What is PDMC?
The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection is a comprehensive suite of powerful tools that can significantly enhance your design and manufacturing processes. As an experienced user, I can attest to its exceptional value and versatility. This collection includes a range of software solutions, making it a one-stop shop for all your design and engineering needs, from the basic to the complex.
First and foremost, it includes AutoCAD, the industry standard for 2D and 3D drafting and modeling. Whether you're an architect, mechanical engineer, or product designer, AutoCAD's precision and versatility are indispensable. Furthermore, it offers Autodesk Inventor, an outstanding parametric 3D modeling tool perfect for mechanical design, simulations, and rendering.
The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection also includes tools for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and data management, ensuring your projects stay organized and efficient. Additionally, you get access to AutoCAD Electrical and AutoCAD Mechanical, specialized versions tailored for electrical and mechanical design. These tools are invaluable for those in the manufacturing and engineering fields. In sum, this collection streamlines your design workflow, aids in collaboration, and offers exceptional tools for every step of your product design and manufacturing journey. If you're a potential user, you'll find that this collection provides a comprehensive and powerful toolkit to transform your design process, regardless of your specific industry or application.
I’ve been using the PDMC in its various forms over the years. When I started up my consulting business, knowing I needed to cover a wide customer base, I needed numerous different design-related applications. PDMC combines all the main titles I needed in one package, at a price that can’t be touched by buying each application separately.
As mentioned above, with PDMC all bases are covered for mechanical design. Right off the top, you get Inventor, a very capable 3D CAD application, but you also get the most widely used 2D CAD application in the world, AutoCAD. Those 2 titles alone should be able to cover 90% of your CAD needs. Add in Vault to manage your design data and you may very well have reached the 100% mark.
Without going into any sales pitches, purchasing the PDMC versus buying even just a couple of the applications separately, is a huge bargain. Everything you’ll need is included, yes, even for a one-person operation. You might ask, “Why do you need all those applications?” That's a very good question. Chances are, you may not use all of the apps provided, but you should find yourself using at least three of them. Let’s take a quick look at the three applications I use most often: Inventor, AutoCAD, and Vault.
Inventor
With Inventor, you have a very user-friendly interface. It's completely customizable from the commands and menus to the look, and feel. You're free to set up the application however you and your company need to use it. But of course, customization doesn’t end there, oh no – you can customize how your designs, drawings, and data are created by adding in some iLogic code. You can literally create a 3D model and its associated drawing set with just iLogic code.
Personally, Inventor is where I spend most of my time designing. I conceptualize and create my designs in 3D. But there are plenty of times when I need to take that design and send it to a customer who doesn't have a need for 3D. In those instances, I save the files in “.dwg” format, the format used in AutoCAD. Now, that customer can access those files with any dwg viewer on the market. Remember, it’s all about your customer, whether internal or external, keep them happy and give them what they require.
Creating 3D models in Inventor is a breeze, but Inventor offers far more than being a simple 3D modeler, you have numerous included design assistants like Tube & Pipe, Wire Harness, Frame Generator, Spring, Gear, and Bolted Connection generators, Sheet Metal, Injection Mold, even basic Finite Element Analysis and more. And yes, I have used each one of those at some point.
AutoCAD
What more can I say about AutoCAD? Even lay people know what AutoCAD is. My 83-year-old mother knows what AutoCAD is! It's the world’s most used CAD application and it's great for 2D layouts and detailing. AutoCAD also offers multiple toolsets for your specific design needs. Toolsets include Architecture, Electrical, Mechanical, Plant 3D, Map 3D, MEP, and Raster Design.
Vault
Vault is a great data management application developed exclusively for Inventor back in the day but is now used in both Autodesk and Windows Office applications. Whether you use Vault Basic or Professional, it's a great tool that makes managing your datasets very easy.
In Vault, with just a moment’s glance, a user can tell what type of file it is, what state in the release cycle it is currently at, and what all previous versions/releases look like. You can even make an older version of a file as the current version if and when you realize an older design was the better design. Vault is your HD’s backup. Without Vault, if your HD crashes, you can lose all your CAD data. (Vault requires a separate server where all data is stored and then accessed by the Vault Client interface on the user’s workstation). Best of all, Vault Basic is included at no additional cost with PDMC.
These are the three most used applications with the PDMC. Aside from those, the other included applications in PDMC are provided as compliments, allowing you to take your designs even further, such as 3ds Max. 3ds Max is a professional-grade 3D modeling, rendering, and animation software that enables you to create expansive environments and landscapes to produce professional-grade renders with full artistic control. While Inventor Studio (Inventor’s “built-in” rendering environment) does a solid job in rendering your models for Engineering needs, you may want or need to get a bit fancier, 3ds Max will allow you to create and render realistic environments and backgrounds, add textures, lighting, etc.
If you’re still unsure, download a trial and give them each a test drive to see what they can do for you!
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