Design & Engineering

Wondering if Autodesk Inventor is right for your team? Learn where Inventor fits best, from small businesses and simple products to large assemblies, industrial machinery, and complex engineering workflows. Choosing a CAD platform isn’t really about features, it’s about fit. The wrong tool creates friction. Models become harder to manage as products grow more complex.…

Learn how to build configurable assemblies in Autodesk Inventor using iLogic, Model States, named parameters, and top-down design techniques that make configuration reliable and scalable. Change a few parameters and watch a model reconfigure itself, that’s the promise of configuration in Autodesk Inventor. In practice, though, applying configuration to a model that wasn’t designed for…

Learn how Autodesk Inventor iLogic helps engineers automate repetitive tasks, create configurable products, reduce errors, and accelerate mechanical design workflows. What is iLogic in Autodesk Inventor? iLogic is the built-in rules-based design automation engine in Autodesk Inventor. It allows engineers and designers to create logic-driven models that automatically respond to inputs, parameters, and design requirements…

Learn how to move data between AutoCAD and Inventor using imports, references, links, Desktop Connector, and Autodesk Forma. Discover the best workflows for maintaining design intent, reducing rework, and keeping teams connected. If you work across AutoCAD and Inventor, you already know the friction: a 2D layout lives in one tool, the 3D model lives…

Autodesk’s acquisition of select Klietsch technology and intellectual property (IP) adds specialized structural-steel detailing and fabrication capabilities, with the intent of extending Inventor and the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection (PDMC) into more automated design-to-fabrication workflows over time.  Designing complex structural steel assemblies requires more than creating the structure itself. Engineers and designers need to…

Discover how Autodesk Inventor supports industrial machinery design with advanced 3D modeling, large assembly management, automation, simulation, and manufacturing workflows. Whether you’re developing automated production equipment, conveyor systems, packaging machines, process equipment, material handling systems, agricultural machinery, or custom manufacturing solutions, engineers must balance mechanical performance, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost while coordinating thousands of interconnected…

Learn how Autodesk Inventor handles large assemblies and discover practical techniques to improve performance, reduce complexity, manage dependencies, and work more efficiently on complex product designs. As products become more sophisticated, engineering teams are being asked to manage increasingly complex assemblies. Industrial equipment, automation systems, heavy machinery, transportation products, and advanced manufacturing equipment can easily…

Learn how geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) works, where traditional 2D documentation can create challenges, and how Autodesk Inventor’s model-based definition (MBD) tools help connect design intent, manufacturing, and inspection through annotated 3D models. What is GD&T and why does it matter? For more than a century, manufacturers have relied on engineering drawings to communicate…

Design for assembly (DFA) simplifies product design to reduce manufacturing cost and speed up production. Learn key principles, benefits, and real-world best practices. What is design for assembly (DFA)? Design for assembly (DFA) is a product design approach that simplifies how parts are assembled by reducing part count, minimizing fasteners, and standardizing components. The goal…