Autodesk Inventor: 18 Years of Innovation

Over the last 18 years, Autodesk has made thousands of changes – both large and small – to Inventor to guarantee it always included the newest and most innovative technology. The move to a Subscription-based model ensured that users would always have immediate access to these updates and today customers are adopting the Inventor subscription updates at a rate twice that of historical releases.

Inventor 2018, which was launched in March, was built around customer feedback and included a healthy mix of new functionality and enhancements. An Inventor 2018.1 Update in July brought further enhancements, adding even more capability to an already strong release. Al Dean, editor for Develop 3D magazine, said that the 2018 version “is rich and mature, and the development is still finding areas that can be improved, workflows made less time consuming, more intelligent or robust and new efficiencies gained.”

Taking things a step further, we also just announced the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection., which provides a complete set of solutions for Autodesk customers in the manufacturing industry from start-ups to global enterprise organizations. Previously known as the Product Design Collection, this new offering adds the simulation software Nastran In-CAD and Autodesk HSM CAM software to the very rich set of design and engineering tools already included (such as Inventor, AutoCAD, Fusion 360 and Vault) at no additional cost.

The feedback we have received from customers, industry influencers and media on Inventor 2018 and the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection has been overwhelmingly positive. But don’t take our word for it – here is what some of them had to say:

• “Aside from MBD and interoperability enhancements, the Inventor engineering team has tapped its deep user base to implement over 50 Inventor Idea requests into 2018. Whether it’s improvements to such essential features as ‘Chamfer,’ ‘Extrude’ or ‘Hole’ commands, Inventor’s refinement is reaching a level that’s difficult to match by other CAD programs.” – Engineering.com
• “After using this version for a while, I have really come to love many of the enhancements and tweaks. The browser enhancements alone are worth the update as is the new 3D annotation workflow.” – Design & Motion
• “The product offers performance improvements for customers who need to open, update and navigate faster within their Inventor assemblies and drawings. Based on feedback from customers during the alpha and beta testing of Inventor 2018, users are seeing speed improvements between two- and ten-times faster, according to Loren Welch, inventor product manager.” – 3D CAD World
• “The potential of all this functionality in the box is enormous. The CAD, CAM and CAE, all working inside a single interface of Inventor, not only elevates the mainstream MCAD modeler Inventor back to star status at Autodesk, it raises it a level above ordinary MCAD from the competition. The mechanical designer or engineer is now empowered to do simulation and to send models to the CNC machine. They don’t have to purchase a CAM application, learn a whole new interface or be at the mercy of a machinist.” – Engineering.com
• “The subscription model also looks to future proof a big chunk of the workflow by delivering continual enhancements, as opposed to users only updating apps occasionally, with the package also including AutoCAD, Fusion 360, ReCap Pro, 3ds Max, Navisworks, Vault (basic), Factory Design Utilities and more.” – Develop3D
• “We’ve long wondered which 3D CAD software developer was going to pull an Adobe CC and launch an all-in-one of their entire software line. Autodesk has come pretty close and is making their Product Design Collection even more attractive announcing the addition of  Nastran In-CAD and HSM CAM software to the aptly renamed Product Design & Manufacturing” – SolidSmack

Have you been using Inventor 2018? Have thoughts on the new Collection? We’d love to hear from you in the comments or in the Inventor Ideas Forum. Or, if you haven’t tried it and want to, you can access a free trial here.