Autodesk Manufacturing Northern Europe - Autodesk Inventor, Showcase, Moldflow, Vault etc

We've moved

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:35:00 +0000

This is the last post that will be made on this Blogspot hosted blog, but it's not the end of the Autodesk Northern Europe Manufacturing Blog - we've moved!

Our new home is on the Autodesk TypePad platform and the good news is is that we are up and running and posting new tips, tricks, updates etc at the new location. So here's all you need, the new URL....

http://autodeskmfg.typepad.com

Please update your bookmarks, links and syndications to this new location and make sure you visit regularly for all the news, tips, tricks and updates on the Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions.

Thanks

Steve

Have you got what it takes to be a Design Guru?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Autodesk distributor Man & Machine are running an exciting competition for design students at the moment. The Autodesk Design Guru 2011 competition aims to find the most talented students in UK further and higher education.

Prizes are on offer in each of the following five categories:

Architecture & Engineering
Civil & Structural Engineering
Entertainment Creation
Industrial Design
Mechanical Engineering

Entrants who come top in each of the categories will win a 3G Amazon Kindle and an overall winner will be chosen as this year’s Design Guru and will win a top-of-the-range Apple iPad!

All you have to do is post your designs on our Facebook Wall or link to them via our Twitter feed @Design_Guru. Once you’ve done that, just register your contact details on our Creativity in Learning site and you could be on your way to winning one of the great prizes.

You can get more information about the competition (and all the links to Facebbok and Twitter) on our Design Guru mini-site - http://www.creativityinlearning.co.uk/designguru/

The closing date for entries is 1st April and the winners will be announced shortly afterwards.

Good luck to all those entering the competition!

Add Social Network Links Video

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay in getting this video done, it's been a hectic week!

I've uploaded a video to YouTube of how to embed the Social Netoworking links directly into Autodesk Inventor. Use this with the previous post and code to have your favourite websites & social networking sites available directly within Autodesk Inventor. You don't have to go find the video on YouTube though because I've embedded here fo you to watch.....

Adding Social Network links into Autodesk Inventor

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Since the release of Autodesk Factory Design Suite which includes tools directly inside of the Autodesk Inventor part of the suite to launch your favourite social networking sites, I've been asked many times if we can have these in the 'standalone' Autodesk Inventor.

Never one to shy away from such a challenge I decided to see what could be done to answer the requests. Some VBA and image editing later, this is what I managed to come up with:

It's really quick and easy to do, and to save you some time and effort I've put the instructions, code and files here for you to download and use.

1) Download the icons from the link below:

http://www.mfg-area.com/social_link_icons.zip

2) Unzip the contents of social link icons to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2011

3) Launch Autodesk Inventor (no need to start a new document)
4) Go to the VBA editor which is on the Tools ribbon
5) Open or create a module within Default.ivb
6) Copy and paste the following code into the top of the module:

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" _
(ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal _
lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

7) Copy the rest of the code from below and paste it after the first piece of code you pasted:

Public Sub Autodesk()
Input_URL = "http://www.autodesk.com"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Public Sub Blog()
Input_URL = "http://autodeskmfg.blogspot.com"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Public Sub Flickr()
Input_URL = "http://www.flickr.com/photos/autodeskmfggallery/"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Public Sub YouTube()
Input_URL = "http://www.youtube.com/user/manufacturingarea"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Public Sub Facebook()
Input_URL = "http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=144941045545462"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Public Sub Twitter()
Input_URL = "http://twitter.com/autodeskmfg"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

7) In the zero doc environment right mouse click over the Get Started ribbon and select Customise User Commands…
(you don't have to add the tools to the Get Started panel, you could add them to any ribbon panel you want using the same method)

8) From the drop down list at the top select macros where each of the macros we pasted in to the VBA editor will be listed.

9) Use the Add>> button to move each of the macros from the left column, to the right column.

Re-start Autodesk Inventor and when it re-starts you should see your links on the Get Started ribbon for you to use.

Clicking on the link will launch your default browser so it doesn't matter if you use IE, FireFox, Chrome etc.

The macro code is very simple and you can easily change it for different web sites if you want, here’s an example:

Public Sub Autodesk()
Input_URL = "http://www.autodesk.com"
ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, Input_URL, vbNullString, _
vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

The name of the Sub is the name that is shown on the ribbon, so in the example above Autodesk() = Autodesk on the ribbon text.

And then you just need to edit the URL to go wherever you want it to go.

If you want to change the icons you will need to .bmp files – one 32 x32 pixels and one 16 x 16 pixels.

Save them in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2011 (or wherever the .ivb file you have used is) and give them a name of:

• modulename.macroname.Large.bmp - for the 32 x 32 image
• modulename.macroname.Small.bmp - for the 16 x 16 image

For example, I have called my icon images module1.autodesk.Large.bmp, module1.youtube.Large.bmp, module1.facebook.Large.bmp etc

You will have to have both small and large images in the folder.

Enjoy!

Digital Prototyping Forum Video

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:52:00 +0000

Did you attend the Autodesk Digital Prototyping Forum at The Belfry Hotel last Noevmber?

Did you plan on attending but unfortunatley didn't get to?

Well, for those that were there and those that didn't get chance to attend we have created a video of the days events that features plenty of feedback and comments from those that were there mixed inbetween the presentations from the day.

Have a watch of the video to see if you are featured in it and to also see what the event had to offer:

http://www.autodesk.co.uk/uk/dp_forum_2010_videos/DP_Forum_highlights.html

BIM Family Toolkit available on Labs

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:53:00 +0000

If you are a manufacturer of products ir equipment that is used in buildings, you might well be interested in the new Autodesk Labs release - BIM Family Toolkit for Inventor and Revit.

This new Labs tool allows design engineers using Autodesk Inventor to share iPart and iAssembly data with architects and designers using Autodesk Revit for the design of the building.

Manufacturers using Autodesk Inventor to design, visualise and simulate their products can use the new Export Building Family Table option in the AEC Exchange environment to export iPart and iAssembly data (parameters, file properties & component visibility) to a file that can then be imported into Autodesk Revit using the Import Building Family Table option.

This new tool brings manufacturers using Autodesk Inventor and architects using Autodesk Revit closer together and provides a workflow for architects to re-use data created by manufacturers.

You can download this new tool from Autodesk Labs at the link below:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/bim_family_toolkit/

Where did 2010 go?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Is it just me or did 2010 just rocket by? I don't think my feet touched the ground for more than a few minutes over the past 12 months - but do you know what, it was great, every minute of it!

During 2010 I travelled more miles and spent more time sat in the car than I think I ever have done. But the upside of the travel is that I was meeting manufacturers, design engineers and users of the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions.

I saw some amazing 'stuff' being designed and manufactured whilst out on my travels, some really high-tech innovative new designs and some huge dirty great big power house structures that just simply dwarf you when stood next to them.

Although there were lots of highlights during 2010 for me, one that sticks out was spending time up in Aberdeen with a number of Autodesk Inventor users in the offshore oil and gas industry.

I visited one customer who had created an assembly of over 70,000 parts of their deep sea pipe laying equipment using Autodesk Inventor! It was huge, not just the number of components but the physical size was immense. As you'd expect the design contained a lot of steel structure which was created using the frame generator tools in Inventor as well as using interference analysis to find clash issues before they went to manufacture.

On the same day I visited a customer that was using Autodesk Inventor to design their underwater ROV's but then used the same data within 3ds Max Design to produce a 3D interactive underwater environment that is used to train the ROV pilots. It was a great example of how the 3D Digital Prototype data is being used not just for the design & manufacture of the ROV but also used downstream for other uses such as training. Re-using the data in this way meant the new trainees were able to have a near real experience to speed up their training and also meant the manufacturer was able to role out the training before any physical prototypes were created.

I could probably go on all day with similar types of stories and examples of the Autodesk Inventor users I met with in 2010, but for now I shall leave it at just those two examples.

No doubt 2011 will just as hectic - I can't wait!

Happy New Year :0)

New 3ds Max & visualisation blog

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:17:00 +0000

There is a new blog which I thought you’d like to know about. This European blog is created by my Autodesk colleague Jamie Gwilliam. It concentrates on 3ds Max/Design and Design Visualisation and covers many of his past email newsletters as an archive and also includes articles he has produced on image creation.

Jamie, based in London, has a background in Industrial Design and Architectural Visualisation as well as experience with working with Games companies.

The blog is called ‘Jamie’s Jewels’ and promises lots of gems of information. Have a look for yourself....

http://jamiesjewels.typepad.com/jamies_jewels/

Why Autodesk, you really are spoiling us!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:36:00 +0000

Even more new technology? You can't be serious?

Well, yes we are and this time it is for factory floor layout and optimisation directly inside of AutoCAD.

You may well have seen that Autodesk released the Factory Design Suites earlier this year which allow factory layout enginners to use AutoCAD Architecture, Autodesk Inventor, Navisworks and a new Factory Utility to design the layout of a factory floor. The combination of these tools into a suite meant data could flow freely between them to design and visualise the layout.

The Factory Layout Optimisation tool now allows engineers to use new or existing AutoCAD drawings to optimise the layout of work cells, stations, production lines etc inside of the familiar AutoCAD environment.

The basic process is to use geometry to represent each of the work stations and then link them together whilst supplying relevant information about each work station such as time, cost, energy etc. Once they are all linked together the new AutoCAD Factory Layout Optimisation tool will analyse the flow through each of the work stations and give you feedback based on how much time it will take. As you edit the layout, the feedback will update in real time ensuring you are able to design an optimum factory floor layout and process.

The Factory Layout Optimisation Tool for AutoCAD is available to download from the Autodesk Labs website:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/acad_layout_optimization/

The Technology Preview can be applied to new or existing 2D layout designs in AutoCAD 2011, AutoCAD Architecture 2011, AutoCAD Mechanical 2011 and Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2011.

The Tech Preview will expire on May 31, 2011.

Here it is in action:

Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for Andriod

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:28:00 +0000

Today Autodesk have announced that Autodesk SketchBook Mobile is now available for those using the popular Android platform.

SketchBook Mobile has been available on Apple iOS for a while now and is one of the most popular apps on the smartphone. It allows artists, designers, engineers etc to capture ideas and designs wherever they are, at any time. These digital concepts can then be re-used as part of the Digital Prototyping workflow to develop the design further.

One of the great uses for SketchBook Mobile I find is as an engineer, I can use my camera phone to take a picture of an existing equipment installation that might have a problem and then use SketchBook Mobile to sketch ideas, solutions, notes over the top of the photo. I can then email that back to colleagues in the office who can be working on the solution to the problem before I have even left site.

This is a great way of shortening design cycles as not only can you resuse the sketch data in products like Alias Design and Autodesk Inventor but it gives access to accurate and relevant information sooner.

Autodesk SketchBook Mobile is avaialble for download now on a wide range of devices running Android 2.1 and above and is priced (from what I can see on the UK Android Market) at 64p. There is also an Express version which if free!

To learn more about the SketchBook Mobile and SketchBook Mobile Express apps, visit www.autodesk.com/sketchbookmobile.

Have a watch of SketchBook Mobile for Android in action:

Autodesk Tinkerbox

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:26:00 +0000

One of the many things to come out of Autodesk University 2010 in Las Vegas yesterday was Autodesk Tinkerbox presented by Autodesk Product Manager Garin Gardiner. There was lots of chatter about Garins presentation on Twitter and the announcement of this new app that will be available sometime in the near future.

Tinkerbox is an app that will be available for iPhone, iPod and iPad that is designed to bring engineering challenges and education to users of all ages in a 'game' like environment. There are various challenges, each one getting slightly tougher where users have to solve engineering problems like getting ball-bearings from one point to another using motors, plates, fasteners, rope, chains, conveyors etc. The intuitive interface allows you to drag and drop components from your toolbox into the working area to build a process. If you're not sure what something is or how it works, just use the interactive help to learn more about a motor for example.

Because we're dealing with mechanical components and processes all of the components interact with each other just as they would do in real life. For example, plates can topple over, conveyors will move what is on top of them and then have them fall off the end!

You can even connect electrical siwtches to mechanical components so that when the switch is activated, the function of the mechanical component starts.

It's a great looking and functioning app!!!

Rather than me giving you a full running commentary of the new upcoming app, have a watch of this video that was taken by Deelip Menezes of deelip.com whilst at the announcement:

Autodesk University 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:56:00 +0000

Today is the day many people have been waiting for - Autodesk University 2010 is beginning over at the Mandalay Bay Restort in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately this year I cannot be there so will have to take in all the action via the plethora of social networking updates. And believe me, there are plenty!!

If like me you cannot be in Nevada to experience this years' premier Autodesk end user event you can attend on-line classes via AU Virtual and keep up to date with all the goings on via various on-line sources.

Standard Passes for AU Virtual are free and Premium Passes are $139 but are free to those with an active product subscription. There will be over 200 expert-led live streaming and on-demand classes. If you havn't registered yet, do so quickly as the virtual event runs from 30 November to 1 December!

For more information, visit the AU Virtual site:

Click here for more details....

You can keep up to date with who's presenting, what they are presenting, what colour shirt they have on and maybe even how many beers they had in EyeCandy after classes had finished via the wonderful world of Social Networking:

Keep up to date by the minute via Twitter
View pictures and photos from this years event on Flickr
Read the inside details on the AU Blog
Join the Autodesk University Group on Facebook

If you are going to be blogging from AU and would like me to add your blog to the list of useful on-line information just drop me a comment.

Hope to see you next year AU!

Importing file properties to Autodesk Vault

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:00 +0000

If you're making the move from a legacy data management solution to Autodesk Vault you will no doubt want to make sure you migrate as much of the data and information as possible.

Autodesk Vault will manage pretty much any Windows based file type. It's not just a data management tool for 2D & 3D design data, Vault will manage files such as MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Adobe PDF, images, photos etc. If you have an existing solution that manages your data it is likely that there will meta data associated with these files. Meta data is all of the extra property based information that is assigned to the file such as author, version, revision, state, description, title, project etc.

When data is migrated from the legacy data management solution over to Autodesk Vault we can make sure that all of the meta data information is also transferred. This is how we do it....

Happy Vaulting!

Support for MS Office 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:43:00 +0000

We've had quite a few questions lately about support for Microsoft Office 2010 and Autodesk Inventor 2010.

Our colleagues over in product support have added a blog post that gives all the information you need.

Head on over to the Being Inventive blog for all your answers....

http://beinginventive.typepad.com/being-inventive/2010/07/can-you-use-excel-2010-in-inventor.html

Compensating System in Autodesk Inventor

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:13:00 +0000

Compensating System
Originally uploaded by Autodesk Manufacturing Gallery

Whilst catching up on some tweets last week I saw one from an Autodesk Inventor user in Holland - Sanne Buurma. He had received a copy of Offshire Wind magazine which featured some of the work he has done within Autodesk Inventor.

He was kind enough to chare the images with me for the Autodesk Manufacturing Gallery on Flickr which showcases designs and engineering work done using the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions.

This is one of the eight images Sanne shared, if you want to see the others have a peek at our Flickr Gallery....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/autodeskmfggallery/

Digital Prototyping Forum Nearly Upon Us

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:12:00 +0000

It’s less than a week now to until the event of the year – the Autodesk Digital Prototyping Forum 2010! Some might disagree and suggest that maybe the Fifa World Cup in South Africa or the recent Commonwealth Games in India were surely the events of the year but I can assure you that as good as those events were, the Autodesk Digital Prototyping Forum is surely THE event to be at…………if you’re a design engineer!

There’s still time to register to secure your place at the free event which is being held at The Belfry Golf Club & Hotel in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham (the one where they had all of those golf competitions) is going to packed full of useful presentations and information for designers, engineers, managers and generally anybody involved in design & manufacturing.

Main stage events will kick off at 9am with presentations from Autodesk Tim Doidge and Keith Perrin before we get to here from three users of Autodesk technology to hear how they are benefiting from usign Digital Prototyping.

Ortis deeley from Channel 5’s The Gadget Show will be prsenting with RoboChallenge about their use of Autodesk Inventor to design Satans Mutt for their robot wars challenge on the show. They will be followed by David Leadley from Sheffield based Land Instruments who will present how they are combining plastics design, mechanical, electrical and electronics design to create digital prototypes of their non-contact temprature measurement. The final customer presentation of the morning will be conducted by a very special guest from the automotive industry!

The afternoon will be split up into a number of 90 minute focussed breakout sessions presented by the Autodesk experts……..and me.

Industrial Designer Robin Oldroyd will be going through everything relating to consumer product design, industrial design, surfacing and visualisation.

Simulation & Analysis will be covered by Eric Henry and Paul Tolliday and will include how various analysis solutions can help design engineers make decisions about their designs earlier within the design process.

Uffe Bak and Emma Godfrey will be covering data management and technical documentation. If you want to know how you can manage all of your manufacturing data then Uffe is your man. Emma will be showing how to quickly and easily create technical documentaion, illustrations, manuals etc staright from the digital prototype at the same time the design is still be completed!!

And finally, I will be presenting a 90 minute Autodesk Inventor tips & tricks session that will cover things like – user interface, sketching, parts, assemblies, sheet metal and drawings.

Once the breakouts have finished there will be one final main stage presentation that I will be presenting with Keith Perrin who is travelling over from our Autodesk office in Portland, Oregon. We will be showing attendees a sneak peak of what they can expect from future Autodesk technology!

There are still a few places left so still time for you to register, just head on over to the Digital Prototyping forum for more details and to register:

http://www.autodesk.co.uk/dpforum

Hope to see you there.

Data Management on the Apple iPad?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:14:00 +0000

I picked up an iPad this week and have to say I have joined the many fans of the new Apple gadget - it's a very nice product!!

As you would probably expect the first thing I did was download the Autodesk iPad apps - AutoCAD WS, Inventor Publisher Mobile, SketchBook Pro and Fluid FX. All of which are very cool - AutoCAD WS with the add-in from the Subscription Advantage Pack in AutoCAD Mechanical and Electrical is phenomenal! Just click one button in AutoCAD Mechanical and your drawing is available to use within AutoCAD WS on the iPad. I'll be blogging more about that in the near future.

There was one thing that went through my head though as my wife was sat watching the latest episode of a northern based soap-opera and I was downloading apps faster than the plot line of said soap-opera changed - I wonder if we could use the iPad for data management?

The answer - yes we can!

I fired up the Safari browser and pointed to my Autodesk Vault Professional server and low and behold I was greated with the log in page for the Vault Web Client. I could log in to my vault, browse around files and items, view bills of material, view relationships between parts, drawings and assemblies. Pretty much everything you would expect to do with the Autodesk Vault Web Client.

I took a couple of photos of the iPad running the web client which you can see here.

The great thing about this is that there is not really anything to configure or set-up - it just works! If you have got an iPad and want to try this for yourself, just point your iPad Safari browser at the URL of the Autodesk Vault Web Client (available with Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional) and away you go. The URL should be something along the lines of:

http://**your server**/Autodesk DM/WebClient

Replace **your server** with the name of your Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS)

AutoCAD and Inventor Wishlist Ballots

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:43:00 +0000

Many AUGI members have been submitting their wishes for AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor and now it's time to vote on which ones you would like to see at the top of the list!

Each year AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) take the wishes submitted via their website and ask members to vote on which ones they would like to be at the top of the list. These are then submitted to the Autodesk Product Managers to see if they can be included in the development of a future release.

From memory, the last release of Autodesk Inventor included 9 of the top 10 AUGI wish list requests!

So now's the time for you to have your input, have a read through the submissions on the AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor wish lists and vote for the ones you would like to see added most. Just visit the AUGI website to have your say...

Autodesk Inventor - http://www.augi.com/inventor/ballot.asp

AutoCAD - http://www.augi.com/autocad/ballot.asp

Voting closes on 23rd October 2010

Happy Voting!

Subscription Advantage Packs are here

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:17:00 +0000

It's that time of the year again when Subscription Advantage Packs are released for AutoCAD, 3DS MAX Design, Navisworks etc and of course our beloved Autodesk Inventor.

The subscription advantage packs can be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription Centre at the following URL:

http://subscription.autodesk.com

If you have problems logging in to the subscription centre please speak to your local reseller.

If you're interested in what the Autodesk Inventor 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack has to offer, have a watch of this video:

TV Star to attend Digital Prototyping Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:08:00 +0000

Back in March I posted a blog article about Autodesk Inventor being featured on Channel 5's The Gadget Show. Presenters Jason Bradbury and Ortis Deley were challenged to design and build a robot that would take part in a robotwars challenge.

The design they came up with was developed using Autodesk Inventor and the Digital Prototyping software was featured during the show by Ortis.

With that in mind we invited Ortis along to the Digital Prototyping Forum that is being held at The Belfry Golf Club & Hotel on 3rd November and we're pleased to announce that he has accepted.

So, not only will you see presentations from Autodesk and customers, and learn more about the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions but you will get the chance to hear how Ortis and the team worked with used Autodesk Inventor to develop Satans Mutt!

For more information about the Digital Prototyping forum, use the link below:

http://www.autodesk.co.uk/dpforum

Sharing data with the supply chain

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:40:00 +0000

Once you've finished your 2D drawing using Autodesk Inventor do you ever have to use the Save Copy As tool to save the IDW or DWG file as a different file format to share with colleagues, suppliers or customers?

The Save Copy As tool within Autodesk Inventor will allow users to save a 2D drawing in various different file formats such as AutoCAD DWG (2000, 2004, 2007 or 2010), JPG, TIFF, PDF, GIF, PNG etc. These formats help when the 2D drawing is to be shared with those who use tools like Adobe Acrobat Reader or Windows Image Viewer.

As a design engineer though, you don't want to spend time and effort using the Save Copy As tool to produce each of the different formats required for each 2D drawing.

Using Autodesk Inventors iLogic tools we can build a rule that creates these other files for you automatically, it requires just one line of iLogic code - yes, you read that correctly just one line of iLogic code!!

Have a watch of this video to see exactly how art the touch of a button you can save your 2D Inventor drawing and get all the other required formats 'free of charge':

Rather than typing the iLogic rule, here it is so you can copy & paste it:

ThisDoc.Documents.SaveAs(ThisDoc.ChangeExtension(".jpg"), True)

UPDATE: Using the line of iLogic code above will save the files in the same folder as the 2D drawing. If you want to save it in a different folder you can predifine the location using the following:

strFolder = "D:\files\" & ThisDoc.FileName(False) 'without extension

ThisDoc.Document.SaveAs(strFolder & (".jpg") , True)
ThisDoc.Document.SaveAs(strFolder & (".pdf") , True)

MessageBox.Show("All file formats saved", "File Save")

Enjoy!

Autodesk Digital Prototyping Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:59:00 +0000

Stop what you're doing and put Wednesday 3rd November 2010 in your diary - you won't regret it!

The Autodesk Digital Prototyping forum is being held at the world famous Belfry Golf Club & Hotel in the West Midlands and will be a packed day of Digital Prototyping goodness. It will be that good it might just count towards your five-a-day quota!

On the agenda for the day will be presentations by Autodesk as well as a number of customers who will be taking to the stage to tell us their story and how they use Digital Prototyping to their advantage.

There will be a number of breakout sessions in the afternoon where you can choose the ones that suit your needs and requirements most. There will be four 90 minute breakout sessions that will be repeated twice so that you can get as much information as possible. The breakout sessions will focus on:

- Autodesk Inventor Tips & Tricks
- Dynamic Simulation
- Design Analysis & Optimisation
- Plastic Flow Analysis
- Data Management
- Technical Publications & Documentation
- Industrial Design
- Visualisation

I'll be presenting the Autodesk Tips & Tricks session which will be 90 minutes of as many tips and tricks as I can physically present in the time. Make sure you bring your super fast writing utensils.

How much is it to attend:
It's free!

Who should attend:
If you are already a user of any of the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions such as AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, Inventor, Alias Design, Showcase, Algor, Moldflow etc then this event is for you. The content is aimed at end users of the solutions to come and learn more about the tools in hand but to also network and speak to peers and Autodesk.

If you don't use any of the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions but are interested in how they might benefit you then please feel free to come along to the event.

Where is it:
The Belfry Golf Club & Hotel
Wishaw
Sutton Coldfield,
West Midlands
B76 9PR

Click here for location details.....

What time does it start & finish:
The main proceedings kick off at 09:15 and the day will aim to finish around 17:15.

Lunch & refreshments throughout the day will be provided.

How do I get more information and register:
It's quick and easy, just click on this link for more info and to register....

You can also get answers to your questions by adding your question as a comment to this post and I will get back to you with an answer.

Whats this Face thing??

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:53:00 +0000

I found out about this great new up and coming web site today, Facebook I think it's called and it's all about......

Ok, ok - not really!

Unless you have been living in a cave in the middle of nowhere land for the past couple of years you can't fail to have heard about the success of Facebook. There are literally hundreds of millions of users connecting for all different reasons - old school chums, colleagues, friends and family are adding and poking to find out what they have been doing for the past 10 years since they last spoke to them.

In short terms, like it or loathe it Facebook is a great way to connect people and share information.

With that in mind, we have created a Facebook group for anyone in the UK or Ireland that uses (or interested in using) any of the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solutions and would like to connect with other users to share tips, tricks, workflows, experiences, ask questions and find out more about the tools in hand.

Anyone can join the group and the more the better!

If you're an engineer, designer, student or educator and you use Facebook why not come and join your peers in the new UK & Ireland Facebook group. If you use or are interested in any of the Digital Prototyping solutions, you should head on over:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=144941045545462

Please feel free to invite your colleagues and peers if they have an interest too!

Look forward to seeing you on Facebook.

PS: This is my 100th post on this blog!!

Autodesk Analysis Tools for Hydraulics and Hydrology in the UK

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:28:00 +0000

My collegues over at From the Ground Up blog have asked me to let you all know about an event they are holding next month in London.

The Autodesk Civil team will be at The Thames Water Barrier in London on Thursday October 28th to show how Autodesk analysis tools can help Civil Engineers plan and design urban drainage systems, storm and foul sewers. Integrating stormwater and wastewater analysis tools during planning and design will help improve overall project productivity and increase your engineering capabilities in the UK.

Aimed at those who work in civil engineering as engineers and planners, you will learn how Autodesk analysis tools can help you with run off calculations; storage and pipe sizing; detention ponds and outlet structures and lots more.

Click here for full event details and registration.....

AutoCAD on the Apple Mac is back!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Bedder) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:07:00 +0000

I remember in the early 1990's seeing a version of AutoCAD running on an Apple Mac, I can't for the life of me remember where it was, I know it was during my days of "studying" but it was something that quickly dissapeared......................until today!

Today, Autodesk have officially announced what many people have been expecting, blogging and tweeting about for a few months - AutoCAD is once again available for the Apple Mac.

This announcement cements the rumours that users of Apple Mac hardware can now install and work with a native version of AutoCAD for the Mac without the need to use emulators like Parallels or Bootcamp. This new version of AutoCAD 2011 takes advantage of many of the Apple Mac user interface tools such as menu-bar to the integration of cover flow support to visually scroll through your DWG file previews, multi-touch gestures and making use of the track pad; which all go towards providing users with an experience that fits in with any of the other native Apple Mac software used.

It's worth pointing out that this is not a port of the Windows based AutoCAD to run on Mac OSX it is a complete re-write of the AutoCAD application!

AutoCAD for Mac is currently going through some final beta testing and should hopefully be available in the Autumn to trial, purchase & download from the Autodesk Student Community.

Have a watch of the AutoCAD on the Mac launch video:

For more information about AutoCAD for Mac, click on the link below:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=15421056&siteID=123112

Autodesk also announced the AutoCAD WS mobile application, a new app soon to be available through Apple’s App Store that will extend AutoCAD to Apple’s iOS. The AutoCAD WS mobile application will enable AutoCAD users to edit and share AutoCAD files on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch so they can have real-time collaboration even while on the go.

Make sure you visit back regularly as I'll have more information about AutoCAD WS in the near future.