SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk, Inc. today announced it is shipping its latest release of Autodesk DWF Composer software, renamed to Autodesk Design Review. Adding a wealth of new features and functions in response to customer requests in the manufacturing, infrastructure and building industries, Autodesk Design Review 2007 software enhances collaboration between extended product development teams. With significant advancements in its 2D and 3D review, measure and markup capabilities, Autodesk Design Review 2007 software integrates tightly with all Autodesk design products, particularly in Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension, the new release for Autodesk Inventor software subscription customers.
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As companies extend their business networks in an increasingly global market with fragmented teams -- project timelines have greatly accelerated. Autodesk Design Review 2007 software was purposely created to integrate into the review, markup and approval workflow process. With built-in round-trip integration already in Autodesk's AutoCAD-based family of products, Design Review 2007 now extends the same tight integration and functionality to Autodesk Inventor to offer a round-trip solution that makes the whole collaborative design process easier and faster.
"We're excited by the new features that Design Review 2007 introduces. It allows us to publish our Autodesk Inventor files with associated metadata, Bill of Materials (BOM) and 3D animations that demonstrate assembly and disassembly instructions -- all inside a compact and secure file," said Fernando Paes, project manager for IT and business processes optimization from Voith Paper of Sao Paulo, Brazil. "Autodesk Design Review greatly accelerates the collaborative process between our designers and partners -- making the design-to-manufacturing process much more efficient," added Paes.
Deeper Design Intelligence -- New Features
New features in Autodesk Design Review 2007 include bill of materials (BOM) viewing, support for assembly instructions, animations, 2D/3D associations, pull-apart, sectioning, exploded views, design analysis, Autodesk Inventor representations and custom views.
Other important new features include direct import of DWG and DXF files, the ability to combine 2D and 3D documents in a single file, batch printing, save views, rotation of markups and custom symbols. For a full list of new features and benefits visit: http://www.autodesk.com/designreview.
"Effective collaboration within extended design teams is vital for Autodesk's manufacturing, building and infrastructure customers as they focus on integrating their project supply chains to realize a faster time to market. Autodesk Design Review is purpose-built to share 3D engineering, building and mapping models in a simple, secure manner that retains the full context of the original idea and richness of data," said Amar Hanspal, vice president of Autodesk Collaboration Solutions. "Autodesk Design Review leverages the DWF platform so teams can work together in an electronic review environment that dramatically reduces design cycles and improves team collaboration," added Hanspal.
Free DWF Viewer Update
Autodesk Design Review 2007 also offers the latest DWF-file viewing and printing updates in its free Autodesk DWF Viewer software. The free DWF Viewer is the smartest way to share accurate design information across project and design teams. Collaboration customers can easily view and print 2D and 3D designs on the DWF platform with an expanded choice of printing in black-and-white or grayscale for more control over image quality and viewing/markup of color drawings and maps.
Autodesk DWF Viewer is already an industry-leading vehicle for sharing design data according to IDC Research,(1) and the latest release offers product teams increased sharing of design data critical to the manufacturing collaboration process.
"Autodesk DWF Viewer has been downloaded more than 11 million times and all signs point to the emergence of DWF as a de facto standard for Web-enabled design engineering collaboration," said Gisela Wilson, director of IDC's Product, Project and Portfolio Management Solutions service.
More Flexible Publication
The Autodesk DWF Writer is also available today and offers more options to freely publish 2D and 3D design data to DWF files to suit customer-specific needs. The DWF Writer supports publishing 2D files and 3D models that retain imbedded intelligent design information, including specialized plug-ins for Solidworks 2005 and 2006, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2, and CATIA V5.
Product Availability
Autodesk Design Review 2007 software is available now in North America for US $199 through Autodesk's reseller channel and at the Autodesk online store. Purchase information is available at http://www.autodesk.com/designreview-buy.
Autodesk Design Review Trial: http://www.autodesk.com/designreview-trial.
Autodesk DWF Viewer: It's FREE: http://www.autodesk.com/dwfviewer.
Autodesk DWF Writer: It's FREE http://www.autodesk.com/dwfwriter
Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension: is available to Autodesk Inventor
subscription customers from their subscription center.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a Fortune 1000 company, wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With seven million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the manufacturing, infrastructure, building, media and entertainment, and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage and share their data and digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage, become more productive, streamline project efficiency and maximize profits.
Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/.
NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, DWF, DWG, and DXF are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
(1) Gisela D. Wilson, "Autodesk DWF: Opening the Door for Global Product Development Collaboration," IDC Research (January 2006).
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