Autodesk is offering a "technology trial" of a product they're calling Inventor Fusion, which is a Direct Edit/modeler. It's pretty good, it's exciting to have things like shelling of a body happening while you push or pull a face, or push or pull to determine the radius of a fillet. It's also got an impressive range of import and export formats, STEP and IGES of course, but also higher-end stuff like Pro/E and ParaSolids. Available from Autodesk Labs, I'm not sure how long the trial runs for, I've seen it said 'til May 2011, which seems reasonable, but I didn't pay attention when I installed it, and I thought I caught a glimpse of 2012, which might or might not be right, because it isn't even a commercial product yet. Autodesk people have told CAD commentators that it's due to be aimed at the "DIY market", which sure sounds like me, but I wonder if they know how much spend I've got to spare?
