Software Autodesk 2010 for manufacturing companies demonstrates the advantages of digital prototyping

The company Autodesk, a leader in design software, is launching the latest versions of 2D and 3D design tools intended for manufacturing companies. Significant innovations and new product lines can assist manufacturers in designing better products, from mobile phones to heavy machinery, and in a shorter time.

The new 2010 product line for the manufacturing sector includes software product packages like Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, Autodesk Alias, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Navisworks, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk 3ds Max Design, and Autodesk Vault — top-notch applications in their field, forming Autodesk's product portfolio for Digital Prototyping. The new 2010 software versions introduce enhanced functionalities for design, visualization, and simulation, along with tighter interoperability with Autodesk software applications and other CAD tools.

“We offer powerful 2D and 3D software available to a wide spectrum of manufacturers of various sizes so that not just large enterprises can compete in the global market,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “With our 2010 product line, customers can achieve better than ever coordination among designers, engineers, production, and marketing, responsible for bringing quality products to market.”

Autodesk's digital prototyping software provides manufacturers the ability to digitally design, visualize, and simulate how a product will perform under real conditions before it is ever produced. Digital prototyping reduces reliance on physical prototypes, helping to lower costs and accelerate the launch of products into highly competitive markets.

Autodesk Inventor 2010: the key to digital design, visualization, and simulation
Autodesk Inventor software, as a fundamental solution for digital prototyping, enables users to create precise 3D models to evaluate their shape, compatibility, and function before they are physically manufactured. The Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line offers a new level of user comfort and productivity in creating 2D documentation, 3D modeling, better simulation capabilities, strong support for creating plastic components, and new data management and data exchange capabilities.

Innovations in the Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line include:

• Design and processing of plastic components: The Autodesk Inventor product line simplifies the design of high-quality components using automated functionalities for designing injection molds for plastic components. With integrated Autodesk Moldflow technology, Inventor enables users to design complex plastic parts and quickly create and evaluate corresponding mold designs, thus reducing errors and improving performance — resulting in higher product quality and faster time to market.
• Ability to simulate product function: The Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line enhances support for motion simulation and supports static and modal finite element analysis, both at the individual component level and for assembled units.
• Design productivity: Aiming to increase user comfort and productivity, Inventor offers a new user interface combining an intuitive 3D design environment for creating parts and components with tools that allow designers to focus on functional design — with support for automated creation of intelligent components, such as plastic parts, steel frames, and rotating mechanisms.

In addition, Inventor 2010 integrates AEC Exchange functionality that allows manufacturers of building products to publish 3D data in a format that is easily usable within BIM (building information modeling) applications, such as the Autodesk Revit 2010 product line.

Along with Inventor software, Autodesk is also launching new versions of applications for Digital Prototyping that support and streamline design, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing processes, including:

• AutoCAD Mechanical: Now available with even more effective features for automating common design processes. AutoCAD Mechanical offers designers and drafters a significant productivity boost. Innovations include a more efficient design environment and improved bill of materials that deliver consistent results to manufacturing.
• AutoCAD Electrical 2010: The new version is enhanced primarily with the aim of accelerating the creation of electrical control systems. Now, with a more efficient design environment and a new unified library of symbols, it further increases the productivity of electrical engineers. Innovations in the powerful Circuit Builder tool allow designers to analyze the energy efficiency of circuits and make decisions based on energy savings.
• Autodesk Alias product line: The industry software Autodesk Alias 2010 has advanced by leaps and bounds with the introduction of the first version on the Macintosh platform — now the products are available on Mac OS X. The new product line focuses on the specific needs and workflow requirements of three user groups: creative professionals, digital modelers/artists, and automotive designers. New and innovative features further reduce barriers and help increase the productivity and quality of modeling. The Alias products, as one of the most widely used platforms globally in the area of surface modeling, provide fast, high-quality data integration and exchange with Autodesk Inventor solutions and other third-party CAD products.
• Autodesk Showcase: Now available with integrated ray tracing, Autodesk Showcase 2010 enables design, engineering, and marketing teams to quickly and efficiently create accurate, photorealistic, and compelling visualizations from 3D CAD data and create an appropriate context for communicating brand identity. Users can easily change the appearance and position of the product and manipulate various parts such as wheels, dashboards, or mirrors.
• Autodesk 3ds Max Design: The 3ds Max Design software facilitates the preparation of digital prototypes and the creation of photorealistic design visualizations. The quality of rendered images in version 2010 aids creativity in processes by allowing for faster iteration and evaluation of a greater number of design variants.
• Autodesk Vault: The Autodesk Vault product line offers new capabilities in document management that allow users to more easily manage revision processes and user access control. These new processes are integrated directly into Autodesk Inventor software, enabling shorter product cycles and better quality of design data. It also helps workgroups maintain control over digital prototypes at all stages, allowing design departments to effectively create and share digital prototype information.
• Autodesk Navisworks: This is a new component of Autodesk's solution for digital prototyping. The Autodesk Navisworks product line helps project teams visualize, optimize, and collaborate on most complex projects. Customers can combine complex projects containing machinery, tools, their layouts, and accessories from various CAD sources to create a unified and flexible 3D digital model of factories and production facilities. Navisworks reliably aggregates data and allows for a comprehensive view of the project in real-time.
• Autodesk Moldflow: In version 2010, Autodesk has streamlined the Moldflow product line to provide customers with greater value at lower costs. The software package for simulation, analysis, optimization, and evaluation of plastic component creation and associated production molds introduces new elements to enhance performance and quality and also considers environmental context. Autodesk Moldflow Insight offers powerful, detailed simulations of the most advanced mold creation processes using the largest global database of plastic materials. Autodesk Moldflow Adviser simplifies the simulation of injecting plastic materials into molds and assists designers through analyses and interpretations aimed at eliminating production delays and costly mold rework.

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