Inventor 4.(Autodesk's mechanical modeling software)(Software Review)(Evaluation)

Autodesk facilitates 2D-to-3D transition

Autodesk continues its aggressive release schedule with Inventor 4, the latest version of its mechanical modeling software. In this release, Autodesk has added more than 150 enhancements, aimed largely at helping users make the transition from 2D to 3D mechanical design, including complete compatibility with AutoCAD's DWG drawing file format.

Parts, assemblies, drawings, presentation views, and design elements are saved as separate files. To keep everything straight, the program organizes related files into projects. Unlike the previous release, however, whenever you start a new file or open an existing one, Inventor displays a well-designed Quick Start window with tools to select the appropriate project (or create a new one), edit an existing project, and locate or create the desired file. It's a welcome addition to what is already perhaps the best-designed user interface among all mid-range MCAD programs.

As in most parametric modeling programs, you begin a part in Inventor by sketching 2D geometry, and here Release 4 offers several improvements. You can now create chamfers as you sketch, something that's often easier than adding them later in the model, and dimensions and constraints are automatically created as you work. Another new feature lets you selectively project edges of existing parts onto the sketch plane, then use the projected geometry to build a new sketch. After you have created a sketch, a new Auto Dimension dialog box enables you to automatically add dimensions and constraints to your sketch, and indicates how many dimensions and constraints are required to fully constrain your sketch.

Inventor 4 also adds several improvements to part modeling. When creating fillets, the program provides more control over corner fillet shape by allowing adjustment of the setback of each edge fillet independently. And when a fillet runs over an edge, you can adjust the fillet radius and maintain the edge, or maintain the fillet radius and adjust the edge.

Until now, Inventor has lagged behind its competitors (such as SolidWorks) and even Autodesk's own Mechanical Desktop when it came to modeling surfaces. Inventor 4 makes some progress in this area. You can now use extrude, sweep, loft, and revolve to construct surfaces that can then be used to terminate or split other 3D solids. You also can fillet and chamfer composite surfaces and shell surfaces into solids. Although this is far ...