IN THIS ISSUE

Community

- CATIA® V5 Import Translator for Autodesk® Inventor® now available on Labs
- Why Good Design Flow Matters

Focus On

- Autodesk Strengthens the Competitiveness of Small & Medium Business Worldwide
- Dealing with the Bad Economic News

Tips & Techniques

- Favourite Tips for Autodesk Inventor
- Archiving a Drawing Set in AutoCAD®
- Importing Autodek® AliasStudio® wire files into Autodesk Inventor

Subscription News

- Get Trained At Your Own Pace With e-Learning

Customer Success

- Sculpting Better Sound with Autodesk Inventor

Industry Events

- Vote for your Inventor of the Year 2008

It all starts here  

Quick Links to Website

- Previous Issues
- Manufacturing Solutions
- Product List
- Support (US Web site)
- Locate a Reseller
- Locate a Training Centre
- Autodesk Loyalty Program
- Customer Stories
- Events

Welcome to the February 2009 issue of Manufacturing News, the newsletter designed especially for professionals in mechanical engineering, engineering design, process engineering and electrical engineering.

In this issue, you'll get tips on how to improve modelling skills for good design flow and also the recent IDC whitepaper which validates Autodesk Digital Prototyping solution in helping to strengthen the competitiveness of Small Medium Businesses worldwide. We also have advice for CAD managers on dealing with the bad economic news plus a preview of the new translator for CATIA which allows you to import data directly into Autodesk Inventor without the need for conversion before use.

As always, we'll share our usual dose of Tips and Tricks for you; and we showcase our customer success story - Rodin, an audio components design firm. You can also cast your vote for the 2008 Inventor of the Year.

If you would like to share your comments on how we can improve this newsletter, please send them to keepintouch@autodesk.com.

Happy Reading!

The Manufacturing News Editorial Team

Why Good Design Flow Matters

The goal of every user of 3D solid modelling software is to create models that are stable, predictable, and easy for others to modify in the future. All too often, users will take shortcuts in design, generate features without regard to how the feature may need to be modified, or create feature dependencies that affect the stability and editability. This article explores some of the ways to improve your modelling skills. Read about it here .

CATIA V5 Import Translator for Inventor, now available on Labs

Preview this new translator that allows direct import of CATIA 5 files into Autodesk Inventor software. This translator reads both CATPart and CATProduct files, bringing solids, surfaces, wires, and points into Autodesk Inventor software to be directly utilised while modelling. With this direct import, it eliminates the need to convert CATIA data to make it usable in your projects. Find out more here.

Autodesk Strengthens the Competitiveness of Small & Medium Business Worldwide

Global pressures are forcing business process changes upon small and medium-sized design and engineering companies worldwide. To succeed in this changing economic environment, global small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have to rethink their product development processes.  While it is desirable to have a product-life-cycle management system, SMB often do not have the IT expertise or funds to acquire and implement such systems, nor time to train their employees. In this white paper, IDC discusses how SMBs may now get an answer for their product development needs with Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions. Click here for the white paper.

Dealing with the Bad Economic News

Times are getting tougher, but there are things you can do to soften the effects of company cutbacks. An insightful piece on what CAD managers can do to survive the downturn and emerge in a stronger position when things get better. Read more here.

Tip 1:  Favourite Tips for Autodesk Inventor

Here's a recap on the all-time favourite tips for Autodesk Inventor, including how to customise border in Inventor IDW/DWG, do multiple selection of objects & repeat last command. Read about it here.
Posted by Posted by Dennis Jeffrey, an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert and Autodesk Implementation Certified Expert, in the Creative Inventor column in Augi.

Tip 2: Archiving a Drawing Set in AutoCAD®

If you need to make an archive set of drawings, you can use the Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD. Click here to learn how to do this.

Tip 3: Importing Autodesk AliasStudio wire files into Autodesk Inventor

When you import Autodesk AliasStudio wire file into Autodesk Inventor, you want imported objects to be separated. Find out how you can do so here.

Get Trained At Your Own Pace With e-Learning

Only for subscription customers. The online training catalogue provides a variety of learning experiences. Featuring self-paced lessons that are a quick and convenient way to learn the Autodesk suite of Manufacturing solutions. Each lesson usually takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete and includes hands-on exercises so you can practise what you've learned.

To get access to the training catalogue, please visit the Subscription Center www.autodesk.com/subscriptionlogin.

Don’t have a login? Please email us at ap.subscriptions@autodesk.com for your login.

Sculpting Better Sound with Autodesk Inventor

Rodin, a designer of audio components, switches from 2D design in AutoCAD to 3D design with Autodesk Inventor and finds it can produce better products faster…"Inventor lets us produce realistic images of products for review by decision makers. We can easily run through various iterations, making minor changes to color or texture before we spend a dime on tooling. Upper management now signs off on designs with confidence, without viewing a physical prototype." Read more on their successful transition here.

Vote for Your Inventor of the Year 2008

Voting has started! Seize your chance to your vote for 2008 Inventor of the Year. Held annually, the winner of Inventor of the Year is chosen by the manufacturing community as their favourite Inventor of the month recipient. Log on here to cast your vote.