Autodesk® Inventor® 2011:  Man, it’s easy!

Yes, you see it: Heads Up Display!  Now while sketching in Inventor you have all the information right there at your cursor.  No longer do you need to draw your geometry and then start the dimension tool to give everything sizes.  Now as soon as you start drawing geometry you get prompts on screen that allow you to fill in the information right away!  Just think of how many extra clicks that will save you throughout the course of a day!  

Direct Manipulation
What in the world is that, you ask?  Well, it goes right along with the whole concept of HUD.  Direct Manipulation is a series of tools right at your cursor that will help you in manipulation of your models.  Whether you want to start a new sketch or feature, or edit an existing one, there are buttons to start up any of those options.  All of this while concentrating on your models.  This will result in far less mouse travel as you work.  

Assemble
Now if one of your main functions is to put together assemblies, there is even a tool that you can get excited about.  The Assemble tool takes the guesswork out of choosing which assembly constraint to use.  Now you can start the tool and select information from the different parts that you want to put together.  This is when that tool goes to work for you.  Based upon the information you select, the assemble tool will filter the different constraints to something that makes sense.  Plus, if you want to switch to something else, feel free with the HUD icons that show up for you.  

Design Automation

iLogic
Last year there was some significant talk about iLogic and how it will revolutionize the way your intelligent parts and assemblies function.  This is true.  If you have parts and assemblies that are based on rules for their configurations, iLogic was for you.  Of course, you had to be a subscription customer to take advantage of those tools as that is the only way you can get it if you are on Inventor 2010.  Now it is fully integrated with Inventor 2011.  The iLogic parameters can now be manipulated in the same dialog box that you use for your everyday Inventor parameters.  

iCopy
With Inventor 2011 the new tool that should revolutionize your custom assembly configurations is iCopy.  This tool will allow you to do things that iLogic could not handle very well.  If you have assembly configurations that have an infinite number of possibilities, iCopy will be a much better fit.  With this, all you do is setup some key connection points in your model and after a few clicks in the main assembly, presto; your models have been re-sized.  This does not just stop at models.  You can configure this to copy all of the drawing files as well.  Yet another time saver!  

Visualization
Sure, up until now we have all been quite accustomed to working in the shaded view mode.  There are a number of new display modes to go along with the Shaded and Hidden Edge Display modes.  Now we have a completely new set of options for display while working within Inventor 2011 modeling windows.  Imagine if you have the ability to make your models even more realistic looking, all while you are constantly working on them.  Inventor 2011 has new features built in that allow for real- time rendering.  Viewing tools such as object and ambient shadows as well as reflections.  There is also a new material library.  One that is consistent amongst the different software packages from Autodesk.  That way when you export the file from one package and bring it in to something else, it will look consistent.  What a valuable change that will be.  Click the following images for a closer look.  

Visualization before 2011

Visualization with 2011

Monochrome

Professional

Some of you may be wondering if there is anything new and fantastic to look forward to with Inventor Professional.  Well do not fret, there are some things that should prove to be quite impressive.

Frame Analysis

The Simulation package received an update that should be very useful. There  is a new solver to run the calculation of complete frames.  This solver takes into account the cross sections of each member and its properties to make the calculations more efficient.  You will also get some enhancements to the visualization of those simulations.  Including the ability to record the animations of displacement or stress over time.

Simulation

Simulation Guide
The Simulation tools that we had previously have been updated as well.  Simulation reports are now fully customizable using a standard word processor.  You can finally make it look like you desire.  Probably the biggest improvement is the new Simulation Guide.  The guide is a tool that can be used by both experienced as well as the novice user of the simulation tools.  You now have, at your fingertips, a guide that will help you decide and choose what the appropriate tool is for your specific application.  No more checking the web or leafing through numerous books to determine which options to use.

Tooling
Tooling has had its share of updates as well.  The software now allows you to set up different representations to display the mold in different positions.  This will allow you to evaluate the range of motion that you will get based upon the structure of the mold.  You can also incorporate more kinematic constraints to help drive the operation of this mold.  In addition, when calculating the process of making the part, you can now overlay the moldflow results.  This will give you  a better visual understanding of what is going on while the part is being processed.

As you can see, there have been many improvements that will make your time working with Autodesk Inventor 2011 much simpler and quicker. 

This page last edited on Monday, February 14, 2011