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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Changing Your Options - Changes to "Select Other" in Inventor 2012

“Don't think of it as being outnumbered, think of it as unlimited target selection”
Anonymous

From the "subtle, but significant" category of Autodesk Inventor 2012, are the changes in the Select Other tool. 

The "Old School" Select Other tool consisted of two arrows and a middle button to choose your option.

It worked great.  It's been that way since I started way back when on Release 4.

The "Old School" Method Inventor 2011 and earlier
But now, Inventor 2012 has changed even that old standard.  Now instead of the "double arrows", we see "the list".

The Inventor 2012 "List" of options

I've had some time to get used to the list now, and I'm really beginning to like it.  I don't have to click on the arrows over and over again.  Now I just move my mouse over the options, until I see the one I want.

For me, it makes things a little bit quicker, and much, much smoother.

So with that, here's a video to compare the two! 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter - Off the Topic

"She was a Stradivarius of an airplane..."
Colonel Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle


My next technical blog will be put off a day or two, since this was a busy Easter weekend for me.

But every once in a while I like to do something "off the page".  Plus, I got to experience something so exciting I can hardly contain myself.  :-)

Those who follow my blog know that I get a kick out of old airplanes, and that I volunteer at Planes of Fame in Chino, Ca. 

This weekend EAA sent their  B-17 Flying Fortress, named Aluminum Overcast to visit the museum, giving rides to visitors. 

Aluminum Overcast - A gorgeous example of a B-17 Flying Fortress
Seeing how myself, and most of us live our lives in technology, it always amazes, and inspires me to see how it was done 70 years ago.  No CAD software, not even a calculator.

With just drafting boards and slide rules, they produced a machine that borders on an art form.

Just imagine what those designers would say if they saw the tools we have today.

I got to experience the process of "pulling the props", the process by which the engines are checked to make sure that any oil that collects in the lower cylinders is clear before startup. 

That was a lot of work.  It's not nearly as easy as it looks.

Then, I got to stand next to this magnificent machine, watch it start up, and take off.  Simply amazing to see this 70 year old machine start up and do what she was intended to do.

It's an amazing tribute to those who designed it, without having tools we take for granted today, then for those brave souls who flew it.

So to share the experience, here's the video of the startup and taxi.  It was exciting to be so close I could touch it.

Seeing it is an amazing tribute to those who designed, built, and ultimately flew these incredible machines into combat. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Good Hardware - Never Take it for Granted

 “Hardware: the parts of a computer that can be kicked.”
Jeff Pesis

I'm not the kind of guy who has to have the latest and greatest of everything.  My truck is a 2005 Chevy Colorado, my T.V. is at 5 years old, desktop computer at home is nearly 7 years old.

This isn't my home computer.  Mine is at least a third that size!


But the truck runs great, the T.V. works fine, and the computer is really only used for occasional web surfing.

Things change when I go to work.  KETIV makes sure we're equipped with some pretty serious hardware.  It's serious, top of the line stuff.  That's why my personal computer is a 7 year old fossil.  

But many times, expensive hardware is less expensive than your time.  Here's a case in point.

Not that long ago, I was uploading a large dataset (about 60GB), into Autodesk Vault.  The data had to have links repaired, and then loaded into Vault.

Trust me, it's time consuming, and tedious.  This project was expected to take a couple of weeks as scanned data, fixed links, and finally a push into Vault.

The first computer we tried it with was a Windows XP box with 2GB of RAM, it was all that was available on site.  It was adequate for the first few days.  But we had to push the data in small bites.  It mean a lot of repetition as steps were checked, doubled checked, and then repeated on dataset after dataset.

Suddenly, I started getting out of memory errors, AutoCAD and Vault begin crashing unexpectedly.  Then, without warning, everything locks up with a fatal memory error, no amount of rebooting, reinstalling, or throwing of pixie dust can repair it.

Then, the poor little computer, pushed to it's limit, collapsed and died.  We tried CPR by throwing another 2GB of RAM in it.

It spasmed and kept throwing memory errors at me.  It looks like it's breathing its last as far as data upload is concerned.
 
Finally, like a cowboy who's has a horse with a broken leg.  We put it out of it's misery.

That poor little 2GB box looked a bit like this

Next, we plug in my laptop.  64 Bit windows 7, 8GB RAM, rich Corinthian  leather (okay, not really).

I grab a grip of data, just over 4GB, and fire it up.

Hard drives spin and fans spool, and the data starts traveling into Vault.  The RAM in use settles in somewhere between 3.5 & 4.5 GB of RAM.

After plugging in my machine.

I let it chug away.  It takes several hours, but it's in.  What had taken me 3 days of sifting, repairing, and cleaning was done in less than a normal working day.

So what's the moral of the story?

Computer prices are perpetually dropping, but that doesn't mean we can all go out an purchase the latest and greatest monster machine.  If it were that cheap, I wouldn't have an old relic of a computer at home.

But even if it isn't brand new, make sure it's up to the task you're going to ask of it.

Not only is older hardware more likely to fail, you can invest far more time managing your meager resources, than investing in a newer machine and letting it "rock and roll". 

Older hardware means longer waits, more babysitting of the computer, and more importantly, less time for other projects (which can cost money), and less time for yourself

So always be aware when it makes sense to put that old system out to pasture.

So maybe someday in the future, you can ask me about it.  I'll probably be the old guy with the classic 2005 Chevy Colorado explaining to some kid how, when I was young, ALL cars had internal combustion engines!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Do You Notice a Draft? - New Drafting Tools in Autodesk Inventor 2012

“I am an obsessive rewriter, doing one draft and then another and another, usually five. In a way, I have nothing to say, but a great deal to add.”
Gore Vidal

When there's a new release of Inventor, there are always the big, flashy items that go to the top of the list.

The Marking Menus, where the buzz is at!
For Autodesk Inventor 2012, marking menus seem to be the thing that has everyone buzzing. 

But sometimes I like to go on a bit of a mining expedition through What's New, and see what I can find that maybe isn't so flashy, and hasn't got the community buzzing.

One of those is some new additions to the drafting tool.  Now, in Inventor 2012, you can:
  • Create a draft feature using a parting line (2D or 3D sketch) to position the start of the draft.
  • Use separate angle values above and below the parting line or fixed plane.
  • With Automatic Face Chain enabled, faces tangent to the selected face are included in the draft.
  • Automatic Blending is available for adjacent faces that blend with a fillet or other feature. Turn on Automatic Blending to maintain blended geometry.
  • Direct Manipulation controls are included with the Draft command. 
Is it flashy environments with Image Based Lighting?  Is it fancy Marking Menus?  No, it's not.

But it is part of some solid additions that can really help your daily workflow!

Here's a video showing some of the new draft tool!


Enjoy!  Happy Inventing!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sweeping Along an Edge - What's New in Autodesk Inventor 2012

“Sweep first before your own door, before you sweep the doorsteps of your neighbors”
Swedish Proverb

I love an improvement that just makes the day to day workflow simpler.  One of my favorite "day to day" improvements in Autodesk Inventor 2012 is the ability to sweep using an edge. 

In prior releases of Inventor you had to have two sketches, one for the profile, the other for the path.  It didn't matter if there was already an existing edge, you still had to create a sketch, and project the edge.

Autodesk Inventor 2011 & earlier required to sketches for a sweep

Now, in Autodesk Inventor 2012, you only need an edge.  So if you're sweeping a profile on an edge, you can go ahead and go for it!

Now, in Autodesk Inventor 2012, you only require an edge!

And for a more in depth tour, here's a video!


Have a great week everyone!  And Happy Inventing! 

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Best Geek Day in a Long Time! - 3D Connexions New Tools

SHINY! 
Various times in the Firefly Series

Earlier in this week, I found out about some exciting news on Engadget. 3DConnexion added a driver that lets their 3D mice work with 2D Applications! 

I love my SpacePilot Pro.  I use it with every Autodesk product it supports.  The opportunity to use it with even MORE programs really made my geeky self happy.

That's the SpacePilot Pro I know and love!

Needless to say, I flew home, downloaded, and installed the new driver off of 3DxLabs.  it was installed before the microwave had dinner warmed up!

I tried it in MSWord!   Slick, I can scroll up and down in my document, zoom in and out, all off my 3DConnexion device.  I'm snickering like joker already.

I try it in Firefox!  It works there too.  Hootsuite!  Booyah!  Evernote!  WOOHOO!  I'm in the full throws of a maniacal laugh now!  This is great!

But there's always been one thing that's been on my wishlist for yeasr.  It doesn't work with Autodesk Showcase.

It didn't work in Showcase 2009. 

I was disappointed in Showcase 2010.

I was disappointed again in Showcase 2011.

Yesterday, after training an Inventor class. I installed Showcase 2012.  I'm looking forward to checking out the new features. 

I had just opened a sample model when my boss comes in to ask me some questions about Autodesk Vault.

We're having a deep discussion on data management.

In the middle of the conversation my hand touches the puck on my SpacePilot Pro.

My eyes jump to my laptop screen.  My boss's conversation suddenly sounds like, "Blah, Blah, Blah."  

The Showcase model moved!

Controlling my Autodesk Showcase model with the 3DConnexion device.  Cool beyond words

I move my left hand with all the caution of a cheating poker player palming a card in a high stakes game.

I push the puck again....

The model moved!  THE SHOWCASE MODEL MOVED!  SHOWCASE 2012 supports 3DConnexion devices.

So there it is!  Autodesk Showcase 2012 supports 3DConnexion.

Definitely some cool news to close out my day!

Thanks Autodesk and 3DConnexion!

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

View Representations in Part Files - The Movie!

 This is a continuation of my previous post on View Representations in Part Files - New for Autodesk Inventor 2012

Thanks to a little help from Paul Munford of CadSetterOut and Techsmith, my Camtasia is up and running again.  it was indeed an easy setting (see my previous post for the solution).

So, now as an addendum to the text only post on Monday April 4th, here's the video below!

Enjoy!


Sunday, April 03, 2011

View Representations in Part Files - New for Autodesk Inventor 2012

“People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.”
 Epictetus

I had originally planned a video for this.  But for some reason my screen recorder didn't register my right pick menus, so I had to go the old route.

*****************************EDIT (4-April-2011)*********************************

Thanks to Techsmith and Paul Munford of Cad Setter Out for helping me resolve the issue!  It was a simple setting!  Uncheck "Captured Layered Windows" and it works like a charm!

Unchecking this fixes it!

It's been a busy Monday, so I couldn't add the video for this blog today, but I'm hoping to add it later this week!

*******************************************************************************


So instead of figuring out why that was happening, I'll fall back to the old way.  Good ol' screen captures.

Hopefully I'll be back to cracking out videos soon!

But for now, back to the topic!

So what is a View Representation?  We've had them in assemblies for years, and in an assembly they remember part visibility, camera position, and part color.

View Representations in an Assembly

Now we've got them in parts as well.  In the case of parts, they remember the camera position and the part color (no sense in them remembering part visibility, since we're only looking at one part!) 

So how do we create one?

In the part file, there's a View Representation area now.  Right click on it, choose 'New'

The same exists in a part.  Right click and choose "New"
When "New" is selected, you'll see a new line added named "View 1".  Double click on it to change the name.

Here are my View Reps.  I'm in the process of renaming this one.

 I'll call it "Red" to give it a more meaningful name.  I'm also going to change the camera angle, and change the color.  To red of course!  You'll also notice that I right clicked on the View Representation named "Red".


I'm going to Lock that view.  Locking the view prevents any future changes to camera angle or color from affecting this view.  That is until I unlock it again.


The view changed.  Now I'm locking the view.


Now I can go through and create as many View Representations as I need.  At any point I can double click on one of the names, and activate it!


More View Reps added


One last trick with View Representations.  When you're placing the part on a drawing, you can reference them in the view. 


Calling the View Rep in a drawing view


Notice there's a check box for "Associative" (Indicated in Red in my above screen shot).  If you check this, any changes to part color in the part file will automatically update the part view.


Personally, I check this one, but the choice is ultimately yours!

Happy Inventing