Configuring Inventor Balloons

You have many options when configuring the information that Inventor balloons will display.  You also have the option of configuring as many balloon styles as you desire in your drawing template and then choose the style(s) desired during placement.  When Inventor is installed, the balloon is configured to show the "Item" number of the parts list component which most of the time will fulfill most engineering needs.

 

 

Inventor also offers out-of-the-box split balloons that can be configured to show most any iProperty of the component.  In my drawing template, I have configured balloon style 2 to show the "Item" number on the top and the "Part Number" on the bottom.

 



When placing the balloon, I choose "Balloon Style 2" from the list and my configured balloon is placed.

Create as many balloon styles as you may need in your Inventor drawing template for ready access at anytime.  You can also configure special iProperties to use in your balloons.  For example I want to configure a balloon to show the "ERP Number" of the component.  First I assign a custom iProperty to the component named "ERP Number".

 Then I configure a balloon style to show this iProperty.

 

Select the balloon style during placement from the drop down list and I have a balloon showing the "ERP Number" of the component.

 

I want to be sure this number will not be mistaken for something else so I would like to add "ERP NO." to the end of the entry.  Inventor has for a long time offered the ability to program iProperties and text into another iProperty field.  To do this I will create a new custom iProperty in the component template called "ERP".  I will then program it to show the "ERP Number" custom iProperty as well as add the test "ERP NO."

If you would like to concatenate another iProperty, I would just add it to the string inside "<>" such as =<ERP Number> - <Part Number> which would give me the ERP Number, a dash and then the component Part Number.

 

 

So here is my special "ERP" custom iProperty in the drawing.

 

Of course all your drawing template balloon styles will work with the "Auto Balloon" command as well.  If you do create more than one balloon style, make sure you designate which one will be the "Default" style to save time.