I noticed that Mark Flyler over at Imaginit posted a great article on pulling images from Inventor to be used as technical illustrations, Power Point or on web sites. You might simply want to get an image directly from your Inventor screen or perhaps a more customized image rendered from Inventor Studio. Mark starts out with the basic and works his way to Inventor Studio (including a few tips for using in Power Point). If you have ever needed to capture images out of Inventor, head on over to his blog post.
I have received several emails wondering if I was still podcasting. Yes I am still doing it and should be able to get back on a regular schedule (if I ever had one). This episode I cover various tasks to help annotate your drawings. I also cover several ways to add more intelligent data that will update with your model.
Auto centerlines
Move model dimensions from one view to another
Add associative text to 3D model
Add balloons with associative items like models mass properties
Those of you that have an iPhone of iPod Touch may have enjoyed a previous post concerning the new SketchBook Mobile application available on iTunes. I received an email last week from one of our tech guys concerning a YouTube video he put together to show how you can use it with the Mobile SketchBook application. I thought it was very interesting workflow and wondered if any of you found this type of workflow useful.
Take a look at this video and think of ways you might be able to use it.
The Autodesk Subscription Advantage Pack for Inventor® 2010 is now available in English with more languages to follow shortly. This set of enhancements offer new productivity tools, improved support for architectural fabrication, and easier-to-use simulation capabilities.
New and improved tools simplify common tasks, such as dimensioning, inserting blocks, and multi-view creation, helping to boost everyday productivity. With more architecturally relevant content, annotations, and drawing options for designing architectural elements, Subscription customers can more easily share designs and documentation with clients and suppliers in the architectural, engineering, and construction industries.
In addition, the powerful simulation tools in Autodesk® Inventor® software have been enhanced to make it easier for users create and validate multiple design iterations. Simulation scenario setups have been streamlined, and the visual feedback and simulation results are now clearer and more customizable.
If you have an active subscription account, head over to the Subscription Center and pull down the Advantage Pack for Inventor 2010.
To see it in action, check out the YouTube video of our own infomercial king (Rob Cohee).
Did you know you can bring in an AutoCAD block into a sketch and keep it a block? Did you know if you had an AutoCAD nested block that it can be placed into Inventor as a nested block? Why would you do this you ask?
Let's take a look at the work flow and I think the last question will answer itself. First let's take a look at a concept layout from AutoCAD that is a block. I have three blocks (base, hinge & arm) that make up a block called assy.
Ideally I want to bring this into an Inventor part sketch and eventually turn it into a working assy. First select the AutoCAD block and RMB to select copy, then head over to Inventor to paste it. Start by RMB and select "Paste" and immediately RMB again to select "Paste Options".
Check the "AutoCAD Blocks to Inventor Blocks" so this it will keep them as a block in the Inventor sketch.
If you look in the Inventor browser you will see that it has brought over the same blocks nested together just as they were in AutoCAD.
From here you can add 2D constrains and see how this will move as an assembly before extruding anything. When it comes time to turn it into an assembly you just need to select "Make Components" from the sketch tab in the ribbon.
There are some great hidden shortcuts in Inventor that many of you probably aren't aware of. Many of these shortcuts have been in the product since the early days of Inventor so they aren't tied to only newer versions of Inventor. Many of these shortcuts use the Shift, Ctrl or Alt key in carious environments. Take a look at the latest podcast and as usual, send feedback.
Don't forget to head over to iTunes if you want to subscribe and download these automatically when a new episode is available.
Just as you create blocks in AutoCAD, you can also create symbols in Inventor. One of the questions I received the other day was a way to control insertion and connection points. When you create a sketch symbol you can control not only the insertion point but also additional points to connect various symbols together.
To create a symbol head over the browser and right click on Sketch Symbols under Drawing Resources. From there you can select Define New Symbol. Now you can create the sketch geometry and text you need to define the symbol.
It may be necessary to add prompt text similar to AutoCAD or have it pull model property values such as mass properties. This can be accomplished from the text dialog and specify the type of text used.
One of the lesser used and often not realized is how you set insertion and connection points into the symbol. This will allow you to specify where the insertion point is and if you want to use various end points / center points as connector points to connect multiple symbols to each other.
Center Point:
Used to create hole centers for hole features. The Hole feature automatically selects a hole center point in a 2D sketch.
Connection Point Grip: Construction point used to help position sketch geometry
Set Insertion Point Grip: In drawing sketches, a sketch point can be used as a connection handle to snap together sketch symbols, title blocks and drawing borders.
Select a point then you can specify what type it will be by selecting the Center Point drop down in the format portion of the ribbon to see the three types. You can only have one insertion point although you can use as many connector points that will show up when inserting and dragging symbols around.
Once you have specified the insertion point and additional points as connector points, you can now save the symbol and start inserting it into your drawing.
Inventor has had something we call Adaptivity since day one although over the years I hear few and fewer people use it. If used correctly, Adaptivity is a great tool when you need to layout your design and don't know the exact sizes l but need to snap it together. There are some really good uses for it so I wanted to put a quick tip together of some ways you can use.
Don't forget to head over to iTunes if you want to subscribe and download these automatically when a new episode is available.
I am a sucker for rendered images (especially if they are from Inventor) and wanted to share some great rendered images from Inventor as well as other Autodesk products like Showcase (even thought Showcase is real-time). Inventor is a much more powerful rendering tool than most people realize so I wanted to share an image from a Flickr page. The next time you want a nice image of a 3D model, head over to Inventor Studio (It comes with Inventor) and play around a bit.
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