New Autodesk Design Suites appear as 3D printing starts to fly

Against a background of startling developments in 3D printing, Autodesk has just announced the introduction of Autodesk 2015 Design Suites, which are more tightly integrated with Autodesk cloud services than ever before.

The combination of advanced computer-aided design tools and its new form of reality – 3D printing – is already achieving some major advances. Take, for example the recent work of engineers at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Sheffield, which has resulted in the development of a 1.5m-wide, prototype 3D-printed unmanned aerial vehicle – in other words, a drone.

The objective is see whether the low production costs of 3D printing might lead to unmanned aircraft that could be disposable and sent on one-way flights for delivery, search or reconnaissance purposes. The engineers said the polymer craft could form the basis of cheap and potentially disposable UAVs that could be built and deployed in remote situations potentially within as little as 24 hours.

Earlier versions required significant amounts of support material around component parts to prevent the airframe structures from deforming during the build process. Using support material adds a direct material cost, and significantly increases build time, in some cases by an order of magnitude. New 3D printing techniques, such as the fused deposition modelling (FDM) used to make the UAV at Sheffield, could soon be used in the creation of products without the need for complex and expensive tooling and the time required in traditional manufacturing.

The UAV has already completed a test flight as a glider.  Researchers are developing an electric ducted fan propulsion system that will be incorporated into the airframe’s central spine.  They plan to develop the craft for guidance by GPS or camera technology, controlled by an operator wearing first person-view goggles.

Designing entirely new products such as this obviously requires some high quality design engineering tools, and the new Design Suites introduced by Autodesk fit just such a category. They offer customers the ability to collaborate, simulate, analyse and more, many with just one click from within the suite.

“The Autodesk portfolio now has something for everyone involved in making products and projects come to life, in addition to designers and engineers”

Each Autodesk 2015 Design Suite includes AutoCAD 2015, which is claimed to be the most advanced AutoCAD yet. A new interface and enhanced productivity tools enable customers to experience a new standard in design and documentation. Additionally, Autodesk Subscription offers customers even more convenient, flexible ways to access the tools they need, when they need them, to help grow their business.

This connects customers with software updates, services and support that help get the most out of their investment in Autodesk software now and in the future.

“The Autodesk portfolio now has something for everyone involved in making products and projects come to life, in addition to designers and engineers,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of platform products, Autodesk. “Users will notice a difference in how much easier it is to get their work done with the Autodesk 2015 Design Suites.”

The range of suites available targets the specific requirements those working in the design of buildings, factories, infrastructures, engineering plant, and general products. These all now connect to the company’s cloud services.

The company claims that customers in the architecture, engineering, and construction and infrastructure markets can expect to see significant productivity improvements through one-click access to BIM 360 cloud-based building information modeling (BIM) software for collaboration and management of construction projects.

Similarly, Autodesk InfraWorks 360 offers civil engineers additional cloud services for collaboration and analysis at the early stages of infrastructure design. This includes an updated user interface, support for more data formats, enhancements to other related infratructure cloud services, including a new Bridge Design for InfraWorks 360 tool.

The other suites have similar cloud-delivered specialist tools available, which means designers can access them on a needs basis without having to purchase and install them, just in case.