Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,279
30,341



Back in January at Macworld, we noted that Autodesk was planning to bring its Inventor Fusion mechanical design software to the Mac. At the time, the company promised the a free technology preview of Inventor Fusion for Mac would be available in the coming weeks, with an official release to follow later.

autodesk_inventor_fusion.jpg



Autodesk today announced that the free software preview is now available for download and will remain active through January 1, 2013.
Inventor Fusion is a free technology preview that enables creation of designs through intuitive direct manipulation tools. Our aim is to set a new standard for Assembly design, giving users greater control over designs without sacrificing productivity. Hopefully this technology preview will make it easier to open and edit 3D models from virtually any source and incorporate them into new or existing designs (such as in Autodesk Inventor). Your feedback will determine if we are correct in our thinking.
The system requirements for Inventor Fusion for Mac include most relatively recent Mac Pro, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with specific graphics options from AMD, NVIDIA or Intel. Autodesk has, however, indicated that users may still have success running the software on officially unsupported systems.

The release of the Inventor Fusion preview for Mac is the second major Mac-related announcement for Autodesk this week, following the company's unveiling of Smoke 2013, an updated version of its professional-level video editing and visual effects software for Mac. Smoke 2013 will be launching "later this fall" at a price of $3,495 per license, a significant discount from the $14,995 pricing on previous versions.

Article Link: Autodesk Releases Preview of Inventor Fusion for Mac
 

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Jul 26, 2004
2,028
187
Burlington, VT
Now we need to get SolidWorks on the Mac. Everywhere I have worked and anyone I know in the manufacturing industry uses SolidWorks, or is moving in that direction.

But having Inventor on the Mac is still a move in the right direction.
 

thuchu1

macrumors regular
Oct 16, 2010
155
22
Auburn Hills, MI
what is the file size?

817.1MB

----------

Now we need to get SolidWorks on the Mac. Everywhere I have worked and anyone I know in the manufacturing industry uses SolidWorks, or is moving in that direction.

But having Inventor on the Mac is still a move in the right direction.

I thought I was going to be the first to say this. Hopefully SolidWorks is paying attention. SolidWorks is much better and seems to be used much more widely than Inventor in the profession field. It's a shame that Autodesk got here first, but at least there's some sort of solution on the horizon!
 

Limboistik

macrumors regular
Aug 11, 2011
193
5
Seriously.

What's the delay on all the mainstream pro software like 3DS Max and Revit architecture??

It's 2012. Jesus.
 

derickdub

macrumors 6502
Mar 13, 2011
317
0
VA
Eh, it's just Fusion. When will we see Professional?

I'm not really even a fan of inventor, I find myself using AutoCAD much more. Would love to see SolidWorks on OS X though.
 

Derpage

Suspended
Mar 7, 2012
451
194
Semi-off-topic: I wish they'd release 3DS Max for OS X soon...

Currently the program is supported by Autodesk as "Windows on the Mac" program. This typically is their way of saying. Nope, your stuck with your peecee install, now go get a windows partition.
 

GadgetGav

macrumors member
Oct 18, 2010
75
1
Don't know what makes MacRumors think it's good through January 2013...

"Please note: this version of Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview is programmed to expire on May 1, 2012."

Less than a month to try it out. Hardly worth the effort to learn it.


+1 for SolidWorks on the Mac. Are you listening Dassault Systems??
 

L-U-R-C-H

macrumors regular
Mar 3, 2007
181
153
Des Moines, Iowa
Who gives a rip! Release 3ds max for Mac already!! It's 2012...we've been asking for it for years!! Get off your rear ends and actually release something worthwhile.
 

Comeagain?

macrumors 68020
Feb 17, 2011
2,190
46
Spokane, WA
Don't know what makes MacRumors think it's good through January 2013...

"Please note: this version of Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview is programmed to expire on May 1, 2012."

Less than a month to try it out. Hardly worth the effort to learn it.

From the autodesk website.
AVAILABILITY

The Microsoft Windows compatible technology preview executable expires on May 1, 2012. The Apple OS X compatible version of the technology preview expires on January 1, 2013.
 

notanalien

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2012
6
0
Now we need to get SolidWorks on the Mac. Everywhere I have worked and anyone I know in the manufacturing industry uses SolidWorks, or is moving in that direction.

But having Inventor on the Mac is still a move in the right direction.

Agreed 100%. Most engineering firms use Solidworks (which is a NICE piece of software). I've run solidworks through bootcamp, but it will NOT run well in any virtualization (unless you're doing really simple parts).

If Apple could get Solidworks onto OS X that would be a MAJOR hurdle towards opening up Mac sales to hardware firms. Rebooting to bootcamp constantly just isn't a good solution in a serious engineering environment.
 

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,792
1,914
Pacific Northwest
Don't know what makes MacRumors think it's good through January 2013...

"Please note: this version of Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview is programmed to expire on May 1, 2012."

Less than a month to try it out. Hardly worth the effort to learn it.


+1 for SolidWorks on the Mac. Are you listening Dassault Systems??

It's called Pre-release software to the general public to garner a much wider swath of incidental bugs the beta testers haven't tripped up yet.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.