Up and Running with Autodesk Inventor Simulation 2011: A Step-by-Step Guide to Engineering Design Solutions [Format Kindle]

Autodesk Inventor Simulation 2011 is a 3D mechanical solid modeling design software used in the design, visualization and simulation of products via the creation of 3D digital prototypes. Compared to Autodesk Inventor 2011, it has two important additional features: Dynamic Simulation and Finite Element Analysis. Inventor Simulation omits two features that are in Inventor: Tube & Pipe Design and Cable & Harness Design.

This is a textbook organized into three major sections: Dynamic Simulation, Chapter 1 to 8; Stress Analysis, Chapter 9 to 16; and Frame Analysis, Chapter 17 to 19. Each section begins with an overview, followed by chapters of different design problems. The book is a paperback that is printed on 8.5" by 11", Letter-size paper. All diagrams, illustrations, and screenshots are in full color, making reading and understanding the problem, design concepts and approaches, and solutions much easier.

In the Dynamic Simulation section, the author uses seven design problems to explain and illustrate the process of joint creation, a very powerful but difficult to master feature of Inventor Simulation. Each design problem is devoted to a chapter and is explained in detail from eight to twenty pages, depending on the complexity of the design problem. The problems are generally presented in increasing complexity. They are Size A Motor, Size A Jack, Size Multiple Actuating Jacks, Advanced Simulation Settings, Size A Spring, Size A Spring 2, and Simulate A Sprocket Chain.

The format of presentation is:

1. Joints introduced/covered in this design problem.
2. Key features and workflows introduced in this design problem.
3. Introduction (description of the problem)
4. Workflow of design problem (Grouping/Welding -> Joints -> Environment Constraints -> Analyze Results).

Each stage of the workflow is described and illustrated extensively and in minute detail that it is in fact possible to learn and understand the software as it is applied to the design problems without a computer.
Stress Analysis section is covered from chapter 9 to 16. Starting with the 2010 release of Inventor Simulation, stress and model analysis has been expanded from a single-part to multi-part (assembly) capability.

In my opinion, this book does live up to the name of its title - Up and Running with Autodesk Inventor Simulation 2011, Second Edition: A step-by-step guide to engineering design solutions. It is very easy to read and understand.

Answer: if you have a big enough penknife or Autodesk inventor simulation.

I have used AutoCAD and other products to design prototypes and finish of IV pumps and flexible drills. I was aware of Autodesk inventor simulation but never tried it personally. So this book is my first foray into the field. So far I'm very happy with the results and wonder why I have not tried this earlier. The book itself is well designed and can be used in the classroom. However for now I'm plowing through it by myself. The first thing I noticed was there was no disk or should we say CD. Then I realized that all the best information was online and this book helps you to use that information. My first attempts to locate the information needed brought me to a lot of advertisements and offers. But soon I was able to locate the right information and hit the deck running. The book itself is well-designed and matches the windows of the product. There are lots of color lots of examples of complexity builds as you go through it. Many of the properties that you had to slow down and put in AutoCAD the hard way are easy to instill in your simulation projects. I'm not sure yet if simulations can be included in patents.

Aside from being a great reference book I would suggest this is a perfect starting point for anybody wanting to know Autodesk inventor. The book is comprehensive enough that you do not need to go AutoCAD first.

What? Are you still reading this review? Quit reading and get your copy and get started.

One key feature of the book is its rich use of colour. The many Autodesk screen captures throughout the book show how colour enhances the 3 dimensional shading and thus greatly eases your understanding of the product that you are designing. While perhaps to some readers this might seem superficial, in practice colour adds vitally to the visual cues you need when trying to layout [or understand someone else's layout] an object.

The text also shows that you are not restricted to the design of a static object. Your item might have moving parts, that you can constrain within Inventor. Plus another great feature is that Inventor has an impressively large list of common joint or component types, available via a menu, that you can pick from and drop into place in your design. Each component might have several degrees of freedom, and angles over which it can extend.

As for the Simulation aspect, this is the next logical step. The package lets you turn or wind your object, or parts thereof, in a rigid body simulation, where the parts are rigid. There is a vital design feedback loop, whereby you can simulate, then possibly change a constraint or degree of freedom [add or remove the latter] and then re-simulate. By cycling this way, Autodesk lets you rapidly and efficiently converge on a [hopefully] viable design. The graphics, especially in motion, give you an intuitive visual feedback that is otherwise hard to achieve.

This also means that by being able to extensively test simulations within Inventor, you can improve the chances of producing an actual working object, since production is costly in time and money.

The amount of maths is strongly deprecated. The package does a good job of hiding the physics equations that define the constraints. Which suggests that if you are someone who is, say, a machinist and who wants to upgrade your skills to doing more design, and your formal maths and science background is minimal, then the book and software can be quite useful. Another take is that you might be a high school student, eager to learn more mechanical design, but you haven't been taught some of the maths background, then you could also benefit from the book.

Be aware though that the software's abilities are scarcely the only or first way to do these simulations. 16 years ago, I worked on SDRC's I-deas and Pro/Engineer software, that could do all that Inventor now does. The difference of course is that those ran on expensive workstations and the licenses for the packages were quite costly. The pricing availability of Inventor, and the fact that it can run on cheap thousand dollar machines reflects the continued progress of Moore's Law over the intervening time.