User:Tnocera/sandbox/Autodesk Inventor

Autodesk Inventor, developed by U.S.-based software company Autodesk, is 3D parametric solid modeling software for creating 3D mechanical models. Autodesk Inventor is the foundation for the digital prototyping solution at Autodesk. Autodesk Inventor competes with SolidWorks, CATIA, SIEMENS-NX, Pro/ENGINEER, and SolidEdge.

History

Autodesk, Inc. is based in San Rafael, California. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed a broad portfolio of digital prototyping solutions. Carl Bass is president and chief executive officer of Autodesk, Inc. For more information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Market

Autodesk is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Autodesk’s digital prototyping solutions help you experience your ideas before they are real. Many Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for software tools to visualize, simulate, and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time, enhance quality, and foster innovation.

The Autodesk Approach

Inventor software is a history-based parametric solid modeler. With Inventor, you create digital objects that simulate physical objects. Inventor models are accurate 3D digital prototypes. Autodesk calls its approach to model design “digital prototyping.” With the parametric modeling tools in Inventor, you can apply driving dimensions and geometric relationships to an object. These dimensions and relationships are called parameters. The size and shape or geometry of an object depends upon dimensions and relationships to other parts. When one part is changed, the object automatically updates to reflect the change.

Inventor Workflow

Unlike freeform design where design data is unstructured, Inventor maintains the history of design for every model. You can view the history of a design to make changes, or to understand the intent of the designer. Designers and engineers typically use the following workflow to create models in Inventor.

Open a template file, which includes a set of rules that determine common attributes for a part. For example, a sheet metal template file has rules determining material type and thickness, unfolding roles, and gap sizes. By changing a rule, you can change the material of a part.
Create simple sketches for the parts. A first sketch for a part can be a simple shape or a series of shapes, such as circles, lines, and other 2D objects. Sketched part features depend on sketch geometry. The sketch serves as the basis for the 3D part design, profiling a feature and any geometry (such as a sweep path or axis of rotation) required to create the feature.
Convert your sketches into 3D parts using Inventor tools (because Inventor is a parametric modeler, you can modify any of the sketches and features later without rebuilding the entire part):
- Extrude adds depth to a sketch profile along a straight path.
- Revolve projects a sketch profile around an axis.
- Loft uses two or more profiles to transition the object from one shape to the next.
- Sweep projects a single sketch profile along a single sketched path, which can be open or closed.
- Coil extrudes a sketch profile along a helical path to create springs or physical threads on a part.
Connect parts to create assemblies using constraints, mates, and other relationships. Assemblies can consist of parts and other assemblies. You can create very large, complicated assemblies in Inventor. Sets of parts can be assembled before they are joined to the main assembly. Some assemblies contain many subassemblies.
Create renderings, bills of materials, stress analyses, and 2D production drawings from your Inventor models, which are accurate 3D digital prototypes.
In preparation for production, add parts lists, tables, title blocks, dimensions, balloons, and other annotations to the 2D drawings of your models that Inventor creates.
Create animated presentations of models to illustrate the operation of assemblies.
Render models using Inventor Studio as needed. Inventor Studio is a rendering and animation environment based on the mental ray rendering engine.

Environments

Part Modeling

Part modeling combines solids and surfaces to create a range of complex geometries. Use Zebra and Gaussian analysis tools for checking tangency, continuity, and curvature. You can create parts from scratch, reuse and alter existing part designs, and incorporate curve and surface data from concept designs created in Autodesk Alias software.

Sheet Metal Design

Sheet metal design automates many aspects of working with sheet metal parts. You can generate flat patterns, control sheet metal unfolding, define custom sheet metal punch libraries, insert specialized sheet metal fasteners, and create manufacturing drawings to support sheet metal manufacturing operations.

Frame Generator

Frame generator helps you design and develop welded frames for industrial machinery applications. It builds structural frames by dropping predefined steel shapes onto wireframe or solid skeletal frames. The frame generator simplifies creation of end conditions with predefined options for mitered, notched, and straight butt welded joints. It includes profile authoring, letting you add custom profiles to the existing library of standard profiles.

Tube & Pipe

Tube & Pipe helps you design tube and pipe runs or spools to fit into complex assemblies or tight spaces. It includes a pipe fittings library with commonly used, industry-standard fittings, tubing, piping, and hoses. Associative documentation for tube and pipe runs provides assembly drawings that update when a change is made to the 3D design. Tube & Pipe is included in AutoCAD Inventor Routed Systems Suite.

Cable & Harness

Cable & Harness lets you:

Design cable and harness components in 3D.
Import wire lists from AutoCAD Electrical or third-party schematic design applications.
Route thousands of wires.
Define cable and harness paths.
Set up company-specific connector libraries.
Add ribbon cables between connectors.

Inventor automatically calculates quality parameters, including bundle diameter, bend radius, and wire lengths, whenever changes are made to the harness. Cable & Harness is included in AutoCAD Inventor Routed Systems Suite.

Integrated Motion Simulation and Assembly Stress Analysis

Inventor includes an integrated motion simulation and assembly stress analysis environment. You can input driving loads, friction characteristics, and dynamic components, and then run dynamic simulation tests to see how a product will work under real-world conditions. Use the simulation tools to resolve design problems such as optimizing strength and weight, identifying high-stress areas, identifying and reducing unwanted vibrations, and sizing motors and actuators to reduce energy consumption. With finite element analysis (FEA), you can validate component design by testing how parts perform under loads (using actual load information instead of estimates).

Inventor also includes Parametric Studies and Optimization technology that lets you modify design parameters from within the assembly stress environment and compare various design options. When you find the best design solution, you can instruct Inventor to update the 3D model with the optimized parameters.

The motion simulation and assembly stress analysis environment includes visualization tools that help you see exactly how your design behaves. It also lets you bring reaction forces from a motion simulation into your stress analysis so you get more accurate results.

Data and Exchange

Inventor uses specific file formats for parts (IPT), assemblies (IAM), and drawing views (IDW or DWG). You can directly import and export files in DWG format. Design Web Format (DWF) is the preferred 2D/3D data interchange and review format in the Autodesk family of products.

Inventor includes an Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Exchange tool. This tool is used to create and publish simplified 3D representations, intelligent connection points, and additional information in native file formats for AutoCAD MEP software. You can export 3D geometry to AutoCAD Architecture, Revit-based software, and AutoCAD software.

In Inventor, you can exchange data between applications, including CATIA V5, UGS, SolidWorks, and Pro/ENGINEER. Inventor supports direct import and export of CATIA V5, JT 6, JT 7, Parasolid, and Granite files. It also supports direct import of UG-NX™, SolidWorks, Pro/E, and SAT files.

The Inventor Construction Environment provides fault-tolerant import of large STEP and IGES data sets. A quarantine holds entities containing geometric problems, such as surface slivers and mismatched boundary curves. In Inventor, you can:

Publish drawings as PDF files.
Publish 3D part and assembly models in SAT or JT formats.
Create STL files for output to stereo lithography and 3D print machines.

Editions

AutoCAD Inventor Suite 2010

Core features of the AutoCAD Inventor Suite include:

AutoCAD integration
Part design
Assembly design
Sheet metal part design
Design and manufacturing documentation
Data management and communication
Learning resources
Customization and automation

AutoCAD Inventor Routed Systems Suite 2010

Includes all the core functionality of AutoCAD Inventor Suite, plus automated Tube & Pipe and Cable & Harness environments for designing routed systems.

AutoCAD Inventor Simulation Suite 2010

Features integrated motion simulation and stress analysis that let you validate a digital prototype, and predict how the design will work under real-world conditions. Includes all the core functionality of AutoCAD Inventor Suite, plus the dynamic simulation and stress analysis environments.

AutoCAD Inventor Professional Suite 2010

Includes all the extended routed systems design and simulation features with the core functionality of AutoCAD Inventor Suite.

Articles and Reviews

You can find reviews and articles about Inventor on the Autodesk website.

Education

Inventor is licensed at a discount over commercial retail pricing to qualifying institutions and schools. Inventor is also used in the curriculum of student programs such as Project Lead the Way, FIRST Robotics, Vex Robotics, and F1 in Schools. In January 2009, a German student completed the 100,000th download of Inventor in the student community.

The Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community provides registered students with free student version software downloads—including Inventor Professional—and free curriculum and learning materials. Student Version software is licensed for 13 months and includes a print banner making it inappropriate for professional, commercial, or for-profit purposes.

Subscription Services

The Autodesk Subscription program gives you access to software enhancements for a fixed annual fee. You receive all upgrades released during the subscription term and can download extensions for products under subscription. If you need extra help, you can do e-Learning lessons and knowledge assessments, and receive web support for Autodesk products under subscription (if included in the contract). Includes a members-only Subscription Center and use of subscription contract administration tools.

System Requirements

The following requirements are recommended for effective use of AutoCAD Inventor 2010 software for general part and assembly design, typically fewer than 1,000 parts.

Operating System

Windows Vista® Home Basic
Windows Vista® Home Premium
Windows Vista® Business
Windows Vista® Enterprise
Windows Vista® Ultimate
Windows® XP Professional (SP2 and SP3)
Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition (SP2)

Processor

Intel® Pentium® 4
Intel® Xeon™
Intel® Core™
AMD Athlon® 64
AMD Opteron® or later (2 GHz or compatible)

Minimum System Requirements (<1,000 Parts)

2 GB RAM
Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card, 128 MB (refer to the Autodesk published graphics card information)
3.5 GB free hard disk space for installation
DVD-ROM drive
Microsoft mouse-compliant pointing device
1,280 x 1,024 screen resolution
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription Aware access
Adobe Flash Player 10 for use of learning components of the Help system
Microsoft Internet Explorer® 6 (SP2) through 7 (SP1)
Microsoft Excel® 2003 through 2007 for iComponents, thread customization, and spreadsheet-driven designs

Release Dates and Names

For the first several releases, Inventor was developed with code names taken from popular vehicles. Starting with R11, the codenames for releases are the names of famous inventors or scientists:

Inventor 1, “Mustang," December 20, 1999
Inventor 2, “Thunderbird,” March 1, 2000
Inventor 3, “Camaro,” August 1, 2000
Inventor 4, “Corvette,” December 1, 2000
Inventor 5, “Durango,” September 17, 2001
Inventor 5.3, “Prowler,” January 30, 2002
Inventor 6, “Viper,” October 15, 2002
Inventor 7, “Wrangler," April 18, 2003
Inventor 8, “Cherokee,” October 15, 2003
Inventor 9, “Crossfire,” July 15, 2004
Inventor 10, “Freestyle,” April 6, 2005
Inventor 11, “Faraday,” April 6, 2006
Inventor 2008, “Goddard,” April 11, 2007
Inventor 2009, “Tesla,” April 16, 2008
Inventor 2010, “Hopper,” February 27, 2009

Other CAD Manufacturing Products by Autodesk

Autodesk SketchBook Pro
Autodesk Alias Design
Autodesk Alias Surface
Autodesk Alias Automotive
Autodesk Showcase
AutoCAD
AutoCAD Mechanical
AutoCAD Electrical
Autodesk Design Review
Autodesk Productstream
Autodesk Streamline
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Autodesk Maya
AutoCAD MEP
AutoCAD P&ID
Autodesk Navisworks
Autodesk Moldflow
Autodesk Algor Mechanical Simulation