Autodesk
Fusion 360 Ultimate generative_design_benefits_design_options
Design options inside Fusion 360 Ultimate
A partnership between Autodesk and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will see the cloud computing product provider sponsor 1,000 subscribers to Fusion 360 Ultimate with 500 cloud credits each.
The Fusion 360 Ultimate platform is where Autodesk surfaces its generative design tools, allowing the user to design, engineer and manufacture parts in a single cloud-based environment. It enables designers to quickly generate a wide array of different design options for the same part, each offering varying constraints in terms of materials, weight, cost and manufacturing methods, for example. They can then consider the trade-offs of each design, which could feasibly be in the thousands, and select to manufacture the option that best suits their requirements and budget.
AWS’ offer will commence on July 1st, with any user, whether a professional or a student, able to take advantage. The offer will end on September 30th, or as soon as 1,000 new subscriptions to Fusion 360 Ultimate have been claimed. AWS will provide 500 cloud credits (1 cloud credit = $1) in addition to the 1,000 each customer receives when they subscribe. With 1,500 cloud credits, Autodesk customers will be able to complete a range of design studies and download multiple design files.
“The power of the cloud is a key enabler to bring generative design technology to designers and engineers in a fast and cost-effective way,” offered Josef Waltl, Global Industrial Software Segment Lead at AWS. “With the close collaboration between Autodesk and AWS, customers will be enabled to design and produce highly innovative products which outpace existing design in economic and environmental dimensions.”
Those customers can take inspiration from the likes of General Motors, who has been using generative design to help lightweight parts such as seat belt brackets, and Lightning Motorcycles, who re-designed its LS-218’s swing arm with the help of Autodesk’s flavour of the month manufacturing tool.
New swingarm designed using Autodesk's generative design tools.
It is the latest string to Autodesk’s cloud-powerered manufacturing bow, and although there was a previous test version of the generative design capabilities, housing it within Fusion 360 Ultimate represents the first time they have productised generative design capabilities. The company believes it is the future of manufacturing, having the potential to disrupt and transform how things are made such is its scalability, and represents a step change in how parts are designed and made.
“Our view is design and manufacturing are two disciplines converging. As an industry, we have educated people to think about CAD, CAE, CAM, and data management sequentially as different product categories. We think that’s wrong,” Stephen Hooper, Sr Director Design & Manufacturing, Autodesk, told media at this week’s Autodesk University event in London. “It ought to be one thing. It’s only by combining these disciplines together that you can embrace these new technologies. That’s where we see generative design coming in and leveraging the power of the cloud to be able to provide that type of capability.”
In addition to that, users can bring their generative designs into the CAD program of their preference, be it Solidworks, Solid Edge, Nx, Catia, Inventor, or any other CAD platform, thanks to Autodesk’s AnyCAD technology.
“We also want to provide a bridge for customers,” Hooper added. “If you’re using Inventor today it comes with a technology called AnyCAD that allows you to associatively work with Fusion to exchange data because we want to provide a bridge for users of existing systems, whatever they might be. We want to give them the capability to be able to take a generative design, work on it, and not have to switch CAD systems.”
