The majority of the new tools and features in this update come from customer feedback from the Autodesk Ideas Station.
Starting with sketches, and the ability to edit the colour scheme of sketches on a drawing has been introduced. This allows for sketches to be made clearer depending on the sheet colour.
The part environment is where the majority of new tools for this release are introduced. The new Finish function has been added due to it being a highly requested feature. The Finish tool will allow users to add an extra step in the workflow and add the manufacturing process to the component. This also works in assembly, sheet metal and weldment environments. During this process users will add one or more of the five Finish variables:
- Appearance
- Material Coating
- Heat Treatment
- Surface Texture
- Paint
By selecting each of these features a different list of properties is then required to be filled in to define the process. Standards can also be set up in the design data, this will give companies with a consistent manufacturing process more compliance. These ‘Finish’ properties are then stored in the parameters and can be mapped through to iProperties, and therefore drawings if required. This tool is going to help Inventor users complete their engineering workflow and add extra information for their customers or workshops.
Section views are another area that has been updated both in the Part and Assembly environment. The option to rotate a section view as well as edit, suppress, and delete within a view representation is going to allow for more accurate views, as well as easier ways of saving and storing them. It also gives users the ability to turn the end cap on and off.
The tube and pipe environment has introduced the ability to add custom elbows. Previous releases only saw the option to add 45 and 90-degree angles which caused a lot of issues. Users can now store and publish custom elbows to the standard they are using. During creation, it will create then create the relevant angle.
Revision clouds have been added to the drawing environment. These are used to highlight any part of the model or drawing that is currently being changed or that has already been changed. With the revision clouds, they can also be inverted to outline something that is usually in the change process. This new workflow allows companies to better understand a revision process by highlighting the key areas and reducing the time looking for updates.
Further general enhancements have been introduced within the render environment being the key focus. Inventor studio now gives full support for 16K x 16K render output for images and animations. The new GPU ray tracing introduced in 2023 has also been updated to allow for thread rendering and IBL rendering allowing the user to put their models into a scene. IBL’s can now also be added and customised allowing companies to design their own scenes by adding HDR or EXR images.
If you are interested in hearing more about any of the new features or are interested in migrating to this latest release then please get in touch with us here at Symetri.
You can also register for our upcoming What's New in Inventor & Vault 2024 webinar on 18th May.