It is a history free or ‘Direct’ modeller, making it closer to AutoCAD than Inventor in it’s use. Autodesk Inventor FusionĪutodesk Inventor Fusion is a recent Autodesk Labs graduate. While Autodesk Mechanical has some great features that could be used in the construction industry, it is my opinion that if you don’t use AutoCAD mechanical already you would be better off learning Autodesk Inventor. I am assuming that this just goes to show how popular AutoCAD mechanical is. I had always thought that AutoCAD mechanical would be supplanted by Autodesk Inventor, however Autodesk are here again, providing another raft of new features to AutoCAD mechanical. It is based on AutoCAD, so the way the product works will be familiar with AutoCAD users. AutoCAD is still a great all round product for drafters in the construction industry.ĪutoCAD Mechanical is an AutoCAD ‘Vertical’ product aimed specifically at mechanical Engineering. Conclusionĭespite all the new 3D tools that have become available, the requirement for 2D drawings in the construction industry will be with us for some time to come. This view has been born out with AutoCAD 2012, which can now import 3D files from CATIA, JT, NX, Parasolid, Pro/ENGINEER, Rhino, SolidWorks, as well as Files from Microstation and 3Ds Max.Īutodesk have also bundled Inventor Fusion with AutoCAD and provided support for creating 2D drawings from 3D Inventor models.Īs usual Autodesk have taken very little away from AutoCAD with the 2012 release, so you shouldn’t have any problems settling in with the new product. It is my opinion that Autodesk are grooming AutoCAD to be the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of the Autodesk product line. It is the work horse of the UK construction industry where it is is primarily used as a 2D drafting tool, however Autodesk are improving it’s 3D toolset every year. You all know this one! AutoCAD is Autodesk’s flagship product. In this post I aim to give a brief run down of what these new products do and give my own recommendations of the use and value of these tools to the average construction industry drafter.
You may also be wondering how useful the new software will be to you and how you might be able to integrate these new tools into your daily workflow. If you are unfamiliar with the new software that is being bundled in with your old product you may be wondering what these products are? You can find out more about which products come with the AutoCAD suite here and which products come with the Inventor Suite here. If you produce manufacturing drawings for the building industry what will this mean for you?ĪutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor subscription customers will soon be getting up to 10 new pieces of software to play with for Free. Autodesk is making big news with the ‘Suiting’ of it’s 2012 range of software.