Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/33055
Autodesk Unveils 2012 Manufacturing Software Portfolio Continuing its recent trend of offering software suites for customers, Autodesk introduced a new 3D design and engi- neering software portfolio for manufactur- ers, including the new Autodesk Product Design Suite that makes design, visual- ization, and simulation software easier to adopt, use, and maintain. The complete digital prototyping software portfolio contains tools to help manufacturers design and build better, more sustainable products, reduce development costs, and get to market faster. Autodesk Product Design Suite con tains the fi rm’s leading design, vis, and sim software for manufacturers, giving users the fl exibility to innovate and more easily respond to changing business require- ments, from early concepts to detailed engineering and simulation. The package also provides signifi cant cost savings and is easier to deploy, maintain, and manage than stand-alone products. The suite comes in three editions: Prod- uct Design Suite Standard ($5495), foundational product design tools for conceptual design, intuitive 3D surface PRODUCTS: CAD Autodesk Expands AutoCAD WS Autodesk, a provider of 3D design, engi- neering and entertainment software, has revealed updates to its AutoCAD WS, a free Web and mobile application that uses cloud computing technology to enable AutoCAD software users to view, edit, and share their designs through Web browsers and mobile devices. With more than 900,000 downloads and counting, AutoCAD WS now supports viewing, editing, and sharing of 4 PRODUCT: CAD May 2011 2D Autodesk Inventor DWG fi les. Other improvements include top-requested multi-language support with the addi- tion of eight new languages, as well as improvements to enhance the mobile experience while working with editing and display tools. AutoCAD WS is now available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Italian. Inventor users who publish their models to DWG fi les can now upload them to AutoCAD WS to easily share assem- bly drawings and schematic diagrams for production, presentation, or review. Usability updates to the mobile app include support for DWG layouts, a new copy/paste tool, and improved markup capabilities. AutoCAD WS is available for free download through the App Store and at www.autocadws.com. and solid modeling, drafting and presen- tations, featuring AutoCAD Mechanical with Inventor Fusion, Showcase, Sketch- Book Designer, Vault, and Mudbox soft- ware; Product Design Suite Premium ($6495), optimized digital prototyping and visualization tools that come with Standard edition tools, along with Inven- tor and 3ds Max Design software; and Product Design Suite Ultimate ($9995), advanced surfacing, simulation, and tooling, featuring the same tools as the Premium edition, along with Inventor Professional and Alias Design software. “Combining our Inventor Professional products with the software powering Hollywood-quality imagery, movies, and interactive presentations enables us to create dynamic engineering solutions for our design and engineering teams,” says Carl Maas, manager of CAD/engineering services at L-3 Power Paragon. Launched in 2010 and updated this year, Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2012 is a factory layout and optimiza- tion solution that helps manufacturers make better layout decisions through the creation of a digital factory model. It offers unique factory-specifi c func- tionality in both AutoCAD Architecture and Autodesk Inventor, combined with Autodesk Navisworks’ visualization 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 Inventor 2012 software that help designers estimate a product’s environmental impact and make more sustainable design decisions. Inventor Fusion makes its commercial debut following its technology preview on Autodesk Labs (www.labs.autodesk. com) as an application within various products offered by the fi rm. Inventor Fusion provides 3D and direct modeling for rapid design changes. It also unites direct and parametric workfl ows within a single digital model created in Inventor.