Platform · Inventor automation

Autodesk Inventor Automation
for when iLogic stops being enough

Someone on your team wrote iLogic rules that got you 80% of the way. Now every new variant means editing those rules, and only one person dares touch them. We take Inventor past that point: structured iLogic, .NET add-ins, and cloud Design Automation that keep working as the product range grows.

Get Your Inventor Automation Audit Run the ROI Numbers

iLogic · Inventor API (.NET) · Design Automation (APS)

The bottleneck

The iLogic That Became the Bottleneck

Variants Built by Hand

Change the parameters, suppress the features, rebuild the assembly, fix what broke. Every order runs the same choreography, performed by an engineer who has better work waiting.

Rules Nobody Dares Touch

The iLogic that impressed everyone in year one is now thousands of lines of nested conditions. Adding a variant is scary. Debugging one is worse.

Model, Drawing, BOM: Out of Sync

The model says one thing, the drawing another, the BOM a third. Reconciling them by hand is where configuration errors are born.

What we build

Inventor Automation That Scales Past the First Hundred Variants

DESIGN RULES IN → CONFIGURED MODELS OUT

iLogic Rule Development

iLogic written like software: structured, documented, testable. Rules that handle cross-assembly dependencies and validation without turning into a thicket.

Learn more → YOUR WORKFLOW IN → NATIVE ADD-INS OUT

Inventor API Add-ins (.NET)

Where rules run out, add-ins take over: .NET tools with real UI panels that configure assemblies, generate drawings, and build BOMs in one pass.

Learn more → SALES ORDER IN → 3D · DRAWINGS · BOM OUT

Product Configurators

A web form for sales on the front, the Inventor API on the back. Orders arrive configured; models, drawings, and BOMs come out finished, and engineering never touches the routine ones.

Learn more → DESKTOP CAD → CLOUD AUTOMATION

Cloud Design Automation (APS)

Move the heavy generation to Autodesk's cloud. A hundred drawing sets run in parallel while your workstations stay free for actual design.

Learn more →

The Inventor automation stack we build on

iLogic · Rules · Forms · Parameter logic Inventor API · .NET add-ins · Custom UI panels APS · Design Automation for Inventor Outputs · 3D models · Drawings · BOMs

iLogic vs API vs cloud

The Three Ways to Automate Inventor, and When Each One Wins

Every Autodesk Inventor automation project ends up choosing between three tools: iLogic rules, the .NET API, and cloud Design Automation on Autodesk Platform Services. They aren't competitors; they're stages. Here's the honest boundary between them.

	iLogic	Inventor API (.NET)	Design Automation (APS)
What it is	Rules and forms embedded in the model: VB.NET snippets driven by parameters	Compiled add-ins with custom UI, running inside Inventor	Inventor's engine in Autodesk's cloud, with no desktop and no dialogs
Best at	Parameter-driven variants of a single product family	Cross-assembly logic, drawing generation, ERP/PLM integration	High-volume batch generation; automation behind web apps
Built by	Engineers, with discipline	Developers who know CAD	Developers who know CAD and cloud
Breaks down when	Rules exceed ~1,000 lines or span many assemblies	Volume outgrows desktop seats	Rarely, but it needs the API work done first
Typical project	Configurable product family, 10–100 variants	Drawing + BOM pipeline, quotation tools, add-in suites	Web configurators generating hundreds of models a day

Most teams we meet are stuck at the first boundary: iLogic carried them brilliantly to a point, then became the thing nobody dares edit. The fix isn't rewriting the rules one more time; it's moving the logic that outgrew iLogic into an add-in, and keeping iLogic for what it's genuinely good at. Our deep dive: iLogic vs Inventor API: choosing the right approach.

Scope

What Inventor Automation Can Take Off Your Team's Plate

Model Generation

Parts and assemblies built from parameters, order data, or calculation results: master models that reconfigure instead of getting rebuilt.

Drawing Automation

Views placed, dimensions applied, title blocks filled, sheets numbered: production drawings generated from the 3D model in one pass, to your drafting standards.

BOMs & Part Numbers

Bills of materials extracted straight from the assembly, part numbers assigned by your rules, with no retyping and no transcription errors.

Batch Operations

Exports to STEP, DXF, and PDF, property updates, drawing migrations: all run across hundreds of files while nobody watches.

ERP & Vault Integration

Design data flowing to ERP, PLM, and Vault automatically, making the model the single source of truth instead of one of three conflicting ones.

Sales-to-CAD Pipelines

Web configurators where a sales order comes in and validated models, drawings, and BOMs come out, and engineering only sees the exceptions.

Results

What Inventor Teams Measure After Rollout

85%Reduction in configuration time

100%Valid configurations

5xQuotation capacity

ZeroBOM errors

Proof

Inventor Automation, Already in Production

PRODUCT CONFIGURATOR

Screw Conveyor Product Configurator

Customers configure their own conveyors on the web; Inventor builds the 3D models and drawings behind it in real time. 60% of orders self-configured.

Read the use case → CAD ADD-IN

Utility Structure Design Automation

Design cycles cut from 2 weeks to 2-3 days, with data flowing straight into Tekla PowerFab for fabrication.

Read the use case → INDUSTRY SOLUTION

Transmission Pole Design Automation

PLS-Pole output in; manufacturing-ready 3D models, fabrication drawings, and BOMs out in minutes. Deployed with US manufacturers.

See the solution →

View All Use Cases →

Related insights

Reading for Teams Weighing iLogic Against the API

CAD CUSTOMIZATION

iLogic vs Inventor API: Choosing the Right Automation Approach

The honest boundary between rules and add-ins, and how to tell which side your problem is on.

Read article → CAD CUSTOMIZATION

AutoCAD vs Inventor API: Choosing the Right Automation Platform

Choose the platform by the shape of the workflow, not by which licenses you already own.

Read article → AUTOMATION STRATEGY

Engineering Automation Trends 2026

AI-assisted design, cloud-native CAD, and which of this year's trends are actually worth adopting.

Read article →

"FDES allowed us to meet our goals in time and on budget. They always put in the extra efforts to deliver a great result. Highly recommended." Marty Thomasson · President · Gearbox Solutions

FAQ

Asked on Nearly Every First Call

What's the difference between iLogic and the Inventor API?

iLogic is rule-based automation that lives inside the model, great for parameter-driven variants, buildable by engineers. The Inventor API is full .NET programming against Inventor: compiled add-ins with custom interfaces, cross-assembly logic, and external integrations. iLogic is faster to start; the API is what you graduate to when rules become unmanageable. Most production systems we build use both.

When does iLogic stop being enough?

Three reliable signs: your rules have grown past roughly a thousand lines and only one person understands them; logic needs to span multiple assemblies or talk to external systems like ERP; or adding a product variant means days of careful rule surgery instead of minutes. At that point the logic that outgrew iLogic belongs in a .NET add-in.

Can Inventor automation generate drawings and BOMs, not just models?

Yes, and for most manufacturers the drawings are the real payoff. The API can place views, apply dimensions, fill title blocks, and number sheets to your drafting standards, then extract BOMs with part numbers assigned by your rules. Model, drawing, and BOM come from one generation pass, so they can't drift out of sync.

Does the automation break when we upgrade Inventor?

Autodesk keeps the Inventor API remarkably stable between releases: well-built add-ins typically survive version upgrades with a recompile and a test pass, not a rewrite. We build against documented API surfaces and test against new releases, so upgrades are a maintenance item, not a crisis.

Can it integrate with our ERP, Vault, or web front end?

Yes. The .NET API integrates with anything that has an interface: ERP systems, Vault, PLM, databases, Excel, and web services. A common architecture we build: a web configurator for sales on the front, the Inventor API generating models and drawings behind it, and the results flowing into Vault and ERP automatically.

How long does an Inventor automation project take?

Typically 8–16 weeks to production, depending on product complexity and how many outputs (models, drawings, BOMs) the system generates. We build iteratively, so you see working automation on your own products in the first few weeks, not a big reveal at the end. See our pricing guide for typical investment ranges.

Free · no obligation

Show Us the Rule Nobody Wants to Edit

That's usually where the audit starts. We map your configuration and drawing pipeline, draw the iLogic-versus-API line for your product range, and tell you what to build first, and what to leave alone.