Part Modeling Mirror Command Improvement in Inventor 2018

This will be a quick article to call your attention to a very nice addition to the "Mirror" command in the part modeling environment of Inventor 2018.  Most all experienced Inventor modelers always design their parts around the origin point so they can take advantage of the default origin places for various operations.  This especially is true when using the "Mirror" command.

The process went something like this, select the feature(s) you wanted to mirror and then the "Mirror" command.  Of course you can reverse the process of selection, it is all a matter of your operational taste.  Then you expanded the Origin folder in the browser and selected the origin plane you are mirroring the feature(s) about.  

Well the origin planes selection icons have been added to the command dialog making it a much smoother process.  The "Mirror" command dialog box is both Inventor 2018 and Inventor 2017 are shown below.

Recalling Vault History using Labels

There is a tool found in all versions of Autodesk Vault that will make your job of recalling Inventor designs a walk in the park.  The tool is called "Labels", but before I jump in and talk about the process of using labels, I want to give you a couple of scenarios just to give you a reason to use this marvelous tool.

Scenario 1: Your company designs equipment in Autodesk Inventor that will go through numerous changes during its usable life.  Let's say the original equipment design was created in February, 2017, the design was locked down and 50 assemblies of this design were shipped soon after.  Now we will turn the clock ahead to July, 2017 and your company determines that the original equipment design needs to be revised and improved for a new customer who has ordered 60 assemblies.  Your company design team is worried about revising the original design files because they may not be able to remember the design as it was shipped for the original 50 assemblies.  What if the original equipment needs replacement parts?  What if the customer who ordered the first 50 assemblies whats some design changes?  This is a great use of the "Labels" command inside the Autodesk Vault application.

Scenario 2: Your company creates a particular consumer product.  The product is originally designed and manufactured in large quantities.  The production design is assigned a model number to identify the particular design.  Well into the production, it is discovered that a small change would increase sales so the engineering team needs to start with the revision of the original design and wonders the best method of retaining the the original model number design while moving quickly ahead on the creation of the newer model required by sales.  They know they must retain the original model's design in order to support their replacement part division as well as making sure they can document the original model for regulator bodies.

Both of these scenarios have a number of solutions but most of them are very time consuming and subject to error, take a vast amount of time and probably will create confusion as time passes and memories fade.  Many companies will simply copy all the Inventor models and drawings to a safe protected folder so they can retrieve them if and when they are needed.  Some companies will create reams of production drawings with the hope they can find the correct one if an older model has to be reconstructed.  The Autodesk Vault offers an effective, quick, and simple solution to these types of situations and the process will not depend on someone retaining past design knowledge for years or even decades.  Vault "Labels" are the answer so let me give you an example to show you how it works.

I will first give you two views of the completed design of my companies product.  The design is finished and all supporting models and drawings have been created using Autodesk Inventor and checked into the Autodesk Vault.  Production will start next week.

The production run is complete and the first 100 assemblies have been shipped.  During the production run, another customer has ordered 250 assemblies of the same design except they want two changes to two different parts, the vertical post and the base.  The engineering department needs the new final design quickly but must preserve the initial design for replacement parts and support of current production. The first step is to create a "Label" in the Vault which essentially is a "historical design bookmark" between the original design and the modifications required for the new design.

A Vault user with "Document Editor (Level 1)", or higher, security logs into the Vault, and selects the "Labels" tool from the Tools menu.

In the Labels dialog box, left click on the "New" icon to open the New Label dialog box.  The first thing it to select the target location of the label.  Using the three dots at the end of the field, browse to the folder containing the completed original design.  This step should point out to your Vault manager the importance of good Vault folder structure and keeping all related design documentation under one folder.   Next give the label a very descriptive name so you can identify it easily in the future along with a description if it will help you identify the label when memories fade or the individual who created it is not available.  Select "OK" at the bottom of the dialog to finish and return to the Labels dialog box.  By the way, the only thing you can edit, once you create a label, is the name and description so take you time and select the correct folder.

Take a second to understand the file count in my label.  The label says that 43 files have been labeled and will be bookmarked at this point in their Vault history.  Why 43 when there are only 21 objects listed in my folder.  Well we must not forget about the visualization files which makes 42 and one Word document attached to the top level assembly calling out the boxing materials needed for shipment.

This is the contents of the Word document so you can see the affect of labels on attachments as well.

The label has been created, a label bookmark of the current state of  43 files has been place in the Vault.  Select "Close" to finish.  The design modifications, required for the new customer, can take place using the original files with the confidence you can return to the current design at any time.  The changes to the assembly, parts and drawings are indicated below and checked into the Vault.  The addition of the indicated line to the Word document have also been checked into the Vault.  The new design is finished and production begins on the second customers 250 assemblies.

We will imagine that some time has passed and then the customer who purchased the 100 original design assemblies calls and ask for 4 replacement assembly bases.  It is time to use our Vault "Label" created earlier.  A Vault user with "Document Editor (Level 1)" or higher security clearance logs into the Vault and select "Labels" from the Tools menu.  The Labels dialog box offers two methods of securing the complete history of the original design.  The "Restore" option will version up all 43 original documents becoming the current Vault version.  This option may not be what you desire since you would like to leave the Vault showing the modified assembly created for the second customer.  You could preserve the current Vault folder version by making another Label, then restore the previous Label.  After completing the changes to the assembly required by customer 1, restore the current assembly label.  This is a decision for your engineering department. 

 Many Vault users will elect to use the second option to do a "Pack and Go" to a separate folder under the Vault workspace and edit from these models and drawings.   Whichever method you choose, an accurate recalling of the Vault history makes the job an easy, fast and accurate task.

I decided to create a current customer 2 design label and then use the "Restore" option.  Once I am finished, I would probably make another label to bookmark the revised assembly for customer 1 then "Restore" the current design for customer 2 using my label.  Once this label was restored, it can be deleted.  This may seem a little confusing but with proper description and names, labels can be managed easily especially if only one in the engineering group handles all labels.

I will only bore you with one screenshot confirming that the label worked but you can trust me, it placed all objects to a new version using the "Label" older versions.

Two things I want to emphasis.  First, Vault labels will not recover a deleted object.  If you have deleted a model and drawing since the label was created, executing the label "Restore" will not bring it back.  Second, you can have as many Vault Labels as you desire, just take my advice and annotate them well.  If you do create and maintain numerous labels and later on your Vault administrator decides to do a purge versions history from the Vault, remember that all versions relating to saved labels cannot be purged.

I encourage you to test Vault Labels on one of your small Inventor assemblies and see first hand how valuable this tool can be.

Editing Design Views the Easy Way

The use of Design Views in Inventor assemblies makes it easy to edit and work with parts and assemblies by turning off, and on, parts and components.  They can control other features of the assembly such as work features, part color, section views and many others.  The normal method of creating design views is to select parts and components in the Browser and either hide them or make them visible.  The attached video will show you a different way to do this using a mini-toolbar specifically designed for this purpose.

You can access the video by clicking here.  I will again remind you that this method only applies to parts and components in the assembly.  I also mention a different method of controlling the saved camera in your design views during the video.

Autodesk Vault File Thumbnails Not Created

I have been in the process of creating a new Autodesk Vault and I ran across a issue I want to tell everyone about and how to avoid it.  I did it to myself because I had not finished my new Vault before I started testing.

The issue was that when I checked in some Inventor test files to test out my new Categories thumbnails were not being created.

With the help of Irvin Hayes Jr. of Autodesk, who responded to my Vault Forum post on the issue, I found my mistake and I would like to share it with you.  As I build a Vault I always start with creating all of my Categories.  After I set up a few and add my Category Rules, I tested.  I, at this point, had never gotten around to assigning an Vault Properties to my Categories and that was my mistake.  Irvin reminded my that I must have at least one Vault Property assigned to each Category to tell Vault to generated property values for the files during check in.  Thumbnails are one of the Vault Properties so since I had not told the Vault to generate file properties, no Thumbnails were generated either.  So after adding just one standard Vault Property to the Category, my problem is solved.

Thanks Irvin!

Driving Assemblies and Sub-Assemblies in Autodesk Inventor

In this short video I have tried to explain some of the considerations and settings required to enable you to drive assemblies and sub-assemblies in Autodesk Inventor.  You can access the video here.

Use Inventor Model Preview Image to Help Control Use

As a engineering project develops and changes, engineers and designers will have Inventor parts and assemblies that need to be retained for reference purposes but it is imperative that they never be used for production work.  Every design firm has their own way of making sure that these reference models are not mistakenly used.  These vary from creating reference folders, squirreling them away on a archive workstation and those using the Autodesk Vault will place them in an archival Vault folder and may attach them to the final assembly so they are ready reference.

This article explains a method of tagging the model thumbnail image so there will be one more safeguard that the assembly or part model will not be used by mistake for production work.  We all are familiar with the thumbnail image created by default when saving an Inventor model.  We see these when we browse for a model to open, when we browse in Windows Explorer using thumbnail images, we see them in the "Home" screen in later version of Inventor, and we also use them in the Autodesk Vault.  This is the image I want to change to give one more level of warning.  Below are two images, one of a production ready assembly and one of a reference assembly with a warning thumbnail.

The great thing about this thumbnail, it will be used by other applications such as Autodesk Vault and Design Assistant so once it is assigned, it follows the model throughout its life history.

The first step is to create an image file containing the message you want to disply.  This image file can be in any of the popular image formats, I use JPG but others work just fine.  The image should be 180 x 180 pixels or Inventor will complain but you can accept the message and use your image anyway.  I would not recommend it being much larger.  I developed mine using Techsmith Snagit Editor but any good graphic program can be used.  IrfanView is a great free editor. 

Save the file in a folder of your choice, I would recommend somewhere in your local workspace but that is not a requirement.  To assign the image as the thumbnail image of an Inventor model, open up the model in Inventor and then select "Save As" or "Save Copy As" from the File menu or Application menu if you are using an older copy of Inventor.  Enter the new model name and the desired folder, then select the "Options" icon at the bottom of the dialog box.

In the File Save Options dialog box, make sure the "Save Preview Picture" option is checked and then select the "Import From File" radio button.  The "Import" icon will become active, select it and browse for your image file.  Select the image file and select "Open" in the dialog box to return to Inventor.  Select "OK" and the dialog box will disappear.  Select "Save" and you are finished.

The next time you view the thumbnail image for the model it will display your image file instead of an image of the model.  The screen shot below is taken from the Home page of Inventor 2017.

Below I finish I want to give another tip on how to make sure Windows File Explorer will show Inventor thumbnails images instead of generic icons.  Navigate to the Folder Options  dialog box, View tab in Windows Explorer and remove the check mark beside the "Always show icons, never thumbnails".  It is not necessary but I would place a check mark beside "Display file icon on thumbnails" also.

Inventor Solid Body Modeling

Autodesk Inventor has a marvelous tool called Solid Body Modeling or it is sometimes called Multi-Body Modeling.  I created a video showing how I can use this modeling method to create a male and female die for a plastic shell part supplied to me in a SAT format.  I then continued to show how to create the plastic shell part if you only had the male and female die using Multi-Body Modeling.  Click on this link to access the video.