An圜AD can open Solidworks, Creo, Catia, Solidedge, and NX files natively. Opening a Catia file for example for launch the An圜AD menu, Converting the file into an Inventor part will complete the interaction with An圜AD. Utilizing Autodesk's An圜AD technology that is housed inside of Inventor, users can use non-native Inventor files to create 3D prints. How can I use it for Non Native Inventor Files? 3D printing is the future of making things, and Autodesk Inventor is at the forefront of this technology.
Errors can be caught earlier and normally cost less to revise, seeing as you only have a plastic part and not a full blown metal prototype. Where as 3D printing only takes a few minutes and hitting the “Go” button. Prototype creation can take hours of your time cutting chips on a mill. These lathes, mills, and saws could be replaced with one 3D printer that takes up a heck of a lot less space and time. Thinking back to my days in industry our department literally had an entire area dedicated to machines we needed to machine and manufacture prototypes. With 3D printers becoming more and more affordable and cramming more technology into a smaller price tag, this new way of thinking almost sells itself. Utilizing the Print Options tool, you can refine your mesh structure, units, and even color. Users also have the ability to send this print directly to their printer. This is where it really gets cool, users have the ability to send this part over to Autodesk Print Studio or even Meshmixer. From this environment, we can now set the orientation of our part, do some direct modeling if say we need to make it a bit longer, or even insert work planes.
This tool is designed to work natively with an Autodesk Ember printer, or a number of other 3D printers. Clicking on this tool launches a representation of a print bed. This tool is easy to find, navigating to the Environments panel we are greeted by an image of a 3D printer towards the middle of the page. I’m referring to the 3D Print tool inside of Inventor. The tides have changes though, with advancements in additive manufacturing and 3D printing Autodesk has included a tool in Inventor that allow us to quickly generate the mesh file we need for our 3D printers, and even send a file directly to the printer for use. There was file exporting, waiting, and sometimes even some profanities. Remembering back to the old days of Inventor, trying to create a 3D print of your model was difficult. It’s cheaper, faster, a heck of a lot easier then manufacturing a part, just to find out that hold needs to be 5 thou bigger. 3D printing is quickly becoming the standard for prototyping.