Autodesk, Inc.

Although plenty of attention gets paid to many of the more mainstream CAD-related offerings, here are a couple that may pass under your radar. Yet if you're looking for fast collaborative development, both may be gear that you can't afford to miss.

Yes, 2010. The software company has rolled out a raft of new tools for the design, analysis, and simulation of products. Virtual prototype first, then move on to the real thing.

This PLM product has all the advantages of next-generation, cloud-based technology. It’s also quick, easy, inexpensive.

Product and process design is being done at and for DaimlerChrysler with CATIA. Now the factories where those products are being produced with those processes are also being created with the software.

Price, breadth of features, and product lifecycle management are what mostly separate CAD systems in corporate eyes.

Shifting alliances, the continued encapsulation of engineering expertise, and the drive to reduce the complexity of today's computer-aided design (CAD) systems are just some of the latest milestones on the path toward solids modeling becoming the de facto design engineering tool.

Changes are happening across the spectrum of computer-aided design (CAD) products. Here are three to show improved ease of use, modeling performance, and collaboration capabilities are still the major drivers for revising CAD software.

Robert Kross, senior vp, Manufacturing Industry Group, Autodesk, the developer of design software for engineering and entertainment, raised an interesting point: Why should a CAD package have less awesome images than a $50 game?

Buy Autodesk Inventor Series, the solids modeler, and get Autodesk's 2D packages basically for free.

Advances in simulation software include integration with other CAx systems, simulations of more domains, and stunning virtual reality.

A few hundred enhancements to a single software application? For some Applications, that number suggests a questionable software release. In mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD), that number is an embarrassment of riches—for users.