Keeping it Current - Updating Materials in and Autodesk Inventor Part

“To me, a building - if it's beautiful - is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.”
Martha Graham

Since I work on several projects that may be quite dissimilar to each other, I have found that it's pretty easy for my Autodesk Inventor materials to get out of sync with the external material libraries.

That means, that many times I have to update my outdated or inconsistent material libraries with the current materials in my external libraries. 

So using Inventor 2014, what's the process of checking, and updating the materials from my external libraries?

I'm going to start with a sample part.  This part came from a different project, and was originally created in Inventor Release 5.  So this file has some miles (and migrations) on it!

The part I'm working with in this blog

One result of all of this is that the materials don't quite match the materials currently in my library.  So I want to update them as quickly as possible.

I'm going to open my material library with the icon at the top of the Quick Access toolbar.  I can also find the icon on the Tools tab.

Getting to the Material Library

I can see that there are several materials located in the "Document Materials" section.  These are the materials that are cached locally inside the file, and over time may not be in sync with the external libraries, which are displayed on the lower half of the dialog box.

Document and External Material Libraries

But how can I refresh the new, with the old?  It's a matter of using the Update icon found on the Manage tab, in the Styles and Standards panel.

Preparing to update the libraries

Clicking the Update icon will display the Update Styles dialog box.  Choosing the library that I want to update, in this case the Inventor Material Library, I can see which materials require updating.

A list of materials requiring update.

I can click on each material to individually update, or I can click Yes to All and update everything on the screen.  For this particular file, I'm clicking "Yes to All".  I can then hit OK to update the materials from the external libraries.

The libraries are now updated.  As a matter of fact, even the active material in the file will be updated, as can be seen in the image below!

Now that's left to do is save, and carry on!

For a video version of the above post, check out the link below!

A What's New in Autodesk Inventor 2014 - Creating Self Intersecting Sweeps.

“The stream of time sweeps away errors, and leaves the truth for the inheritance of humanity”
Georg Brandes

I have some friends visiting in from out of town this week, so because of well spent time with them, this blog post is short, and without video.  I hope that it is still a helpful tip, even though it is quite brief.

In the last few weeks, I've been looking through the what's new topics, and seeing what I like. 

One of the tools that for my part, I think is going to be really helpful is the self intersecting sweep.

A self intersecting sweep is a swept feature where the profile intersects itself.  In earlier versions of Inventor, this sweep would be able to solve.  It would error out and fail.

An example of a sweep that would intersect and fail.

This meant readjusting the profile to make sure it didn't intersect.  And while, at least for my part, this hasn't been time consuming to do in the past, there's no beating not having to adjust the sketch at all.

This is where the new Feature in Autodesk Inventor 2014 helps out.  As a matter of fact, it helps out a lot.  It will allow this self intersecting sketch to calculate, and create itself without erroring out. 

A closeup of a radius that would have caused a failure in previous releases of Inventor.

But now, if I accept and hit "OK", Inventor calculates, and creates this sweep without a problem.  How about that!

Ta Daaaa!

I know that for certain profiles I would use, like router profiles in my woodshop projects, this is going to be a nice feature.  I can make sure that the profile matches the same profile my router bits will give me, without worrying about features that can't be swept because of that.

A view of the entire sweep profile

So think about this feature as you move forward into Inventor 2014.  Think of where it can be used for the type of sweep that router profile, where the result is legitimate, but it might not be easy to create because of the profile intersecting.



Think about it because, in fact, it just got a lot easier!

A Guest Video on Depth of Field in Autodesk Showcase 2014

It is not length of life, but depth of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I wish I could say that I had I was the absolute guru in Autodesk Showcase.  I wish I could be, to use the corporate buzzword, "the single point of truth". 

But I'm not, and it would be foolish to presume that I am. There are always things for me to learn and make myself better. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of generous Showcase users out in "the 'Verse" who are willing to share information with the rest of the user community.

For this midweek post, I'm sharing some excellent videos shared by Marion Landry on her YouTube channel. 

These videos have some excellent tips on using Depth of Field in Autodesk Showcase, particularly with some workflows and tips on using Depth of Field in Ray Tracing and Hardware Rendering.

I also like her tips on using shots to save different depth of field views using both hardware rendering and ray tracing, as well as using them in animations!

Take a look at the videos!  They're a great help!

Showcase Tips & Tricks: Showcase 2014 Depth of Field Part 1 




Showcase Tips & Tricks: Showcase 2014 Depth of Field Part 2



Showcase Tips & Tricks: Showcase 2014 Depth of Field Part 3

Controlling Orientation of a Placed Component in Autodesk Inventor 2014

Future orientation is combined with a notion and expectation of progress, and nothing is impossible.
Alan Dundes

There are times when a component is placed in Autodesk Inventor, it doesn't take the orientation I want it to. It lays on it's side, back, etc.  Every way but the way I want it. 

Inventor can work with this just fine, but ultimately, I like my components sitting in a "natural" state.

Usually, I'll just unground the component, and assembly it to origin planes.  It took little time, and got what I wanted.

But now, 2014 has added a new option, the ability to reorient a component during placement.

• Let's start with an assembly, where I'm placing a metal container with the Place Component command.  Notice that the container is laying on it's back.  I want it placed on it's bottom, like it would be hanging on a wall. 
• It's important to note in the image below, that I'm still looking at the preview.  I haven't placed the component by left clicking yet.

The initial preview of the component placement.

• Now, with the preview on screen, I right click to see the rotation options.  There are options to rotate around the X, Y, and Z axis in 90 degree increments.

Right clicking to see the rotation options.

• In this example, I've rotated round the X-Axis once, and Y-Axis three times.  (It's a little like a combo on a game console!)

The corrected orientation

• Finally, the component can be placed by left clicking or by right clicking and choosing Place Grounded at Origin

Placing at Origin

• And that's all there is to it!  The component is placed and ground, all in the orientation I want!

The component placed!

And below, here's the video portion of the post!  I hope you find it helpful!