best 3d software to show heat?

Hi

I have been asked to get 3D software at work, I need it to be compatible with AutoCAD.

I have been going round in circles looking at the Autodesk software like Iventor, revit, AutoCAD, AutoCAD civils, Mechanical.

I want to be able to draw basic 3D objects, but the main thing I want to show is large (100mm) electric cables in trenches 900mm below ground level. I then want to be able to represent the heat that is comming from the cables, approx. 1m radius from the cables.

The cables have a maximum working temperature which can be affected by other cables near by or crossing. so I also want to show the heat comming from crossing cables.

First of all is it possible to represent heat in a 3D drawing and still see the cables. which software/s is best for this???

Also would like to be able to draw some fairly simple 3m high steel structures (see attached drawing) in 3D

Sorry for all the questions on 3D, just finding it very hard find the correct software package, before I order at the cost of £3000+

Thanks again for your help

structure.pdf

i know inventor 09 has some nice features but i dont know if they have any thermo properties yet. I have done thermal analysis before in unigraphics nx4 and nx5 but these are not autodesk softwares.

you cold try something separate from cad like radtherm

http://www.thermoanalytics.com/heat-transfer-software/heat-transfer-analysis-software.html

there is a 30day free trial so you can play around with imports/exports.

there are several stand alones out there so im sure one would work but i dont have any experience with them, sorry.

Thanks for your respons Shift

I don,t want to do any Thermal Anaylsis, I just want to be able to draw the heat, like glass if you like so I can see the cables through the heat

The thermal calculations have been done and I want to show this in a 3D drawing where are cables ( 3 x 100mm cablse in 160mm ducts)cross existing cables 700mm above or below in the ground

do you need to show some sort of gradient? or just another tube with "heat"

I would be better if I could draw a gradient of heat, but a tube would do.

I have been told inventor would be the best software for what I want draw i.e cables and the basic structure I attached in my first post.

Do you think I would be able to represent the heat using Inventor?

Thanks again

as far as i know inventor will do what your asking. Inventor does have stress analysis built into it but no heat. But I have not used 09. I dont know of(off hand) any software that will show "heat" without actually doing some sort of thermal analysis.

I think I am going to get Inventor then

I have used LT for 10 years

Is inventor easier to learn than 3D AutoCAD

its very different.

Inventor is similar to solidworks, catia, unigraphics. Its a parametric model based software, you start with sketches and work from there. Its very powerful but does take some getting used to if you only model in autocad.