AutoCAD is perhaps the most famous and widely used computer-aided design application in the world, but it certainly isn’t the only one. Other specialty apps offer functionality geared toward professionals engaged in particular kinds of work, going beyond the generalist feature set of AutoCAD. For individuals hoping to build a broad base of skills with which to complete projects in their future careers, it can be valuable to explore some of these other applications while in school.
Autodesk Inventor is an example of this kind of special program and offers powerful capabilities that a CAD professional should not ignore. Here’s why the best schools will teach it as a part of their CAD programs.
Autodesk Inventor Enhances the Modeling Process for Tools and Machine Components
Modeling products in AutoCAD are done easily enough, but functionality is limited once the drawing has been done. Inventor, on the other hand, includes a number of key features that enhance the process for professionals who need to use CAD software to design or model physical objects for manufacturing. Examples include a simpler selection of individual elements within a design, as well as supporting adaptive models. Change one element’s dimensions and the rest can follow suit, matching that element’s new size.
To cap it all off, Inventor plays nicely with AutoCAD, allowing for easy import of AutoCAD projects into Inventor. In a sense, this makes Inventor less of a wholly unique and standalone offering and more like a companion to the ubiquitous AutoCAD. If you think you might want to help model objects for manufacturing after completing CAD training courses, it’s essential.
Inventor Is a Fantastic Option for Representing Objects in Digital Space
The whole point of CAD applications is to facilitate the modeling of physical objects and structures in 3D space, but Autodesk Inventor is particularly good at making these models look great. It packs invaluable visualization, animation, and illustration capabilities, which are great for translating barebones drawings into packages that can greatly impress those looking at your work.
Not everyone who interacts with CAD professionals will have the training or know-how to interpret drawings and data. If you pursue an engineering CAD technician diploma and are tasked with creating a digital model of a new motor, for example, the client might prefer to look at a visual representation of what the product would actually look like, and not a more technical drawing. Easier communication of this sort can lead to faster development, and quicker shipment, of the products being modeled, and is a part of why Inventor has a place in top CAD training programs.
Inventor can help you translate more technical drawings into visually appealing graphics
Inventor Makes it Easy for Students to Simulate Objects’ Behaviour Digitally
Autodesk Inventor is useful for helping to prototype objects, and that goes beyond just creating a design to be made and tested in the real world. The app includes the ability to simulate how objects will behave when subjected to some of the stresses they could experience under different conditions. Inventor can help with simulating the way an object would move, how it would react in particular scenarios—such as impacting another object after a fall—and other situations that might be important to design and manufacturing.
While an actual physical prototype is of course still necessary at some point in the design process, it’s a more expensive process than doing digital prototyping. This makes Inventor’s quick and easy simulations very much desirable in the world of manufacturing. The highly important role that this software holds in this type of environment is a big part of why Autodesk Inventor is taught in top-quality CAD courses.
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