Autodesk made some interesting announcements at its recent Autodesk University event at the end of September, notably extensions to Fusion 360, innovative industry partnerships and broader online availability.
Particularly standing out were the development of its Fusion 360 platform. These are powered by simulation technology provider, Ansys, and ModuleWorks, an expert in toolpath creation and simulation, to unlock advanced product design and manufacturing capabilities.
Signal Integrity Extension, powered by Ansys, will bring printed circuit board (PCB) performance analysis to Fusion 360 to help bring smart products to market more efficiently.
Autodesk will be bringing more advanced toolpath creation capabilities into Fusion 360 by combining algorithms from ModuleWorks with enhanced 5-axis machining and other complex manufacturing workflows originally from Autodesk PowerMill into its Machining Extension.
The company also announced new partnerships with Makersite – data for carbon calculator sustainability plug-in for Fusion 360; CloudNC – automating toolpath code creation; and Cadence – PCB design and device enclosure integration.
Autodesk also revealed ‘Device Independence’ - Fusion Online – will be made available more broadly to all commercial Fusion subscribers, and not just the education community as it is now. This will give Fusion subscribers access to complex CAD and CAM modelling in the cloud anytime and anywhere.
All the moves are part of what Autodesk explains is a “vision of data and device independence”, meeting the needs of its customers now and in the future.
Jeff Kinder, executive vice president of product development and manufacturing solutions at Autodesk, explains that the company is introducing innovations that enable rapid iteration, automate the machine programming process – and bring both the agility and power of Fusion to a browser or device near every user.
