Tools for Digital Prototyping

Evolve the Way You Think About Your Design Process
Share a single digital model from conceptual design through to manufacturing. Visualize, optimize, and manage your design before producing a physical prototype to better enable collaboration and innovation. You’ll save time and money, build better products, and beat your competition to market.

Until recently, the ability to build and test a digital prototype has been out of reach for most manufacturing companies. But by making it cost-effective for design and manufacturing workgroups, Autodesk is uniquely positioned to bring Digital Prototyping to a broader market.

Best-In-Class Conceptual Design
Optimize your design process and work digitally from project outset using best-in-class conceptual design tools from Autodesk. Capture ideas digitally—from initial sketches to 3D concept models using Autodesk® AliasStudio™ software then share those designs with the engineering team using a common file format. Autodesk® Maya® software is a natural partner to Autodesk AliasStudio because it allows designers to easily move their AliasStudio data into Maya. The advanced animation, effects and rendering capabilities of Autodesk Maya help designers create the highest quality photo real and stylisticstillvisualizations of their digital prototype.

Facilitate informed and streamlined decision-making with realistic representations of the product created from 3D design data with Autodesk® Showcase™ software. Easily present a range of design options to help reduce the time, cost, and the need for building physical prototypes.

Integrated 2D and 3D Mechanical and Electrical
Autodesk® Inventor™ software is the foundation for digital prototyping. The Inventor model is an accurate 3D digital prototype that enables users to validate design and engineering data as they work, minimize the need for physical prototypes, and reduce costly engineering changes discovered after the design is sent to manufacturing.

Designers can import their Inventor data into Autodesk® 3ds Max® software for advanced rendering and animated visualization of digital prototypes to complement design reviews. These visualizations quickly communicate how the end product will look, behave and function in any context.

The Autodesk Digital Prototyping solution includes AutoCAD® Electrical software for electrical control system design. The sharing of electrical design information from AutoCAD Electrical with the cable and harness functionality of Autodesk Inventor allows mechanical and electrical teams to work collaboratively on the digital prototype.

The bi-directional communication between AutoCAD Electrical and Inventor helps users quickly create accurate 2D and 3D electrical designs in less time. AutoCAD® Mechanical software, a purpose-built 2D mechanical design and drafting application that is included within the Autodesk Inventor product line, allows designers and drafters to easily detail and document native Inventor models.

Connect All to the Digital Prototype
Connecting all the workgroups to the digital prototype is the Autodesk® Productstream® family of product data management applications. These modular, scalable, and practical tools enable design workgroups to manage and track all the design components for a digital prototype, access critical design information, and make smarter business decisions. These tools automate the design revision and release processes and manage engineering bills of materials. This shortens production times, increases the ability to leverage standardized design processes, and facilitates better collaboration among design, manufacturing, and vendors.