Developed by Planit as a total CAD/CAM solution for the sheet metal industry, the latest release of Radan, 2009 R2, is supporting the company’s drive for the generation of digital prototypes. Encompassing design, manufacture and production control for all sheet metal components and products, Radan 2009 R2 has gained full certification from Autodesk for use with its Inventor 2010 CAD software.

Radan 2009 has been fully certified for Autodesk Inventor 2010 under the Autodesk Inventor Certified Applications Program. Certified applications have to meet predetermined implementation guidelines and must demonstrate the highest levels of robustness, quality and interoperability when working with Autodesk Inventor software. Full certification is only granted after a product has been thoroughly tested by internal staff at Autodesk.


Commenting on news of the certification, Planit’s chief technology officer, Russell Franks, says: “Radan’s ability to seamlessly load and manipulate Inventor models, provide Global Network Licensing, and support a corporation’s ‘design anywhere/build anywhere’ initiative, make it a business critical system at many Inventor users. So, this Certification is significant to our mutual customers.”

Avoiding the need to translate files, Radan is able to directly read native Autodesk Inventor digital prototype models and assemblies for process planning and machine toolpath generation. Prior to actual production digital prototypes can be manufactured and fully tested within the software. For example, waste water metal ducting can be functionally tested for water tightness. And, any modifications to part geometry and process parameters are easily accommodated by Radan's full associativity across geometry, processes and toolpaths.

The fact that the latest release of Radan is fully certified under the Autodesk Inventor Certified Applications Program will allow designers and other users of Inventor CAD software to confidently take full advantage of the latest and most recent enhancements made to Radan.

Russell Franks states: “Radan has a long history of working with Autodesk and other CAD partners, developing its design to manufacture software (DTM) to make it easier for customers get the most from their 3D designs. Radan extends the digital prototyping philosophy into manufacturing, enabling users to see how their prototypes will be machined and allows early identification of any potential manufacturing problems before they happen on the shopfloor.

“This latest release of Radan has a number of key benefits, but the additional scope of the nesting interface of the software is remarkable. While auto nesting does make great material savings, the algorithm used by Radan’s nesting is much more capable and allows the users to go much further.”

Autodesk Inventor 3D mechanical design software provides a comprehensive set of CAD tools for producing, validating, and documenting complete digital prototypes. There are extensive developments in Inventor 2010 for sheet metal manufacturers including Unfold/Refold workflows, lofted flanges and rip features as well as contoured rolls, enabling users to define complex sheet metal parts that include rolled formed sections. Autodesk Inventor 2010, with its exciting new sheet metal features, combined with Radan CAM software provides the ultimate in cost-effective digital manufacturing for companies working with sheet metal.

Both Radan and its sister software from Planit, Edgecam, provide complementary support for the generation of digital prototypes by allowing any design to be manipulated in a manufacturing/production environment.