Find us on Google+ July 2008 ~ Inventor Tales

Friday, July 18, 2008

Following the I-Map

From the depths of Autodesk Labs comes up yet another tool.

I-Map for Inventor.

This, in my humble opinion, may be one of the best technology previews yet. There's a lot of potential in this one!

The Link for I-map is here.

I-Map let's you create a map of constraints and shows which parts the constraints are acting on.

The picture attached below shows an example of how constraint mapping works. It's like a flow chart for constraints (at least that's how my little brain views it). Click on the picture to enlarge.



The other option is Skeletal I-maps, which also let you see features and exported parameters.





When you install I-Map, you can access the tools by right clicking in the modeling window (Note it's got to be the modeling window for the assembly you intend to map!)


The constraint maps open up in a second window, so you can toggle between the two by using your Windows Pulldown in Inventor.

I-Map also gives you a new shortcut on your desktop to start it. So you always have the option of starting Inventor without it if you choose.

Happy Inventing everyone!