Autodesk Labs Serves Up Inventor Plastics Preview

Score another interesting piece of technology made available to design tool tire-kickers on the Autodesk Labs Web site. A preview version of the Inventor 3-D CAD tool showcases the Inventor Plastic Features Technology, new capabilities designed to simplify the design of plastic products. The technology, designed to work in conjunction with Autodesk’s Moldflow injection molding simulation products and PlassoTech finite element analysis tool set acquired by Autodesk last year, allows designers and engineers to automatically create thin-walled plastic parts and features such as grills, rests, bosses, snaps, lips, grooves and fillets. Autodesk officials say the addition of the technology is key given the widespread use of plastics as an engineering material. You can check out the preview for free for a limited time on the Autodesk Labs Web site.