Technical What’s New
Autodesk Inventor 2011
10
Hatch Patterns
With enhancements such as automatically breaking
hatch patterns around text, Inventor 2011 makes
working with hatching easier than ever before�
Inventor 2011 also allows you to import your custom
hatch patterns from AutoCAD, helping you to maintain
consistency in your drawings�
Interoperability
Alias-Inventor Interoperability
To execute design projects that require shapely,
flowing forms, design teams have taken advantage of
the CAD interoperability between Autodesk
®
Alias
®
Design software and Inventor for fast, high-quality data
exchange between industrial designers and mechanical
engineers� With the new Autodesk
®
Alias
®
Design for
Inventor
®
2011, Autodesk takes this interoperability to a
whole new level�
Autodesk Alias Design 2011 software now includes
Alias Design for Inventor, an additional application that
works directly within Inventor, providing free-form 3D
shape modeling workflows� It can be installed directly
in Inventor and is fully integrated�
The free-form 3D shape modeling with Alias Design for
Inventor enables a new level of integration between
design, engineering and manufacturing� Alias Design
for Inventor features intuitive workflows that enable
engineers to easily explore the shape, form, and
aesthetics of their designs�
CATIA Translators
Autodesk Inventor 2011 software simplifies
interdisciplinary collaboration across many industries
and products� In addition to CATIA V5 files, you can
now open, import, place, or drag and drop CATIA
V4 models into Inventor files� Associativity is not
maintained, but the imported model behaves as if
it were created with Inventor� Select from various
import options to achieve the appropriate model
characteristics�
With the ability to read CATIA V4 and CRG formats,
Inventor users will now be able to leverage even more
models that were created with CATIA� Additionally,
enhancements made to the existing built-in translators
offer improved importing and exporting of the many file
formats already available�
3D Printing
When it comes time to print a 3D model, Inventor now
lets you preview the final outcome before ever printing
the model� The 3D Print Preview displays an accurate
representation of the printed model, helping to ensure
that you receive the quality of 3D printing you expect�
In this preview environment, users can see the
triangular mesh, including the number of facets in the
mesh and the size of the file that will be sent to the 3D
printer or saved as a file� Now assemblies can be output
as a single file or as multiple files (one file per part
instance)� Users can choose the output units, and STL
files may be written in either the binary or ASCII STL
format�
Autodesk Inventor users can now take advantage of a
new 3D print service from directly within the Inventor
software� Simply select “Print to 3D Service” from
the Inventor menu and the 3D printed model will
be shipped directly to you� (Additional printing and
shipping fees apply�)
