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AutodeskAutodesk Inventor: specialized tool for designing mechanical parts and assemblies.2019-02-11T21:00:28.815ZAutodesk Inventor is part of the curriculum for the department of mechanical/mechatronics engineering. Therefore, its used by many students and faculty as part of their regular classes which include mechanical design, digital manufacturing, introduction to CAD, mechanical drawing, industrial engineering, etc. It's also used in many workshops and outside of the classroom for the development of individual projects. Autodesk Inventor is part of an Autodesk Suite that's focused on designing mechanical parts and assemblies for the generation of blueprints, industrial manufacturing or even 3D printing.,Inventor has a unique drawing system based on creating sketches in XYZ planes. This makes it easier and more efficient to develop/modify a new component based on the drawn sketches, similar to the way you can create a 3-D figure based on its isometric drawings.
It's different from AutoCAD because 3-D figures are treated as solid parts and not just as one big computer drawing. This allows the user to treat every component parts that can later be added to an assembly or modified as independent components of a more complex system.
Very easy to develop professional looking blueprints based on 3-dimensional parts that can be later used for manufacturing in traditional lathe/milling machines. It's even possible to generate an exploded view of an entire assembly.
Inventor is not just a mechanical drawing suite. It includes many additional features/uses such as sheet metal design, mold design, stress analysis of parts.,The way file addressing and directories are handled isn't very straightforward and can be very prone to errors. Especially when dealing with large quantities of parts and sending an assembly to another PC or colleague, it will not work if not carefully done.
There isn't much detail as to what mathematical models and calculation methods are employed in embedded tools for stress, temperature or vibration analysis. This leaves a lot to be desired, especially if you need to use these results for research or academic publishing.
It requires a lot of CPU and memory resources if your machine doesn't meet and exceed these requirements the entire program will begin to shut down all of a sudden, especially after large periods of work. This problem has lead me to lose a lot of progress and time when changes weren't saved!,9,Autodesk products and suites have great value compared to other alternatives, especially for the education sector.
Inventor incorporates many tools and mechanical design products into one single environment, making it easier and faster for our faculty to teach a wide array of concepts and engineering methods.
The use of Inventor has helped us mitigate the need for other software solutions and has provided our students with a great tool to develop projects outside the classroom that transcend the universities traditional goals.,ANSYS Discovery,National Instruments MultisimJuan Carlos Molina CastejónAutodesk Inventor - the perfect way to get into 3D modeling2019-02-07T13:41:20.998ZI use Autodesk Inventor on a weekly basis as a simple 3D CAD software. I use it to model simple features and parts of our prototypes before they go to the 3D printer or physical prototyping. Currently, it is solely used by me, but the output file types enable me to share the models with other people in the company, regardless of if they have Autodesk Inventor or not.,The program is very good at simplicity. Each of the buttons, menus, and options has an explanation of exactly what the feature does, and even a more advanced description if you desire to learn more about what each one does.
Autodesk Inventor is a very fast program. Everything renders extremely quickly and there are no delays when examining a 3D model, part, or assembly. This is especially useful when giving a presentation about a product or design, and you need to be able to show a concept to an audience in real time.
The software has an extremely accurate simulation feature that lets users do stress analysis on a 3D model. It can calculate precisely where the stress concentrations are going to be in a particular model and even give you an accurate depiction of where the part could likely fracture and/or fracture during loading.,There are many times that the Mate feature does not work when building an assembly. The program has trouble with concentric mates in particular and often flips two pieces in the opposite direction that they are supposed to lay then trying to make two circles concentric.
I wish Autodesk Inventor was more advanced at times. There is a point that you can no longer do your modeling in Inventor and you need to move to a more advanced software such a SolidWorks to complete your drawing. There are just not enough advanced features in Inventor to get some jobs done.
Inventor begins to get sluggish really fast as you begin to create large assemblies. After adding 10+ individual parts to an assembly and trying to rotate/zoom/move it, the program becomes slow and skips around during these movements.,8,Inventor has helped me save a lot of money on the cost of prototyping because it lets me draw out 3D models of parts and assemblies before I create them to confirm that everything will work before I begin to build it.
As an inexpensive software, Inventor has been extremely good at helping me get my ideas across to people who are not in the engineering department by being able to draw out products and demonstrate them right on my laptop.
As we have moved to more complicated products, I have needed a more advanced modeling software. This has forced us to have to purchase SolidWorks, an additional software, to be able to continue our work.,SOLIDWORKS and Fusion 360,SOLIDWORKS, MATLAB, Fusion 360Tyler GrudowskiStrong Industrial Design Software2019-02-10T00:05:03.105ZAutodesk was recently selected as the design software provider for our entire organization. All divisions were migrated over to Autodesk Inventor. It is used to design all of our product lines.,The frame generator module is a very powerful tool for designing structures. You can design structures very quickly using this tool. It can then be quickly analyzed using the FEA frame analysis tool.
The sheet metal functionality is powerful. It offers many options and tools for sheet metal design work.
The iLogic and Rules based design environment is extremely powerful for automating designs. If you have experience with basic coding, you can develop some very strong automated designs.
The basic Vault system is a real plus for groups with multiple users.,It needs a feature recognition tool like SolidWorks FeatureWorks for importing model files from other cad platforms.
Managing iLogic and Content Center libraries content can be tricky to navigate for new users.,9,Inventor has allowed us to improve our product release times and reduce the design mistakes that are often found after the design has been released to the manufacturing stage.
It has allowed all divisions to collaborate more efficiently.,SOLIDWORKS,SOLIDWORKSVerified UserInventor is a professional CAD package that will suite all your general MECH needs.2019-02-02T02:51:45.962ZAutodesk Inventor is used solely by the engineering department to spec out electronic and mechanical parts of physical goods. Overall, Autodesk Inventor is a great solution to complex assembly files that have multiple (50+) components and small parts that the overall product is made of. Use of the simulation and analysis tools are a key advantage in successful product development and one that we find to be extremely helpful within Inventor.,Great simulation tools included. Specifically the stress analysis.
Intuitive user interface and icons that are standard across various CAD programs (makes it easy to train new employees verse in other CAD programs).
2D drawing creation is easy and has a robust set of features that other programs don't
Std Part libraries are better and easier to use,Sheet metal tools are not as robust as some alternative programs.
Surface modeling is a challenge in Inventor (compared to SolidWorks or Fusion 360).
Assembly constraints are confusing and hard to figure out if you're picking up a project that someone else started.,6,Great analysis tools that do just as much as third part analysis tools (that used to be used).
Can quickly share files with others which cuts down hours of time versus "old" ways of sharing files.
Output to STL files for quick 3D printing and rapid prototyping is very valuable to be able to quickly iterate.,Fusion 360, PTC Creo and SOLIDWORKS,Fusion 360, SOLIDWORKS, PTC CreoVerified UserA classic option for any Engineer2018-12-17T15:57:48.996ZAutodesk Inventor is used by our engineering team to model existing or new product prototypes and use analysis tools to forecast testing data for different materials. We also forecast tension and other types of loads prior to testing.,Platform keeps track of each design change in a line-by-line properties table for easy editing
Analysis tools have several common materials and auto calculate load factors
Creates easy 2D spec drawings with different views,Not very intuitive for creating assemblies with multiple 3D models
Speed is an issue. Backups need to be created consistently to combat this,9,Reduces costs of prototype production. Pre-tests dictate the final prototype materials or designs to consider
Potential cost reduction to test redesigns or alternative materials,SOLIDWORKSVerified User
Unspecified
Autodesk Inventor
13 Ratings
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