Autodesk Inventor

A 3D CAD modelling package produced by Autodesk of America.

Unlike AutoCAD, Inventor is based on newer, more advanced parametric modeling techniques. Users begin by designing parts. These parts can then be combined into assemblies. Editing parts and assemblies are two completely different things.

Parts in Inventor are made by defining features, which are based on sketches. For example, in order to make a simple cube, a user would first make a sqare sketch, then use the extrude tool to make a cube feature out of it. If a user then wanted to add a shaft coming out of the cube, he could add a sketch on the desired face, draw a circle, and then extrude that circle to create a shaft. The best aspect of this design is that all of the sketches and features can be edited later, without having to redo the entire part. This system of modeling is much more intuitive than cumbersome systems in older modeling environments, where one who wanted to change basic dimensions would usually have to delete the entire file and start over.

Parts are then connected to make assemblies. Assemblies can consist of both parts, and other assemblies. Parts are joined together by adding constraints between surfaces. For example, if one was adding a sprocket onto a shaft, constraints could be added saying that center of the shaft was the same as the center of the sprocket. To specify the exact position, you could add a constraint giving the distance between the surface of the sprocket and the end of the shaft.

This method of modeling allows for the creation of very large, complicated assemblies.

Autodesk Inventor

See also