Marrying desktop and cloud design experience for more comprehensive industry workflows continues to be a theme at Autodesk. The latest Autodesk Design and Creation Suites offer access to the Autodesk 2014 software portfolio for building, product, plant, and factory design; engineering, construction, and infrastructure; and entertainment creation professionals. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a great future in composite materials, the next generation of lighter, stronger, safer, and more energy-efficient materials.

After Siemens PLM Software acquired Vistagy more than a year ago, Autodesk yesterday announced that it has completed the acquisition of Firehole Technologies (do business as Firehole Composites), a privately held software company based in Laramie, Wyoming, that specializes in design and analysis software for composite materials. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read the rest of this entry »

In late November 2012, at the time of the Autodesk University 2012 conference, Autodesk, the leader in cloud-based design and engineering software, and INDYCAR, the auto racing sanctioning body behind popular racing events such as the Indianapolis 500, have signed a three-year technology partnership. INDYCAR already employs Autodesk’s desktop-based software within its operations for a variety of important functions. For example, the organization uses AutoCAD software to create detailed garage layouts before each event, which helps improve the logistics of load-in and load-out at venues.

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A week before the Autodesk University 2012 conference, Aras, a provider of enterprise-class open source product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions, announced the launch of Aras VPLM, a commercial offering designed specifically for companies that run Autodesk Vault with Inventor for three-dimensional product design and AutoCAD for two-dimensional design. Aras VPLM for Autodesk Vault provides packaged functionality for corporate-wide PLM business processes within companies that run Autodesk product data management (PDM) software.

Built on top of Autodesk Vault Professional, Aras VPLM extends the capabilities of Autodesk Vault for new product development and introduction (NPDI), complex configuration management, enterprise change management, outsourced manufacturing, quality compliance, and other functions across a company and its supply chain, by allowing collaboration between product development, operations, quality, purchasing, sales and marketing, and other groups.

Autodesk Vault is by far the best computer-aided design (CAD) file manager for designers using Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD. Read the rest of this entry »