Autodesk, Inc. announced today an agreement to acquire certain assets of MechSoft, Inc., an Autodesk Inventor(R) Certified Applications Program partner and developer of the award-winning MechSoft product. This move advances Autodesk's goal of delivering engineering capabilities to the design department to help customers build products based on the concept of "functional design." Functional desi is a new, more direct way to design in 3D. Autodesk plans to integrate key components of MechSoft's technology into future versions of Autodesk Inventor Series. ]

"By incorporating this proven technology into our design tools, we are able to further extend the value of our solutions and help our customers improve their mechanical design process," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk.

Functional design moves beyond 2D drafting and 3D modeling, enabling users to work in terms of mechanical relationships, rather than geometric descriptions and constraints. For example, the engineer designs a gear set based on loading and reduction ratios rather than size and placement, and then lets MechSoft generate the geometry as needed. This engineering functionality means that users can shorten design cycles and optimize as they design.

The MechSoft, Inc. asset acquisition, which is expected to close in March 2004, is a major step in Autodesk's efforts to build engineering functionality into its market-leading 2D and 3D mechanical design software. Although Autodesk did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, MechSoft's technology will significantly compliment Autodesk's solutions with many tools that enable users to embed engineering calculations into their designs based on how parts function.