Autodesk MSD CAD applications tips and tricks from INCAT CAD Geeks

New Refreshed blog site, same great content

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:21:00 +0000

New look, same great content......

Well we have moved our blog to a new location - http://autodesk.cadgeekspeak.com/

Starting this week all of our tips will be posted on the new site.

Overtime the current address will be forwarded to thew new one - http://autodesk.cadgeekspeak.com/

Inventor Drawings & Reference Models

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Parts, assemblies, or sub-assemblies can be used as reference in our models. This means their Bill of Materials structure is set to reference. Reference models are commonly items that we are designing around, and don't want to show up on our manufacturing BOM. These could be supplied by outside sources or modeled up ourselves. These models show up by default as reference lines in an Inventor drawing view. Did you know there are also a number of other options available to control those reference models in the drawing view. Perhaps you want to show them as solid lines, or they keep getting cut off in the drawing view, maybe you don't want to show them at all. It seems like I have been getting a lot of questions about this lately so I thought I would share a deeper look into the referenced model as used in an Inventor drawing.

Check out the options for working with a reference model here...

Added By Rodney, another one of those CAD Geeks.

So much Content Center data! Let pick our Favorites...

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Utilizing the Content Center data that comes with Autodesk Inventor is a great way to save time modeling standard components. The thing is, there is a difference between having a large library of standard parts and a large library of Useful standard parts. The Content Center comes with so much that often times Inventor users are overwhelmed and can not find the standard parts they are looking for. Content Center Favorites is a great way to build your own selection of Content Center data. This also works great with Content Center Filters which we covered last week.

Learn how to pick your Favorites Here...

Added By Rodney of the CAD Geeks.

Blending technology in Inventor Rocks!

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:57:00 +0000

The ability to blend fillets and similar feature has been increasing over the years, but Autodesk has really outdone itself with the automatic blending that occurs when using the "move face" command. Moving a feature with fillets to an area on the part that also contains fillets will cause a blended region to occur automatically. Whats more, you can even see this occur in the real time preview so you know exactly what you are going to get as a result.

Watch a video of this process HERE.

Before moving face:

After moving face:

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

So much Content Center data! Let's Filter some out...

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

What does your Content Center look like? Many Inventor Content Centers I see will look different based on how many CC Libraries are installed, or have been created custom. All those Content Center libraries can be a lot to sort through when building a set of Favorites or when searching for a certain part. Content Center Filters are a great way to filter based on standard or user created libraries and categories. Do this before creating a list of Content Center favorites and you can save your self a lot of time. The two Content Center features work great hand in hand. Today we'll look at Filters. Next week we'll visit Favorites.

Learn how to build some Filters of your own here....

Added By Rodney, another one of those CAD Geeks.

What's New Inventor 2011 30 Minutes or Less

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:08:00 +0000

In todays day and age we are all very busy, and it seems we dont have much extra time. I have put together a video that will take you through a high level look at Autodesk Inventor 2011 What's New in under 30 minutes. Of course this is not everything but should be enough to spark your interest to learn more. A few short slides and some clicks and picks, will have you wanting more information.

Let's take a look!!!
http://my.brainshark.com/Inventor-2011-30-Minutes-or-Less-450754882
Created by Dave one of the Cad Geeks

Inventor UCS, Use Constraint Sets

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

This feature was new to Inventor 2010 and with the next release on the way, I wanted to get this one in our blog. User Coordinate Systems in Inventor. I have found many interesting ways to implement this for customers over the year. In a single part you can use this to locate a new 0X,0Y,0Z, or just locate a specific connection point. Then in the assembly this works great for constraining parts together based on that known point instead of using three or more assembly constraints. This can be done easily using the Constraint Set constraint in the assembly environment. It allows you to quickly put components together based on mating UCS axis, and planes in a few clicks.

See the UCS and Constraint Set in action HERE...

Added By Rodney, another one of those CAD Geeks.

Inventor 2011 Direct Manipulation and Heads up Display

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:49:00 +0000

I'm not about to take credit for revealing some kind of new paradigm in modeling technique... that has already been taken care of by other fellow bloggers. But I am wondering how long it will take for the average user to realize that they can move many of the Inventor dialog boxes right off their screen. Want more screen space? I thought so... this is an Inventor release for you. I will just show a couple simple examples with the Inventor revolve, extrude, and fillet commands, and then you can check out Rob Cohee's blog for a more in depth demonstration. He also has an example of creating the same typle of part with Inventor 2010 so you can really get an idea of the differences.

Extrude Command example video HERE.

Check out Rob's more in depth comparison HERE.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Free Move with Inventor 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:17:00 +0000

Free Move

Free Move is a non-parametric move using the Triad tool. You can interactively position a face or feature by dragging the triad in a planar move, axial move, or free movement. The Free Move option is in the Move Face command.

Video link:

http://www.screencast.com/t/YjgzMjk1MD

Created by one of the Cad Geeks

Better Tools for Collaborative Design in Inventor

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:30:00 +0000

One of the coolest new features in Inventor isn't really an Inventor feature at all. The new data mapping feature within Vault Workgroup and its related capabilities will really usher in the next level of simplicity when trying to manage the release of large design projects with multiple individuals involved. I will be covering this topic in detail during our April 9th data management user group (Sign Up Here) but here is the high level overview to wet your whistle.

Data Mapping is a powerful process to interrogate Vault information and create charts that can be interactively used in the Inventor environment.

You can now create fancy graphs and charts of Vault information, and these might be useful on their own, but they can also be utilized by Inventor. These can be used to interactively display information on the Inventor model itself. This could be coded by things like: parts pending change, make versus buy designation, current project or design status, compliance status, component cost range, weight range, design lifecycle, or other user "checked-out" status for collaborative designs.

Not only can this information be displayed on the Inventor model, but it can also be used in creating a selection set of Inventor model data as well. Stay tuned for our April Data management users group where I will demonstrate the various uses of this great new tool for Inventor.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Inventor 2011 Dynamic Input for Sketching

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:48:00 +0000

Dynamic Input in the Sketch environment provides a Heads-Up Display (HUD) command interface near the cursor to help you keep your focus in the sketching area. Dynamic Input is active for the most commonly used sketch commands.

When Dynamic Input is on, value input fields near the cursor display information that is dynamically updated as the cursor moves. When a Line, Circle, Arc, Rectangle, or Point sketch command is active, the value input fields provide a place for user entry.

The ability to automatically place persistent dimensions can be disabled by clicking Persistent Dimension on the Format panel of the Sketch tab.

Benefit:

Less steps needed while using everyday functionality.

Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/ZjMwZDE3M2Mt Created by one of the Cad Geeks

Inventor FEA - Force Load vs. Bearing Load?

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:11:00 +0000

So you are running an FEA analysis in Inventor, and you need to apply a load to a cylindrical face. Do you use a regular "Force Load" or a "Bearing Load"? The answer really depends on how the force should be distributed on the face in question. A bearing load will apply the load in a parabolic distribution, while the force load will be an even distribution.

Huh?

OK, lets take a look at a couple of loading scenarios and the results that each provides. I have used the shock tube from one of the Inventor sample files as an example.

In the first analysis I used a Force Load. Notice that the stress is not centered on the cylindrical face, but rather along its edges as if the cylinder was being stretched.

In the second analysis I used a bearing load. Note that the highest stress is focused on the center of the cylinder. This is much more realistic in a case where a bearing or shaft is acting radially on the cylindrical face.

Contributed by Ben of the CAD Geeks

Streamline your CAD / Vault Workflow

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:26:00 +0000

If you mostly use Vault to regularly check-out and check-in CAD data this tip is for you!

Find yourself constantly picking the same option when checking files out?
Always check-in your files before closing them?

Make sure you are taking advantage of the "Prompt Configuration" area of the Vault options in your CAD system (either AutoCAD or Inventor). These can set your default prompt preferences as well as to always use that preference without even displaying the dialog box if you like. This allows you to tailor your CAD / Vault experience to your particular needs.

The Prompts can be accessed from the Vault ribbon bar as shown below:

One of my favorites is to set the "On File Close" prompt to use "Yes" and "Never Prompt". This will automatically check-in any files you have checked-out to make changes when you close the file in the CAD system.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Moving Bodies in a Multi-Body Part

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:35:00 +0000

You create multiple solid bodies in a part file using modeling commands, or by importing one or more solids using the Derived Component command. Use the Move Bodies command to reposition solid body components.

There are three modes of moving bodies in a part file:
Free Drag allows you to move objects in any X, Y, Z combination.
Move along ray allows you to perform a linear move on objects.
Rotate allows you to set the angular rotation of an object around a central axis.

You can use each method as a single move, or you can combine move options by selecting Click to add in the dialog box window. Group multiple moves into one operation to consume the least amount of memory. Inventor records each move in the browser, so you can edit or delete moves at any time.

Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/MzJiOGE3Y Created by one of the Cad Geeks

Great Vault Utilities Available

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:52:00 +0000

Just because Vault doesn't include a particular capability or feature "out of the box", doesn't mean that it can't be done. There are many niche needs when it comes to data management, and applications can be written (or borrowed from) to accomplish many feats of PDM glory.

One of the common CAD management issues I commonly get asked about is how to restore a single file that was inadvertently deleted from Vault. By default, this could require a complete restore of the entire Vault database, and if the deletion wasn't caught early enough, this would not be remotely feasible as all kinds of new data would already be added to the Vault. Another approach would be to keep a "hidden" copy of all the vault files for an administrator to access. This can be done with the Vault Mirror utility written by Doug Redmond and posted on his blog. This utility can batch process any new files added to Vault and also copy a version of the file to an alternate location. The utility and source code are included on the Vault server installation, and Doug's blog details on it are posted here:

http://justonesandzeros.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/vault-mirror.html

Another utility Doug has written allows an iProperty to be added in files to list the current Vault folder it resides in. For companies that place files in a specific folder structure depending on file name, type, or use, this utility allows CAD managers to quickly verify that new files added to Vault are in the correct locations. Simply create a search folder of all files added recently and turn on display of the "folder path" to see if the files reside in the correct locations. The utility and source code for this one is also on Doug's blog here:

http://justonesandzeros.typepad.com/blog/2010/02/the-folder-property.html

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Inventor - Sheet Metal Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:03:00 +0000

What is a sheet metal rule?

Sheet metal rules include:
• sheet material and thickness
• bend and corner relief preferences
• miter, rip and seam gap value
• unfolding rule selection
• flat pattern punch representation (applied by default to sheet metal features during flat pattern creation)
• flat pattern bend angle reporting preference

Benefits:
•Easy way to organize sheet metal design properties that are unique to multiple vendors
• Consistency across designs
• Consistency in a multi-user environments

Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/MjExODkxZ Created by one of the Cad Geeks

Vault Batch Plot

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:52:00 +0000

One of the side benefits of using Vault Workgroup (or above) is the included Batch Plotting utility. The number one aspect of this batch plot is the ability to add all of the related drawing sheets from an inventor design. This allows you to pick a single assembly file and let Vault find all of the detail drawings related to the assembly. For large designs, this could take hours of time to search for and locate drawings manually. With this simple trick, the beginning of a large batch plot list can be generated from the simple assembly selection in a matter of minutes.

Check out a video of the Batch Plot utility HERE.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD geeks

Batch Saving Inventor Drawings To Older AutoCAD Formats

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Being on the latest and greatest technology of course has many advantages but at times some disadvantages come along for the ride. One I am seeing is the time needed to take you Inventor drawing formats and save them back to an earlier version of a AutoCAD dwg.

Reasons for Export:
1. Customer requires delivery of all flat AutoCAD format DWG files
2. Vendors need Drawings in AutoCAD format for NC fabrication
3. Shop floor requires AutoCAD DWG for its own fabrication drawings

What can be done:
• Inventor .idw or .dwg exported to Flat AutoCAD file
• DWG or DXF
• AutoCAD 12 DXF
• AutoCAD 2000 to 2010 DWG

Please view the video to watch and learn about the steps needed to batch process this type of conversion.

Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/ZGQwMWM2YWU Created by one of the Cad Geeks

Vaulted file viewing for "Trusted" individuals

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:28:00 +0000

One of the most common topics of Vault discussion I run into is around the options for Vault viewing. Everyone I speak with usually needs some method of viewing drawings that have been checked into Vault. Sometimes this is just for viewing access by a couple key individuals who are not involved in the CAD design process, but just need to gather or reference design documentation. This seems to be quite common at smaller companies with a tight knit group of individuals. If this is the case, there is a way of producing an uncontrolled "duplicate" publish location for viewing a copy of drawings that get checked into Vault. The key word here is "Copy" and that definitely has some significant drawbacks that could be far from ideal.

What it does:

Puts a duplicate DWF copy of drawings in a network folder at the time they are checked into Vault. This only occurs if the Vault user leaves the DWF option turned on.
Allows individuals without CAD to view the non-Vaulted DWF files with Autodesk Design Review (free).

What it does not do:

Does not re-sync with files that have been renamed, moved, or removed from Vault. This could leave non-valid DWF files sitting in the folder structure unless someone manually removes them.
Does not indicate that the file is ready for viewing
Does not track the revision of the viewable file
Does not ensure that the viewable DWF file is the latest effective release that is safe for manufacturing to use

So this technique may be suitable as long as you understand that this is really just a file dump location that that can't be relied upon as location of "released" data. To properly manage a release process and allow access to only "released" data, Vault Workgroup would need to be implemented instead of the free Vault.

Here is the basic setup procedure for the "duplicate" publish location:

1. Pick the "Define" button on the Visualizatin tab of the Vault Administration dialog box.

2. Turn on the "Duplicate Vault Folder Structure" and define a network path that the CAD users can publish to.

3. The files will be duplicated in the defined location as another file whenever a drawing is checked into Vault.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Sheet Metal - Using Legacy Flat Data

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:58:00 +0000

Many times we need to use existing 2D data to create 3D folded models within Autodesk Inventor. This data may be living in a dwg or dxf file format. This blog consist of the steps and video that speaks of some of your options when importing this data and creating the 3D model itself.
Steps used for using legacy flat data:
1.Start new sheet metal part, start the insert AutoCAD tool
2.Select dxf or dwg file
3.Select import options
4.Clean-up imported geometry trim and extend tools
5.Finish Sketch
6.Select Sheet Metal rule to be used
7.Use Face tool, select geometry
8.Create new sketch where needed project bend lines
9.Use fold tool to bend selected areas
10.Continue steps 8 and 9 until your part is completely folded

Video link:
http://www.screencast.com/t/ZDZiYmU1MGUt
Created by one of the Cad Geeks

New iCHECK IT Release!

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Look soon for the 2010 R2.0 iCHECK IT release, which will include the following new checks:

Isometric View on Save
Sketch Visibility Turned Off
No Design Doctor Errors and Alerts
No Projected Loops in sketches
No Projected Cut Edges in sketches
Only Nominal Model Dimensions active
End of Part not last
Multiple Fillet Sizes in one Occurrence
No Blank Sheet(s) in Drawings
No Unconsumed Work Features
No Hidden Dimensions
No text added to a Drawing Dimension

And enhancements to existing checks!

More about iCHECK IT for Autodesk Inventor: http://www.tatatechnologies.com/icheckitinventor

Degrees of Freedom are key in a Dynamic simulation

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:44:00 +0000

Every time I use the Dynamic Simulation environment in Autodesk Inventor Simulation, it seems like I have to alter my assembly constraints to get the results I want. This is usually because of redundant assembly constraints. As an example, lets consider a basic four bar linkage. If you constrain the members with all "insert" type assembly constraints, it may act like you want in the normal Inventor environment, but there is actually a redundant planer constraint in this case. Instead, one of the "insert" constraints should be changed to a "axis/axis" mate constraint.

Shown above is another potentially more troublesome pitfall. This occurs when trying to solve simulations where linkage components serve the same purpose and share loads equally. An example of this could be trying to solve both sides of a scissor lift simultaneously. A better approach would be to only use one half of the model in the simulation and simple divide the input loads in half as well. This allows proper calculation by the simulation tool and allows output of the reaction loads desired.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks

Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk Inventor 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:57:00 +0000

The Autodesk® Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk® Inventor® 2010 offers new productivity tools, improved support for architectural fabrication, and easier-to-use simulation features. Move beyond 3D to develop complete digital prototypes of your designs. You must be on Subscription to benefit from these tools!

DWG™ Block Browser—Browse for blocks from DWG files and insert them into Autodesk® Inventor® software without having to open a drawing in AutoCAD® software.

Chain Dimensioning—Create chain dimensions more quickly and easily.

Multi-View Create—Create multiple views simultaneously.

Architectural View Scale—Display fractional view scales with associative updating.

Materials Assignment for Simulation*—Select components in the Materials Browser and simultaneously change their material properties.

Editable Simulation Reports*—Output simulation results to a single file for editing.

* Simulation features only available in AutoCAD® Inventor® Simulation Suite and AutoCAD® Inventor® Professional Suite.

http://subscription.autodesk.com/

Importing 3D Geometry into Sheet Metal

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:01:00 +0000

With 3D becoming more popular daily many companies are exchanging data in a 3D format and not to mention that the translators you find in the products these days also makes exchanging data easier than ever. Still there is a need to take that 3D data and bring it into the sheet metal environment to generate flat pattern layouts. Today we will take a look at using an iges file and the steps needed to use it within the Inventor sheet metal environment.

Video link:
http://www.screencast.com/t/OTI1MDc1ZT
Created by one of the Cad Geeks

FEA Convergence - Ensuring accurate simulation results in Inventor

noreply@blogger.com (Tata Technologies CAD/PLM Geek) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:07:00 +0000

One of the foreign concepts to many people new to FEA is the idea of "Convergence". Convergence is an analytical method that many analysts use to determine the quality of their FEA results. Since FEA uses small elements to solve complex problems, a larger number of smaller elements can sometimes yield more accurate results. But how small is small enough when it comes to element sizes? This is where convergence comes into play. Convergence in Inventor Simulation is actually a series of settings that can be used to automatically make mesh elements smaller, and help determine if results are accurate.

The basic concept is that the mesh will automatically be made of smaller elements and solved until the results of the refined mesh fall within a percentage of the previous mesh. In other words: The smaller mesh is no longer significantly changing the results, and it making it smaller would yield diminishing returns.

In the image below, convergence settings were used to determine the validity of the FEA results. Before using convergence, the stress in the model was calculated to be 5.85 ksi. After turning on convergence (which refines the mesh and makes it smaller), the stress was calculated to be 6.205ksi with only .448% defiation from the previous iteration. This shows us that we can trust our FEA setup and gives us more confidence in our solution.

Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks