
FDS Standard includes:
- AutoCAD( + Mechanical +Architecture)
- AutoCAD Raster Design
- Factory Design Utility
- ReCap
- Vault Basic
- Showcase (downloaded separately)
- 3D Print Studio
FDS Premium adds:
- 3ds Max Design
- Navisworks Simulate
- Inventor
FDS Ultimate adds:
- Navisworks Manage (replaces Simulate)
- Inventor Professional
The Complimenting Simulation and InventorHSM
I’m tempted to call these the landscape after all the money the company has sunk into the technologies. Think back 5 or so years ago and compare… You can’t; there was nothing there. Autodesk’s end-to-end manufacturing solution is intertwined with continually expanding simulation and CAD/CAM software solutions.
Simulation Portfolio
The Autodesk Simulation portfolio for 2016 has a few changes you don’t want to miss as well as a brand new application. We have more details here.
Inventor HSM
We still do not have the complete picture for the changes in Inventor HSM, but there is one really sweet addition to the product, and more information coming soon. What we can say is…
Autodesk Inventor HSM 2016 gets Turning!
Autodesk added the much awaited turning capability to InventorHSM. The turning addition includes traditional toolpaths with facing, roughing, profiling, grooving and drilling operations. The applications support programming for twin-turret and twin-spindle lathes, plus mill/turn machining.
What does this mean for Subscribers?
I think Inventor’s improvements alone represent a significant value to engineers and their customers (I won’t rehash these here), and are worth the costs of renewing. I cannot personally speak for specific enhancements within the remaining titles in these suites, but I can attest to the level of detail applied to Autodesk Inventor, and how happy I was to see this much attention paid to a veteran product that we depend on. Potentially more wonder and technological goodness surrounding Inventor are on the horizon, but I am under oath of silence and secrecy… (first born child and all that).
The integration of Inventor and Nastran In-CAD speaks to the company’s connected, all-encompassing mantra. With regard to the complete end-to-end digital prototyping (and physical prototyping), Autodesk’s Simulation offerings for 2016 hold a few nice features as well. More on that is coming soon.
Autodesk Software Information and Downloads
These products are available now!
Images courtesy of Autodesk, Inc.
