Autodesk Inventor is a

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

extension application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

Features

Inventor allows analyzing 2D and 3D CAD models by creating a virtual representation of the final product in order to validate the form, fit, and functioning before it is built. Autodesk Inventor supports parametric, direct edit, freeform modeling part modeling, and assembly modeling. It provides support for various CAD formats and standard DWG drawings. Autodesk also offers another 3D CAD/CAM software, Fusion. Inventor uses

ShapeManager Autodesk ShapeManager is a 3D geometric modeling kernel used by Autodesk Inventor and other Autodesk products that is developed inside the company. It was originally forked from ACIS 7.0 in November 2001, and the first version became available i ...

, Autodesk's proprietary

geometric modeling kernel A geometric modeling kernel is a solid modeling software component used in computer-aided design (CAD) packages. Available modelling kernels include: *ACIS is developed and licensed by Spatial Corporation of Dassault Systèmes. *SMLib is develope ...

. The software can be licensed as a subscription or through pre-paid Flex Tokens (daily use, consumption-based). Autodesk Inventor Professional is also a part of a collection license ''Autodesk Product Design & Manufacturing Collection''. Autodesk Inventor competes directly with

SolidWorks SolidWorks (stylized as SOLIDWORKS) is a brand of software used for solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE). It was one of the first 3D CAD applications designed to run on a desktop PC. The brand is owned ...

Solid Edge Solid Edge is a 3D computer-aided design (CAD), parametric feature and synchronous technology solid modeling software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides solid modeling, assembly modelling and 2D orthographic view functions for mechani ...

, and Creo.

Editions

The latest Autodesk Inventor product line includes the following software titles: *Autodesk Inventor LT 2021 (discontinued) *Autodesk Inventor Professional 2026

File formats

* Exports: ** .iam - Assembly file ** .ipt - Part file ** .idw, .dwg - Drawing file ** .ipn - Presentation file * Imports: ** Inventor imports most types of foreign CAD formats

Release dates and names

References

External links