Attention College Students: Free Autodesk Software

[Tt321b]

Thats right, legally download free Autodesk software including inventor, 3ds max and more.

I am a mechanical engineering student at Hofstra University and got an e-mail from the engineering department about this. I have already downloaded inventor 2008 and it works perfectly.

All you need is an e-mail address from your college and your good. Go to the link below, sign up and thats it! You get a 12 month subscription and when it is up, you just download the new one.

http://students2.autodesk.com/?lbon=1

[JD Mather]

Not limited to college students. There are instructions for all students who do not have edu email.

[1086wulf]

what do you mean download the new one? this isn't one of those "free" trial things is it?

[s_forbes]

Just registered my trial version that I got from the team, now I don't have to use one of their licenses. Thanks!

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Free 12 month trial.
And after the 12 months, you download the next free trial.
Great find. Thanks.

[Roger]

How does it deal with plots? Back in the old days Autodesk would give out "Educational" versions of AutoCAD (don't know about the other products) which worked but would put "Educational Version" all over the plots. What was worse was if that drawing got put into another drawing on another (fully licensed) AutoCAD, the text would remain on the other drawing. I don't know if they still do that, however, that's why I'm asking.

[Matt C]

I used an educational version of Inventor 9 as senior in college. On all of the 2D plots it has "FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY" on the borders. It's not bad if you are just using it for the intended purpose, or just for spacial analysis since it does not impact the 3D models. Just worry about compatibility with professional versions.

[Roger]

I haven't had personal experience with it, just "stories" of "FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY" getting into professional drawings by an unknowing student that worked on the drawing on his home computer. I don't mind people learning how to use it, but I'd rather not have to redraw drawings -- the only way to get rid of FEUO.

[Ryan Dognaux]

This is a genius move on Autodesk's part. Get as many students early on to learn Inventor. The more students turned professionals that push to use Inventor, the more of a market they will have for their CAD package. You don't see free student trials for programs like NX or CATIA floating around. Take advantage of this, I learned my basic CAD skills in high school using Inventor. If you learn how to use one, you can learn how to use them all.

[Tt321b]

Yes, unfortunately this is the educational version so there are those inconveniences but it sounds like s_forbes might have found a way around it.

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by Tt321b

Yes, unfortunately this is the educational version so there are those inconveniences but it sounds like s_forbes might have found a way around it.

After I registered it, it became a student version and said it would have the watermark on the drawings... so it still has the disadvantages that those above mentioned.

I only use it for laying out ideas in three dimensions. I also play with the tools in the design accelerator quite a bit, and they still work just fine after it became the student version.