Importing Inventor Sheet Metal Styles

You may be building a new Inventor Sheet Metal template and want to populated it with sheet metal styles from another template.  Often sheet metal styles contain extensive bending data, notching configuration and other sheet metal settings and it is impractical to recreate sheet metal styles just because you are creating a new template.  You may have acquired a customer's sheet metal styles and wish to incorporate them into your templates for a special job.  No matter the reason you would like the most efficient method of copying them into your production Inventor template.

The first thing I recommend is to develop an Inventor project file that is dedicated to template work.  This project file will be a single user project even if you company is using the Vault.  The only purpose of the project file is to edit your Inventor templates and design data.  This project file is normally located in your template file folder but this is only for convenience.  Under the folder options point the Design Data to your production design data folder and your Templates to the folder containing your templates.  In my case, my project file is located in the templates folder so it is denoted by a ".\ "  The Content Center Files path is not important for this project file but can be set if desired.  The last thing that needs to be set is the "Use Style Library" which should be set to "Read-Write" to allow the addition of any new or updated sheet metal styles to the Design Data folder.

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There are two basic ways to copy sheet metal styles.  You can copy one at a time from one template to another or use the Inventor Style Library Manager to copy, or remove, as many styles at one time.  I will show the one at a time method first which is valuable when you want to maybe copy one or two sheet metal styles from one template to another.

Open up the sheet metal template you will be copying from.  Select the desired Sheet Metal Rule from the Style and Standard Editor dialog box and right click.  Select "Export" and give the "styxml" file a descriptive name and save it.

Open up the template you would like to copy the style to and select "Import" at the bottom of the Style and Standard Editor dialog box.  Browse to the previously save "styxml" file and open it.  The style is imported and placed in the list.

If you wish to make all the sheet metal styles in the template available to all templates, save them to the Design Data folder.  Open up the template containing the sheet metal styles, select "Save" in the Styles and Standards panel.

 

 

You can select which styles you will be saving or select "Yes to All".  In my example I have only selected the sheet metal styles and de-selected the unfold rules.  Normally the unfold rules will be saved as well but I am not finished their configuration at this time.

 

 

Switching back to your production Inventor project file you will notice that when you open up any sheet metal file, either old or new, the sheet metal styles will be available.  This is because the production Inventor project file is pointing to the updated Design Data folder.

 

You can also use the Inventor Styles Manager to copy files between two Design Data folders.  The Inventor Styles Library Manager application is found in the All Applications listing in Windows 10 or under the Start menu in Windows 7.

 

 

Open up your Design Data folder containing the new sheet metal styles on one side of the application and the Design Data folder you wish to copy to on the other.  The sides you choose is up to you, just keep them straight so you do not make a mistake.

 

 

Using this utility is the best way to delete unwanted Design Data styles as well.  Simply right click on the style(s) you wish to remove and select "Delete Styles".

 

All of the above discussion applies to other Design Data styles such as dimension styles, text styles, part lists, etc.   Getting the right styles in your Inventor templates is a simple and straight forward process.  Creating the original styles is the hard part.  My suggestion is to find an Inventor template with styles you trust and copy it!

 













Using the AutoCAD "MVSETUP" Command

In an earlier post I covered how to configure the AutoCAD "MVSETUP" command by adding your companies title block(s) and matching viewport(s) area to the "mvsetup.dfs" file.  Please click here if you have not already read this article.  This article will continue with the some of the uses of the "MVSETUP" command.

A few things we need to mention before using the command.  The command has the ability to set the correct layer on which to place the drawing title block but it does not have the ability to change the paper space page setup.  My template default to an ANSI B-Size sheet so if I use the "MVSETUP" command, I either must use my B-Size title block or change the page setup before execution of the command.

The other drawback of the command is it does not have a built in routine for setting the layer for any inserted viewport(s).  I mentioned it can set the layer for placement of the title block but you would never want to place viewport(s) on the same layer.  With these conditions explained let's run through the use of the "MVSETUP" command.

I will start the command while I am in the model space environment.  The first question the command asks is if I would like to switch to paper space.  If I were already in paper space, this prompt will not appear.  I wish to work in paper space so I either tap enter, the spacebar or left click on "Yes" to continue.

 

From the list of command options I will use my mouse to select "Options".  My default template layer is "Object" but I would like to place my title block on the "Title_Block" layer.  Layer control is located under "Options".



 

The next command options have a few standard settings for a new drawing but most of these are automatically set by my template.  There may be an occasion I would need to change the units which I could do now as the command will return to this option panel when each option is finished.  I will choose the "Layer" option.

 

The routine will prompt me for the layer name, it does not offer a list to choose from.  If the layer has been previously set, you can simply press enter to continue to use the default layer.  In my case, I will type the layer name and press enter.  One of the nice things about this layer change is that it will place the title block on the chosen layer but will not change the drawing default layer.

Once the command returns to the previous option menu, I will simply tap the enter key to accept the "Exit" option to return to the previous dialog box.

 

 



The command presents the previous options and I will select "Title Block" because that will control some of the following operations.  If you remember, the "mvsetup.dfs" file contains my different title block drawings but also the definition for the available viewport(s) space.  Using my mouse I left click on "Title Block" to continue.

The next options panel default to "Insert" which should be ok to use since it automatically inserts you title block at 0,0 with a scale value of 1.0 and a rotation of 0 degrees.  If this is not OK you do have the option to change the location origin.  I simply press the enter key to continue.

 





The routine will now open the AutoCAD Text Window and present the list of available title blocks.  The four title blocks I added are at the bottom of the list.  Refer back to the previous post if you need to configure this file.  Type in the number of the desire title block.  In my example I will type in the number 14 and press enter.

At this point the configured title block drawing is placed on the paper space sheet.  One short coming of the command is that you do not have the ability to enter attribute information during the insertion process.  You will have to edit the title block attributes after the routine is finished.

I will continue with the command options and add a single paper space viewport to the drawing.  I select the "Create" option and the command presents the next option screen.  I will select "Create Viewports" from this list.

Another AutoCAD text window will open which will give your four options.  Type in your desired viewport configuration by number and press enter.  For multiple equal size viewports with configurable spacing use option 3, in my case I will type 1 since I only want a single viewport.

The routine will prompt you for the first point and second point if you desire to sketch your viewport.  If you desire to use the "default" viewport size from the "mvsetup.dfs" file, then chose "Default" and press enter.  The single viewport will appear to these coordinates define in the configuration file.

The next option I will choose is the "Scale viewports".  The command first prompts you to select the viewport object.  Press enter to continue.

The command will ask you to enter the number of paper space units with a default of <1.0>.  Normally you will hit enter at this prompt.  Next it will ask your for the number of model space units.  You will enter the number of model space units that will be represented by one paper space unit.  In my example I want my viewport to be set to a scale of 1:2 so I will enter 2 at this prompt and press enter to complete the viewport scaling.  It is important to remember that this command does not have the ability to "Lock" the viewport.

There are numerous options for the control of the viewport but for this article I will leave the "MVSETUP" command at this point by pressing ESC.

Some of the short comings of the "MVSETP" command can be overcome by combining it with an AutoCAD macro which is available in AutoCAD.  I will explain this process in a future article.  The command can help make quick work of setting up your drawing so it is well worth the effort of first configuring the "mvsetup.dfs" file and using the command often.

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.

 



AutoCAD "MVSETUP" Command - Title Block Configuration

This article will concentrate on a method of adding your companies custom title blocks to the AutoCAD MVSETUP command.  When the command is run it uses the file "mvsetup.dfs" to determine the available title block configurations.  Editing this file, using Notepad, is the easiest method of adding custom title blocks to the list.  Below is the default list created by Autodesk and installed with AutoCAD.

The "mvsetup.dfs" file for AutoCAD 2017 is located in the following location in Windows 10, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2017\R21.0\enu\Support  The file contains full instructions on how to add custom title blocks but I will go over the process here also.  First thing is to make a backup of the original file just in case you really mess up.  Next thing is the make sure you only add your entries just above the "END_NAMES" entry (see above).

Below is a line entry for a B-Size title block.  Below it is the dissection of each entry which are separated by commas.

• Beyond the Drafting Board B-Size - This is the entry name as it will appear in the MVSETUP command list of available title blocks.
• IT B-Size Title Block.dwg - This is the name of the title block drawing containing your custom title block.  A file path may be included but it is a lot easier to add it to a location already specified in AutoCAD's Support File Search Path or add your folder location to the search path.
• (1.0 3.0 0.0) - These are the coordinates of the lower left corner of the available area for paper space viewport(s).  The MVSETUP command can create viewport(s) if desired.  These coordinates also assume the lower left corner of the title block paper size is located at (0.0 0.0 0.0) in the title block drawing.  Also note the syntax of the coordinate entry which includes a decimal entry for X Y and Z value.
• (16.0 10.0 0.0) - These are the coordinates of the upper right corner of the available area for paper space viewport(s).  Same rules shown above apply.
• in - These are the units of the title block drawing and the coordinate entries.  If the title block units were millimeters this would be "mm".

When the AutoCAD MVSETUP command is run and I ask to insert a title block, the following list appears.  It is entirely up to you if you remove the original AutoCAD title block entries.  In my example I have left them and only added my custom title blocks to the bottom of the list.

 

The graphic below shows the result of using the MVSETUP command and using number 14 title block from the list above.  A single viewport has been added by the command to illustrate the configuration entries.

 



In an upcoming article I will cover the use and options of the AutoCAD MVSETUP command.