Autodesk Inventor® Hardware Web Site

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Last Updated
3/18/2010
Autodesk Inventor® Hardware Web Site

Welcome to the Autodesk Inventor® Hardware Web Site. Please click on the appropriate option.

Graphics Driver Support
Since most customers are moving to Microsoft Direct3D supported workstations and operating systems, we are no longer actively searching for, certifying and posting the latest graphics drivers for 3D workstation graphics accelerator cards. We perform certifications and update our databases on an as-requested basis. Updated, WHQL certified Direct3D drivers will not be automatically posted here, only those drivers actually tested for Inventor by Autodesk will be posted. OpenGL drivers certified for Inventor by Autodesk will also be posted here.

Inventor LT users should use Inventor 2008 and later graphics card database, drivers and configuration information.

Direct3D Support
Inventor 2011 includes a new graphics pipeline which is graphics shader program based. Not all WHQL certified Direct3D graphics drivers are completely trouble free in this environment. If you encounter problems in Inventor 2011, switching to the Compatibility choice, which uses the legacy Inventor graphics pipeline, should work fine with Microsoft WHQL certified Direct3D graphics drivers. Also, Windows 7 is a supported platform in Inventor 2011.

Inventor 2009 added support for DirectX 10. The DirectX 10 support on Vista is available for Inventor 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Inventor R11 added support for DirectX 9. This means Inventor R11 and newer version had Microsoft DirectX 9 support.

For the most part, a Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) certified 3D graphics accelerator card and driver combination will work and no further Autodesk certification is required. However, there are a few specific limitations:

  1. 2D graphics cards, such as the Nvidia Quadro NVS family, will not work correctly. You need to purchase a 3D graphics card for your Inventor workstation.
  2. Older DirectX 9 WHQL graphics drivers may have issues with Windows XP 32 bit when using the 3GB mode switch. If you are unable to upgrade to a 64 bit operating system, you should update your graphics driver. (Please note: Autodesk does officially support the use of Inventor with the use of the 3GB mode switch for Windows XP 32 bit.)
  3. Older DirectX 10 WHQL graphics drivers may have issues with lines switching between dashed and solid appearance when rotating a 3D model. Update your graphics driver.

OpenGL Support
OpenGL support is no longer available in Inventor 2011, even on XP 32-bit, even if using the Compatibility choice (legacy Inventor graphics pipeline). This means that OpenGL support is restricted to XP 32-bit on Inventor 2010 and earlier.

OpenGL support is provided for legacy systems and environments and may not support all recently added display capabilities available in Inventor. OpenGL drivers are only supported when using a graphics accelerator card and driver tested and certified by Autodesk. However, there are a couple of specific limitations:

  1. A certification in a newer version of Inventor also applies to older versions of Inventor, but not necessarily all older versions. We divide graphics support into two groups: with Inventor R10 and earlier releases in the first group and Inventor R11 and later releases in the later group. Certifications for one group may not apply to releases of Inventor in the other group.
  2. A certification for a released product applies to all service packs for that release.
  3. You will need to install the latest OpenGL graphics database when you update drivers.

Card Certification
Autodesk, Inc. has tested many workstation graphic cards and driver configurations.
Search for a card to find information and downloads for Autodesk Inventor® certified drivers.

Certification and Workstation Comparison
The comparison page shows system test results for Autodesk Inventor® running on various Workstations.

Graphics Database Files
This enables Inventor to properly use the driver.The update is required for OpenGL. For Direct3D it contains only workarounds for the few card/driver combinations that have a problem. As soon as these are identified, they are usually fixed.

Frequently Asked Questions
The FAQ page deals with number of common problems and provides troubleshooting tips.