Inventor Publisher was a software application that was designed to enable designers and engineers to create high-quality illustrations and animations for technical documentation. The software was widely used in industries such as manufacturing, engineering, and architecture to create media for manuals, user guides, assembly instructions, and other technical documentation. It was Autodesk’s equivalent of SolidWorks Composer. Launching in 2009 it was available until the release of Publisher 2016 when it was discontinued.
It was claimed to have an easy to use interface which didn’t require previous specialized knowledge or CAD experience to get to grips with. You could easily switch between several available render styles, such as shaded or technical illustration, add annotations and control camera options. Much like Cadasio, you capture all the changes you have done with snapshots within a story board.
Once you captured your steps, there was a wide range of output options. For 2D you could save raster images such as JPG and PNG, as well as vector images in the form of SVG. A nice feature was the ability to export your images to a Microsoft Word or PowerPoint template.
Autodesk Inventor Publisher could also create interactive and animated technical documentation. The software had a range of tools that allowed users to create animations and interactive 3D models that could be included in manuals and user guides. This helped to make technical documentation more engaging and easier to understand, which was particularly useful in industries where complex machinery or equipment needed to be explained to non-technical users. However, for someone to view the created interactive documentation you needed to use the Inventor Viewer, or on mobile devices the Inventor Publisher Mobile viewer, both of which required an additional download, and a decent machine to run, which is enough to put a lot of end users off. Unfortunately, this meant that the interactive element of a 3D assembly or service manual was never really capitalised upon and often users would instead choose to save out animations in the form of AVI and the now obsolete Abode Flash.
One of its biggest selling points was its ability to integrate with other Autodesk products, primarily Inventor. This allowed users to import 3D models and other design elements directly into Publisher, which could then be used to create technical documentation or illustrations. This integration saved users a lot of time and effort in the documentation creation and also update process.
One of the main limitations was its cost. The software was quite expensive, which made it difficult for smaller organizations or individual users to justify the investment. It was also only available for Windows operating systems, and required a fairly substantial machine to run it. A lot of technical documentation writers have a preference to use Macs so they could not use the software without purchasing another computer, further adding to costs.
Another limitation of Autodesk Publisher was its lack of compatibility with non-Autodesk products. While the software integrated well with other Autodesk products, it was not always easy to import data or models from other software applications. This meant that users who worked with a range of different software applications may have found Autodesk Publisher less useful.
Publisher was often sold as part of a larger software package bundle, which meant that it was a reasonably widely used piece of software. With its generally positive reviews, it came as a bit of a surprise to many users when they discontinued it, and some existing users were perturbed when a sufficient replacement was not readily available.
Is there an alternative to Inventor Publisher?
Yes! Cadasio is an online SaaS that is a legitimate replacement for Autodesk Inventor Publisher. Just like Publisher, Cadasio allows you to repurpose your CAD data to create media for technical communications. This is done with our purpose built Inventor addin found on the Autodesk Appstore.
For traditional forms of documentation, 2D images can be published as well as movies. However, unlike Publisher, Cadasio focuses on creating 3D assembly and service instructions that can be shared and interacted with easily. Since it runs in your browser, there are no additional downloads or high system requirements. This more modern approach to technical communications means not only means you can save time and money, it can reduce printing making you more sustainable too. Best of all, you can get started for free to make sure we are the right solution for you!
