New Autodesk Product Design Suite Offers Digital Prototyping in Convenient, Cost Effective Package

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 22, 2011 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) introduced its new 3D design and engineering software portfolio for manufacturers, including the new Autodesk Product Design Suite that makes design, visualization and simulation software easier to adopt, use and maintain. The complete Autodesk Digital Prototyping software portfolio helps manufacturers to design and build better, more sustainable products, reduce development costs and get to market faster.

“No product design and development challenge is too complex to overcome when you combine the powerful 3D mechanical design capabilities of Autodesk Inventor together with world-leading Autodesk visualization and simulation software,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “Our customers need to create remarkable products more efficiently. The new Autodesk Product Design Suite makes it easier for manufacturers to adopt Digital Prototyping workflows to achieve this goal.”

New Autodesk Suites Deliver Digital Prototyping for Unbeatable Design Innovation and Quality

Autodesk Product Design Suite is a new, comprehensive and cost-effective design solution for creating compelling products. Containing Autodesk’s leading design, visualization and simulation software for manufacturers, the new suite provides flexibility to innovate and more easily respond to changing business requirements from early concepts to detailed engineering and simulation. Autodesk Product Design Suite also provides significant cost savings and is easier to deploy, maintain and manage than stand-alone products.*

Autodesk offers three editions of the Product Design Suite:

• Product Design Suite Standard -- Foundational product design tools for conceptual design, intuitive 3D surface and solid modeling, drafting and presentations, featuring AutoCAD Mechanical with Inventor Fusion, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk SketchBook Designer, Autodesk Vault and Autodesk Mudbox software.
• Product Design Suite Premium -- Optimized Digital Prototyping and visualization tools for maximum performance that features Standard edition tools along with Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk 3ds Max Design software.
• Product Design Suite Ultimate -- Advanced surfacing, simulation and tooling for unbeatable design quality, featuring the same tools as the Premium edition along with Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Alias Design software.

“Combining our Autodesk Inventor Professional products with the software powering Hollywood-quality imagery, movies and interactive presentations enables us to create visually impressive and dynamic engineering solutions for our design and engineering teams,” said Carl Maas, manager of CAD/engineering services at L-3 Power Paragon. “With the new Autodesk Product Design Suite, we can create, validate and communicate our digital designs with even greater confidence and shortened development time.”

Launched in 2010 and updated this year, Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2012 is a factory layout and optimization solution that helps manufacturers make better layout decisions through the creation of a digital factory model, helping save time and money. It offers unique factory specific functionality in both AutoCAD Architecture and Autodesk Inventor, combined with Autodesk Navisworks’ powerful visualization and analysis and Autodesk Vault to improve collaboration. New additions to the suite in 2012 include AutoCAD Mechanical for automating mechanical CAD tasks and 3ds Max Design and Showcase for enhancing communication and bids.

Changing the Game in Sustainable Product Design

As a result of the strategic partnership announced in Oct. 2010, Autodesk and Granta Design Ltd. have built new design methods into Autodesk Inventor 2012 software that help designers estimate a product’s environmental impact and make more sustainable design decisions. The new Eco Materials Adviser in Inventor 2012 addresses sustainable design requirements early in the design process — when it matters most — enabling manufacturers to choose materials that minimize environmental impact without compromising on cost and performance. Powered by Granta’s expert materials database and proven sustainable design methodology, Eco Materials Adviser helps guide material selection and generates eco-impact reports so engineers can record and communicate the benefits of their sustainable design decisions.

Autodesk Inventor Fusion Brings 3D Direct Modeling to Range of Autodesk Products

Autodesk Inventor Fusion makes its commercial debut following its popular technology preview on Autodesk Labs. It is now included at no extra cost as a companion application to Autodesk Alias Design and Alias Automotive, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Simulation and AutoCAD products. Inventor Fusion provides robust 3D modeling ease-of-use and direct modeling for rapid design changes. It also unites direct and parametric workflows within a single digital model created in Autodesk Inventor.