Today I went by the web page for Inventor HSM http://cam.autodesk.com/inventor-hsm/ and lo and behold Inventor HSM professional is no longer grayed out. For those of you interested it is now available. I have not finished downloading it yet so obviously I have not had a chance to play with it. Other than the bells and whistles and all those things most users I bet will never use that the top-level of Inventor brings we have the top-level of HSM too. Things are still a work in progress so some of the goodies the SW side has are not here yet. Most however are and I look forward to loading this thing up. It may take some time with my internet speeds however. Autodesk has a download helper that at first looked like it was going to be quick. I average around 70 to 80 KBS on my typical downloads. The Autodesk helper was giving me up to 1MB and averages around 350KBS which is huge for my DSL. I don’t know what they are doing to make it work this way but the speeds are amazing. Still for me though the fly in the ointment was it failed three times to complete for reasons it did not specify and I am back to my download helper in Firefox which seems to be far more resistant to glitches but dog slow by comparison. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be done.
One of the things that I found of interest was on this page and it is about tool libraries. http://cam.autodesk.com/get-inventor-hsm-pro/
I like the idea of being able to import libraries from manufacturers that can be incorporated into user libraries. Now I have not talked to anyone about this yet nor have I tried it to see how well it works. I suspect though if it is in the press release it has been proven to work with libraries from companies that create them to the necessary standards required for integration. HSM is not the only company looking to do this.
I like all the methodology of tool creation or selection here, it is one of the things that caught my attention. Simple quick and easy and set up sheets are well laid out if you care to print them and send it with the file to the operator. What is even better is the data automatically generated in the post header regarding tools.
It is very nice to be able to take a last glance at tools in the carousel and check them against the order in the post file right there at the mill controller before punching start. These are the kinds of things that let me know real machinists had a part in what made it to the final product. A common sense safety check that will save you grief down the road. Gotta love it.
Machined Audio Horn Lens 
Dave
I do hope that HSM works out well for you (once you get the download completed!) CW4SE looked good in the press release too, but the image was only skin deep. It takes a wise (or brave) man to cut their losses and move on, and good on you for giving CW a serious try.
You can always tell the Pioneers – they’re the ones with the arrows in their backs.
Hi Alan,
Fortunately I have more than press release experience with HSM and my nearby friends 3+ years of pressure cooker job shop work environment to verify that what I have experienced with HSM so far is the reality of the program. That was one of the problems with CAMWorks. I had no one around here I actually knew who used it and could give me a real unbiased opinion of it. Speaking of arrows General Custer perhaps would recommend CW4SE but George Patton would recommend HSM.