Autodesk Manufacturing & Digital Prototyping Solutions

Autodesk 2014 suites - So what's changed?

As you can see from the infrequency of the posts on this blog, it's been a busy few months.

At the end of March we announced the 2014 release of products, with most applications being available to download to subscription customers soon after.

In the run up to and subsequently since the launch, most of us at Autodesk have been busy running around presenting at customer launch events and partner launch / training sessions. Although there are still a few to support, hopefully we can start to breathe again and spend at least a few nights at home!

Anyway, over the course of the last couple of months a few common questions have arisen, which I thought it prudent to highlight to the wider audience.

Apart from what’s new in the individual applications, those of you on subscription with a product suite will notice that you now have access to a wider toolset.

New applications for Design Suite customers

For example, inside standard design suites such as Autodesk Product Design Suite Standard you will notice within the installer that you have now have AutoCAD Raster Design and Autodesk Recap.

AutoCAD Raster Design has been available to purchase for a number of years, however with this now being included in the standard suites, if you do receive or still have a need to convert raster based drawings into vector then you now have a tool to help achieve this included in the box.

See here for an overview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Wg6BOOS2c

Autodesk Recap is a new application that gives the user the flexibility to combine, filter, navigate and annotate point cloud data.

If you’ve already used point cloud information within 2013 versions of Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit and Autodesk AutoCAD you will notice in the 2014 that we no longer directly read in the native point cloud data such as those generated from Faro, Lieca or any of the other scanner vendors. The reason for this is, you can now process these point clouds via Autodesk Recap, which will allow a user to combine multiple files, filter noise, remove unwanted points, set units and co-ordinate systems, visualise and analyse (such as elevation or intensity) and a whole host more.

See here for an overview with Factory Design Suite.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyrhXux5YCE

A significant change for users of Autodesk Product Design Suite Premium is that it now includes Autodesk Inventor Professional. All the simulation tools such as FEA and Dynamic Simulation plus mold tool design and plastic fill analysis are now available to these users.

Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate now includes Autodesk Navisworks Manage, giving you the capability to run clash detections with aggregated data from a variety of sources including point cloud information.

Autodesk Inventor Fusion

That’s all well and good but something that has popped up is, “Where has Inventor Fusion disappeared too?”

Well this product is no longer being included in the Suite installations, and although it is available to download from Autodesk Labs, you can expect to see its replacement Autodesk Fusion 360 coming to market soon.

To download Inventor Fusion, use this link http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/fusion

For customers using our simulations tools such as Autodesk Simulation Mechanical and Autodesk Simulation CFD, a supported version of Autodesk Inventor Fusion is still included in the media.

Autodesk Simulation 360 Pro

Talking about simulation tools, if you are currently using Autodesk Sim360 Pro, for 2014 in addition to cloud based Simulation Mechanical and Simulation CFD, this toolset also now includes Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis which gives users the power to be able to simulate full structural analysis including code checking.

Autodesk Inventor Publisher

If you are currently a user of Autodesk Inventor Publisher 2013 on subscription you will have noticed that there has been no 2014 flavour released. To confirm the state of play, 2013 R1 was made available on subscription center a couple of weeks back, this version give users compatibility with 2014 file formats.

Autodesk Vault

One of the big changes for this product line is that Autodesk Vault Collaboration has been discontinued. Although there is no need to panic, as all customers with 2013 versions of this product on subscription will be auto fulfilled with Autodesk Vault Professional. Customers that have Autodesk Vault Workgroup will see the 2014 version ship in the not too distant future.

Well what else is new?

I’ve only highlighted a few of the overall changes to some of our offerings, for FY14 you can expect to see a whole host of new technologies being made available to customers, so we’re not finished yet.

 

 

Request the features you want with Ideastation

Since joining Autodesk I've been asked a number of times, "When are we going to get this feature....why hasn't that been put into this product.." and the common response I give is "Well have you asked for it?" and usually the answer is no. Although in all fairness it's never really been that obvious how it can be done.

My answer used to be "Please log your request using the product feedback page" (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=1109794). This is one area that Autodesk Product Managers keep tabs but in all fairness wasn't the easiest page to find.

If you 're a user of the Autodesk forums you may of noticed a change of late, which is the addition of IdeaStations. So you now have a relatively interactive way to log new feature requests. If an idea gets picked up for scoping then you'll see the status change from New Idea to Under Review, Accepted and so more depending on how succesful the request is.

IdeaStations are currently setup for the following applications, click on the links below to view:

• Autodesk Factory Design Suite
• Autodesk Inventor
• Autodesk Inventor ETO (Engineer-to-Order)
• Autodesk Product Design Suite
• Autodesk PLM 360
• Autodesk Vault

Now they're not available for all spplications as you can see, but for the ones listed above it's more straightforward to find...I just need to think of new excuses.

Autodesk Industrial Machinery Virtual Summit - 25th September 2012

For those of you that may be interested, in just under two weeks Autodesk are hosting a virtual summit.

The purpose of the event will be to hear from Autodesk experts and learn how tools in the Autodesk® solution for Digital Prototyping are helping industrial machinery manufacturers increase productivity and product quality and gain competitive advantage.

Topics included are:

• Inventor tips & tricks.
• Simulation and analysis.
• System engineering and design.
• Mechatronic integration.
• Data management for large assembly design.

It's not just about being talked too either, you will be able to ask the experts questions during the sessions via a live chat.

Take a look at the following link for more information. www.autodesk.co.uk/virtualevent

Once on the page, clicking to register will show you the alternate sessions relevant to your region.

Alias Design to Inventor interoprability

  After working with a number of leading customers to help them make better use of Design data I decided to clean up and presentation that I have been showing. Alias Design creates surface models that can be opened directly in Inventor. The model can have engineering details added without compromising the design. Changes made to the surface model can be made within Alias, using Alias history based surfacing tools to quickly change designs as needed. Once the updates have been checked into Autodesk Vault they can be pulled into Inventor and any previous engineering details will be updated based on the new surface design. As the design develops, designers can use Design for Manufacture in Inventor to validate the design for engineering and manufacture, making sure they are in control of the design at all stages. This enables them to provide a better design model earlier in the process.

Project Factory.Modz Technology Preview 2 available

For those of you that downloaded Project Factory Modz Preview 1, you may of noticed the message on or after September 1st telling you that the software had time bombed.

As of now Preview 2 is available on Autodesk Labs.

If you haven't already tried it out, it's a nice add-in preview to the 2013 Product or Factory Design Suite that helps simulate the processes within a Factory layout. You can simply simulate a conveyoring system, visually demonstrating the transport and transfer within a process. Powered by Autodesk^® Kynapse^® there is even artificial intelligence, so if obstacles are placed in the way of a product transfer (such as a person coming across a safety fence) it'll automatically change it's path to go around that obstruction.

Go to the following link to take a closer look. http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/factory_modz/

This technology preview is available until February 28, 2013.

UK Based Ellis Furniture are August Inventor of the Month

Autodesk this week named Ellis Furniture, a U.K. based furniture company in business for more than a century as the Autodesk August Inventor of the Month for using Autodesk Inventor as part of Autodesk Product Design Suite to offer greater levels of product customisation in significantly less time.

This speed enables Ellis to rapidly explore a number of design options for its customers — ranging from luxury hotels to government institutions — and create high-quality furniture that not only fits their precise needs, but is designed to last a lifetime.

“We have a number of standard ranges for our products, but within these ranges, our customers have the flexibility to customise the product as they wish,” said Tom Ellis, director of Ellis. “We see the market increasingly heading in the direction of providing more custom elements, and Autodesk software is helping us meet that need in a timely manner. When all is said and done, we’ve cut our time to market by half.”

Using Autodesk software, the company estimates that it is able to clarify initial product design concepts with customers 20 percent faster and establish material sources and material costs 30 to 40 percent faster. Ellis’ manufacturing process — including generating a bill of materials (BOM) and preparing design files for computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools with Autodesk software — takes 80 percent less time.

A Continuous Digital Workflow

Ellis worked with Autodesk Platinum Partner Symetri to purchase and implement Autodesk Product Design Suite, which includes Autodesk Inventor and other digital prototyping tools such as Autodesk Vault data management software and Autodesk 3ds Max rendering software. Ellis then integrated the Autodesk software with its corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

The rules-based design automation capabilities of Inventor software enable an efficient workflow where intelligent data behind each furniture design is fed into Ellis’ ERP system. This fully digital process eliminates manual data entry, reduces errors and speeds up turnaround time — even as the company gives its customers greater freedom to express their design intent and personalize their furniture offerings.

When one of its larger university customers required a vast array of size and color permutations for a new range of furniture, Ellis was able to develop a base model in Inventor software and tailor it until the university was satisfied. Likewise, when one of its military customers urgently needed a new range of bedroom furniture, Ellis was able to complete the models in Autodesk Inventor within a week and go straight into manufacturing with total confidence and without delays on the shop floor. Two weeks later, the units were being shipped to the other side of the world.

“At the heart of every successful business is the ability to quickly meet customer needs and deliver a great experience,” said Brenda Discher, vice president, Manufacturing Industry Strategy and Marketing at Autodesk. “With the help of Autodesk Product Design Suite, Ellis Furniture now delivers more customized products in less time, outpacing its competition.”

About the Autodesk Inventor of the Month Program

Each month, Autodesk selects an Inventor of the Month from the users of Autodesk Inventor software, which takes manufacturers beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping. Winners are chosen for engineering excellence and groundbreaking innovation. For more information about Autodesk Inventor of the Month, visit www.facebook.com/adskinventor.

Asset Chain Builder is now live in Factory Asset Warehouse

For users taking advantage of the benefits Factory Design Suite offers when generating layouts, an update to the Factory Asset Warehouse has now enabled the possibility to create Custom Chain Assets.

In four simple steps you can use the 'Build Asset Chain' tool to convert your Factory Asset Warehouse content to a chain item. Once completed this is now ready to use in AutoCAD as a chain asset, upon Inventor Sync this content will then generate and be layed out inside Inventor.

 

See the updated wiki help for more detail on this topic.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Factory_Design_Suite/enu/2013/Help/0000-Asset_Ch0

For those of you not lucky enough to use this product, one advantage when using Factory Design Suite is the simple way you can create a 2D layout in AutoCAD. This can then be synced into Inventor which generates the 3D representation. With 2013 this functionality was extended to include Chain Asset functionality, which effectively allows the user to define a polyline representation of a repeating asset such as a conveyor. When synced back to Inventor a repeating 3D connected assets will be placed.

Demir Ali joins Autodesk Technical Sales Team

Demir Ali has joined the Autodesk Northern Europe Technical Sales team to provide guidance, advice and expertise to engineers, designers & manufacturers across the UK & Ireland on their use of design, visualisation, simulation and data management technology.

Demir brings with him a great amount of industry knowledge and expertise; he has extensive experience of working with the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions and working with manufacturers in various industries.

Demir joined Autodesk from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) where he worked in the Professional Graphics division for the last 2 years. During that time his main focus was Technical Pre and Post Sales - carrying out the activities required to support all levels of customer engagement from the initial meeting through to successful roll out and on-going relationship management. These engagements covered a wide spectrum of users, from city based financial institutions through to broadcast providers and Formula 1 teams.

Prior to Demir’s 2 years with AMD, he was part of the UK Autodesk channel working for the distribution team at Man & Machine where he provide pre and post-sales support to channel partners and customers on products such as Inventor, Showcase, Publisher and Vault Professional. His experience with Autodesk Inventor stretches back to 200? and whilst working with distribution he regularly presented at many end user & customer facing training events and conferences.

Demir is based in the UK, close to the Autodesk office in Farnborough and lives with his wife Maria and their two children. I asked Demir if he could share with us what he gets up to in his spare time, this is his response…..

“Well what do I enjoy doing…..changing nappies obviously, never ending DIY although this is more out of necessity rather than enjoyment, playing golf….although again the way I play it can’t really be called enjoyment. Mountain biking / cycling when I have 5 minutes and running…… although you wouldn’t be able to tell looking at my waist line! Oh and the odd Rugby match plus good food and wine; which actually does explain the waistline.”

I’ve managed to convince Demir to set up a Twitter account so you can now catch his 140 character updates via @deali12 and he will also be posting to this blog along with his colleagues from the Northern Europe Technical Sales team.

Great to have you on board Demir!

British Antarctic Survey uses Autodesk’s Digital Prototyping software

An ambitious British expedition to Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica is using Autodesk digital prototyping software to help discover new answers about the evolution of life and effects of climate change.

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) engineers will transport equipment overland for three days to the sub-glacial lake, where they will use a hot water drill to melt a 2.2-mile hole in the ice covering the submerged lake to extract water samples. The team will have a very short window of 24 hours to gather their samples before the hole re-freezes.

This exploration of one of Antarctica’s subglacial lakes has been planned for 15 years, but the team lacked the right tools to adequately try and test their plan to ensure they could gather the samples they need in the timeframe allowed. Through the use of Autodesk’s digital prototyping and simulation technology for sustainable design; BAS engineers can create a digital model of the drill; simulate the conditions under which they will work; test and analyse their approach; and make necessary adjustments before they embark on their expedition.

“This is hot water drilling on a scale never achieved before,” said Andy Tait, the BAS engineer managing the design of the hot water drill. “Because everything will have to be done so quickly, it is vital that we create an accurate 3D model of the entire drilling operation and simulate its performance because there will be no room for error once we are out on the ice.”

As a participant in the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program, designed to help groundbreaking environmental projects such as this, BAS received Autodesk’s digital prototyping portfolio, including Autodesk Showcase, a visualisation tool, and Autodesk Inventor Publisher for technical documentation. Tait will use Autodesk Inventor Publisher to visually and interactively communicate how the drills and its components work to colleagues and partners. Andy also believes that Autodesk Showcase will be invaluable for developing stunning presentations and other visualisations to help explain the technology to wider audiences.

Autodesk Inventor automatically coordinates changes across the digital model, streamlining the analysis, experimentation and eventual optimisation of a design. This has been important to this project, not just because of because of need to carry out the operation within a tight timeframe, but also because of size, weight and strength parameters. The equipment must be transported over great distances and, therefore, needs to be strong, lightweight, and capable of withstanding extremely low temperatures.

“When our technology is being used to make this ambitious project successful, it gives me great confidence in the collective power of talented people working together to solve problems that otherwise could not be solved in isolation,” said Lynelle Cameron, Autodesk’s senior director of sustainability. “We’re delighted to be partnering with the BAS team on their unprecedented expedition.”

For more information about the project see www.ellsworth.org.uk

Autodesk Inventor Interface - Give us your feedback

I received an email yesterday from one of our Autodesk Inventor Product Manager's who is looking for your thoughts and feedback on the changes made to the Autodesk Inventor user interface over the past 4 years.

We want to know what you think of the Ribbon Bar interface, Marking Menus, Mini-Toolbars and how you interact with the interface and how it helps you. This is your opportunity to tell the Product Managers and Developers of the product what you think and influence the future development of the Autodesk Inventor user interface.

To help collect your thoughts, the Autodesk Inventor team have put together this quick on-line survey for you to provide your thoughts and opinions. Click on the link below to provide your feedback and thoughts...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/autodeskinventorUI

Thanks for your time.