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Creating Different Layers in an Inventor Drawing and Exporting to AutoCAD

You can create layers in Autodesk Inventor and have those layers export to AutoCAD. Here are the steps that I've found work pretty well when trying to export an Inventor drawing with layers that AutoCAD will recognize.

    

Adding Layers to Inventor Drawings

• Make sure the style library for the project is set to Read/Write
• When a model/dwg is open
• Manage tab-->Styles Editor
• Expand Layers
• Click New…
• Will create a copy of the currently selected layer
• Rename as required
• Here you can edit the color, linetype and lineweight
• Just like in AutoCAD layer manager
• Once layer(s) have been created Save and Close the styles manager
• Back in the drawing
• Shift right-click, change selection to part priority
• Select the desired part
• Right click --> select as edges
• Go to annotate tabe
• In the format panel, select desired layer for selected part

Layer manager inside the Styles Editor

 

 

 

Set up AutoCAD to recognize Inventor Layers

• Open AutoCAD or ACAD Mech
• Open the Layer Manager
• Create the layers you wish to export from Inventor
• The names of the layers much match exactly
• Set colors, line types and line weights as desired
• Once layers are created, save the ACAD file as a drawing template

 

Exporting Inventor DWG to AutoCAD

• In Inventor select File>Save Copy As
• Select AutoCAD dwg as the file type and click Options
• Choose the AutoCAD version you are working with
• Click Next
• On the next screen select the Export Options as desired
• Before clicking Finish, make sure you search and select the AutoCAD Template file that was created to match the Inventor layers
• Click finish

 

When you open the file in AutoCAD you will notice that the layers created and assigned in Inventor will appear in the AutoCAD file.

 

Good luck!

 

Brady

 

Drawings in Windows Explorer: Inventor or AutoCAD?

Almost a decade ago Autodesk reintroduced the DWG format to Autodesk Inventor in order to facilitate a greater collaborative effort between AutoCAD and Inventor.  New benefits such as adding Inventor views to AutoCAD layouts, creating a format any AutoCAD version 2007 and newer can open, using AutoCAD blocks in Inventor drawings, and opening AutoCAD files in Inventor has opened more available workflows for customers.  With these new features a new type of confusion arose as well.

What program created the DWG???

Since the authoring program of the DWG has to be one that edits the native geometry of the DWG, a user has to know the correct program in which to open the file and make the edits.  For instance an Inventor DWG that contains modeling data will not be able to be exploded in AutoCAD because Inventor contains the modeling and assembly feature data.  Likewise an AutoCAD drawing containing vector geometry should be edited in AutoCAD so that the entities are properly modified or adjusted.

Companies will approach this issue a couple of different ways.  One way is to segregate the geometry into different folders called AutoCAD and Inventor and maintain those files in those folders.  Other methods are not to use Inventor DWGs at all due to this issue of identification thus eliminating the potential benefits of the DWG extension.  The only real ways to discern an AutoCAD DWG file from an Inventor DWG file is to right click on it and see if it shows the Inventor iProperties option through the Windows shell integration or use the Provider field in Autodesk Vault to see the creator of the program.

I know right?  There has to be an easier way!

Well, thanks to a new enhancement to a tool I have used for a long time, we can now see what program created the DWG directly in Windows Explorer and our Autodesk open windows.  This tool will show all kinds of information about DWGs in Windows Explorer such as which version of AutoCAD the file is saved in and a lot of the DWGPROPs in the file.  It will even tell if the file is AutoCAD Mechanical, Electrical, or another vertical of the software.  But most important is the new field to the tool called DWG Created By which will show if a file is an Inventor DWG or and AutoCAD DWG!

What is this tool?  Well, its the same tool created by the company that created many great tools for Autodesk products including an improved license reporting tool for Network Licensing among other productivity tools.  This company is JTB World and you can find this particular set of tools in the Autodesk App Store or from their website directly.  This tool comes in three flavors...Free, Trial, and Paid.  Free will get you only the DWG version and not what we are primarily concerned about in this discussion, the Trial will get you full feature for 30 days, and the Paid version will get you whole ball of wax for all your DWG information needs.

Free: Autodesk App Store Free Version

Trial: Autodesk App Store Trial Version (30 days)

Paid: Autodesk App Store Paid Version

Detailed Info on Company Page: JTB World DWG Columns

This is a must for any company with mixed AutoCAD and Inventor DWG files in legacy or production use around the company.  If you are looking for a large amount of seats there is even a volume discount for your engineering teams.  Go check it out and see the other things it can do as well.  Even for a single seat it is really inexpensive to increase your sanity and productivity.

GD&T: An Introduction

What is GD&T?

    In a grossly-over simplified definition, GD&T is a language. It is a precise mathematical language the describes the form, orientation, and location of various features on a part. Like learning any other language, knowing when, where, and how to correctly apply GD&T will take time. In any given manufacturing or engineering corporation there will be people that have varying levels of understanding GD&T. The checker may be fluent in GD&T while the drafter may only have a basic understanding of the language. 

Brief History

    GD&T arose from the idea to produce products that had interchangeable parts. Products that could be quickly disassembled and re-assembled with the parts from a separate, identical product. The very first form of dimensional control was the plus/minus dimensioning that many in the engineering and manufacturing world are familiar with today. Early parts were often checked using a Go/No-Go gage to confirm whether or not the part was made within the plus/minus dimensions.

The beginnings of the GD&T system that we have today has been credited to Stanely Parker from the Royal Torpedo Factory. Like many advances in technology, GD&T came from the military's need to produce products and parts with interchangeability being an essential requirement. The main difference between the plus/minus tolerances and the new GD&T tolerances was the shape of the allowed tolerance zone (more on this in a future post). Mil Std 8 was the first standard in the 1950s and the most current standard is ASME Y14.5-2009.

Why Use It? & Who Uses It?

     GD&T allows engineers/designers to convey their design intent. When applied correctly, GD&T can only be interpreted one way. This eliminates the confusion often associated with plus/minus toleranced parts.

    GD&T is used by engineers, designers, drafters, machinists, checkers, inspectors, quality control, vendors, purchasing agents, customers, and occasionally legal personnel. 

 

Common Symbols

 

Form Tolerances: Control the shape of a feature or features

Orientation Tolerances: Control the tilt of a feature or features

Location Tolerances: Control location of a feature or features (includes position and profile tolerances)

 

    This is just a brief overview/introduction of the GD&T system. Future posts will cover GD&T in more detail.

 

-Brady

 

 

Aligning Attributes in AutoCAD & AutoCAD Electrical

This is a follow up to the Aligning Components in AutoCAD Electrical post a few weeks ago. I ran across this script some time ago that aligns attributes.

The comments show that it was written by Steve Kemp. I just tested this in Electrical 2017 and it still works great. Once the LISP is loaded the command is AATTR. It works pretty much the same as the Align Components command does. Select a master attribute and then select the attributes to align to it.
There is a Horizontal/Vertical option available for selection before selecting the master as well.

 
Here I selected the first terminal number as the Master. Then the terminal numbers two – four were selected as the second selection.


Very slick tool. Well done Mr. Kemp.
Download the LISP here...

AutoCAD Block Attribute Tips

While AutoCAD’s attributes are extremely powerful, they can also be quite confusing. Here are a few tips when working with Attributes inside of AutoCAD blocks.

Synchronize Attributes
Because attributes can be modified per block instance, modifying attributes in existing blocks can be confusing. Even deleted attributes will still be in block instances that were placed before the unwanted attribute was removed. Attributes need to be synchronized to the block instance after changes have been made to the actual block definition. Do this using the ATTSYNC command. This command is on the Block panel after it’s expanded.

 
 
Attribute Order
When creating the block, the order that the attributes are selected is the order they will appear in the Edit Attribute dialog. When simply windowing the entire block, attributes and all, the attributes tend to appear in a random order. If the block is already created and you want to modify the order. Try the BATTMAN command.

This command allows you to change the order of the attributes. Once the order is right, WBLOCK it back out over the existing block and the order will be right the next time you use that block on another drawing.

 
 
Attribute Properties
Attributes can be set to a fixed position, invisible, constant, contain multiple lines, and more. While building the block, select an attribute and then open the Properties Palette. Here you can change all of the properties that make up an attribute.

 

Data Extraction
Attribute values can be extracted to a table on the drawing or to an external Excel file. This requires an addional data extraction file with a .dxe extension. This file can be created using the Extract Data command. It is on the Insert tab on the ribbon.

 
Using these three blocks as my example extraction, I’ll walk through the steps to creating the data extraction file. These blocks contain hidden attributes with random values in them.

 
Starting the Extract Data command will walk you through the steps to extracting only the data you want.
Step 1 creates, or references and existing, .dxe file.
Step 2 allows multiple drawings to be selected in the extraction. The current drawing is automatically added.
Step 3 shows all objects in the drawing. Filter the majority of the objects from the list by changing the bottom options to only show blocks with attributes.

Step 4 allows even more filtering as we remove all properties but the attributes themselves.


 
Finally we see the extracted data in Step 5. Here the table can be edited as needed. Also note that the identical rows can be combined and then counted. The columns can be renamed as well here. Simply right click on a column header and Rename Column is one of the choices.

 
Step 6 has you pick what type of output is desired. The data can be exported to an Excel file or placed on the drawing in a table.
I went with Excel and here is the data hidden in the attributes on the three blocks. Turns out that a small square costs far more than a small egg or tent.

 

Editing Attributes
When the enhanced attribute editor came along it replaced the simple attribute editor. However 99% of the time I only want to change the values of the attributes NOT the justification, layer, color, ect. Also the simple editor allows easy tabbing or shift+tabbing around the cells on the dialog. Where the enhanced dialog require the use of the mouse.

Enhanced Attribute Editor

 
Simple Attribute Editor

 
You can modify this double click preference by typing CUI on the Command Line. That opens the Customize User Interface dialog.
Expand the Double Click Actions and then the Attribute Block line as well.
Then over on the right, remove the E from the Command Display Name and from the Macro fields. Then Press OK.

 
From now on when you double click on an attributed block you will see the ATTEDIT dialog instead of the more complex EATTEDIT one.
 
I hope some of this was of use to you. If you have other attribute questions feel free to comment below.

Autodesk Vault Custom Objects

Custom Objects were introduced into Autodesk Vault in 2014, but they are hidden and you have to know how to use them correctly.  A Custom Object can have its own customised object definition security, assigned properties, and participate in life cycle changes.  This is great because you can attach file links to a custom object.

In this example lets create a Vendor Record Custom Object that will hold Vendor information.

First log into the Vault and click on Tools > Administration > Vault Settings

Then select the Custom Objects Tab and the click on Configure:

In the Configure Custom Objects Dialog box select New and enter the following information:

 **Note: you can create a icon by saving an image to an ICO file.  

You can create your own custom object definition security by clicking on the Configure and then assigning the permissions as necessary.  

Once you are done click on OK and then log out of the Vault Client, and log back into the client. (The new object will not be visible until you log off and log back into the vault)

When you log back into the Vault you should see the following Vendors in the Home Tab.

 

 

Now on the back end you can create Properties that will be specific to the Custom Object, and you can create lifestyles that control the custom objects.

Properties:

Properties can be mapped by going into Tools > Administration > Vault Settings > Behaviours > Properties.  Once in the Properties dialog box make sure to select the Custom Objects in the Associations.  

Also the you can change the Categories which will control the life cycle and which properties you want to display. 

To create a new Vendor in our example you can click on the Vendors tab and click on New which will create a new Vendor.

 

This will create a new Vendor in the Vendors tab.  Now you can assign links from files that reside in Vault and paste them as links into the custom object.

Now you can give Custom Objects a try.

For more information visit:

Autodesk Vault Custom Object

 

How to create a custom linetype in AutoCAD?

It’s very easy to create custom linetype now using Express Tools in AutoCAD. Make sure express tools are installed in AutoCAD. If express tools are missing from AutoCAD Ribbon, see Missing Express Tools.

You can create a simple or complex custom linetypes in AutoCAD.

Simple linetype is a combination of lines and text, whereas complex linetype contains complex shapes.

Steps to create simple linetype;

Let’s say I need to create a linetype; --------GAS, which is a combination of dashed line and a text.

1. Go to Express Tools----> Make Linetype
2. Give linetype a file name; Gasline.lin. If you need to load a line in the linetype list, this file .lin is used.

3. Give Linetype name; GAS Linetype. You will see this name in the linetype list.

4. Next, Linetype description

5. Specify starting point and end point

For the starting point, pick the left end point of the line and, for the ending point click somewhere on the right side of the text GAS.

 

 

6. Select object

Select the line and text and hit enter.

 

Linetype is created and it should be displayed in the linetype drop down list.

Missing Express Tools?

If Express Tools are missing from the Ribbon in AutoCAD, you might have to install them or just load them to CUI.

To add express tools in AutoCAD,go to Control Panel in your computer and look for “program and features” then click on AutoCAD version. Window for AutoCAD will have three options in it as shown in following image. Select “Add or Remove features”

Check “Express Tools” from the feature list and hit update.

 

If there is already a check in front of Express Tools,that means it’s there in AutoCAD but just not loaded in interface. Go to AutoCAD and type command CUILOAD then click on load and go to following folder and look for file name acetmain.cuix. If you have more than one type of AutoCAD of same version, you can look in different AutoCAD folders until you find it.

 C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD xxxx\ Rxx.x\enu\Support\acetmain.cuix

 

 

Load and Express Tools should be in the list now, click Close.

 Express Tools are now displayed in Ribbon;

 Sometimes, you might have to restart AutoCAD to see the changes.

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