IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog

Inventor 2014: Where's the Bill?

No, not for your Subscription Purchase Order for the new software, I'm talking the Bill of Material for your Inventor Assemblies.  In Inventor 2014, Autodesk did a good job of cleaning up the Assemble Tab in the IAM evironment to make the process for new and experienced users easy to get around in... but I think they really messed something up here.  Where is the Bill of Material command????

Well, its not gone, but its not as easy to get to as it was before either.  The command was moved from the Assemble Tab to the Manage Tab with Assembly Parameters.

Why?  I asked the same question to Autodesk Product Managers and I received a response that it wasn't reflective of the Tab it was on and another one said the CUI data must not have been as profound.  Well, I voiced my concern over this oversight and posted an idea to the Idea Station on the forums.  Please go there and give it a Kudos so they will move it back.  If enough people vote on topics in the Idea Station, Autodesk puts a higher priority on it.

Link to the Idea Station Post: Kudos it!

Until then, lets at least get it more visible in our current interface without having to jump around Ribbon Tabs.  We can simply add it to our QAT, or we can add it to the Marking Menu or Ctrl+RMB Marking Menu.

Autodesk Product Design Suite 2014

Its that time of year again, the birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and Autodesk is busy releasing new software.  If you haven't already checked it out, its probably in your Subscription Center waiting for your eager downloading to begin.  Word to the wise, its in there with Autodesk as a prefix now and not just the product name so don't be afraid to scroll down if you are looking for a particular product.

In this post we will take a look at what has changed in the Product Design Suite as far as Suite composition and what it means to you the user.

To begin with in the Standard Suite we now have Raster Design and the newly re-branded and super awesome reality capture product called Autodesk Recap.  You might need a graphics card update for your OpenGL on this one, its not DirectX like our beloved Inventor.  So what do these two products do?

Raster Design:

Make the most of raster images, maps, aerial photos, satellite imagery, and digital elevation models. With powerful raster editing and raster-to-vector conversion tools, AutoCAD® Raster Design software helps you to easily clean up, edit, enhance, and maintain scanned drawings and plans in a familiar AutoCAD® software environment.

Basically awesome for getting those old prints out of the file cabinet, digitizing them, and removing those unsightly coffee stains that might have accrued over the years.  Its not a raster to vector silver bullet though, so enjoy your testing with it.  At the very least, its great to get those old paper drawings in digital form in AutoCAD.

Autodesk Recap:

Autodesk® ReCap delivers powerful and easy to use workflow on the desktop and in the cloud to create intelligent 3D models from laser scans and captured photos. Rather than beginning with a blank sheet, Autodesk ReCap now enables any designer, architect or engineer to add, modify, validate and document their design process in context from existing environments.

This one is for you scanner folks out there that need to make some 3D models with your LEICA or FARO scanners to get the model in Inventor quickly and efficiently.  You see this used in the Manufacturing sector a little more with getting accurate as builts after a scan is taken of the installation of a piece of equipment or if you are given a scan to reference in your planning of the intial equipment.

So what's new with the Product Design Suite Premium?  Well, now you have Inventor Professional instead of just Inventor Routed Systems.  Yay! Now we get to use all of Inventor instead of begging the Ultimate users to get out of the software so you could run a quick FEA or Simulation as well as the ability to push to the cloud Optimization service.

And Ultimate?  Well we get a small update to Navisworks Manage instead of just Navisworks Simulate.  I always saw a lot of potential for just the Simulate product without having to go to Manage though.  The inclusion of the larger Navisworks grants users the ability to do clash detection with conglomerated models sets and points clouds from Recap though, so it does make sense.

Here is a feature list for quick reference...

On a personal note, I am still dismayed that Inventor Publisher is not in the Suite as well as the removal of Mudbox from everything but the Ultimate Suite.  Here's hoping next year or that the Inventor Publisher cloud technology preview shows itself sometime this year as something more than a tech preview.  Other things you will notice this year is that Inventor Fusion is not in the installer either, that because Fusion 360 has taken off quite well and is in a very rapid development cycle with a large beta test and ever growing community.  It always seemed odd to me that they would package a Technology Preview with the Suites in the first place.  Anyway, give Fusion 360 a whirl, it is using some really awesome technology that blows away the old Fusion.  You will see some T-Splines technology in there as well as some tech from the HSM Works acquisition for CAD/CAM (but its not there yet).

Clean-Up Your Local Vault Workspace

When it comes to working on a computer, we all tend to be a little lax in keep our hard drive clean and organized.  One of the best ways to maintain your local workspace is to use the “Close files and delete working copies” option as you are checking in files.  This option will delete all files from your local workspace after a successful check in.

If you do not use this tool your local workspace can become bloated and disorganized.  Also after time passes, we do not remember the status of files and are afraid to delete anything so the problem escalates.

Vault Workgroup and above offers a tool to help you manage your workspace from inside the Vault client.  I would like to offer a word of caution before I get into the functionality of the tool.  If you are placing files in your local workspace that you do not plan to check into the Vault, use caution if you use this tool.  As I mentioned, it is a clean-up tool so files not in the Vault that become dated beyond the criteria of this Vault tool, will be lost!  With that warning out of the way, we can explore a very good tool to maintain a clean and organized local workspace.

The tool is located just above the Main Panel in the Vault Client.  There are two tools on the same icon, Workspace Sync and Quick Sync which are selected with the small dropdown arrow to the right hand side of the tool.  The first time you use the tool make sure to select Workspace Sync in order to configure the process.  The Quick Sync tool is a quick execution of current settings which you will use later.

After selecting the Workspace Sync tool the process of analyzing your local workspace will begin.  Depending on how cluttered your local workspace it, the process may take a few minutes or a few seconds.  After the process is complete you will be presented with a list of files.  The list is a bit overwhelming the first time you run the tool but we are here to configure the process.  Find the Settings icon in the lower right hand corner of the dialog box and select it.  Make sure at this point you do not select the Finish icon.

The Setting dialog box has a number of options which we will explore from the top to the bottom. 

The first setting is which type of files you desire to be written from the Vault to the local workspace if local workspace synchronization is required.  This process will not happen very often but when it does do you want the Latest Version of the files or the Current Revision to be copied from the Vault to your local workspace.  This could be important if you have been working on a set of files after a revision was created.  If you chose Current Revision you also have the option to have the revision selected that is related to the last released lifecycle state by checking the Released Biased box.

The next section is the Auto-delete Filters.  In his box you can add or remove file extensions of files in your local workspace that you would like to delete automatically during Workspace Sync.  It is important to note that these files have to be unmanaged files.  Managed files are those files in your local workspace that have been checked into the Vault and are being managed by the Vault.  Unmanaged files are not in the Vault and therefore are not managed.  We all will accumulate these kinds of files which we want to always delete so enter their extensions here.  Be sure to place a checkmark beside the extension once created to make it active.

The next section is used to select the time frame to apply to managed and unmanaged files before the Workspace Sync tool deletes them from the local workspace.  For example the setting below indicates that all files in the Vault (Managed) will be deleted from the local workspace when they become 3 weeks older than the current system date.  The files not in the Vault (Unmanaged) will be deleted from the local workspace when they become 2 weeks older than the current system date.  There are two options for the time period, weeks or days, selectable by the drop down arrow.  You can also select a range of 1 to 15 for the number of days or weeks for the Managed files and a range of 0 to 15 for the unmanaged files.

The last section allows you to add files or folders in your local workspace that you would like to configure different expiration dates than specified in the previous section.  You have the same selection of time periods as in the previous section and also the ability to exclude files and folders from the rules completely by selecting Never as shown below.  In the lower left hand corner of the dialog box you can select the Remove Empty Folders option.  This setting will tell the Workspace Sync tool to remove all folders that become empty during the synchronization process. 

You can also export and import your settings to share with others or use at a future date to change your settings.  Click OK to finish the configuration.

The file list will update and the list will display files with different synchronization criteria.  You may see Download – Overwrite for files that are in the Vault and your local workspace and the local copy is out of date.  You will also see a Remove list listing all files that will be deleted from your local workspace according to your settings above.  READ THEM CARFULLY and return to the Settings if adjustments need to be made.  If you have select files or folders you wish to remove from the synchronization process, you can remove the check marks accordingly.

Before you hit the Finish button, I suggest you take a moment to empty your Windows Recycle Bin.  If during the Workspace Sync process you find files you needed were deleted, it will be easy to restore them.  Select Finish to start the process.

After the Workspace Sync is finished, you will be shown a status dialog showing the results. You can Save, Send to Vault, or Print the results.

The Quick Sync command bypasses the dialog box showing the files to be synchronized and the ability to select the Setting button.  It should be used for day to day work AFTER you have configured the process and feel comfortable with the process.  Take note, it becomes the default command after you use it once.

A clean and productive Vault local workspace is in your future.

Autodesk Vault "Labels" - Bookmarks for Your Vault

Many manufactures have clients that require their machinery to be updated from time to time or they may want a set of prints for a machine that was shipped in months or years past.  This requires the manufacturer to maintain a complete "as shipped" set of files for the client's machine.  This can be a nightmare with a Windows based achieve systems with the final "as shipped" files being copied out to a protected folder and the copying of parts out to other folders for use in other projects.  In an Inventor assembly, if this copy is not done correctly, the "as shipped" assembly will be destroyed.  All of the Autodesk Vault versions have a built in tool that makes this task very easy.  It is located under the Tools menu drop down and is called Labels.

 

We are going to make a Label for an "as shipped" Inventor assembly with parts and drawings to show the process.  The assembly is a small steam engine as shown below.

Select the Labels tool to open the Label dialog box.  Select New to create a new Label.

Select the Vault browse button and navigate to the folder containing your top level assembly.  Normally you will have the parts and drawings belonging to the assembly in the same folder but it is not necessary.  If parts exist in this assembly from other machines and folders, that is not a problem.

Next give your label a very descriptive name and a full description.  You may know what the label represents now but in a few months or a few years it will be gone from your memory. Select OK and then close the Label Dialog box to finish.

Time passes and you may modify some of the parts used in the assembly or maybe even changed the top level assembly itself for another job.  With the Autodesk Vault, you do not need to think about preserving the status of the as shipped job because of the Label you created when it was shipped. 

This assembly has been changed over time in three ways, the base has been shortened, the recessed pocket has been removed and the posts on the bottom of the base have been shortened.

The client calls up and ask to get a complete set of files for the "as shipped" machine.  Go back to the Label dialog box and select the label previously assigned when the machine was shipped.  Select the Pack and Go button at the bottom of the dialog box.  This will collect all the files bookmarked with the Label and export them to a folder of your choice.  A warning here.  Normally do not use the Restore process since this will restore the Autodesk Vault files back to the date the label was created.  Without proper preparation, this could be problematic.

Configure the Pack and Go dialog box as you desire and select OK to continue.

Point to a folder inside your current project workspace that you can be sure and identify as previous data and not get it confused with current design.  It is recommended to "Copy to a Single Path" to make it easier to manage.

Opening the restored model you can see the original "as shipped" model has been re-created.

Selecting Parameters Using Inventor's Heads Up Display

I have always wanted to be able to select model parameters using the sketch dimension heads up display but just could not come up with a way to have the selection arrow show up.  I am looking for the little arrow you see in every edit dimension box indicated by the red arrow.

 

One of our Application Experts, Anthony Dull, gave me a quick solution.  When the desired Heads Up Display box is showing press the "=" key and voila, the familar selection arrow appears.  The "=" mark is perfect since it does not interfere with any value entered.

The select is limited to existing model parameters and recently entered values.  The main thing is that the dimensions entered using the Heads Up Display can now be linked directly to parametric values.

 

Controlling Rotation in An Inventor Polar Array

I often hear Inventor users say they are disappointed that during the creation of a circular pattern, they cannot prevent the feature from being rotated as it is patterned.  This is true if you use the standard Circular Pattern tool as shown in the model below.  The first image is of the part and the rectangular feature that will be patterned.  The second image is the result of using the Inventor Circular Pattern tool and a fitted 6 placement feature.

 

There is no option to prevent the rotation of the feature during this operation.  There is another method to use to get the same pattern but not have the feature rotate.  It involves a little extra work but is not difficult to preform.

First we create a sketch on the face of the part containing the rectangular slot.  In this case, I sketched a construction line between the midpoints of the rectangular cutout to establish a point in the center of the rectangle.  Your feature may require a different sketching method to achieve the desired pattern point.

Next I sketched a circle that will be the path of the rectangular pattern.  Notice the circle diameter is coincident with the midpoint of the construction line.

The next step is to split the circle into an arc.  You cannot create a rectangular pattern using a continuous path, it must have a beginning and an end.  You will use the Inventor Split tool to break the circle into an arc without removing any circumference length.

Select the Split tool and pick on the circle at the point it touches the construction line.  A small red "X" will appear to indicate the split location.  If others "Xs" appear that is OK just select the one indicated.

Finish the sketch and select the Rectangular Pattern tool.  I selected the rectangular feature and then select the Direction 1 button in the dialog box. Select a point on the arc as indicated by the arrow.  The point must be near the beginning of the arc.  An green arrow will appear indicating your success.  Enter the number of feature instances you desire and then select "Curve Length" for the pattern distance.  Last you will need to select the Direction 1 Start button and pick the point indicated by the arrow.  Select OK to finish.

You now have the desired pattern.  The pattern behaves the same way other patterns do and you can suppress any instance(s) except the original feature.

Sheet Metal Parts without Deformation

This tip comes from one of our clients in the Cleveland area (thanks go to Mark Gross).  The Accel Group repeatidly does a wrap of thin material around their designs to the point where there is really no deformation in the design.  Think a laminate wrap on a curved desk or countertop.  In order to facilitate their design and production drawings they needed something to flatten from a curve without deforming.  Immediately the Bend Part command is out, they don't want to use iParts, so lets use Sheet Metal!

Traditional Sheet Metal deformations use a value, equation, or bend table to control the deformation of material.  The most common being the value of K-Factor which states a linear axis for material deformation on a part.

So in order to flatten their wood/laminate to not deflect we need to change the K-Factor in Inventor to a value of 1 so no compression or tension will be created on the part.  In your sheet metal parts consider adding a new k-Factor for this type of situation.

One thing you will have to watch though is which direction you create your features so the k-Factor works correctly with your geometry.  If you go the opposite way of your geometry you might need to change your k-Factor to 0 instead.  Just watch what you are doing.

 

 

AUGI Articles: Shameless Self Promotion

In case you missed it, and you rarely should, I made a couple appearances in AUGI World the past two months.

February - rehash of one of my AU classes for Inventor beginners

March - Hot Tips for Inventor (collection of some of my favorite from the blog)

As a reminder, AUGI changed their membership levels.  In order to receive the magazine in the mail you need to be a paid member.  Otherwise use a free login and start viewing the magazine for free online.

Inventor / General Memory Probing

This is one of my favorite things to show users when they are telling me about slow down or complaining that they do not have enough memory for their machines.  Autodesk Inventor installs a free utility called memprobe.exe with your installation which allows you to the loaded memory of your computer and by default the Inventor program. 

It goes a little more in depth than a simple Task Manager CTRL+ALT+DEL manuver and can really help you push management to get you either a new computer or at the very least some more RAM.  Let's face it the secretary doesn't need a new machine, she needs your old machine!  Sorry channelled by previous industry self there for a moment.

You will find this little gem located in your program files.

Now if you were looking at that first image thinking to yourself how green and yellow bars look familiar in Inventor, you were right to have some fond recollection there.  This is actually the same meter you used to see in Inventor when it was a 32 bit application and you can still see this on current 32 bit installs (good way to see if IT screwed up the install on your 64 bit machine).  Its been so long since I have seen this meter that it took me a hot second to put two and two together on that.

Now, what else can this little utility do for me?  Well it can monitor any process, not just Inventor.

It can also run a log and adjust warning message alarms too!

Now remember, with great power comes great, well you know.  Make sure you scientifically analyze your systems before going to management and have them thinking you weighted your request on an overloaded processor by having everything Autodesk program open at once.  Overall this is a neat tool and can help some of us with less technical purchasing people controlling our computer usage.  Some people just understand bars and meters better than angry emails.

Revising the Revision Tag: Symbol Override

This is a follow up post to my discussion about geometry enclosed text in Autodesk Inventor drawings.  I had a user that was reading that post and tried to do some modification to their Revision Tags in a slightly similar manner but was running into difficulty.  Their problem stemmed from having a smaller font size for their drafting standard compared to the out of the box sizing.  They also wanted a different symbol than that of the defaults in Inventor.

When I started looking into the problem I noticed a large differentiator in Revision Tags as compared to Balloons.  There was no ability to scale text or to stretch the symbol based on content.

So how are we supposed to make this look good when everything else is adjusted by Rev Tags?  Make our own symbol thats how.  Begin by creating a new sketched symbol in your drawing.  It helps to do it right next to your incorrect tag so you have a good idea of what your new sizing should be.

Once you have the symbol created, right click on your Revision Tag and select Edit Revision Tag which will bring up a dialog where we can override the text or change the default symbol.  Choose the option below the standard available symbol overrides that allows you to choose a Custom Sketched Symbol and select your new one.

Now you have a new symbol in place of the other one and it is sized based on your font choice.  Since this is not an automatic change like the balloon style settings, if you change your font size for the style your balloon will not adjust.  Consider adding these new symbol to your templates as well so you do not have to recreate them everytime.