Autodesk took thewraps off its annual upgrade to the Inventor product line, highlightinginteroperability, ease-of-use and integrated simulation capabilities in the2010 release of its digital prototyping suite.

"When it comes to this version of Inventor, it's reallyabout accelerating digital prototyping for the customer - making it easier tobuild a prototype or giving them new things to do with the digital prototypewhen it comes to evaluating and testing models," says Amy Bunszel,Autodesk's director of mechanical products.

One of the highlights of the Inventor 2010 suite is a focuson plastic parts design and tooling. With the addition of the AutodeskMoldflow technology, Inventor users can now design complex plastic partsalong with the corresponding mold design in a single tool. "Being able todesign plastic injection molding in the same digital model saves a huge amountof time and prevents having to reenter data, which can cause errors andsacrifice a high degree of productivity," Bunszel says.

Integrated simulation is another main focus of the 2010upgrade. Based on technology garnered from its acquisitionof PlassoTech, Autodesk has improved its support for motion simulation andstatic and modal finite element analysis at the part level, and now at theassembly level as well. In previous versions, this kind of sophisticatedanalysis was only available on a part level, Bunszel says. In addition, a newSketch Blocks feature provides a logical representation of both rigid andmoving bodies that can be combined into 2-D kinematic models for detailedmotion studies.

The third major focus of the Inventor 2010 suite is aroundinteroperability and useability. The software has a new Shrinkwrap feature thatgives users better control over the simplification of large assemblies forprotecting intellectual property when collaborating with third parties. Bunszellikened this new feature to a black box, which defines a component with enoughdetail to see how it connects to other elements in the design, but withoutproviding access to the intellectual property when collaborating with a largesupply chain.

There is also an enhanced AEC Exchange capability forsimplifying the exchange of data for use in building design. Inventor 2010 alsocomes with a new read/write translator for Dassault's CATIA,a first for the Autodesk product. Inventor already has such translators forParasolid, PTC Pro/ENGINEER and other offerings.

Other highlights of the announcement include:

Details of the new release and purchase options will beavailable starting March 24.

Autodesk Brings Inventor into 2010 A