Computer aided design software is becoming more sophisticated: it’s moving to the cloud, it’s beginning to offer generative capabilities, and, broadly speaking, it’s bringing manufacturing closer to design. In this episode of the Digital Factory Podcast, Jon Bruner talks with Steve Hooper, vice president and general manager of Autodesk’s Fusion 360, about how those developments in CAD software are driving major changes in the practices, roles, and capabilities of product development.
The Digital Factory Conference is returning to Boston on May 7, 2019. Jeff Immelt hosts, and speakers include the CEO of Align Technology, CIOs of FedEx and Baker Hughes, the head of manufacturing at Ford Motor, CTO of GE, and CEOs of Formlabs and Desktop Metal. Visit thedigitalfactory.com to see the program, and register soon; prices increase as the conference approaches.
Links from this episode:
- Steve’s favorite tool: the Pocket NC five-axis mill
- Eagle, the electronics design software that Autodesk acquired in 2016
- Autodesk Generative, a descendent of Project Dreamcatcher, which Jon has written about at a couple of stages
- Jon’s interview with Zach Kaplan, who points out that you’d never be able to effectively write computer programs if you don’t have firsthand access to a computer, and that designers also need firsthand access to fabrication tools
- The Fusion 360 Facebook group, where users post their projects
