Inventor Anycad

[Gaynelle Alnutt]

WhenInventor 2015 was released I thought it was one the No.1 CAD system on the planet, Inventor 2016 cements it. Inventor blows away anything else on the market, add to that you get it in a Suite of other best of breed products and nothing else comes close.

This is probably the most exciting feature in Autodesk Inventor 2016. AnyCAD allows you to open other CAD files natively with associativity, so if the source file is modified, it will automatically update inside Autodesk Inventor, allowing you to work with virtually AnyCAD format.

You can still open and convert CAD data that way however, Autodesk have modified the interface, where you can either translate the file and lose associativity or import the file as a reference and maintain associativity.

At the assembly level in Autodesk Inventor, you have the option to choose which parts and/or sub-assemblies you would like to bring in too and can go back at anytime, edit the import and choose to add or remove parts from the assembly you are importing.

When a change is made to the source file, a lightning bolt will emerge on the imported file.To update the change, the user will need to manually update the file so the changes come through. This is a deliberate option made by Autodesk to give the user control over whether they wanted the update to modify the design.

The new underlay feature and Project DWG geometry command you can easily turn 2D blocks into 3D models and maintain associativity. Users have the option of suppressing or breaking the associative link and turning layers on and off from a simple right click.

You can, however, open the part in an assembly and have an assembly version of the imported model in the assembly environment too as a workaround. Obviously, if you make a edit to a part that is also being modified by the source CAD program, when the model refreshes, you will have errors that will need correcting.

The next big thing with Autodesk inventor 2016 is the live link with AutoCAD Electrical. Previous releases had a Bi-directional import function via XML. The Electrical catalogue got added in the 2015 making it easier to import and export.

The 2016 release is a true Electromechanical solution that synchronises Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD Electrical. Whether you are in Autodesk Inventor or AutoCAD Electrical, there is an Electromechanical Link Setup button, where you can create a project and via an EMX file, the user can link the Inventor assembly to the AutoCAD Electrical project.

Autodesk Inventor 2015 came out with a Freeform modelling module based on N.U.R.B.S. with T-Splines, a Sub-D surfacing technology which is amazing. Compared to the Freeform features in Fusion 360, it was limited to starting with primitives and a few other features like Bridge, Match Edge, Crease Edge, etc. In December, 2014, Fusion 360 was included as a subscription service in Product Design Suite.

dditive Manufacturing has exploded as one of the fastest growing industries. Autodesk has some nice tools like Meshmixer and Momento that you should check out if your are 3D Printing and working with meshes. In the 2016 release of Inventor now comes an Additive Manufacturing Module.

Under the Environments tab, there is a 3D print icon. This module allows you to setup a test bed and work out the best way of printing your part. when you enter the environment the part snaps to the test bed, where it has the tools to re-orientate and partition parts on the test bed to make parts fit if they are too large.

As the name suggests, Inventor now support multi-body sheet metal parts which is a long, long time coming! You can convert a multi-body part to a multi-body sheet metal part and create new bodies like you would in the part environment. Support for zero bend radius is in many commands, the material thickness is detected when you convert a part to sheet metal part and the punch tool shows a count of the number of selections you have made.

Enhancements have been made to having the view cube when dropping in a view and being able to dynamically change orientation. You can start a drawing from any open model, and automatically apply the current model camera and representations in the base view. There has been enhancements to the symbol library, making it easier to create new symbols and also making it more centralised.

The home screen has changed with a more graphical interface, searching capabilities, pinning files, filters, view properties of selected files and adding directory paths and shortcuts to links. Part Modeling Enhancements

Awesome job from autodesk! I have used solidworks, solidedge, little catia and inventor, and inventor is by far my favourite and keeps geting better twice as fast as the others. Inventor is probably the most underrated cad on the planet!

Great job with this blog too, i enjod reading it and share your passion about inventor!

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