Tips for Working with Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher

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By Jennifer MacMillan

On Nov 29^th my AU virtual class (MA4475) “From Concept to Published Document: Tips for Working Effectively with Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher” goes live. Over the last few weeks I have been polishing my scripts, demos, Power Point presentations, and Camtasia skills and it has all been uploaded and will be ready for you AU virtual attendees.

I thought with this posting I would provide some favorite tips that I will be discussing in the 45 min virtual class.

Inventor Publisher Tips (in no particular order)

Specify the Import BOM View Type option when importing an Inventor assembly file. This is set through the Import options. This specifies the level to which the Bill of Materials can be displayed in the Autodesk Inventor Publisher file. The Parts Only option displays all of the parts but no subassembly structure and the Structured option enables you to display the subassembly structure. If this option is not set properly on model import it cannot be changed. The file must be recreated.
When working with 3D data you can specify a Faceting level on import. It controls the model’s edge tessellation. Smaller faceting values result in smoother edges but larger file sizes. Large faceting values result in coarse edges but smaller file sizes. Once a file has been imported with a selected type you can further control the edge tessellation using the View Fidelity slider in the View tab. This is ideal if you experience reduced computer performance and need to lower the fidelity value to improve system performance. Controlling View Fidelity with the View tab is application specific. Once changed, the new setting is active until the slider is explicitly changed again. Consider reducing the setting while working in the file and then increasing it again before publishing.
Whenever possible, leverage the use of your Inventor data. Because of the associative nature of Inventor data within the Autodesk Inventor Publisher software, changes are passed through to your publisher file. Additionally, you have the added benefit of having access to all of the iProperty information from the Inventor file.
If iProperties are not listed in the Associative Property drop-down list, ensure that your callout’s leader references a component in the file. If the leader is placed so that it is not referencing a component, the drop-down list is empty. To verify the reference, select the callout. If the grip on the leader is red it is not referencing a component. Select the grip and drag it onto the necessary component. Once moved, the grip should display in green indicating that it is referencing the component properly and the iProperty drop-down list should now be visible.
All snapshot settings, such as its name, description, appearances, and duration can be saved so that any new snapshots use these settings. Set these values for the first snapshot, right-click on the snapshot and select Set as Default Setting. This does not modify the settings on snapshots that have already been created; the settings are only used for new snapshots.
When using the Move command, you can use a triad to move selected components. By default, the triad displays at the first selected component’s origin. To explicitly change the triad’s location, hover your cursor over the icon that displays with the triad, select Align, and then select another reference point in the model. To move the triad to a point in space, press and hold down the Space Bar (to temporarily disable movement) and select and drag the central gray dot to the required location.
Scope Editing is a great command to use as you return to existing snapshots and begin to refine a project by changing component placements, appearances, explode positions, etc. There are a total of eight options that can be used to determine how the change will propagate to other snapshots or storyboards. The key thing to remember with this tool is that the scope setting must be set before you make the change for it to propagate. The Scope Editing options are located in the right-click menu of a snapshot by selecting Set Affected Snapshots.
The Extract Camera option enables you take the camera view from a source Snapshot and copy it to the active Snapshot. This is perfect once you have a storyboard created and need to make viewpoint changes in the snapshots. Using Extract Camera you can ensure that every Snapshot’s viewpoint is identical by ensuring that the zoom, pan, and orientation settings of the source Snapshot are automatically updated in the active Snapshot. Combining the use of Extract Camera and the Scope editing tools enables you to apply the same camera position to multiple Snapshots. Just be sure that you set the scope editing option before you use the Extract Camera command.