Autodesk University 2022 is for the first time being held in New Orleans, who most will remember from Hurricane Katrina, which devasted parts of the city in 2005. But the storm gathering strength now is Fusion 360, Autodesk’s do-everything product design platform.
“We are generally ripping and replacing SOLIDWORKS in side by sides,” says Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk, at a media Q&A session, referring to competitive wins over their MCAD archrival.
Just to be clear, Anagnost means SOLIDWORKS users switching to Fusion 360, Autodesk’s cloud-based platform for CAD, CAM, CAE and EDA – not users moving to desk-top based Inventor. Cloud-based Onshape, once considered the next big thing in CAD, does not come up, not in the Q&A, not in the hallways.
The actual numbers of people transitioning to Autodesk software is not forthcoming.
The attention paid to Autodesk’s MCAD applications was welcomed by mechanical and product designers and engineers at Autodesk University, in contrast to previous years when AEC products and their application enjoyed the limelight.
Autodesk introduced two new extensions for Fusion 360, one by Ansys for simulation and one by ModuleWorks for manufacturing. The extensions make the Fusion platform closer to becoming a one-stop shop for the complete product design and manufacture process.
Integrating Ansys’ electromagnetic capabilities within Fusion 360 will provide electrical CAD users with the ability to perform “near real-time” PCB analyses within the Fusion 360 interface.
With product design itself a fusion of mechanical and electrical design, it’s only fitting that product design software platform have mechanical and electrical design capability. After fully absorbing Eagle PCB design software and now with Ansys providing PCB simulation, Autodesk has caught Fusion 360 up to mechanical design, which has long had design (MCAD) and simulation (FEA).
The ANSYS integration build on Autodesk’s recently released Ansys Electronics Database export, which also starts Ansys Electronics Desktop.
Autodesk partnered with CloudNC aims to speed up tool path creation. Users can upload a solid model of a part and the CloudNC will determine the tools, speeds and paths and return the code.
The CAM API has been enhanced, says Autodesk, to enable integration with future software partners.
Sustainability
A plug-in from Makersite will offer the cost and environmental impact of a part, taking into account the type and amount of material used.
“We’re bringing sustainability insights into the early-stage design process with Makersite, an AI and data management company that powers sustainable product and supply chain decisions at scale,” said Autodesk in a press release. “Our partnership combines Makersite’s environmental impact and cost data with Fusion 360’s product design data.”
Fusion 360 users will be able to click a button to have Makersite calculate the environmental and cost impacts of a product or component design, and receive recommendations regarding its “global warming potential,” expected costs and suggestions of alternative materials from a list of materials their company has available.
Fusion 360 in the Browser