At its flagship annual user event, Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) highlighted the disruptions altering how things are designed and made, explored how the natural world can inspire design, and previewed new software tools and programs to make 3D design and fabrication more accessible. The company also laid out its plans to help designers and engineers transition to a new era of connection where they achieve better outcomes by realizing their ideas in context of the real world.

“There’s been a radical rethinking of how things will be made in the future,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. “New manufacturing processes and materials, coupled with infinite computing and ubiquitous connectivity are completely changing how companies innovate and deliver new products.”

Bass welcomed Autodesk University’s 10,000 attendees in a keynote address where he demonstrated a range of the company’s cloud-based products for 3D design and engineering, reality computing and 3D printing, and announced plans to introduce a new offering next year that will provide access to the entire Autodesk portfolio of products with a single subscription. In this presentation and throughout the event, the company introduced new programs and tools that will help the design and manufacturing industries achieve new levels of connectivity and collaboration:

• Autodesk Fusion 360, the world’s first cloud-based 3D CAD/CAM tool for product development that merges industrial design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing will be made available for no additional cost to Autodesk Product Design Suite subscribers. In addition, Autodesk announced that in the future, Fusion will run entirely in a web browser (see related announcement)
• A360 Team will be available globally later this month. A360 Team is a modern tool for collaborating that breaks down silos, brings teams together across time and space, and enables data management to recede into the background to be essentially invisible to users. In addition, A360 Collaboration for Revit (formerly codenamed Project Skyscraper) connects building project teams with centralized access to BIM data in the cloud and will be available later this month (see related announcements)
• Autodesk is now offering a limited number of early build Ember 3D printers for purchase and product feedback through the Ember Explorer Program. Ember is the first 3D printer built on the Spark open 3D printing platform. Apply for access at http://spark.autodesk.com/ember-explorer
• Autodesk has made its industry leading design, engineering and entertainment software and cloud services free** to students, instructors and academic institutions worldwide. With this move, more than 680 million students and educators from over 790,000 schools worldwide can now take advantage of access to Autodesk software and cloud services via the Autodesk Academic Resource Center.

Joining Bass on stage were Emily Pilloton, Founder and Executive Director of Project H and Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk SVP and Chief Technology Officer, who discussed how Autodesk is looking at technology and design through the lens of nature. He said, “We’ve started to think of the design process as a living process, and to think of the things we create as living things. We can’t continue to use the same old processes to make the things we design significantly better, or even live sustainably on our own planet. The next breakthroughs will co­opt some of the actual processes of nature, bringing what works in the living world into the world of the things we create.”

Autodesk University Reaches Worldwide Audience
Autodesk University is a series of conferences and an online learning destination focused on inspiring, challenging and energizing Autodesk software users, partners, and industry leaders about the future of design and engineering. Now in its 22nd year, the AU conferences attract more than 25,000 participants throughout the year including the flagship event in Las Vegas, which began today; international AU events in Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, Germany, and China; and AU Extension events in an additional six countries.

A highlight of AU Las Vegas are the five Innovation Forums, a series of sessions focused on the future of making buildings, products, infrastructure and other things. The AU Exhibit Hall showcases the latest technology and innovative work by Autodesk customers across multiple industries. This year in the exhibit hall AU attendees can volunteer time with Autodesk cleantech partner TayaSola to assemble solar lantern kits for Kenyan families who lack adequate lighting. In addition, AU attendees can opt-out of the conference bag and instead have a $25 donation made on their behalf to the Autodesk Foundation, who invests in organizations practicing impact design to help create a better world.

Autodesk University events provide attendees with a mix of presentations, instruction, and social activities to network, share ideas with peers, and meet industry leaders from around the world.

Delcam will demonstrate its full range of CADCAM software at Autodesk University in Las Vegas from 2nd to 4th December. The latest releases on show will include the 2015 versions of the PowerSHAPE Pro CAD package, the PowerMILL CAM system for high-speed and five-axis machining and the FeatureCAM feature-based programming software. In addition, Delcam staff will present classes in advanced machining, artistic CADCAM and clay milling during the conference program.

By offering a combination of solid, surface and direct modelling, together with reverse engineering functionality, PowerSHAPE Pro provides the most comprehensive range of design techniques available in a single CAD program. Having all the different technologies in the same package reduces the need to transfer data between multiple programs and so streamlines the whole product development process.

The main enhancement in the 2015 release is the Smart Feature Selector. This option allows multiple similar features to be found and selected using either a specific value or a range of values. Once the particular group has been selected, all the features within it can be edited simultaneously.

This new functionality will speed the preparation of models for manufacturing significantly. For example, one common problem in product designs that are to be moulded or cast is that fillet sizes are set so small that they restrict the flow of material. The Smart Feature Selector can be used to identify any fillets below the required radius and then all the fillets found can be increased to the desired minimum size simultaneously. Full details, including video demonstrations, are on the Learning Zone – www.delcam.tv/ps2015

The new release of PowerMILL, Delcam’s programming system for high-speed and five-axis machining, includes improvements to the Vortex high-efficiency area-clearance strategy, expanded collision checking to also cover near misses, and more efficient raster finishing.

Vortex produces safe toolpaths with a much deeper cut by using a controlled engagement angle that maintains the optimum cutting conditions for the whole toolpath. As a result, higher feed rates and material-removal rates are possible, making the cutting time shorter by as much as 70%. Enhancements in PowerMILL 2015 will give even greater reductions in machining time with Vortex compared to conventional roughing.

As well as including the latest developments in the Vortex strategy, the 2015 version of FeatureCAM incorporates a range of enhancements in three-axis milling, two-axis and five-axis drilling, turning and turn-mill, and wire EDM to make the software even more powerful and easier to use.

FeatureCAM was the world’s first feature-based programming software when it was launched in 1995. Constant development since then has ensured that the system has retained its leadership in programming speed and ease of use, while an increased range of strategies has been added to provide more efficient toolpaths that give greater productivity on a wider range of machinery, including mill-turn machines, five-axis mills and wire EDM equipment.