DWF Composer Renamed, New Tools Added

By DE Editors

Autodesk, Inc. (San Rafael, CA) has renamed its Autodesk DWF Composersoftware Autodesk Design Review 2007 and announced that this latestupgrade is shipping. At the same time, the companyannounced Design Review 2007, it also announced new versions of itsfree DWF Viewer and DWF Writer applications.

Key enhancements in Designer Review 2007 are its focus on facilitatingcollaboration between extended product development teams, 2D and 3Dreview, and hundreds of new features and capabilities, says thecompany. Autodesk Design Review 2007 integrates with allAutodesk design products, and now especially Inventor through what iscalled Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension, a new release for AutodeskInventor software subscription customers.

New features in Autodesk Design Review 2007 include BOM viewing,support for assembly instructions, animations, 2D/3D associations,pull-apart, sectioning, exploded views, design analysis, AutodeskInventor representations, and custom views. Other new features includedirect import of DWG and DXF files, the ability to combine 2D and 3Ddocuments in a single file, batch printing, save views, rotation ofmarkups and custom symbols.

Autodesk says Design Review 2007’s tight integration and functionalitywith Autodesk Inventor provides a bidirectional solution. As an exampleof this, Autodesk says that you can now publish Inventor files withassociated metadata, BOM (bill of materials), and 3D animations thatdemonstrate assembly and disassembly instructions inside a compact andsecure file.

The unveiling of Autodesk Design Review 2007 also marks theavailability of the newest update of the company’s free Autodesk DWFViewer and Autodesk DWF Writer software. The latter has been enhancedwith more options to freely publish 2D and 3D design data to DWF files.DWF Writer supports publishing 2D files and 3D models that retainembedded intelligent design information, including specialized plug-insfor SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer Wildfire, and CATIA.

Autodesk Design Review 2007 costs $199. For a full list of newfeatures, click here. To register for a 30-day trial version ofAutodesk Design Review, click here.

Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension is available to Autodesk Inventor subscription customers from their subscription center.

Click here to register for your free download of DWF Viewer and here for DWF Writer.

Sources: Meetings with the company. Demonstration and press materialsreceived from the company as well as additional information gleanedfrom the company’s website.