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Autodesk 2010 Manufacturing Software Demonstrates Power of Digital Prototyping

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Company Upgrades Design, Visualization, Simulation Capabilities for Manufacturers

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) unveiled the latest releases of its 2D and 3D design and engineering software for manufacturers. Significant enhancements and newly packaged suites of the company's industry-leading products can help manufacturers build better products, ranging from mobile phones to bulldozers, in less time.

The new 2010 product lineup for manufacturers includes Autodesk Inventor family of products, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, Autodesk Alias family of products, Autodesk Moldflow, Autodesk Navisworks, Autodesk Showcase, Autodesk 3ds Max Design and Autodesk Vault software -- industry-leading applications that constitute the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. The 2010 software releases introduce an even greater range of design, visualization and simulation capabilities, along with tighter interoperability than ever before with both Autodesk software applications and other CAD tools.

"Putting powerful 2D and 3D software within the reach of mainstream manufacturers positions companies of all sizes--not just large enterprises--to compete on a global scale," said Robert "Buzz" Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. "With our 2010 product line, customers can achieve greater collaboration than ever before between industrial design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing teams that are all responsible for bringing quality products to market."

Autodesk Digital Prototyping software gives manufacturers the ability to digitally design, visualize and simulate how a product will work under real-world conditions before it is built. Digital Prototyping reduces reliance on physical prototypes, which helps reduce cost and accelerate time to market in highly competitive industries.

Autodesk Inventor 2010: The Key to Design, Visualize, and Simulate Products Digitally

As the foundation for Digital Prototyping, Autodesk Inventor software helps produce an accurate 3D model that validates the form, fit and function of a design before it is built. The Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line introduces new usability and productivity enhancements for 2D product documentation, 3D product design, extended simulation capabilities, a strong focus on plastic part creation and new data management and exchange capabilities.

New features in the Autodesk Inventor 2010 product line include:

    --  Plastic part design and tooling: The Autodesk Inventor product line
        simplifies the design of high-quality molded part models with automated
        capabilities for designing injection molds for plastic parts.
        Incorporating Autodesk Moldflow technology, Inventor enables users to
        design complex plastic parts and quickly create and validate their
        corresponding mold design, helping to reduce errors and improve mold
        performance -- resulting in higher product quality and faster time to
        market.
    --  Ability to simulate product performance: The Autodesk Inventor 2010
        product line provides improved support for motion simulation and static
        and modal finite element analysis at both the part and assembly level.
    --  Design productivity: Continuing to improve usability and productivity,
        Inventor offers a new user interface that combines an intuitive 3D
        design environment for creating parts and assemblies with tools that
        enable engineers to focus on a design's function to drive the automatic
        creation of intelligent components such as plastic parts, steel frames,
        and rotating machinery.

In addition, Inventor 2010 incorporates an enhanced architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) Exchange functionality that enables building products manufacturers to publish 3D data in a format that is easy to use in building information modeling (BIM) applications, such as the Autodesk Revit 2010 product line.

"The Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping allows us to design and manufacture at the speed of thought. Using Inventor to simulate real-world conditions means we don't need full-scale physical prototypes," said Kurt Bender, CAD manager at Viking Yacht Company, which produces luxurious, high-performance sport and cruising yachts. "We're also doing design reviews and marketing with digital prototyping, saving substantial time and money on each boat design. We're especially looking forward to the latest simulation capabilities coming in the 2010 release."

Along with the Inventor software, Autodesk is releasing new Digital Prototyping applications that support and streamline design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing workflows, including:

    --  AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite: Introduced in the 2010 release, this new
        suite combines Autodesk Inventor LT and AutoCAD LT, one of the world's
        top-selling 2D drafting and detailing software, to make it more
        practical and affordable for mechanical design professionals to start
        designing in 3D and participate in Digital Prototyping workflows.
        Autodesk Inventor LT offers powerful part-level 3D parametric modeling,
        multi-CAD translation capabilities, automated DWG drawing views, and
        many other advanced capabilities found in Inventor.
    --  AutoCAD Mechanical: Now with even more intelligent drafting features for
        automating common design tasks, AutoCAD Mechanical offers mechanical
        designers and drafters significant productivity gains. New features
        include a streamlined design environment and bill of materials
        enhancements that help produce consistent results on the shop floor.
    --  AutoCAD Electrical: Purpose-built to accelerate the creation of
        electrical control systems, AutoCAD Electrical now offers a streamlined
        design environment and a new "one-line" circuit symbol library
        that help to increase productivity for control engineers. Enhancements
        to the powerful Circuit Builder tool enable designers to analyze the
        energy efficiency of circuits and help them to make "green"
        engineering decisions.
    --  Autodesk Alias family of products: Autodesk Alias 2010 industrial design
        software marks a major milestone with its first release on the Macintosh
        platform. Now available on Mac OS X, the new product family focuses on
        the specific needs and workflow requirements of three user profiles:
        creative professionals, digital modeler/sculptors and
        automotive/transportation designers. New and improved functionality
        further lowers barriers of adoption and helps to increase modeling
        productivity and quality. One of the world's best surface modelers, the
        Alias family or products provides fast, high-quality data integration
        and exchange with Autodesk Inventor and other third-party CAD software.
    --  Autodesk Showcase: Now with integrated raytracing, the 2010 design
        visualization software enables design, engineering, and marketing teams
        to quickly and efficiently create accurate, photorealistic, and
        compelling imagery from 3D CAD data to convey form and create
        environmental context to communicate brand character. Users can easily
        change the appearance and position of a product and manipulate parts
        such as wheels, body panels or mirrors.
    --  Autodesk 3ds Max Design: 3ds Max Design software makes it easier to
        prepare digital prototypes and create photorealistic design imagery. A
        render-quality viewport in the 2010 version facilitates the creative
        process by enabling users to iterate quickly and explore more design
        options.
    --  Autodesk Vault: The Autodesk Vault product line features extensive new
        document management capabilities that enable users to easily manage
        design revisions and control who can access data, and when. New revision
        control processes are built directly into Autodesk Inventor software,
        resulting in faster cycle times and better-quality engineering data. It
        also helps workgroups maintain control over the digital prototype at all
        times, so design departments can efficiently create and share Digital
        Prototyping information.
    --  Autodesk Navisworks: A new part of the Autodesk solution for Digital
        Prototyping, the Autodesk Navisworks product line for manufacturing
        helps extended project teams visualize, optimize and collaborate on the
        most complex projects. Customers can combine large assemblies consisting
        of machinery, tooling, layout and facilities data from multiple CAD
        vendors to create a single, lightweight 3D digital model of factories
        and manufacturing plants. Navisworks reliably aggregates data to enable
        a real-time, whole-project view.
    --  Autodesk Moldflow: Autodesk has simplified the Moldflow product line in
        the 2010 release to bring customers more value at a lower cost. The
        software suite for simulation, analysis, optimization and validation of
        plastic parts and their associated molds introduces new sustainability
        features, along with enhanced performance and quality. Autodesk Moldflow
        Insight offers powerful, in-depth simulation of the industry's most
        advanced molding processes using the world's largest plastics material
        database. Autodesk Moldflow Adviser simplifies plastics injection
        molding simulation and guides designers through analysis and
        interpretation, helping to avoid manufacturing delays and costly mold
        rework.

Availability

Product availability may vary by country. Details and purchasing options will be accessible starting March 24, 2009, at www.autodesk.com/purchaseoptions. An archive of the Autodesk Manufacturing product launch virtual press conference is available online.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Alias, AutoCAD LT, Autodesk Inventor, DWG, Inventor, Inventor LT, Moldflow, Navisworks, and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

(C) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

    Media Contacts:
    Clay Helm 415.547.2425              Alyson Moses 312.297.7430
    Email: clay.helm@autodesk.com       Email: alyson.moses@edelman.com

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