Autodesk Inventor Offers Endless Possibilities

From Autodesk, maker of the well-known AutoCAD application, Inventor differs from its older sibling in that if a design's dimensions are changed, the geometry updates accordingly instead of vice versa. Users first design parts, and then combine them into an assembly. As a testament to how robust the program is, the installation guide alone runs more than 40 pages.

Dependent on the system speed, our installation took a little less than an hour and was pretty straightforward—it mainly consisted of accepting the default options and swapping out the four DVDs as prompted. The program can be installed on computers running Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, or any version of Windows Vista. In addition, although Inventor runs well on 32-bit operating systems, a 64-bit installation is recommended when creating or working with designs that have more than 1,000 parts.

When reviewers launched the application, we were quickly overwhelmed by the available options. After some random selections, we managed to scratch out a few primitive 2-D designs. Although we're sure someone with an engineering degree would feel a little more comfortable navigating the program, it is still a little too much to take in all at once.

Eventually we threw in the towel and ran through one of the more than 35 tutorials found within the help files. When broken down into short, easy-to-follow steps, designing parts became a lot more manageable. First, the tutorial walked us through creating the sketch outline for what would eventually turn out to be a nozzle. We drew each border of the part, making sure to keep the measurements exactly as instructed.

When done, we learned how to turn our sketch into a 3-D model and shape it to meet exacting specifications. The thought process that goes into designing parts is actually very logical once it is understood.

After creating our nozzle, we applied what we learned and methodically created what would turn out to be a table (although it didn't start out that way). As easy as it was to create a simple part, we found that there was much more to learn before being able to add any bells and whistles. We did, however, have fun applying different materials and textures to what we designed to see how it would look.

Once you have an understanding of what the different menus and icons do, navigating around the interface is not very difficult. Likewise, working with the design is simple, with various tools to help manipulate the part in a 3-D environment and view it from any position or angle.

After all the parts are created, they can be joined together using constraints to make an assembly. Additional parts and assemblies can also be combined again into larger assemblies. These subassemblies and main assemblies will eventually become a 3-D model of the finished prototype. Although we didn't create many parts or go through enough tutorials to build a complete assembly, it was easy to see how the steps go together to make it happen.

In addition to being a top-selling 3-D design program, Autodesk Inventor is popular among third-party developers. The company has a Certified Products program that covers hardware for the best performance and stability, as well as scores of software ranging from specialized design tools and parts libraries to visualization solutions.

Tightly integrated with Autodesk Data Management applications, Inventor allows collaboration between multiple contributors. Workgroups can manage and track all the components of a design and share parts from each other and different projects. It can also translate and use 3-D data from other CAD systems, as well as save 3-D models in other native formats.

Additional utilities permit users to perform stress analysis and create animations and simulations (including the newly added Center of Gravity feature). Among other things, the program allows the user to create designs for sheet metal and welded parts, as well as for tubes and pipes, and for cables and harnesses.

When the prototype is complete, production-ready drawings can be generated, along with a bill of materials, an associative parts list, step-by-step assembly instructions and technical illustrations.

With a price tag of $7,945 (without subscription), Autodesk Inventor Professional 2009 is not a purchase for the casual tinkerer. There is a definitely a learning curve involved, too. But for engineers who rely on modeling and prototypes to get their work done, it is a powerful tool that expands the user's limits to only what their imagination can come up with.