{"id":81249,"date":"2025-11-18T02:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=81249"},"modified":"2025-11-17T14:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:11:14","slug":"advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical additive process simulation by an order of magnitude.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<?php\nfunction autodesk_fusion_cta_horizontal() {\n    ob_start();\n    ?>\n    <style>\n        .cta-section-horizontal {\n            background: #ddd; \/* Much lighter grey background *\/\n            padding: 12px; \/* Adjusted padding *\/\n            border-radius: 8px;\n            box-shadow: 0 3px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);\n            color: #333; \/* Darker text color for better readability *\/\n            display: flex;\n            align-items: center;\n            justify-content: space-between;\n            max-width: 650px; \/* Width adjusted for a more compact look *\/\n            margin: 20px auto;\n            position: relative;\n            flex-wrap: nowrap; \/* Prevent wrapping *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-section-horizontal img {\n            width: 60px; \/* Slightly larger logo *\/\n            height: auto; \/* Maintain aspect ratio *\/\n            margin-right: 12px; \/* Adjusted spacing *\/\n            background-color: #ddd; \/* Match the background color *\/\n            padding: 6px; \/* Adjusted padding *\/\n            border-radius: 8px; \/* Slightly rounding to match container *\/\n            box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px #ddd; \/* Blend with background *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-text {\n            flex: 1;\n            margin-right: 12px; \/* Adjusted spacing *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-title {\n            font-size: 18px; \/* Slightly larger title font size *\/\n            font-weight: bold; \/* Bold title *\/\n            color: #f9a825; \/* Orange color *\/\n            margin-bottom: 4px; \/* Reduced margin *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-info {\n            display: none; \/* Hide description *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-buttons {\n            display: flex;\n            gap: 8px; \/* Adjusted button spacing *\/\n            align-items: center;\n        }\n\n        .cta-button {\n            padding: 8px 12px; \/* Button padding *\/\n            font-size: 12px; \/* Smaller font size for buttons *\/\n            font-weight: bold;\n            text-transform: uppercase;\n            border-radius: 4px; \/* Slightly rounded corners *\/\n            border: 2px solid transparent;\n            cursor: pointer;\n            transition: all 0.3s ease;\n            display: inline-flex; \/* Use inline-flex to ensure proper alignment *\/\n            align-items: center; \/* Center align text vertically *\/\n            justify-content: center; \/* Center align text horizontally *\/\n            text-decoration: none !important; \/* Ensure no underlines with !important *\/\n            color: inherit; \/* Use the button's text color *\/\n        }\n\n        .cta-button.white-button {\n            background-color: #fff;\n            color: #333;\n            border: 2px solid #ddd;\n        }\n\n        .cta-button.white-button:hover {\n            background-color: #333;\n            color: #fff;\n            border: 2px solid #f9a825;\n        }\n\n        .cta-button.black-button {\n            background-color: #f9a825;\n            color: #fff;\n            border: 2px solid #f9a825;\n        }\n\n        .cta-button.black-button:hover {\n            background-color: #fff;\n            color: #f9a825;\n            border: 2px solid #fff;\n        }\n    <\/style>\n\n    <div class=\"cta-section-horizontal\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/autodesk-fusion-product-icon-400.png\" alt=\"Autodesk Fusion Logo\">\n        <div class=\"cta-text\">\n            <h1 class=\"cta-title\">Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion<\/h1>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"cta-buttons\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/trial-intake-flow\" class=\"cta-button white-button\">Get a 30-Day Free Trial<\/a>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/extensions\" class=\"cta-button black-button\">See Plans and Pricing<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <?php\n    return ob_get_clean();\n}\nadd_shortcode('autodesk_fusion_cta_horizontal', 'autodesk_fusion_cta_horizontal');\n?>\n\n\n\n<p>Additive process simulation uses first principle physics to predict how a metal 3D printing process behaves. It outputs the full temperature history of a selective melting process, as well as the deformation that those temperatures cause at each time during and after printing. Autodesk Fusion and Autodesk Netfabb have included a state of the art additive process simulation kernel for several years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1148\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 2200 \/ 1148;\" width=\"2200\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/t3a-t7a-anim-0.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Two simulations of a nozzle rocket print with different laser parameters. Design courtesy of Fraunhofer IGCV.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The printed geometries are represented by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mesh_generation\">tiny volumetric cube elements<\/a> that form the desired shape. The complexity and the number of those voxels determine the runtime and memory requirements of the simulation. In this article, we describe two of the newest research developments in this technology &#8211; which have a dramatic effect on a reduction of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first is<strong> <\/strong>user-controllable feature-aware meshing. It takes additional regional information for a design and improves the accuracy of the simulation algorithm in zones that the user cares about most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second is PRM generation. It expands the range of additive manufacturing machines that can be simulated directly within Fusion.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"usercontrollable-featureaware-meshing\">User-controllable feature-aware meshing<\/h2>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-the-challenge\">1. The challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Additive process simulation can be computationally intensive, especially for large or complex geometries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past, Autodesk has implemented several smart strategies to improve performance &#8211; such as adaptive layer-wise meshing and multi-scale powder bed simulation. However, one key bottleneck has persisted &#8211; uniform mesh settings across the entire build plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thin walls and intricate features demand fine resolution with many small elements. This refinement, however, unnecessarily increases node and element counts in bulkier regions. While <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Octree\">octree-based<\/a> adaptive meshes <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adaptive_mesh_refinement\">can coarsen interior sections, surface regions still require refinement<\/a>, adding more nodes and slowing performance. Even planar, axis-aligned surfaces can trigger unnecessary refinement depending on how they align with the super-element grid (see Figure 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"511\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-1-excess-refinement-1024x511.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-1-excess-refinement-1024x511.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-1-excess-refinement-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-1-excess-refinement-768x383.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-1-excess-refinement.jpg 1520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a>Figure <\/a>1. Illustration of how surface alignment with super-elements can induce excess refinement. In principle the same shape is either represented with 4 or 6 elements, with no effects on the physics behavior of the simulation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-featureaware-meshing\">2. Feature-aware meshing<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Feature-aware meshing introduces flexible mesh control, allowing different mesh settings in different regions\u2014either per body or within a single body. For example, the thin vanes of a heat exchanger can retain fine mesh resolution, while the surrounding bulky geometry can be coarsened by one or two levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This selective coarsening reduces the total number of nodes and elements while maintaining high accuracy where it matters most. The result is significantly lower computation time and memory usage, enabling simulations of larger, more complex geometries even on systems with limited RAM.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-simulation-example\">3. Simulation example<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Feature-aware meshing is implemented using discrete field information, which prescribes different coarsening levels throughout the volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A blue value indicates the finest mesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yellow merges 2\u00d72\u00d72 fine elements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Red merges 4\u00d74\u00d74 fine elements, and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although only two or three coarsening zones are typically needed, the number of zones can be extended up to the total number of <a href=\"https:\/\/help.autodesk.com\/view\/NETF\/2025\/ENU\/?guid=GUID-7738795D-8B74-462B-A863-4F12DF1E67B3\">adaptivity generations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"441\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones-1024x441.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones-1024x441.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones-300x129.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones-768x331.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones-1536x662.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-2-canonical-zones.jpg 1753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a>Figure <\/a>2. Example of cylindrical coarsening level zones applied to a canonical geometry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An example of coarsening level zones is shown in Figure 2. The canonical geometry used in this example consists of a very thin 0.415 mm inner ring and a thicker outer ring which join at the top of a swept arch profile. In this example, a fine mesh is used for the inner ring with two additional levels of coarsening towards the perimeter of the geometry. Note that the coarsening levels vary continuously. There is never a jump from the fine level one to the coarse level three \u2013 there is always a level two buffer in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine-1024x444.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine-1024x444.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine-300x130.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine-768x333.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine-1536x666.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFine.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clipped mesh with feature-aware meshing off (Figure 3, left) and on (Figure 4, right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Figures 3 and 4 show meshes generated <strong>without<\/strong> and <strong>with<\/strong> feature-aware meshing, respectively. Both meshes are clipped at the central xz-plane to show interior details. The inner ring (zone 1) remains identical in both, while zones 2 and 3 show a substantial reduction in nodes and elements\u2014summarized later in Table 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"998\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1156 \/ 998;\" width=\"1156\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SimulationMeshFading.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Video overlay of uniform mesh vs. feature aware mesh structure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-numerical-verification\">4. Numerical verification<\/h3>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"379\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1-1024x379.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1-1024x379.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1-300x111.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1-768x284.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1-1536x569.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Warped displacements with feature-aware meshing off (Figure 5, left) and on (Figure 6, right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Figures 5 and 6 show displacement contours (10\u00d7 warp factor) for simulations with and without feature-aware meshing, while Figure 7 compares displacements along the outer wall. The peak displacement differs by only 7.6%\u20140.172 mm versus 0.159 mm\u2014demonstrating excellent accuracy retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-duotone-unset-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-7-comparison-scatter-plot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-7-comparison-scatter-plot.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-7-comparison-scatter-plot-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a>Figure <\/a>7: A comparison of displacements with and without feature-aware meshing on the canonical geometry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"998\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1340 \/ 998;\" width=\"1340\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SimulationResultsFading-2.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Performance metrics are shown in Table 1. With feature-aware meshing, the simulation runs in one-third the time and uses less than half the RAM. Actual gains will vary based on geometry, mesh parameters, and coarsening zone definitions.<\/p>\n\n\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><figure class=\"wp-block-table MuiTableContainer-root\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout MuiTable-root DhigTable--verticalAlignment--top\"><tbody><tr class=\" MuiTableRow-root\"><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><strong>Metric<\/strong><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><strong>Feature-aware meshing off<\/strong><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><strong>Feature-aware meshing on<\/strong><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><strong>Percent change<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr class=\" MuiTableRow-root\"><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><em>Nodes<\/em><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">877,195<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">248,488<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">-72%<\/td><\/tr><tr class=\" MuiTableRow-root\"><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><em>Elements<\/em><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">482,655<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">162,803<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">-66%<\/td><\/tr><tr class=\" MuiTableRow-root\"><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><em>Compute time <\/em><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">16:39 minutes<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">05:27 minutes<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">-67%<\/td><\/tr><tr class=\" MuiTableRow-root\"><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\"><em>Peak RAM usage<\/em><\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">22.4 GB<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">10.4 GB<\/td><td class=\" MuiTableCell-root\">-54%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption wp-block-table__caption dhig-typography-body-copy-small dhig-p-4\"><a>Table <\/a>1: Various metrics showing the performance benefits of feature-aware meshing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1000\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1924 \/ 1000;\" width=\"1924\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/m3h-m3k-anim2.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Side by side comparison of the print process distortion, including build plate removal (distortion scale exaggerated 10x)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"prm-generation\">PRM generation<\/h2>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/help.autodesk.com\/view\/NETF\/2025\/ENU\/?guid=GUID-BCADC1BB-95E9-4FEE-801A-CC476054C7D9\">PRM generation<\/a> plays a central role in Autodesk\u2019s multi-scale additive FEA simulations. It has long been available in Netfabb Local Simulation &#8211; and is now coming to the new Fusion process simulation API.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"multiscale-simulations\">Multi-scale simulations<\/h2>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/help.autodesk.com\/view\/NETF\/2025\/ENU\/?guid=GUID-2FD02663-0EDB-4C1A-9621-11E005BE29C4\">Multi-scale simulations<\/a> begin with a fine-scale PRM analysis of a small (5 mm \u00d7 1 mm) block of material, which captures how process parameters interact with the material. The resulting PRM file acts as a \u201ckernel\u201d for subsequent part-scale simulations, where it\u2019s mapped onto each voxel of the part during layer-wise simulation steps. This method enables accurate, physics-based modeling without calibration, while supporting large voxel sizes and time steps independent of fine laser beam diameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each unique combination of machine parameters and material requires one PRM generation, which can then be reused across simulation runs. Previously, PRM generation was limited to Netfabb Local Simulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui-1024x580.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/figure-8-prm-gen-ui.jpg 1630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a>Figure <\/a>8. PRM generation interface in the upcoming Fusion <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.autodesk.com\/FUSION\/en\/Detail\/Index?id=1864820821708132049&amp;appLang=en&amp;os=Mac\">3D Printing Essentials<\/a> add-in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Fusion includes a library of predefined PRMs for system providers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s95kpEJz53c\">One Click Metal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W4AkyWH9IJY\">Renishaw<\/a>, Aconity, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lARXIvxkbGk\">EOS <\/a>&#8211; but users couldn\u2019t easily add custom PRMs for custom process parameter and material combinations. The new PRM generation interface, shown in Figure 8, removes this limitation and will be available in the next release of <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.autodesk.com\/FUSION\/de\/Detail\/Index?id=1864820821708132049&amp;appLang=en&amp;os=Mac\">3D Printing Essentials<\/a> add-in for Fusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this new addition, the material selection you can simulate extends to a huge variety of special alloys and your own process parameter settings. With the accessibility through the API, automation solutions &#8211; easily scripted in Python or C++ &#8211; can ideally put process simulation in the center of design of experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All at a price point that puts metal additive manufacturing into the hands of everyday machine operators &#8211; who until now had no access to any of those optimizations &#8211; and therefore needed to rely on instinct and their gut-feeling. At a high learning cost &#8211; and many failed print jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Feature-aware meshing and PRM generation represent significant advancements in Autodesk\u2019s additive simulation capabilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Feature-aware meshing<\/strong> reduces simulation runtime by up to 3\u00d7 and memory usage by over 50%, while maintaining displacement accuracy within 8% of a uniformly fine mesh.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PRM generation<\/strong> empowers users to create and manage their own machine parameter models directly in Fusion, unlocking a broader range of machines and materials for simulation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, these features enable faster, more flexible, and more accurate additive process simulations- bringing Autodesk users closer to truly predictive, scalable design for additive manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/fusion-for-manufacturing\">Autodesk Fusion for Manufacturing<\/a> is an incredible value proposition for any producer of metal parts. It includes industry-leading capabilities like data preparation for metal additive manufacturing, but also CAM programming for three to five axis milling and turning machines, as well as 2D and 3D Nesting capabilities for Sheet Metal production and BinderJet and Selective Laser Sintering applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical additive process simulation by an order of magnitude. Additive process simulation uses first principle physics to predict how a metal 3D printing process behaves. It outputs the full temperature history of a selective melting process, as well as the deformation that those temperatures cause at each time during and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5309,"featured_media":81470,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[682],"class_list":["post-81249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fusion","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical process simulations by an order of magnitude.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation - Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical process simulations by an order of magnitude.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T10:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"711\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexander Oster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexander Oster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation - Fusion Blog","description":"Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical process simulations by an order of magnitude.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation - Fusion Blog","og_description":"Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical process simulations by an order of magnitude.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/","og_site_name":"Fusion Blog","article_published_time":"2025-11-18T10:34:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":711,"url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alexander Oster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexander Oster","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/"},"author":{"name":"Alexander Oster","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0d8def0f5f1d59c05586bc73f9d2a1ca"},"headline":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation","datePublished":"2025-11-18T10:34:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/"},"wordCount":1297,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg","articleSection":["Fusion"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/","name":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation - Fusion Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-18T10:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0d8def0f5f1d59c05586bc73f9d2a1ca"},"description":"Learn how to speed up thermo-mechanical process simulations by an order of magnitude.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RoughVsFineSimulation-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":711},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advances-in-metal-additive-process-simulation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advances in Metal Additive Process Simulation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/","name":"Fusion Blog","description":"Product updates, tips, tutorials and community news.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0d8def0f5f1d59c05586bc73f9d2a1ca","name":"Alexander Oster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AlexOster-150x150.jpgfc9c7ba73ad180e1612b238d8dfcc000","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AlexOster-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AlexOster-150x150.jpg","caption":"Alexander Oster"},"url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/author\/alexander-oster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81249"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=81249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}