The Autodesk approach to Digital Prototyping is unique in that it is scalable, attainable, and cost-effective, allowing a broader group of manufacturers to realize the benefits of Digital Prototyping. Through comprehensive training and support, Total CAD Systems, Inc. helps you leverage digital prototyping to make great products.

Autodesk® Inventor® software takes manufacturers beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping by giving engineers a comprehensive and flexible set of tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, tooling, visualization and documentation. With Inventor software, engineers can integrate 2D AutoCAD® drawings and 3D data into a single digital model, creating a virtual representation of the final product that enables them to validate the form, fit, and function of the product before it is ever built. Digital Prototyping with Inventor software enables you to design, visualize, and simulate products digitally, helping you to build better products, reduce development costs, and get to market faster.

Download TechniCom Group's Whitepaper Comparing the Capabilities of Inventor Professional and SolidWorks Premium

The AutoCAD® Inventor LT™ Suite includes both Autodesk® Inventor LT™ and AutoCAD LT® software, helping make it more practical and affordable for mechanical design professionals to start adding the productivity benefits of 3D, participate in Digital Prototyping workflows and compete more effectively. Inventor LT offers powerful part-level 3D parametric modeling, multi-CAD translation capabilities, automated DWG™ drawing views and other capabilities found in Autodesk Inventor. Inventor LT is interoperable with the included version of AutoCAD LT, one of the world’s top 2D drafting and detailing software, so manufacturers can still work confidently with real DWG data and help boost their 2D productivity.

AutoCAD® Mechanical is AutoCAD® software for manufacturing, purpose-built to accelerate the mechanical design process. It includes all the functionality of AutoCAD, a world leader in CAD software, plus a comprehensive set of tools for automating mechanical engineering tasks, such as generating machine components, dimensioning, and creating bills of material. AutoCAD Mechanical provides a library of more than 700,000 standard parts, supports multiple international design standards, and enables users to detail and document digital prototypes created in Autodesk® Inventor® software. AutoCAD Mechanical offers engineers a competitive edge by helping save hours of effort, so they can spend time innovating rather than drafting.

AutoCAD® Electrical is AutoCAD® software for controls designers, purpose-built to create and modify electrical control systems. It contains all the functionality of AutoCAD, the world’s leading CAD software, plus a comprehensive set of tools for automating control engineering tasks, such as building circuits, numbering wires, and creating bills of material. AutoCAD Electrical provides a library of more than 650,000 electrical symbols and components, includes real-time error checking, and enables electrical and mechanical teams to collaborate on digital prototypes built with Autodesk® Inventor® software. AutoCAD Electrical offers control engineers a competitive edge by helping save hours of effort, so they can spend more time innovating.

Autodesk® Showcase® 2011 visual communication software—part of the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solution—helps designers, engineers, and marketing teams evaluate designs in context, rapidly explore alternatives, and tell the stories of their designs with vividly immersive 3D presentations and highly realistic renderings. Featuring storyboarding and movie creation capabilities, a new cross-section tool, and an intuitive user interface and navigation techniques, Showcase 2011 enables users to make more informed product decisions and more clearly convey design intent. The new release also provides enhanced Autodesk® Inventor® interoperability and certain free third-party CAD translators, helping users save time and prevent rework. The result is a more efficient, economical design review and rendering process.

Help maximize return on your company’s investment in design data by driving design reusewith the Autodesk® Vault product line. The product family consists of Autodesk® Vault,Autodesk® Vault Workgroup, Autodesk® Vault Collaboration, and Autodesk® Vault Professional. The Vault product family helps design and engineering workgroups manage the creation, simulation, and documentation processes. Users can reduce time organizing models and files, manage change processes to avoid costly mistakes, and more efficiently release and revise designs. The data management software can be deployed as a standard configuration or tailored to unique requirements, enabling users to become productive more quickly, providing a faster return on investment.

Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher is easy-to-use software for creating compelling product documentation, enabling manufacturers to provide their customers with clearer and more comprehensive technical instructions. Inventor Publisher extends the reach of Digital Prototyping to product documentation teams, giving non-CAD users the ability to leverage the same digital model used in the design-to-manufacturing process to create assembly instructions, operating procedures, repair instructions, and more. With associative updates based on changes to the Autodesk Inventor software 3D design model, Inventor Publisher helps documentation teams start working earlier in the product development process, helping reduce rework and shorten time to market.