Based on the material and process selection, and end-of-life choices, Eco Materials Adviser calculates a range of environmental impact measures that can be used to assess the product's impact, and to compare and optimize alternative choices. The Add-In is available in the Part and Assembly environments, and is loaded automatically at Autodesk Inventor start-up.
When you make material or process choices, it calculates the estimated key environmental indicators, such as:
These environmental indicators can be displayed in the Eco Materials Adviser dashboard, or as a detailed report which can be printed or saved as a PDF.
We recommend you use one of the following browser applications to launch the tool successfully: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, or Mozilla Firefox.
Eco Materials Adviser is delivered in limited language versions. Click here to visit the Eco Materials Adviser Resource Center that is provided by Granta Design for more information on which language versions are available.
You can access the Eco Materials Adviser tool using the command on the Environments tab. The command is available in part and assembly environments.
To successfully display the tool, make sure:
The Eco Materials Adviser tool displays in a dockable panel which opens on the right side of the Autodesk Inventor window by default. Commands are available on the panel toolbar, or from the Eco Materials Adviser Homepage.
Dashboards display in the lower part of the Eco Materials Adviser panel.
When you open Eco Materials Adviser, it automatically searches for any available updates. When a new update is available, a message displays with information about it. Alternatively, you can click Check for Updates on the About tab in the Eco Materials Adviser panel.
Important: Updates to the tool are not provided by Autodesk. They are provided and supported by Granta Design only. Click here to visit the Eco Materials Adviser Resource Center to get the latest version.
The dashboard in the lower part of the Eco Materials Adviser panel displays the values calculated for environmental and cost indicators. The display can be updated to show how the results change when new materials or processes are assigned.
When you first view the dashboard, the results for the current state of the design are displayed – there is no previous analysis to compare it to. By default, the dashboard is displayed in Summary view, which shows the results for the entire assembly.
Click on an environmental indicator to see how each individual part in the model contributes to the total value for that indicator. Once you are in Details view, you can click on the left and right arrows to view the detailed results for the other indicators. To return to Summary view, click on the Summary button in the top-right group of buttons.
The dashboard can also show comparisons between different material and process choices. Click the Set Baseline button to set your current design as the baseline. After making changes to your design, click the Update Dashboard button to see how the environmental indicators have been affected.
Click here to learn more about the dashboard commands and functions.