Just after publishing of my previous post Autodesk has announced the new products - all named “2008“.
The list of Inventor 2008 new features is probably not yet published completely - in the press release Autodesk mentions:
- DWG Interoperability - using DWG TrueConnect users can read and write DWG files without translators while maintaining full associativity with the 3D Inventor model and increasing reuse and sharing of 2D manufacturing data.
- AliasStudio Interoperability - new capabilities for importing AutoCAD surface and solid data - combined with new DWG export from Autodesk AliasStudio - provides a quick and reliable way to transfer concept designs into Inventor.
- Sheet Metal Design Tools - upgrades improve productivity when designing sheet metal parts and provide support for manufacturing information including flat pattern modifications and punch tool data.
- Ribbon Cable Design Tools - full control over the shape and routing of ribbon cables simplifies the design of electrical wiring and reduces manufacturing errors by ensuring that all types of wiring can be included in the digital prototype and subsequent documentation. (this will be probably only in Inventor Professional 200
- Sketch Productivity Tools - an updated 2D sketch environment reduces the learning curve for new designers and improves productivity for existing designers with clearer constraint status information and sketch geometry formatting tools.
Not mentioned is the 64-bit support (I still hope that it will be there) and support for Windows Vista. As Inventor can use DirectX it will be probably not slowed down in Vista - unlike other 3D CAD programs based on OpenGL.
Inventor 2008 shall arrive in April.
