Digital Photo Tools

Autodesk Inventor is a powerful tool. However, it is also complicated. From the novice user to the experienced professional, everyone is going to need help at least once. Fortunately, many options exist for getting through even the toughest Autodesk Inventor challenges. Stop tearing your hair out. Whatever it is you're trying to do, it's easily explained somewhere.

Identify the Problem

Specifically identify with what you are having trouble. Ask yourself what commands are involved. Make a list of keywords for which to look. This will help you narrow your search.

Help Menu

Bring up the Inventor Help Menu. Put whatever keyword you like into the Help Menu's search function. This will almost certainly bring up at least one option, if not a whole host of potential answers. Each article will provide specific instructions on how to perform the relevant task. You won't even have to get up from your desk.

Consult Literature

The industry publishes scores of books on Autocad Inventor with each new edition. You should have a library which includes at least one of these. Better yet, have a few sitting around. Many books are targeted to a specific skill level. Purchase a couple of books in different skill levels. No matter what you already know, things you have difficulty with will be addressed in different books.

Consult Forums

The Internet is filled with forums on Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk has one of its own. Another popular site for discussing Autodesk Inventor is CADTutor. There are no shortage of experienced professionals who can answer your question. Search the forums to see if your question has already been addressed. If it hasn't, add a new thread

Autodesk is an industry-leading software manufacturer, offering 2D and 3D solutions for architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and construction, as well entertainment and media.

History

Autodesk began as a 2D innovator with 16 employees in 1982, introducing its now-famous AutoCAD software the same year that Time Magazine named the computer its "Man of the Year."

Today

Autodesk now boasts 6,600 employees and focuses on all elements of the design process--including building information modeling, digital prototyping, model-based mapping and more.

Tomorrow

It's estimated that roughly 2,000,000 students learn Autodesk programs each year. This means that architecture, design, engineering and animation will be heavily influenced by Autodesk technology for years to come.

Additional Industries

With its array of software offerings, Autodesk is also a major contributor to industries such as Automotive & Transportation; Utilities & Telecommunications; Video Gaming; and Government.

Famous Ties

"Star Trek," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and DreamWorks' animated film "Monsters vs. Aliens" were all created with the help of Autodesk software.

A   Autodesk Impression is a software product that is available as a subscription product to people who have bought a number of different AutoCAD products or Autodesk Revit products. Impression takes proprietary Autodesk DWG and DWF files and allows a user to more quickly produce presentation quality images for demonstrations to clients and coworkers. In addition to Autodesk proprietary files, Impressions can import other standard file formats to help create seamless presentation graphics.

Processor

Autodesk Impression requires an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 3 gigahertz (GHz) or better for desktops. Laptop processors can be either Intel or AMD running at 1.7 GHz or faster. Intel Core2Duo and i series processors are all faster than the Pentium 4, as are any dual core or better AMD processor.

Memory

Two gigabytes of Random Access Memory (RAM) is the minimum required for Audodesk Impression. More memory will result in better performance and smoother operation.

Video Card

The video card minimums include 1280 by 1024 resolution with 32-bit color depth. The card needs a minimum of 128 megabytes (MB) of video RAM and must be compliant with the DirectX 9.0c application interface. It also must support Pixel Shader 2.0 (which renders 3-D effects) or better. NVIDEA Quadro FX, GeForce F 5, 6, and 7 are all recommended for Autodesk Impression. ATI's Radeon X, 9500, or FireGL series are also suggested for use with Impression.

Operating System

The minimum operating system requirements for Autodesk Impression are Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Recommended systems include Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, Home Premium, or Home Basic. Windows Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 or better is also required. Although Autodesk Impression is a 32-bit application and doesn't officially support 64-bit operating systems, it will run on both 64-bit Windows XP and 64-bit Vista. However, for optimal performance it should be installed on a 32-bit operating system.

Hard Disk Space

Autodesk Impression requires 2 GB of hard disk space after installation. The amount of space required for installation will vary, depending on the features you install. More free hard drive space will allow for better performance and more reliable computer operation.

utodesk Inventor, 3D mechanical design and digital prototyping product simulation software, offers designers and engineers a flexible means of communicating, visualizing and simulating design products. The software replicates virtual representations of finished products to market and demonstrate before they are constructed. Corporations can create a single model for each stage of production, analyze costs, and stay on track. Many websites offer comprehensive tutorials for budding neophytes who wish to transform into skilled professionals.

Tutorial Hero

Tutorial Hero is an online source for free tutorials for a range of software, including Autodesk Inventor. Industry experts, site members, and Autodesk bloggers take turns writing detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials. Each tutorial is sorted by difficulty (on a scale of one to five), view count, add date, and user rating. Site members are encouraged to leave comments and engage with the author to troubleshoot or add suggestions.

Manufacturing Community

The Autodesk Manufacturing community is a free online community in which members gain access to tips, articles, blogs, tutorials and discussion groups for free. The site provides seminars and workshops online and at conferences to introduce potential customers to Autodesk's latest software. The website includes a wide range of filtered Autodesk Inventor tutorials in the following categories: year, commentary and votes. Site members may download technical papers, stay abreast of software trends or submit tips.

Synergis Technologies

Synergis Engineering Design Solutions is a reseller of Autodesk manufacturing software such as Autodesk Inventor. The corporation markets to large-scale companies and government agencies that seek training, support and professional services. The manufacturing section of its website offers white papers of the Inventor overview, frequently asked questions and performance ratings. Web casts, user reviews, seminar listings, and video tutorials are available to the public. Certified Autodesk Inventor experts provide in-depth, downloadable tutorials.

Autodesk Backburner is a utility included in most Autodesk software to perform rendering, compiling and other input-output functions in the background on one or more machines while other Autodesk functions are still available for use.

Programs Compatible with Backburner

Most Autodesk software suites employ Backburner in some way. Compatible Autodesk applications are Smoke, Burn, Inferno, Flame, Flare, Flint, Maya, Lustre, 3DStudioMax, Cleaner, WiretapCentral and Backdraft Conform. Because many of these programs work in conjunction with one another, Backburner may be running tasks from several applications at once.

How Backburner Works

At the basic level, Backburner handles rendering and compiling tasks executed from within one or more of compatible Autodesk products. Blocks of data from individual applications are sent to many different render nodes on the same or different machines at once. This allows faster rendering times and frees up processor space for other tasks. Output might come from inputs from multiple applications simultaneously, like video rendered via Flame then sent to Cleaner for mastering and encoding.

Render Farms

Autodesk Backburner allows for the creation and management of render farms. Render farms are a large group of machines all focused on the same rendering tasks to tackle large files in a fraction of the time. Backburner automatically allocates data to each machine on demand, much like downloading pieces of a torrent file from multiple users simultaneously.

Autodesk SketchBook Express is a digital drawing program. Its primary features are based on its sister program, Autodesk SketchBook Pro. Autodesk SketchBook Express has a variety of drawing tools, and is specifically designed for Tablet PCs.

History

Autodesk Incorporated first released Autodesk SketchBook Express in 2009. Autodesk Incorporated was founded in 1982 by John Walker. The companies President and CEO is Carl Bass.

Features

Autodesk Sketchbook Express has a variety of features, including a simplified interface and a variety of drawing tools (pencils, markers, brushes, etc.). SketchBook Express also utilizes pressure sensitivity, allowing you to create realistic drawings using a Tablet or Wacom PC's "drawing pen."

Warning

Autodesk SketchBook Express is a simplified version of its counterpart, Autodesk Sketchbook Professional. It has a limited amount of features, as it does not include custom brushes, a customizable user interface, custom textures, symmetric brushing, or instructional guides.

Autodesk is a designer program for 2-D and 3-D designs. A variety of areas, such as manufacturing, engineering and building construction, architecture and media and entertainment, can find applications for this program. Modeling in Autodesk involves a variety of tools that bring users and ideas together in a way that encourages collaboration and that makes future projects easy to design and implement.

Project Butterfly

Project Butterfly is a collaborative, cloud-based effort. The Internet is the "cloud" because operations take place on remote servers, not on the user's computer. The Butterfly project gives AutoCAD users the opportunity to view, edit and collaborate in real time on DWG, or drawing, files online. The cloud computing technology uses a browser, so anyone can log onto a design website and access the same version of a file. This is different from the current way many engineering teams collaborate, which is by simply emailing files around.

Access to the cloud project is easy if the user has an Autodesk Single Sign-on account. This account appears in other communities, such as Autodesk Labs and the Subscription Center. For users with an existing Project Butterfly--specific account, they can access the Butterfly project that way.

Project Photofly

Photographs are as common as music. However, users can create 2-D and 3-D images with photographs. This is where Project Photofly is essential. It is a technology Web service that allows designers in various fields, such as architectural, design, media and entertainment and manufacturing, to create 3-D models from a series of photographs.

What makes Project Photofly different is that employs the Camera Factory, an automatic calibration engine to simplify and automate the imaging process. This is unlike most image-based modeling techniques. These others require manual modifications and changes to photographs and a high level of expertise. However, Project Photofly uses the Photo Scene Editor, which allows designers to connect to and use the Camera Factory Web service. Then they can operate any of the Autodesk 3-D modeling programs (AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit or Autodesk 3ds Max) to work with the data in a DWG format. Moreover, in the meantime, they can use the Camera Factory tool to add the model above the top of the images.

Project Neon

One problem that designers have always had is not having the necessary hardware to complete a drawing project. This is where Project Neon can help. If a designer has access to the cloud, she can create and manipulate photo-realistic renderings of the projects without having dedicated rendering hardware at her disposal. Because rendering multiple files can cost more and even take days, any software project that can control these elements would be welcome. This is the strength of Project Neon. Based on the cloud, the support it gives promises to allow firms to render the costly and time-consuming multiple views of a project simultaneously in a small amount of time.

There are several 3D programs created by Autodesk, such as Revit, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, 3ds Max and Maya. Training for these programs is available via different sources, including tutorials, online training and in-person training.

Tutorials

Free, self-paced tutorials are available online from a variety of different sources. Autodesk offers their own tutorials, which you can download and complete at your convenience. Tutorials are ideal for those who already have some experience with the program.

Online Training

You can partake in online training either live or pre-recorded. Live training, or webcasts, will sometimes offer the benefit of a question and answer session after the class allowing the student to seek clarification if needed. Pre-recorded classes offer less interaction, but may be less expensive as well.

In-Person Training

Generally the most expensive and most thorough, in-person training can come in a variety of forms. There are training centers, community education classes and one-on-one tutoring. Some training centers have collaborated with Autodesk gaining themselves the status of Authorized Training Center. One-on-one tutoring is generally the most costly. Community education classes are typically the least costly of the in-person training options.

Autodesk Inventor is a professional software program that allows users to design, visualize and simulate their creations. Inventor is complex, but there are a variety of training programs to help master this program.

Authorized Training Centers

Authorized Training Centers (ATC) provide Autodesk-approved training with highly-qualified teachers and excellent facilities. ATCs, such as Avatech, provide the most thorough training and are the most costly option.

Webcasts

Webcasts are live online classes that include a live question-and-answer session following the lesson. Autodesk archives their webcasts, which may be accessed and downloaded at no charge on their website.

Skill Builders

Autodesk offers a database of training resources called Skill Builders. Skill Builders are tutorials, step-by-step instructions, animations and data sets that are useful training solutions. Anyone can access this database on Autodesk's website, and contents are free of charge.

Free Trial

Request a free 30-day trial of Inventor from Autodesk. Having the program on hand to experiment with is one of the best ways for the student to become familiar with the program.

Autodesk is known for its 2-D and 3-D design software for use in architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment. Two of the company's flagship products are the CAD software called AutoCAD and the 3-D animation software Maya. Recommended laptops for Autodesk must have at least the following specifications: 2.4 GHz processor, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce graphics card or its equivalent and 7,200 RPM hard drive with 100GB free space.

Macbook Pro

Available as 13-inch, 15-inch or 17-inch laptops, Apple's Macbook Pro is one of the most commonly used laptops for professional use in media, imaging and 3-D modeling work. The most affordable Macbook Pro offerings already boast of more than 2GHz of processor and 2GB of RAM, which is usually expandable up to 8GB.

The Macbook Pro is frequently used by independent filmmakers, commercial movie makers, architects, photographers and designers. It is an ideal laptop for image production, building of 3-D models and live action and animation movie projects for professional programs like Maya, AutoCAD, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop.

Sony VAIO

The Sony VAIO generally offers high-end technical specifications geared toward professional work for video and animation. While it features many models with varying technical specifications, even its low-end laptop models are generally equipped to work on graphics, animation and editing projects. The Sony VAIO line utilizes Intel Pentium Dual-Core processors, most of which have a Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300 2.1GHz processor and 3GB of DDR2 system memory.

Graphics on a Sony VAIO are displayed on a 15.5-inch diagonal high-definition--capable widescreen and are carefully handled by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator graphics card. This laptop is also equipped with about 1,340MB total available graphics video memory, a VGA port, an HDMI port and an HD audio support.

HP Smart Buy EliteBook

With a processor speed of 2.5GHz and installed RAM of 2GB, the HP Smart Buy Elitebook combines the performance of a notebook with the flexibility of a tablet. Geared toward corporate, small business and professional use, this tablet PC features a 12.1-inch diagonal display with optional touch screen and a durable magnesium alloy case for convenient and practical use in various projects, including the making of 3-D models, image enhancements, video editing and animation.

The EliteBook is equipped with the applicable ports and connectivity options needed for fast data transfer, including FireWire/i.LINK, USB and Bluetooth.