Hands-On Experience Helps Autodesk Innovate

During a recent trip to San Francisco, Calif., Senior Editor Chris Felix from sister publication Production Machining got a chance to visit Autodesk’s new Pier 9 facility. The 27,000 square foot workshop includes a digital fabrication lab, laser cutting and printing capabilities, an electronics workshop, smaller specialty project areas, and more.

Employees and artists-in-residence are encouraged to use the facility to further the understanding of the interface between the software and hardware by pushing the boundaries of each.

While at Pier 9, Carl White, senior director of manufacturing engineering at Autodesk, and Anthony Graves, CAM product manager, announced the commercial availability of Inventor HSM, an integrated CAM solution for Inventor users. The software is designed to help machinists, designers and engineers turn their Inventor designs into manufacturable parts by generating machining toolpaths directly inside Inventor. Other features include simulation tools to help users verify the machining process before CNC programs are run on the machine, customizable postprocessors, and flexible 2.5D, 3D and 3+2 toolpath options and settings.

Read more about Chris's trip, and view a slideshow from his visit.