STEP files, for example, have been supported alongside native data from the likes of Solid Edge, Solidworks and more for a while.

Of course, the ‘magic’ part of An圜AD is that the system effectively internalises the translation process, without the creation of intermediary files.Īn圜AD was initially conceived of as a way for mechanical engineering data to be shared, so support for formats reflect this goal of collaboration. With some magic at work under the hood, you can work with that data just as you would with native data, without any intermediary step.Īssociative links are maintained to source data, too, so any subsequent processes and references should update during design changes. Since 2018, recent releases have seen Autodesk flesh out its An圜AD technology, which allows you to bring in data from thirdparty systems and/or in non-native formats. While many of the core tools have already been updated, the Inventor 2021 release sees attention start to shift to add-on areas of extended functionality: tube and pipe, for example, and frame generation. There’s also been a ton of work done to make dialogues more efficient and to bring together functions that might have once been split across multiple windows into single, expandable dialogues. The Inventor user experience, in particular, has undergone some pretty slick rework over the last few releases.įrom the introduction of support for higher resolution 4K monitors, dockable windows and tools that enable you to take advantage of multi-monitors, today’s Inventor is more in line than ever with what modern users expect and demand. While the product might not get the same level of attention from the Autodesk marketing machine as it once did, the last few releases have shown that the team developing it is capable of making bold choices – not afraid to hold back from reconsidering how things have been done for years, or from tackling new challenges. The functionality you’ll find today in Autodesk Inventor is as deep as it is wide. In software terms, it’s undeniably in the ‘mature’ stage of its lifecycle. Inventor has been Autodesk’s flagship product for product design, engineering and manufacturing for quite some time.

We take a look at Autodesk Inventor 2021 and find a design software system that mixes new tools with total reinvention

Inventor pro autodesk