Autodesk has made some major updates to its Fusion 360 CAD cloud software with the addition of full integrated and simple simulation capabilities.
Designed to bring a seamless, accessible design platform to mechanical engineers, product designers and makers alike, Fusion 360 now features straight out-of-the-box simulation capabilities to allow users to perform linear stress and modal analysis. Users will be able to define materials and add constraints and loads to solve for weakness in their assemblies all within the single design environment. Future updates are set to provide thermal and fatigue analysis.
“Simulation traditionally takes multiple software tools and hours of work. Not so with Fusion 360,” explained Kevin Schneider, Director of Fusion 360 at Autodesk. “We made it powerful, but drop-dead simple. And by integrating simulation directly within the design and engineering workflow, users can not only build more viable parts with fewer iterations, but they can also develop intuition and expertise to reach validation more quickly. We see this update as the next critical step in making Fusion 360 the most innovative integrated platform for developing products, from concept all the way to fabrication.”
Other new features include a boost to team collaboration with real-time multi-user design review, improved commenting, the ability to move projects across hubs and an improved A360 experience. With this latest update, users can seamlessly share links with remote teammates and stakeholders who can view an active model in a browser as it is manipulated in real-time.
With enhanced drawing capabilities, users will also be able to draw associative centrelines and centre marks in addition to aligning and renumbering balloons. In addition to this, a more robust set of keyboard shortcuts such as extruding, filleting and sketching dimensions have been introduced to make the design process much easier to move through.
These latest developments are helping to speed up the product development cycle and get products from design to analysis and manufacture faster than ever before. Autodesk Fusion 360 costs $25 a month for an annual subscription and is free to students, educators, hobbyists and startups.