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Wiley Mastering Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Inventor LT 2011

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1. Upon the completion of a sketch click the Finish Sketch button on the far right and you will exit the sketch In doing so the Model tab becomes active and the Sketch tab is hidden This allows you to see the tools that are appropriate for the immediate task and only those tools without having to hunt around for them If you create a new sketch or edit an existing one the Sketch tab is immediately brought back Figure 1 9 shows the active Model tab FIGURE 1 9 les gi The Model tab and ect Tools Manage View Environments Get Started model tools Z gt piot 4 ETT Create Extrude Revolve 2D Sketch Rb amp Sketch Create Hole Fillet When you work with assemblies the tool tab changes to the Assemble tab as shown in Figure 1 10 allowing you to place components create new components pattern them copy them and so on There are also a number of other tabs shown that you can switch to at any time in order to use those tools FIGURE 1 10 mi Dann The Assemble tab Assemble Design Model Inspect Tools Manage View Environments Get Started o and assembly tools amp ag Bo Pattern g 8 a 4 a tp JA Bg Copy Place Create 88 E Constrain assomblo Bill of Parameters Create Plane HB Mirror fb Materials Substitutes Component Position Manage Productivity Work Features Convert When you create a 2D drawing of parts or assemblies you are automatically presented with tools needed to create vi
2. Understanding History Based Modeling Inventor is often referred to as a history based modeler meaning that as you create sketches and turn them into features and then add more features and still more features each addition is based on a previous feature and so the model is said to have history This history is recorded and tracked in the model browser The model browser is a panel that displays on screen and 4 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY shows every feature you create during the design of your part Figure 1 5 shows the model browser for the pivot link file FIGURE 1 5 ute ot di EB Solid Bodies 1 The model browser b Eogh showing the fea P lextusicnt ture tree history h ri of a part named L Hoez p ija Filet Pivot_Link ipt Fie O Erd of Part You can see that each feature is listed in the browser in the order it was created forming a history tree In order to create a part that handles changes predictably you must create a solid foundation on which to build the rest of the model In most cases when you are designing a part model you will start off with a sketch much like the one shown back in Figure 1 1 This base sketch will be your foundation and therefore you must create it to be as stable as possible Looking Closer at Sketch Dimensions A large part of creating a stable sketch is understanding the way Inventor s sketch dimensions work To do so you might compare Inventor dimen
3. INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY The Bolted Connection Generator The Bolted Connection Generator is one example of a functional design tool It can create and insert a complete bolted connection all at once by sizing the bolt diameter and length by select ing the right parts and holes and by assembling all the components together You can create templates for common fastener stacks that you might use every day as well The Frame Generator The Frame Generator will create internal or external frame assemblies for machines The Frame Generator functions by creating a skeleton part to define the frame within an assembly file You then use the skeleton to place and size the frame members You can then use multiple skel etal models within an assembly to create frame members and you can create frame members between skeletal models You can also create frame members from the vertices and edges of existing subassemblies This ability allows you to build framing between other components within an assembly Joining frame members together and adjusting the end treatments for con nection between members is a simple matter when using the Frame Generator Joining frame members with weld gaps and coped joints is supported The Inventor Studio Inventor Studio is an environment within Autodesk Inventor with a complete set of tools for creating and editing renderings and animations With Inventor Studio you will be able to create animated renderings and photor
4. Go to the Get Started tab and click Open 2 To ensure that you are looking at all the files in the Mastering Inventor 2011 project and only the files in this project click Workspace in the Open dialog box as shown in Figure 1 19 FIGURE 1 19 Opening a file from Zed ok inc GE Mastering Inventor 2011 lO amp amp fr the Tutorial Files fa 7 an Sis sa Chapter 01 chapter 09 Oc pide Chanter 02 Ba Eachepter 10 cha lisa a al pter 03 Chapter 11 cha lt Chapter 04 Chapter 12 cha Gachapter 05 Chapter 13 con achapter 06 Chapter 14 iPar GaChapter 07 Chapter 15 iPar chapter 08 chapter 16 Bold Preview not avalable el zi 2 File name Autodesk Inventor Fies iam idw dwg i m Project File Mastering Inventor 2011 ip X Projects Quick Launch S cane H Options Open Cancel 3 Check to see that the Files of Type box is set to Autodesk Inventor Files as shown in Figure 1 19 and then browse for and open the file called mi_1a_001 iam in the Chapter 01 folder TURNING ON FILE EXTENSIONS It s often helpful when working with Inventor files to be able to view the files extensions By default Windows has the extensions for known files types turned hidden To show file extensions follow the steps below for your operating system Windows XP Open any folder and then select Folder Options from the Tools menu Next select t
5. THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE 17 FIGURE 1 18 The View tab Center of Gravity ae p2 Analysis Object ys Visibility imate Glyphs Visibilit Q Shadows JJ Orthographic a Slice visual amp Reflections Q Ground Plane Cpu Style Two Lights Color Appearance DOS eo User Clean Switch Tile All Interface Screen z 7 Windows z HY Pan amp View Face Q Zoom All Previous Full Navigation Wheel lt 2 Orbit Gi Home View Navigate The Visibility panel has tools for controlling which objects are visible When you click Object Visibility a large list is displayed so you can control the appearance of your graphics window The Appearance panel has tools for controlling the way models are displayed You can switch between orthographic parallel model lines appear parallel and perspective parallel model lines converge on a vanishing point views Additionally you can display the model in a number of visual styles such as Realistic Shaded Shaded with Edges Illustration and many more Also on the Appearance panel you can set the model display to include shadows and reflec tions for an ultra realistic on screen look You should be aware that depending upon your hardware specifications you may notice a performance lag when using some of these enhanced styles For that reason you may want to use a basic set of settings during most of your work and then switch to the
6. features and get an idea of how the faceplate was created Note that some features are on the back side of the faceplate so you may not see them depending upon your viewing angle Ensure that you have the EOP back at the very end of the part below Fillet3 before con tinuing to the next step 22 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY FOUR WAYS TO USE EOP MARKERS Since part features are listed sequentially in the order they were created the EOP marker allows you to figure out how a part was constructed Dragging the EOP marker to the top and then drag ging it down one feature at a time recreates the part This can be useful when working with parts designed by others and can be used as a powerful learning tool You can use the EOP marker to insert a feature anywhere in the model tree For instance if you meant to create a hole before creating a rectangular cut you could just use the EOP to suspend the rectangular cut feature and then place the hole feature Then to bring the rectangular cut back you d move the EOP back to the bottom Because part features are based hierarchically in that one is based on another oftentimes a change to a primary feature will break a secondary one which in turn breaks another and another and so on The cascade of error down through the feature tree can be intimidating and appear to the new user as if every single feature will need to be rebuilt In most cases though if you move the EOP up to just below
7. find your way around Ribbon menus You can use the What s New button to read about the new features for the current release as well as the last few releases The Learn About Inventor tools contain a Getting Started guide built in tutorials including files to use and a collection of learning resources Of particular note is the Show Me Animations tool It links to a comprehensive set of short videos that show you the picks and clicks of how to accomplish tasks in Inventor For instance if you want to see how Inventor s Direct Manipulation tools work you can click the Show Me Animations button on the Getting Started tab and select Parts Direct Manipulation from the Show Me Animations topics list You can use these to your benefit as quick reminders for tasks that you may not complete often and when you need a helpful reminder of how a par ticular tool works Figure 1 17 shows the Get Started tab and its tools Aw t Tools found on the thom Open fer aun Get Started tab i New Open Projects Ribbon Ribbon Command Introduction Tutorial Locator Launch User Interface Overview Getting Tutorials Learning Show Me Started Resources Animations Leam about Inventor THE VIEW TAB The View tab shown in Figure 1 18 has controls for object visibility and appearance window control and navigation There are some variations in the icons depending on the environment but most of the icons are used in all of the modeling environments USING
8. from within Inventor You can open an Inventor dwg file in AutoCAD and edit it but with some limitation The primary limitation is that the Inventor objects are protected from modification AutoCAD MOVING FROM AUTOCAD TO INVENTOR 27 dimensions and other entities can be added and will remain intact when the file is opened again in Inventor but as a rule objects must be edited in the application from which they were created Creating DWG Files from Inventor Drawings Users of Inventor may often find that they are called upon to create native AutoCAD dwg files from Inventor idw files for use by customers or other people within the company A user may create a dwg file by simply performing a Save Copy As and saving it as an AutoCAD dwg file The newly created dwg file will not be associative to the Inventor part or assembly or idw file and will not reflect any changes made to the part assembly or Inventor drawing file It is com mon to use Save Copy As on an Inventor drawing and save it to an AutoCAD dwg just before making revision changes thereby preserving a copy of the drawing in a static state at that revision level Once the static copy is saved revision edits can begin and the original Inventor drawing will update automatically DWG FILE SIZE Although the benefits of using an Inventor DWG instead of an IDW may be favorable you should be aware that the extra abilities of the DWG file do come at the expense of file si
9. more realistic ones once a model is complete Experiment with these settings to see what works best for you VISUAL STYLES AND WINDOWS XP Inventor 2011 includes a number of enhanced visual styles shadows and reflection options not found in earlier versions These enhancements are dependent upon the presence of DirectX 10 And because Windows XP does not support DirectX 10 the enhanced visual styles will not be available If you are running XP you will want to go to the Tools tab select the Application Options button click the Hardware tab and then select the Compatibility option No loss of visual styles found in previous versions of Inventor will be experienced but you will not be able to use some of the newer visual styles Another important option found on the Appearance tab is the View Camera Projection setting which allows you to choose between orthographic and perspective views Setting the perspective options current displays the model with a vanishing point as it would be in the real world Using the orthographic option displays the model with points of the model projected along parallel lines to the screen 18 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY Using a perspective view may be desirable when viewing the model in a 3D view but can be distracting when sketching on a flat face or viewing the model from a standard 2D ortho graphic view because you see what appears to be tapering faces and edges However you can get the best
10. select For instance in AutoCAD you might select the horizontal dimension tool to place a dimen sion on a horizontal line then select the diameter dimension tool to place a dimension on a hole then select a radius dimension tool to place a dimension on a fillet and so on But in Inventor you select the General Dimension tool select a horizontal line and you get a horizontal dimen sion then without exiting the dimension tool you select a circle and you automatically get a diameter dimension And of course to dimension a fillet you continue with the general dimen sion tool and you will automatically get a radius dimension When in Doubt Right Click Inventor is very right click driven meaning that many of the options are context specific and can be accessed by right clicking the object in question For instance if you want to edit a sketch you right click the sketch in the browser and choose Edit Sketch The same is true of a feature If you wanted to change a hole feature from a countersink to a counterbore you would right click it in the browser and choose Edit Feature You can right click many objects in the graphics window with no need to locate them in the browser Also worth mentioning are the options in the context menus For instance if you are editing a part in an assembly and want to finish the edit and return to the assembly level you could use the Return button on the Sketch tab menu or you could just right click takin
11. so More commonly you may accidentally turn it off by clicking the X button on the right side of the browser title bar To display it again go to the View tab and click the User Interface button found on the Windows panel Most likely you ll want to have all the items in this list selected USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE 21 EDIT A PART Next you ll continue with the exploration of the browser by setting a part file active for edits and making a change to a part feature 6 In the browser double click the part called Face_Plate_mi_1 to set it active for edits If you hover for a moment over the icon the plus sign may automatically expand you can disregard that and just double click the icon Note that it is best practice to get into the habit of double clicking the icon next to the com ponent name rather than the name itself because the latter may initialize an edit of just the name depending upon the speed of your clicks Double clicking the icon will activate the component for editing in place within the assembly Once a component is activated all other portions within the Model browser will be grayed out With the faceplate part activated you will notice the Model tab becomes active in the Ribbon menu and the model browser shows all the features of the faceplate Both changes reflect that you are now editing a part file and are therefore working at the part editing level of the model hierarchy with part feature tools read
12. the parts it is made of as well You should note that the 7 8 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY Router Base assembly is shown in the browser with a pushpin icon This denotes that this assem bly is grounded or pinned in place and its coordinates cannot accidentally change Keeping one grounded component in each assembly will allow you to fit other parts to it without it moving You might imagine the old carnival game where you throw a ball at a pyramid stack of metal bottles To win the game you had to knock down all of the bottles However if the bottle in the center on the bottom was nailed down it was impossible to win the game and as a matter of physics it was more difficult to knock down the bottles next to it Having a grounded component in your assemblies one that is nailed down will likewise keep your assemblies from falling apart as you build on to it You should note that by default the first component you place will automatically be grounded You can unground it and ground another if need be but you should always maintain at least one grounded component You can also have more than one grounded component MAKE Your MobDELs MIMIC THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS The simplest advice that we can give to new users on the subject of assemblies is to structure them as you would in real life If in the design you plan to assemble several parts into a transmission and then drop that transmission into a housing then you should m
13. the same tasks To put it simply in Inventor the part and assembly files are the model model space and the drawing file is in effect paper space Using multiple file types to handle the separate tasks required for modeling versus detailing simplifies the interaction between both tasks and as a result the headaches of managing model space and paper space that exists in AutoCAD are eliminated in Inventor Here are the primary file formats commonly used in Inventor ipj Inventor project file is used to manage file linking paths ipt Inventor single part file is used to create individual parts iam Inventor assembly file is used to assemble part together ipn Inventor presentation file is used to create exploded views of assemblies idw Inventor 2D detail drawing file is used to detail part assembly and presentation files dwg Inventor Inventor 2D detail drawing file just like the IDW DWG is used to detail part assembly and presentation files 26 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY dwg AutoCAD AutoCAD nonassociative drawing file is used to convert an Inventor drawing file to a standard AutoCAD file x1s Excel files that drive iParts threads and other data is used to manage tabled data linked or embedded in a part assembly or drawing file Although this list may seem intimidating once you become familiar with Inventor having many different file types will be less of a concern T
14. Chapter 1 Inventor Design Philosophy In this chapter you will be introduced to the concept of parametric 3D design and the general tools and interface of Inventor This chapter will focus on the concepts of parametric modeling and the work flow tools and interface elements found in Inventor that are used to turn your ideas into a design In this chapter you will learn how to Create parametric designs Get the feel of Inventor Use the Inventor graphical interface Work with Inventor File Types Move from AutoCAD to Inventor Create 3D virtual prototypes gt gt gt Use functional design Understanding Parametric Design Autodesk Inventor is first and foremost 3D parametric modeling software And although it has capabilities reaching far beyond the task of creating 3D models it is important for you to under stand the fundamentals of parametric 3D design The term parametric refers to the use of design parameters to construct and control the 3D model you create Creating a Base Sketch Most typically the 3D model starts with a 2D sketch which is assigned dimensions and 2D sketch constraints to control the general size and shape These dimensions and constraining geometries are the parameters or input points that you would then change to update or edit the sketch For instance Figure 1 1 shows a base sketch of a part being designed FIGURE 1 1 Creating a parametric model sketch 2 CHAPTE
15. Inventor sketches Inventor drawings title blocks and symbol creation When creating a new part file in Inventor you can copy geometry directly from an AutoCAD dwg and paste it into an Inventor sketch AutoCAD dimensions will even be converted into fully parametric Inventor dimensions However only minimal sketch constraints will be cre ated when doing this Using the Auto Dimension tool within the Inventor sketch environment you can apply sketch constraints to the copied AutoCAD data quickly It is important to remem ber that many AutoCAD drawings contain fundamental issues such as exploded or fudged dimensions and lines with endpoints that do not meet Copying such drawings into an Inventor sketch will of course bring all of those issues along and will typically provide poor results Another way to use AutoCAD data in Inventor is in an Inventor dwg file Often you ll have symbols in AutoCAD in the form of blocks that you want to use on a drawing in Inventor such as a directional flow arrow or a standard note block Although you could re create these symbols in Inventor you can also simply copy the block from AutoCAD and paste it into the Inventor dwg or use the Import AutoCAD block option to import blocks without the need to open AutoCAD This functionality exists only within an Inventor dwg and is not supported in an Inventor idw In fact it is one of the few differences you ll notice between an Inventor dwg and an Inventor idw
16. OSOPHY FIGURE 1 23 The Inventor Style And Standard Editor assembly mode gt Style and Standard Editor Color Back New Lighting S A Material Coler Style Name AB 03 Polshed Dark A 03 Polshed Aluminum Cast Aluminum Flat Aluminum Machined Aluminum Palisnes Close the Style and Standard Editor dialog box and then click the small X icon located just above the View Cube to close the assembly file Note that there is an X at the very top right of the screen that closes Inventor completely if you accidentally select that one sim ply restart Inventor and continue to the next step 5 From the Get Started tab click the New button 6 In the New File dialog box set the Default tab active and choose the Standard idw icon and then click OK This creates a new Inventor drawing file 7 With the new drawing file active select the Manage tab from the Ribbon menu and then click the Styles Editor button You will see that the style area option reflects styles per taining to drawings as shown in Figure 1 13 FIGURE 1 24 The Inventor Style And Standard Edi tor drawing mode Style and Standard Editor G amp Standed Default Standard ANSI 2 Baloon fi Center Mark S Datum Target w P Omersion M Feature Control Frame The drawing style collection contains various dimension styles layers and layers names line type settings object defaults text style
17. R 1 FIGURE 1 2 A basic part model created from the sketch FIGURE 1 3 Adding features to complete the part model INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY You can see four dimensions placed on the two rectangles defining the length and width of each along with a fifth dimension controlling the angle at which the two rectangles relate These dimensions are parameters and if you were to change one of them at any point during the design or revision of the part the sketch would update and adjust to the change Creating a Base Feature In addition to 2D sketch parameters you add parameters to control the 3D properties of parts as well This is done by using the sketch to create a feature such as an extrusion that gives a depth value to the sketch The depth dimension is a parameter as well and it can be updated at any time to adjust the part model as required Figure 1 2 shows the previous sketch after it has been given a depth using the Extrude tool Adding More Features Once the part is three dimensional more sketches can be added to one surface or another of the 3D shape and that new sketch can be used to create some feature that further defines the form and function of the design The model is then enhanced with more features such as holes fillets chamfers and so on until it is complete Each added feature is controlled by still more param eters defined by you the designer If a change is required you simply update the parameter
18. a bolt in an assembly and change the color to Gold the next bolt you place will still have the original color USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE 13 TABLE 1 1 Quick Access toolbaricons CONTINUED ICON DEFINITION oh The Design Doctor icon launches a dialog box that helps you diagnose and repair issues witha file Itis grayed out unless there is an issue fA The Update All Sheets icon is used in the drawing environment to update all the sheets ina drawing at once The Parameter icon is used to access the parameters table where you can rename F change and create equations in dimension and design parameters i The Measure icon brings up the measure tool allowing you to take distance angle loop or area measurements from model edges vertices and faces The Help toolbar shown in Figure 1 14 gives direct access to help files and Autodesk web sites Table 1 2 defines each Help toolbar icon FIGURE 1 14 The Help toolbar TABLE 1 2 Help toolbar icons ICON DEFINITION The Search icon finds help topics that contain the keywords you enter in the field You can click the down arrow next to the Search icon to select a specific section of Inventor Help The Subscription Center icon displays information from the Subscription Center site The Communication Center icon displays information from the Communication Center site The Favorites icon displays items that you have marked as favorites This can include help top i
19. ake the transmission a subas sembly and insert it into the upper level housing assembly By making your models mimic the manufacturing process you can also find possible flaws in your design such as fasteners that can not be accessed or areas where parts may interfere with each other during assembly In some instances a model will be developed in the research and development department and then handed to the manufacturing engineering department to be built Although R amp D may enjoy the freedom of dreaming up anything they can think of an effective R amp D designer will always have one eye on what can actually be built Keep this in mind during the initial develop ment cycle and it will prevent those downstream of you from having to re create much of your work However if restructuring the components into more or less subassemblies is required after the initial design Inventor has demote and promote tools to assist with that These tools will be covered in the chapters to come CONSTRAIN TO ORIGIN GEOMETRY Each part file has default origin geometry built in You should build parts around the origin geometry whenever possible For instance a transmission has gears bearings seals and so on that are all concentric with the shaft If you model all the parts so their x axes will be aligned in the assembly then it will be more stable If you constrain the parts by selecting model features you run the risk of constraints failing after a re
20. and the model updates accordingly This type of parametric design allows you to build robust and intelligent models very quickly and update them even faster Figure 1 3 illustrates the typical workflow of adding secondary features to a base feature to fully realize the part design in this case a simple pivot link Using the Part in an Assembly Once the part model is built up from the features you create you can use it in an assembly of other parts created in the same manner You can copy the part to create multiple instances of UNDERSTANDING PARAMETRIC DESIGN 3 the same part and you can copy the part file to create variations of the original part In order to assemble parts you create geometric relationships called assembly constraints defining how the parts go together The constraints are parameters that can be defined and revised by you at any time in the design process as well Part models can be arranged into small assemblies and placed into larger assemblies to create a fully realized subassembly structure that matches the way your design will be built on the shop floor Figure 1 4 shows the part model from the previ ous illustrations placed multiple times in a subassembly and then that subassembly placed in a top level assembly FIGURE 1 4 A subassembly and J an assembly model using the part model Making Changes This process of creating parameter based sketches to define parameter based features to d
21. anges for the current Inventor session not just the current document If you have two part files open this icon will undo changes that are made in both files Undo will also close files if your undo sequence takes you back past the point of a file being opened or created The Redo icon restores a change that was removed with Undo It will reopen a file that was closed with Undo The Open From Vault icon opens a file in your Vault The Print icon launches the Print dialog box Drawings have a special Print Drawing dialog box with more controls The iProperties icon launches an Inventor file properties dialog box The Projects icon launches a dialog box to manage project files Project files are used to help maintain references between files You can have only one active project ata time and you can t switch projects when a file is open The Return icon switches from the current environment to the previous one For example if you are editing a part in an assembly Return will take you back to the assembly environment The Update icon updates the files For example if you edit a part in an assembly other parts might need to be updated because of the changes It is grayed out unless the file needs to be refreshed The Select icon allows you to choose a filter for object selection The Color Override setting allows you to change the display color This is a local over ride and does not change the component For example if you place
22. awing with the X Ref will update when the Inventor file updates allowing the Inventor user to make edits on parts and assemblies and the AutoCAD user to get those updates automatically in his or her layouts Moving from AutoCAD to Inventor If you are moving from AutoCAD 2D to Inventor 3D modeling you can have a great experience in the process if you put design concepts used in AutoCAD on the shelf while learning Inventor 28 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY If your experience is like that of many others who made the transition from the drawing board to drawing lines in AutoCAD it was difficult to say the least At first you may have been frustrated with spending more time creating electronic drawings than it would have taken to produce the drawing with the board However a key reason for the acceptance of AutoCAD was the ability to make edits far more quickly than you could with eraser and paper Once you master Inventor you will find the same benefit of faster edits as well as the many benefits that parameter based design has to offer Making the move to Inventor successfully requires some evaluation of current methods of design in AutoCAD The following are some of the evaluation steps in planning your suc cessful move Assess your current directory structure of AutoCAD drawings How do you store name and reuse current AutoCAD files Will the structure be compatible for storing Inventor documents or is it time to take a de
23. bly view ystapler iam H Representations S Pjorigin 1 mN E Bottom 1 2 Upper 1 Representations H ogn e Upper Back 1 juopa Front 1 H 4 Channel Spring Cip 1 Positi L amp ande t 180 00 deg Inventor Title Bar Starting at the upper left of the Inventor window the Inventor button has a drop down panel similar to the File menu in previous versions The title bar includes two toolbars The Quick Access toolbar has frequently used tools The Help toolbar provides access to help files and Autodesk websites You can customize the Quick Access toolbar for each file type by selecting and deselecting icons from a list The list of available tools can be accessed by clicking the drop down arrow shown on the far right of Figure 1 13 FIGURE 1 13 The Inventor but ton and Quick Access toolbar 11 12 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY Table 1 1 defines all the Quick Access toolbar icons available for the different file types TABLE 1 1 Quick Access toolbar icons aoe es Sf aes ew As Material i DEFINITION The Newicon launches the New File dialog box The drop down list allows you to cre ate anew part assembly drawing or presentation file using the standard templates The Open icon launches the Open dialog box It displays a location defined in your active project The Save icon saves the file The Undoicon undoes the last action The Undo list tracks ch
24. box select tutorial_files from the list Click the Apply button at the bottom of the Projects dialog box Note the check mark next to tutorial_files in the list denoting that it is the active project and then click Done to close the Projects dialog box Now you can return to the Tutorials help pane and follow along More information about projects can be found in the next chapter 16 CHAPTER 1 FIGURE 1 17 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY The Ribbon Menu The Ribbon menu is similar to the one introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 in that it is composed of tabs and panels Each tab contains panels for a particular task such as creating sketches and each panel contains related buttons As previously mentioned the Ribbon will change to the proper tab based on the current task for example sketching brings up the Sketch tab but you can select a different tab as needed You can customize the Ribbon menu by doing the following Turning off tool button text reducing icon size or using a compact icon layout Turning off panels that you don t use Adding frequently used commands to a tab Minimizing the Ribbon Undocking the Ribbon so it becomes a floating tool palette 6 UO Docking the Ribbon on the left right or top of the Inventor window THE GET STARTED TAB Most of the icons on the Get Started tab link to help topics The Launch tools are used to access and create files The User Interface Overview tools help you
25. cs anditems from the Subscription Center and Communication Center be bel A S The Help Topics icon launches Inventor Help You can also press F1 to access Help at any time Pressing F1 while ina command will activate Help for that specific command Q Inventor Graphics Window Tools Inventor has two sets of tools for manipulating the graphics window The ViewCube is used to change the view orientation The Navigation Bar has tools such as Zoom and Pan 14 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY EXPLORING THE VIEW CUBE The ViewCube shown in Figure 1 15 is a 3D tool that allows you to rotate the view Here are some viewing options Ifyouclick a face edge or corner of the cube the view rotates so the selection is perpen dicular to the screen If you click and drag an edge the view rotates around the parallel axis If you click and drag a corner you can rotate the model freely If you click a face to have an orthogonal view additional controls will display when your mouse pointer is near the cube The four arrowheads pointed at the cube rotate the view to the next face The arc arrows rotate the view by 90 degrees in the current plane FIGURE 1 15 z The ViewCube Ww z gt FRONT lt 4 If you click the Home icon looks like a house the view rotates to the default isometric view Clicking the drop down arrow or right clicking the Home icon reveals several options to change the default isometric vi
26. e file went You can then browse and manually point the assembly to that file and it will record the new name in its internal link If you decide to move the second part file to some other folder than its original the assembly file might again prompt you to find it manually depending on the folder structure It should be your goal to never need to resolve file links manually and understanding this part of how assemblies work is the first step in doing so In the coming chapters you will learn how to set up Inventor properly so it can find your files without issue ALWAYS MAINTAIN AT LEAST ONE GROUNDED COMPONENT To understand how grounded parts help you build stable assemblies you should first under stand a little about the assembly model browser Figure 1 7 shows the model browser for an assembly model of a small hobby type CNC router FIGURE 1 7 Gy Router iam The model browser f ereis showing the model d E Router Base 1 Gi Y axis Assembly 1 tree of an assembly named Router iam i y axis Assembly 1 E By z axis Assembly 41 Reoresentations s Ellorgn J X Axis Housing 1 E oreret 1 BP Screw 12 2 a 14 5 a 14 5 4 Gy Moter Coupiing 2 Tg Component Pattern 1 1 Mate 10 Mate 11 The model browser shows an assembly named Router Base at the top and under it three other assemblies named Y Axis Assembly X Axis Assembly and Z Axis Assembly The Z Axis Assembly is expanded in the browser so you can see
27. e for most of the work you do All three of these commonly used programs use a single primary file type throughout Inventor on the other hand follows the structure com mon to most other 3D modelers in the engineering field today and uses different file types for different tasks Why So Many File Types The purpose of using multiple file types is so that the data load is distributed into many differ ent files instead of placing all information in one file For instance you use an ipt file to create an Inventor part file an iam to assemble that part with other parts and then you use an IDW to make a detail drawing of the parts and the assembly Placing the data in multiple files permits quicker load times promotes file integrity and vastly improves performance across the board on large designs As an example when you open an assembly made of 12 different part files only the information concerning the file paths the way the parts fit together in the assembly and the information required to display the parts is loaded Only when you decide to edit a part is the information about all of the parts features loaded As you ve already explored in the previous section having different file types allows you to have environment specific tools for working with each file type as well Another payoff of multiple file types is exemplified in the comparison between the way that AutoCAD handles model space paper space and the way that Inventor handles
28. e press as shown in Figure 1 21 FIGURE 1 21 Editing the YE a Modeling View Faceplate G9 Arbor _Frame 1 a EH g Face _Plate_mi_1 1 DB Solid Bodies 1 a Son g Ei extrusion rii Hoe rilet Extrusion2 xcle2 F E Work Planes ii Bid Mrrort i a Extrusion3 ritet3 Q End of part FF G OPINION SHAFT 1 USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE 23 RETURN TO THE ASSEMBLY Now that your part feature is edited you will leave the part level and return to the assembly level where you started out 13 On the Model tab click the Return button on the far right Notice that the faceplate is pulled back against the frame This is the power of a parametric model Because the arbor press assembly has parameters defining the mating constraints of the faceplate and frame it automatically adjusts to the change you made by holding those parameter values You should also notice that in the model browser you no longer see the feature tree of the faceplate that included the extrusions holes and so on Instead you see a list of Flush Mate and Insert constraints These are constraint objects that exist and are accessed at the assembly level In order to access the part features extrusions holes and so on again you would simply edit the part as you did before As demonstrated in this quick tour of a typical assembly structure the Inventor Ribbon tabs and model browser are unique and intuitive to
29. ealistic still images of parts and assemblies to help visualize the appearance and motion of designs before they are built Inventor Studio allows you to specify geometry and apply settings for background lights and cameras to create a scene for rendering or animation You can create and save multiple animations within any one assembly file You can use Inventor constraints and parameters to drive animations within the assembly file In addition any changes that are made in the part or assembly file will be transferred and reflected in the rendering and animation files AutoLimits The AutoLimits tool monitors selected aspects of the design relative to boundaries that the user specifies If results fall above or below the boundary limits a warning indicator is dis played AutoLimits can also be used to measure distance length volume mass and so on Once AutoLimits are created they constantly monitor to make sure the design still fits its requirements The Content Center The Inventor Content Center libraries provide the designer with standard parts fasteners steel shapes shaft parts and so on and part features You can access the Content Center libraries from the Content Center in the Assembly tool panel and you can share the libraries between users to provide a high level of standardization The Content Center dialog box per mits you to look up and insert standard parts and features into an assembly design You can create custom Conten
30. ep look at your data management structure Determine how you will manage Inventor files Inventor utilizes projects to manage assemblies drawings and associated part files What worked in AutoCAD will probably not be the ideal scenario in Inventor Document your current design workflow when using AutoCAD Is it time to reevaluate the design process in light of the efficiencies that may be gained when using Inventor How are revisions engineering change orders and production currently being managed and how can Inventor improve on the design to manufacturing processes Determine whether your current computer hardware and network are up to the task of implementing and using Inventor What gets by for using AutoCAD will seldom work for the demands of 3D modeling in Inventor Set aside time for training and implementing Inventor If you have multiple users it might be best to consider phasing Inventor in over a period of time allowing new users to accli mate themselves to a new way of design If you take the time to plan your leap into Inventor your chances of success are greatly improved The rewards of a successful transition can be a savings in time money and effort There are many many proficient AutoCAD users who today seldom ever open AutoCAD as they have mastered the tools in Inventor and use it for all of their design work On the other hand there are many industries that require both mechanical design and layout work Becau
31. esign a parameter driven part to then be used in parameter driven assemblies is essentially paramet ric design Of course as with building anything there are general rules and best practices to be learned and followed in order to prevent your work from falling apart For instance what if the pivot link used in the previous examples were to incur a design change that made one leg of the link longer How would the holes be affected Should they stay in the same place Or should they stay at some defined distance from one end or the other Anticipating changes to the model is a large part of being successful with Inventor Imagine for instance that a simple design change required that the pivot link become 50mm longer on one leg This should be a simple revision that requires you only to locate the dimension con trolling that leg length and change the parameter value Unfortunately if you did not follow the best practices guidelines when creating the part originally the change in the length might displace the secondary features such as holes and material cuts and require you to stop and fix each of those as well This is one of the most frustrating parts of learning Inventor for any new user who has not taken the time to learn or follow the known best practices of parametric mod eling Fortunately for you within the pages of this text you will learn how to create models that are easy to update and do not fall apart during design changes
32. ew behavior For instance you can modify the home view to any view you like and you can reset the front view in relation to your model so the named views of the cube match what you consider the front top right and so on USING A WHEEL MOUSE AND 3D INPUT DEVICE Using a wheel mouse with Inventor is recommended Scrolling the wheel will perform a Zoom In Out while pressing the wheel will perform the Pan function In Inventor the wheel zoom is reversed from AutoCAD You can change this setting by going to the Tools tab clicking Application Options selecting the Display tab and selecting Reverse Direction in the 3D Navigation group Another useful tool for navigating in Inventor is a 3D controller device A popular brand is the Space series made by 3Dconnexion These devices are small joysticks or pucks that sit on your desk The user grasps the puck and by making very slight movements with the device the model on the screen moves Pulling pushing and twisting the puck allows you to zoom pan and orbit the model on screen Although you may find these devices awkward at first most users say they could never work as efficiently without one after just a few days of use USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE 15 A LOOK AT THE NAVIGATION BAR Continuing with the interface tour you ll see the navigation bar located on the right side of the graphics window At the top of the bar is the steering wheel Below the steering wheel are t
33. ews and annotation By default the Place Views tab is displayed because you need to create a view of a model before annotating it However you can manually switch to the Annotation tab by double clicking it Figure 1 11 shows the active Place Views tab and the inactive Annotate tab next to it FIGURE 1 11 z ae The drawing tabs aor ewe Annotate Tools Manage View Environments Get Started and drawing tools Base Projected praa Section Detail Overlay Draft Break Out Slice Crop Horizontal Create New Sheet Sketch Create Sketch 9 10 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY As you can see the collection of tabs called the Ribbon menu changes intuitively with every task or environment you switch to With a task based user interface there is no need to display every possible tool all at once In the next section you will explore more of the user interface Using General Tools vs Specific Commands In this section you ll compare the way Inventor tools are set up with those of AutoCAD If you ve never used AutoCAD you can still gain some insight from this section although you may have to use your imagination concerning the references to AutoCAD A key difference between AutoCAD and Inventor is that in AutoCAD many commands are very specific For example there are dif ferent dimension commands for lines angles and circles In contrast Inventor has one General Dimension tool that creates the appropriate dimension based on what you
34. failed design that reaches the market the prototyping process itself can become costly and time consuming as well In days past prototyping was often the only way to know for certain if a design that was conceived and detailed on paper or in 2D CAD would really work Even the best engineer or designer could not anticipate everything needed to create an accurate design the first time around As mistakes were made scrap was generated and redesign and retooling was required FEWER PHYSICAL PROTOTYPES Although you may never be able to go straight from Inventor to your first article design you can use Inventor to reduce the number of physical prototypes needed to get there More and more creating physical prototype after physical prototype is becoming a part of the old way of doing things It worked when you produced a small number of product units and had plenty of time and resources to lend to the project It worked when material costs were relatively low And it worked because it was the only method of testing and proving a design available In contrast today s competitive marketplace is unlikely to afford you the luxuries of time and materials for repeatedly building physical prototypes and you are expected to get a large portion of any design right the first time around Clearly anything that can be done to reduce or eliminate physical prototyping will greatly influence the financial health and competitive strengths of the company you wo
35. g care not to click any sketch object and choose Finish Edit from the context menu Both options do the same thing DRAWING IN AUTOCAD BECOMES SKETCHING IN INVENTOR The fundamental difference between traditional AutoCAD and Inventor is that in AutoCAD you draw and in Inventor you sketch The difference sounds subtle but is very important In AutoCAD you likely construct lines precisely to specific dimensions to form the geometry required In Inventor you create lines and geometry that reflect the general form and function of the feature and then use constraints and dimensions to massage it into the desired shape This is probably the single biggest stumbling block that experienced AutoCAD users face when starting to use Inventor USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE Using the Inventor Graphic Interface The Inventor graphic interface might be different from what you are accustomed to in other gen eral software applications and even different from other design software In Figure 1 12 you see the entire Inventor window which shows an assembly file open for editing FIGURE 1 12 The complete Inventor screen in assembly mode Stapler iam Tools Type a keyword or phrase A Get Started teL Zar F Assemble Becer e E e aaa Manage View Environments P Eei h Constrain Assemble Bill of Parameters amp 4 35 Pattern g7 Replace Place Create 89 copy K Make Layout EA Miror b Shrinkwrap Component SS Y i passern
36. ge is made all because a sketch was not properly constructed KEEP SKETCHES SIMPLE The most effective way to create a healthy sketch is to keep it simple The purpose of keeping your base sketch simple is to get it fully defined leaving no part of it up for interpretation Undefined sketch entities lines without defined lengths circles without defined diameters and so on will most likely not update properly and will cause your sketches to distort and break when you try to update them And because you will base the rest of you model on the initial sketch your entire feature tree comes crumbling down requiring you to have to stop and spend time rebuilding it again If the idea of simple sketches seems not to fit the type of design you do understand that most any design will benefit from the simple sketch philosophy More important if you start out employing simple sketches you will more quickly master the sketch tools and then be ready to create more complex sketches when a design absolutely requires it CREATE SIMPLE FEATURES FROM SIMPLE SKETCHES Another aspect of creating simple sketches is that it allows you to create simple features Parametric feature based modeling relies on the creation of numerous simpler features 6 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY within the model to achieve a complex design in the end By creating a number of features within the model you are able to independently change or modify a feature withou
37. he View tab and uncheck the Hide Extensions for Known File Types option Windows Vista 1 Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button then clicking Control Panel then clicking Appearance and Personalization and then clicking Folder Options Uncheck the Hide Extensions for Known File Types option Windows 7 1 Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button then clicking Control Panel then clicking Folder Options Next select the View tab and uncheck the Hide Extensions for Known File Types option If Folder Options is not available change View By to Large Icons at the top right of the Control Panel 20 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY When opening an assembly file the Assemble tab of the Ribbon bar is active You ll notice that in the model browser to the left of the screen all items are shown in a white background with no portion of the model browser grayed out You are currently in the top level of the assem bly meaning that the uppermost level of the assembly is currently active and ready for edits 4 Click the plus sign at the left of the Representations folder to expand the folder to show View Position and Level of Detail Figure 1 20 shows the contents of the assembly in the model browser with the representations folder expanded FIGURE 1 20 Prod The Model browser Y te Assembly View Gy mi_1a_001 iam contents f Representations S Te View Defaut J S Position Master M maste
38. he benefit of using multiple file types to have fully associative automatically updating designs is a cornerstone of most 3D parametric model ers Performance and stability in the use of Inventor requires good data management principles including storing the saved files in an efficient and organized manner This subject will be intro duced later in this chapter and expanded upon it in Chapter 2 Drawing Files in Inventor Originally Inventor had just one drawing file type the dwg Then with the release of Inventor 2008 the Inventor dwg was added Inside of Inventor the two files are almost identical However the Inventor dwg can be used outside of Inventor in AutoCAD This allows work to be shared between Inventor and AutoCAD users Just like an idw file an Inventor dwg file will update whenever parts or assemblies linked to the file are changed and updated Note too that if you have idw files you want to turn into Inventor dwg file or vice versa you can do so by using the Save As option and then changing the Save As File Type option This process can even be batched and scheduled to run overnight using the Task Scheduler which you can open by selecting Start gt All Programs gt Autodesk gt Autodesk Inventor 2011 gt Tools gt Task Scheduler WORKING WITH DWGs You can use dwg files in a number of ways in Inventor Although Inventor does not support the creation of AutoCAD entities you can utilize AutoCAD geometry in
39. he other standard navigation tools Pan Zoom Orbit and Look At Figure 1 16 shows the navigation bar FIGURE 1 16 The Navigation Bar F Te 4 t 4 You can use the navigation bar s steering wheel to zoom pan walk and look around the graphics area Also available is the ability to rewind through previous steering wheel actions The steering wheel has more functionality than can be explored in this book You should review the help topics for more information click the steering wheel and then click F1 NAVIGATION TOOLS TUTORIAL You can find a full tutorial exploring each of the navigation tools built right into Inventor complete with tutorial files To run through the Navigation Tools tutorial select the Get Started tab on the Ribbon menu and then click the Tutorials button This will bring up the built in Tutorial Learning Resource page Select the New Users tab and choose the Navigation Tools selection below This will bring up a Tutorials help pane You can advance through the tutorial by using the list on the left or if you prefer to hide the list to gain more screen space use the small arrows in top right corner In order to follow the built in tutorials you ll need to point Inventor to the files by setting the project search path to tutorial_files To do so follow these steps il a fF WN In Inventor close any open files From the Get Started tab click the Projects button In the Projects dialog
40. ing the work you do with Inventor will probably lean more toward just a 3D model and less toward a 3D prototype and that s okay As you continue to work look for areas where you can improve your models and make them more intelligent If you know a design is likely to change build your model with those changes in mind The better the model the easier it is to verify that a replacement component will fit properly and doing a major redesign on a product will go more smoothly if you have a solid base from which to work Keep in mind that Inventor has a large and deep tool set but if you re like most people who use it in the real world you ll probably not use many of these tools If you create a lot of steel frames and weldments it s likely that you will not have a big need for the plastic features tools Take the time to understand and learn all of the tools available so that you know what Inventor has to offer but then focus on the parts you need and use most often and get the most out of those tools Understanding Functional Design Part of creating a fully functioning 3D Virtual Prototype is using the Functional Design tools Functional design is an Autodesk term for a knowledge content tool that moves the user from creat ing geometrical descriptions mere 3D modeling to capturing knowledge For instance if you had the need to create a spring what tools would you use You could use the coil tool and develop a nice spring shaped m
41. n the face of a part but you cannot seem to find the sketch tab in the Ribbon How do you get it back Use the Inventor File Types Inventor supports many different file types in its native envi ronment separating tasks and files to improve performance and increase stability Master It You have trouble keeping the various file types straight because all of the file icons look rather similar to you Is there a way you can see which file is what type Move from AutoCAD to Inventor If you are making the move from AutoCAD to Inventor you are not alone most Inventor users have made that transition as well You may find that over time you use AutoCAD less and less or you might find that Inventor and AutoCAD both have a place in your design work It is largely dependent upon the industry you work in Master It You find Inventor to be a bit foreign and wish it worked more like AutoCAD How can this be overcome Create 3D Virtual Prototypes Itis important to understand that the full power of Inventor is realized when your models become more than just 3D and become true prototypes of the object of your design Master It You want to make your models as intelligent and as close to real life as pos sible so how do you get started Use Functional Design Functional design includes a number of tools in Inventor Most often though the design accelerators are what come to mind when one hears the term Functional Design Master It You need to fasten
42. oCAD many users continued to use AutoCAD in much the same way they used the board Not reusing data in the form of blocks and block libraries and not employing block attributes to pack those blocks with intelligence are common examples of this In much the same way it is possible to use Inventor as if it is AutoCAD Creating 3D models simply for the sake of generating a 2D shop print is a common example of this To ensure that you are getting the most out of Inventor you want to make sure your designs are more than just 3D models You want to use Inventor to create 3D virtual prototypes You want to ensure that your 3D models are more than a collection of features and instead relate parameters from one feature to update based on the edits of another You want your model to reflect the intent of the overall design accurately anticipating change and revision and making it as robust and intel ligent as you can You want your model to be more than just 3D you want it to be a 3D virtual prototype TOO BUSY GETTING DRAWINGS TO THE SHOP TO BUILD VIRTUAL PROTOTYPES You have deadlines to meet you re trying to learn a new design tool Inventor and you are being told to spend more time building models Deciding when to build a virtual prototype depends on your business and the complexity of the design At some point everyone has probably given rough sketches to the shop to get a part made but no one wants to do that on a regular basis In the beginn
43. odel However if the actual goal was to determine what size spring you needed for a particular set of load inputs then you d want to use the Compression Spring genera tor You can use the functional design tools to analyze the function load of a spring and solve the design problems what size spring is required rather than spending time on modeling a solution needed to create 3D representations UNDERSTANDING FUNCTIONAL DESIGN 31 THE V BELTS GENERATOR An example of functional design and its benefit is the use of the Inventor s V belts Generator Traditionally to design a pulley system you would lay out the pulleys in positions as required by the design and then choose a belt that met the design requirements and came as close as possible to fitting the pulley spacing The result oftentimes is that no common belt size fits the pulley spacing The functional design approach to this task allows you to specify the belt from a standard catalog of belt sizes at the same time that you are creating the rest of the system In this way you know from the outset that the design is indeed functional and will work in the real world Functional design supports design through generators and wizards that add mechanical con tent and intelligence to the design By using the components within Inventor functional design you can create mechanically correct components automatically by entering simple or complex mechanical attributes inside the generator U
44. of both projections by setting the ViewCube to Perspective With Ortho Faces so that the model is displayed in orthographic mode when one of the standard orthographic faces is active and is displayed in perspective mode in any other view To do this simply right click the ViewCube and you will see the option Note that this setting is per document rather than for the application itself So you will typically need to do this for each model Most of the tools in the Windows panel are standard controls such as switching tiling win dows If you click User Interface a list of items such as the ViewCube and the status bar are dis played The Clean Screen icon hides most of the UI elements Only the title bar and a minimized Ribbon bar are displayed Although the Clean Screen setting certainly maximizes your screen real estate it turns off one very critical interface object the browser pane In order to use the Clean Screen effectively you must turn it back on To do so use the User Interface drop down and select the Browser option You can click the small drop down arrow to the right of the tabs to return the display of the tool panels Also on the View tab is a Navigate panel The tools in the Navigate panel are the same as those found on the navigation bar as discussed earlier in the chapter BEFORE YOU BEGIN Inthe next section you will be using the tutorial files that accompany the book Before you begin ensure that you have downloaded the tuto
45. pace Although the specifics of how sketches features and parts are created will be covered in the chapters to come remember these principles concerning part file best practices and you will find Inventor and any other parametric modeler much more accommodating UNDERSTANDING PARAMETRIC DESIGN Assembly Modeling Best Practices Once you ve created part files you will put them together to build an assembly And when you do you want to build it to be as stable as possible so that if you move replace or remove a part the rest of the assembly will not fall apart There are two parts to an assembly links to the com ponents it is made of and the geometric information about how those parts fit together Basic assemblies are not much more than that and understanding those two concepts will go a long way toward building stable assemblies UNDERSTAND FILE LINKING AND RELATIONSHIPS The assembly file can be thought of as an empty container file to start Once you place the first part in the assembly the assembly file contains a link to that part file When you place a second part and fit it to the first the assembly then contains links to the two files and the information about how those files go together If you decide to rename the first part file and do so using Windows Explorer the assembly file will still be looking for the file by the old name When this happens you will be prompted with a file resolution dialog box asking you where th
46. r H closed La open H Ele Level of Detail Master Elin Arbor _Frame 1 gH Face _Plate_mi_1 1 J PINION SHAFT 1 J LEVER ARM 1 THUMB SCREW 1 TABLE PLATE 1 rom i a HANDLE CAP 1 H GPHANDLE CAP 2 4 G COLLAR 1 J GIB PLATE 1 GJ GROOVE PIN 1 H d Hexagon Socket Head Cap p amp Hexagon Socket Head Cap SEE HeH You can expand any portion of the Model browser by clicking the plus sign to the left of the item In Figure 1 20 starting from the top you can see a folder containing the representations categories including view representations position representations and level of detail LOD representations These representations allow the user to create various view states of the assem bly For example Figure 1 20 shows that the Position folder contains a view called Open which represents the press in a fully extended position and another called Closed that shows the press with the ram all the way down 5 Expand the Position node to see the various positional representations and then right click on Open and choose Activate to see the position change You can switch back and forth between Open and Closed to see the model in both posi tions In Chapter 8 Assembly Design Workflows you ll find more information about representations including how to set up positional representations TURNING ON A MISSING MODEL BROWSER Although it isn t common to need to turn the Model browser off you can do
47. rial files from www sybex com go masteringinventor2011 Place the files in a folder on your computer such as My Documents Mastering Inventor 2011 and then be sure to set the Mastering Inventor 2011 project active 1 From within Inventor close any open files 2 From the Get Started tab select the Projects button 3 From the Projects dialog select the Browse button 4 From the Choose Project File dialog browse to the Mastering Inventor 2011 folder and select the Mastering Inventor 2011 ipj file and click Open 5 Note that the Mastering Inventor 2011 project is denoted as being the active project witha check mark 6 Click Done to close the Projects dialog box Now you are ready to get started You ll find a more detailed explanation of working with and set ting up projects in Chapter 2 Data and Projects The Browser Pane The Browser Pane often called the model browser is a listing of everything that makes up an Inventor file The part browser shows all of the features the assembly browser shows all of the components and the drawing browser shows the sheets with the views Because Inventor files are similar to actual parts and assemblies the browser plays an important role in navigating the files USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHIC INTERFACE USING THE BROWSER In this section you will explore the behavior of the browser pane when working in Inventor by opening an assembly and making an edit to one of its parts 1
48. rk for This is where creating a 3D virtual prototype becomes important USING ALL THE TOOLS Making the virtual prototype allows the designer to explore the function of a mechanism before lengthy design and engineering time is expended on a design that just won t work Developing the virtual prototype eliminates the part procurement and creation process slashing the design time even further The virtual prototype can be proven further with the use of stress analysis and dynamic motion simulation to find and correct weaknesses in the design rather than just ensuring that everything is overbuilt and calling it a good design Interference between compo nents is also easily discovered while still in the design process The use of functional design in the prototyping process allows engineers to properly determine loads power stresses inertia and other properties before a machine is built Weights center of gravity and other physical characteristics are at your fingertips during any stage of the design More THAN Just 3D So now that you have Inventor you are guaranteed to cut time and money from the design pro cess right Unfortunately that s not the case Over the years as design tools have evolved so 30 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY too have the ways we design However it is possible to use new design tools in the same man ner we used the old tools if we are not careful As companies moved from the drafting board to Aut
49. s and other settings related specifically to 2D drawing styles If you compare Figure 1 23 and 1 24 you will see that the Styles Editor contains different styles collections depending upon the type of file you are working with This is just one example of the way that Inventor uses task based dialogs to present only the options that make sense Figure 1 25 shows another comparing two Extrude dialog boxes one is for a solid feature and the other is for a surface feature FIGURE 1 25 Compare the avail able options for these two extrude dialog boxes Extrude EJ Extrude Eg Shape More Profile solids Output Be aeo amag J 1 Maa Extents Extents ostaxe Eroa Distance w 1n a l Solids 1n 2 onale goang Match shape Match shape mer Ca Ce LEARNING THE FILE TYPES ININVENTOR 25 Because the task of creating a surface extrusion is different than creating a solid extrusion some options are simply grayed out and not available You will notice this throughout Inventor as options are offered and suppressed depending upon the task at hand You can close the drawing file you have open without saving changes and continue on to the next section Learning the File Types in Inventor In AutoCAD you might be used to having the dwg file format as your main file format in Microsoft Word you might use primarily just a doc file and in Microsoft Excel you might use the x1s file typ
50. se AutoCAD handles the layout tasks better than Inventor and Inventor the design work better than AutoCAD these users will probably always use both tools together 3D models vs 3D Virtual Prototypes Starting out you may simply be interested in learning how to create 3D models but as you progress you should understand the concept of 3D Virtual Prototypes and how they differ from a simple 3D model What Is a 3D Virtual Prototype So what is a 3D virtual prototype Put simply it s a prototype that functions and malfunctions just like the physical prototype that has not yet been built It is far more than a just a 3D model The virtual prototype consists of a main assembly which contains many subassemblies that 3D MODELS VS 3D VIRTUAL PROTOTYPES 29 have individual parts All these components are constrained in such a way that the fit and func tionality of all parts and mechanisms can be visualized tested and proven before any parts are manufactured Scrap and rework are minimized or eliminated if the design is fully completed and proven in Inventor before it ever reaches the shop floor Why a 3D Virtual Prototype Historically actual prototypes have been built to test or validate a design and help discover weaknesses limits of functionality or areas that require a redesign due to an inability to manu facture cost effectively Although the goal of prototyping is to perfect the design and save time and money associated with a
51. sing the functional design components within Inventor provides many advantages You shorten the design and modification process through the use of intelligent components You produce a higher level of design quality and accuracy Functional design provides a more intuitive design environment compared to creating complicated geometrical designs Functional design can eliminate the need for physical prototypes for the purpose of ana lyzing stress and movement The following portions of Autodesk Inventor are part of the functional design system Design Accelerator Frame Generator Inventor Studio AutoLimits Content Center 6 Bolted Connection Generator The Design Accelerator The Design Accelerator is an important component of the functional design system provid ing the user with engineering calculation and decision making support to identify and place standard components or create standards based geometry from the input provided by the user Design Accelerator tools automate selecting standard parts and creating intelligent geometry The initial design quality is improved by validating against design requirements Standardization is simplified by selecting the same components for the same tasks The Design Accelerator provides a set of component generators and calculators that are able to create mechanically correct standard components automatically by entering simple or detailed information 32 CHAPTER 1
52. sions with AutoCAD s standard dimensions When you created a design in AutoCAD that design process was not much different from cre ating the same design on a drawing board But in AutoCAD you can draw precise lines arcs circles and other objects and place them precisely and with accurate dimensions reflecting your design in a way that you cannot do by hand When a design requires modification you erase move copy stretch and otherwise manipulate the existing geometry more quickly than you can by hand as well But other than those gains in speed and accuracy the workflow is much the same as working on a drafting board In short AutoCAD automates drafting tasks but does less to speed up and enhance the design process DRIVEN DIMENSIONS Standard dimensions in AutoCAD are called driven or reference dimensions A driven dimen sion is controlled by the geometry and it reflects the actual value of the geometry that is refer enced by the dimension If you stretch a line for example the dimension attached to the line will update to the new value If you think about it the only reason for a dimension on a typical AutoCAD drawing is to convey the value of a feature or part to the person who is going to build it If you import that 2D file into a CAM package no dimensions are needed because the line work contains all the information about the part PARAMETRIC AUTOCAD Starting with AutoCAD 2010 you can create 2D parametric dimensions and con
53. straints much like Inventor UNDERSTANDING PARAMETRIC DESIGN 5 DRIVING DIMENSIONS The workflow in Inventor sketching is substantially different from that of traditional AutoCAD even beyond dimensions In Inventor you create sketches in 2D and then add geometric con straints such as horizontal vertical parallel and so on to further define the sketch entities Adding the geometric constraints allows line work to adjust in a predictable and desired manner and helps control the overall shape of the sketch Once geometric constraints are in place you add paramet ric driving dimensions to the sketch geometry By changing the value of the dimension you change or drive the size of the sketch object As you can see the Inventor dimension is far more powerful than the standard AutoCAD dimension because it not only conveys the value of a feature or part but also serves as a design parameter allowing you to change the dimension to update the design Figure 1 6 shows dimensions being edited in a sketch on the left and the result of changing three of the dimensions on the right FIGURE 1 6 Editing Inventor sketch dimensions j Edit Dimension EJ 200 mm gt Part Modeling Best Practices A solid sketch is the foundation on which stable parts are built Many new users do not under stand the importance of having fully constrained sketches and they find it highly frustrat ing to have a model fail when a simple chan
54. t Center folders to allow users to create custom parts for use within the Content Center Content Center parts allow users to specify ANSI DIN ISO and other inter national standard parts within the design environment THEBOTTOMLINE 33 The Bottom Line Create Parametric Designs The power of parameter based design comes from the quick and easy edits where changing a parameter value drives a change through the design In order to make changes easily though you need follow certain general rules so that the changes update predictably Master It You want to create a model of a base plate a rectangular shaped part with a series of holes and rectangular cutouts What would your initial sketch look like in Inventor Get the Feel of Inventor Inventor s interface contains many elements that change and update to give you the tools you need to perform the task at hand Getting comfortable with these automatic changes and learning to anticipate them will help you get the feel of Inventor Master It You create an extrude feature using the Extrude button but cannot seem to find an Edit Extrude button How can you edit the extruded feature to change the height Use the Inventor Graphical Interface Inventor 2011 uses the Ribbon Menu interface first introduced in Inventor 2010 This Ribbon consists of grouped tools that make finding tools intuitive once you become familiar with the basic layout Master It You are trying to draw a line o
55. t rebuild ing the entire model An example of editing a feature would be changing a hole size If you create a base feature first and then create a hole feature in that base feature you can makes changes to both independently PATTERN AND MIRROR AT THE FEATURE LEVEL Although there are mirror and pattern array tools in the sketch environment it is generally best to create a single instance of the item in the sketch then create a feature from it and create a mirror or pattern feature from that feature The logic behind this is based on the previous two ideas First this approach keeps the sketch simple Second should the mirror or pattern feature need to be updated it is much easier to do so as a separate feature CREATE SKETCH BASED FEATURES AND THEN PLACED FEATURES Part features can be broken into two categories sketch based and placed Sketch based features as you might guess are created from sketches Placed features are features such as fillets and chamfers that are placed on model edges or faces and have no underlying sketch Issues arise when placed features are created too early in the development of the part because you may then be required to dimension to the placed feature which creates a weak dependency for instance if you place fillets along the edges of a part and then use the fillet edges to define the placement of a hole But then if you realize that machining capabilities require a beveled chamfer edge rather than a ro
56. the environment you are in at the time You can close the model without saving changes to conclude this exercise In the next example you will explore the changes encountered in the Styles Editor located on the Format tab Task Based Dialog Boxes In addition to the tabs of the Ribbon menus updating based on the current environment as described in the previous section some Inventor dialog boxes are also task based Instead of containing every control needed for every environment most dialog boxes display only the controls necessary for the current task Follow these steps to see an example of this 1 To open an assembly go to the Get Started tab and click Open 2 From the Chapter 01 folder select the file called mi_1a_002 iam and then click Open 3 Select the Manage tab from the Ribbon menu and then select Styles Editor as shown in Figure 1 22 FIGURE 1 22 esa ok a The Inventor Man Assemble Design Model Analysis Tools age tab 8 F S Rebuild All efe Be A Se 7 Eg Update Mass S Update Local Update x Parameters Styles Editor IQ Defer Update S Purge Parameters Styles and Standards 4 Assembly View When the Style And Standard Editor dialog box opens the styles collection relating to the assembly file will be shown as in Figure 1 23 You will notice that while working with an assembly or part three style areas are available Color Lighting and Material 24 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHIL
57. the first errant feature and then fix it the following feature will be fixed as well If not you would repair it and step down to the next one and the next one until all are healthy again Using the EOP to fix features in the order they were created is the best way to approach the task In addition dragging the EOP marker to the top of the part file and leaving it there reduces the overall part size significantly This is a good way to reduce a file size if you need to email a part file to someone When they receive it they can just drag the EOP down and then see the part as you designed it Likewise if you encounter a blank file in your modeling session be sure to check the Model browser to make sure the EOP marker has been dragged to the bottom of the part file 10 Next double click the icon for Extrusion1 in the faceplate feature tree or right click Extrsuion1 and choose Edit Feature This activates the feature for editing 11 Replace the value of 0 5 in with 5mm taking care to enter the unit suffix mm in small case letters then click OK and you ll see your edits take place 12 To have a closer look at the change select the face on the View Cube marked Right Then place your cursor over the faceplate in the graphics screen and use your mouse wheel to zoom in to the faceplate Note that you zoom to wherever your cursor is pointing on screen You will see the change has created a gap between the faceplate and the end of the frame of th
58. two assemblies together but are not certain what size bolt to use is there anything in Inventor that will assist with that
59. unded filleted one the hole feature is sure to fail Keep this in mind as you create placed features such as fillets and chamfers and reserve placed features for the end stages of the part UNDERSTAND DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT FEATURES Parametric model features are typically either dependent or independent of one another A dependent feature is dependent on the existence or position of a previously created feature If that previously created feature is deleted then the dependent feature will either be deleted also or will become an independent feature Each part file contains default origin geometry that defines the X Y and Z coordinates of the part These origin features are used to create the first sketch in every part by default An independent feature is normally based on an origin feature or is refer enced off the base feature For instance in order to create the base feature for the pivot link you would create a sketch on a default origin plane such as the XY plane Because the XY origin plane is included in every part file and cannot be changed your base feature is stable and independent of any other fea tures that may follow To create a hole in the base feature you would typically select the face of the base feature to sketch on Doing so would make the hole feature dependent on the base fea ture The hole feature then is inherently less stable than the base feature because it relies on the base feature to define its place in 3D s
60. vision to a part that changes or removes the ref erenced geometry In order to build a completely bulletproof assembly you could constrain each part to the origin geometry of the assembly In this way no matter how the geometry of the parts change it will not cause issues with assembly constraints You will learn more about how to create assemblies set up search paths to avoid manual file resolutions and work with grounded components in the coming chapters but you should remember these concepts and work to abide by them Understanding the Feel of Inventor To the new user Inventor s ever changing interface may seem a bit disorienting Taking a few minutes to understand why menus and tools change from one context to another will go a long way in getting comfortable with the feel of Inventor and anticipating the way it works UNDERSTANDING THE FEEL OF INVENTOR Understanding the Intuitive Interface The overall interface of Inventor might be called context intuitive meaning that it changes menus depending on task and environment Inventor works by grouping tools onto tabs that offer only the tools needed for the appropriate task at hand If you are sketching a base feature the tools you see are sketch tools In Figure 1 8 the 2D Sketch tab is active and displayed are tools you use to create and dimension sketches FIGURE 1 8 pm mete The Sketch tab and Model ay Tools Manage View Environments Get Started sketch tools
61. y for selection Examining the features within the active part you can see a folder named Solid Bodies the standard Origin folder and then all of the features that were created to make the face plate such as extrusions holes fillets and so on You will also notice a red X at the bot tom of the part signifying the end of part EOP marker CONTROLLING COMPONENT TRANSPARENCY It is generally helpful to set the display settings so that as you activate one component in the context of an assembly the other components become ghosted or transparent This allows you to see which component you re actively editing and yet still reference other components in the assembly You can toggle the Transparency setting on and off by going to the View tab and clicking the Component Transparency drop down found on the Appearance panel 7 Click and hold on the EOP marker and drag it up the model tree until you see a black bar above Extrusion1 and then drop it there You should see all of the features become grayed out in the browser and the faceplate dis appear in the graphics area Essentially you have rolled back the history of the faceplate to before it contained any features 8 To bring the features back click and hold on the EOP marker and drag it until you see a black bar under Extrusion1 and then drop it there You ll see this base feature become visible again 9 Do this for each feature in the tree and you will step through the sequence of
62. ze Inventor DWG s are typically two to three times larger than identical IDW files If you create large assemblies it is advisable to use the IDW template as opposed to the DWG in order to keep files manageable The extent at which the DWG in Inventor is employed will largely be determined by the amount of col laboration required between Inventor and AutoCAD users Another aspect of working with an Inventor dwg in AutoCAD is that whereas the Inventor dwg does not contain a model space by default once it is opened in AutoCAD you can access model space From model space in an Inventor dwg you can use the Insert command to place the Inventor drawing views of the model as AutoCAD blocks These blocks will update auto matically so long as they are not exploded and remain in the current dwg However you can explode the blocks and or copy them into other dwg files without worrying about having a neg ative impact on the Inventor dwg If objects such as these blocks are added to the dwg s model space in AutoCAD you will then be able to access model space for that file in Inventor However you will only be able to view measure and plot the model space objects If you are familiar with the X Ref tools in AutoCAD there are some interesting workflows that can be explored by inserting the block forms of the Inventor drawing views into the Inventor dwg and then using X Ref to insert them into other AutoCAD drawings The result is that the dr

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