The Autodesk NC CAM team has launched the new release PowerMill 2020.2. The last release of PowerMill represents a significant shift in development in recent years – with a clear focus on usability, reliability, and speed.


PowerMill is Autodesk’s CAM solution for high-speed and five-axis machining. It offers a comprehensive range of strategies and powerful editing tools to ensure efficient, safe and accurate machining, especially for companies that are using sophisticated CNC machine tools to produce complex shapes in challenging materials. PowerMill is used in a wide range of industries but is particularly successful in mold, tool and die, complex aerospace and automotive applications.

The release of PowerMill 2020 represents a significant shift in development in recent years – with a clear focus on usability, reliability, and speed.

The previous releases of PowerMill have seen significant improvements in terms of robustness and safety. Technology such as collision avoidance using automatic tool-axis tilting makes it easier for CAM programmers to create safe NC code that can be run on their CNC machines. Autodesk’s pursuit of safe, collision-free toolpaths has resulted in the introduction of additional safety checks within the core PowerMill algorithm. These safety checks are a good thing – but they do carry a processing overhead which can have an impact on overall calculation time.

In direct response to feedback from customers and internal users, the Autodesk PowerMill team re-focused its development muscle on outright performance (speed).

Watch this selection of videos to see the latest enhancements to Autodesk PowerMill. The 2020 release offers significant speed improvements to toolpath calculation, simulation, and verification, plus enhanced leads and links, uphill corner finishing and a new model filleting option for Optimized Constant Z and Steep and Shallow Finishing.