The Factory Design Utilities user interface is located on the Factory tab and laid out with panels named Tools, Factory Assets, Suite Workflows, Material Flow, Point Cloud, Utilities, and Community. A blend of Factory and standard AutoCAD panels create the default Factory working environment.
Many of the AutoCAD Factory user interface tools are described below.
AutoCAD Factory Design Utilities
There are four palettes associated with the AutoCAD Factory Design Utilities: Asset Browser, Block Browser, Material Flow, and Factory Properties. The palettes share the browser area and can be adjusted using standard resizing methods. The browsers can be docked in different positions or left floating if pulled away from the application frame.
- Asset Browser - Provides access to the installed assets, user assets, and cloud-based assets. Assets are components that, together, make up the content of a factory. They can include architectural features, equipment for material handling, processing equipment, and so on.
- Block Browser - Lists all blocks in the current drawing with their asset attributes. You can double-click a block name in the Block Browser list and publish an asset in the Asset Builder environment.
- Material Flow - Provides access to defined stations, products, and routings. From the browser, you can manage the definitions of these factory objects. Context menus provide access to commonly used commands.
- Factory Properties - Provides access to factory asset properties and material flow object properties.
Factory Assets panel
The Factory Assets tools help you to create, edit, and update assets.
- Asset Builder - Lets you create an AutoCAD Factory asset from a 2D block, associate a 3D object to it, and define its orientation. The asset can then be published as a local asset or to the Cloud. A 3D representation of the object then appears when the AutoCAD layout is synced to either Inventor Factory or Navisworks Factory.
- Update Assets - Updates out of date assets with current asset data.
- Batch Explode - Explodes nested blocks so that you can edit assets contained within them.
- Batch Publish - Creates assets from blocks contained in DWG files.
- Export Properties - Exports property information for assets placed in the active layout. Properties are exported to an .xls file format for use with other systems.
- Factory Asset Warehouse - Accesses a web-based application that lets you upload, publish, share, and manage your cloud-based assets.
Suite Workflows panel
The tools in this panel enable you to create a bi-directional associative link between a 2D AutoCAD drawing and a 3D layout in both Inventor Factory and Navisworks Factory. The link, called Layout Sync, can be established between Inventor or Navisworks and AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD Mechanical.
This panel also contains the Create Process command that opens the Autodesk Process Analysis 360 web-based process modeling tool. This tool allows you to quickly build a functional model of your proposed assembly line, factory, or industrial machines. You can then simulate its operation to identify potential bottlenecks and optimize performance.
Material Flow panel
The Material Flow tools provide the means to define products that are to be manufactured in the facility, the stations where the processes occur, and the routes between the stations. Once you have a layout, you can analyze the transportation costs, machine utilization, and power consumption. Reports of the results can be produced so that multiple scenarios can be compared and documented. When the layout meets your requirements, the layout can be sent to Inventor Factory where it becomes a 2D overlay that is populated with 3D assets.
- Import - Allows you to bring in spreadsheet data generating variable related information pertinent to the factory layout.
- Export - Provides a means of storing and sharing layout variable information in spreadsheet format.
Point Cloud panel
These tools let you incorporate point cloud data into your drawings.
- Autodesk Recap - Launches ReCap to index scans and create and edit point cloud project files.
- Attach - Attaches point cloud scan and project files to a drawing.
- Real View - Controls point cloud label and indicator displays.
Utilities panel
The Utilities panel features a collection of familiar AutoCAD commands, like MEASUREGEOM, ID, QUICKCALC, etc. It also features the Connect command, which is unique to AutoCAD Factory. This command connects factory assets by picking unconsumed (unused) connectors on the assets.
Community panel
- Factory Help - Opens the AutoCAD Factory Help documentation that is shipped with the product.
- What's New - Displays information about the new functionality in your version of the Autodesk Factory Design Utilities.
- Discussion Forum - Takes you to online Factory-related discussion topics.
- You Tube - Links to overview and step-by-step videos on the Autodesk Factory Design Suite YouTube channel.
- Share Ideas - Accesses the IdeaStation where you can share your ideas with the Factory Development team on how to improve the Factory Design Suite.