AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008 - (Page 8)

fully parametric parts and assemblies with associated 2D layouts in Inventor .idw multi-sheet files. Should you prefer not to translate your older Mechanical Desktop part files into Inventor parametric files, they may instead be linked as components within an Inventor assembly. Linked files will continue to be edited and updated in Mechanical Desktop. Figure 5: 3D Grips showing tranparent model Assemblies Additional functionality has been added to the Extrude command. Now, sketch points, work points, sketch or model vertices may be used to terminate the extrude feature. The new termination objects do not have to lie on the same plane as the Extrusion feature. More functionality has been added to the Fillet command as well. A new option has been added to the Fillet Setbacks tab. The Minimal option allows the system to define the minimum allowable setback for a given vertex, providing the smoothest transition between edges. This new option also improves the probability of solving difficult fillets involving connected edges. Activating the Center of Gravity option from the View pull-down reveals a new tool in Inventor 2009. The COG triad has been enhanced with three selectable workplanes based off the COG point. In the example below, a measurement can be taken from the YZ plane to the center of the circular feature showing the distance of the feature center to the center of gravity. The COG workplanes are resizable and are available as reference planes for the Look At function. Performance and productivity related enhancements abound in the latest release of Inventor. New 64-bit operating systems have allowed the hardware to catch up to the needs of software development. The Vista 64-bit operating system allows the addition of much-needed memory to many applications including Inventor 2009 as well as many other Autodesk applications. The Inventor 2009 platform is designed to support virtually unlimited amounts of RAM to support large-scale assembly design while improving speed and stability. A new type of Level of Detail has been added to large assembly design in Inventor 2009. The Substitute Level of Detail type creates an envelope of an entire assembly, reducing the overall memory footprint. Figure 7: Assembly Substitutions Figure 6: COG Triad Workplane enhancement When this substitution is used within a top-level assembly, it will significantly improve performance and stability, while making reverse engineering a little more difficult. While inside a current assembly, selecting Level of Detail representations presents the user with the opportunity to create a new Substitute. The New Grip Snap command located in the assembly panel allows the designer to move or rotate a component using reference geometry. With the command ac- tive, edges or faces of the component to be moved may be selected. The icon bar for the move operation displays the possible manipulations for your selection. Placing multiple instances of the same component is a snap with a new setting called “use last occurrence orientation for component placement” available on The Application Options > Assembly tab. If this option is enabled, the current orientation of the last occurrence of the same component within the assembly will be used to determine the orientation of any new instances. Ending this list is one of my favorite enhancements in Inventor 2009. This enhancement will reduce the frustration of creating an angle constraint that can sometimes flip direction when the angle approaches 180°. Autodesk has added a third button to the place constraint - Angle called Explicit Reference Vector. Properly used, this option reduces the tendency of an angle constraint to switch to an alternate solution during a drag or drive constraint operation. Learning all the new features and improvements in Inventor 2009 is made easy by selecting the New Features Workshop link in the Inventor 2009 help pull-down. The New Features Workshop lists all of the new changes and additions in an easily accessible index. Taking the time to explore the workshop features will greatly assist you in becoming more productive with this release of Autodesk Inventor. Dennis Jeffrey is an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert and Autodesk Implementation Certified Expert. He is the founder of Tekni Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions implementation, training, and consulting. Dennis has been using Autodesk Mechanical 3D products since 1987 and has been training and supporting manufacturing customers with Autodesk products since 1986. He is the author of Creative Design With Mechanical Desktop™ and Creative Design With Autodesk Inventor®. A new book, Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2009 is due out this spring. Dennis is a moderator for the AUGI manufacturing forums, an AUGI Wish List reviewer, and an AUGI HotNews columnist. He can be reached at djeffrey@teknigroup.com. w w w. A U G I . c o m Previously introduced as an Autodesk Labs add-in, the new data translators for Inventor 2009 introduce native translators for SolidWorks 2003 through 2008 parts and assembly files, Pro/Engineer Wildfire and earlier versions .prt and .asm, Unigraphics NX parts and assemblies, Parasolid, SAT (ACIS), STEP, IGES, DWG, and Markup DWF overlays. Autodesk Mechanical Desktop files may be opened in Inventor and translated into 8 Figure 8: Assembly Grip Snap http://www.augi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008

AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008 Table of Contents The CAD Manager From Drawing to Display: The Value of Autodesk Impression Designing for Auto-Dimensioning The Proof Is in the Footing Managing Customization and Profiles Getting to Know the Display Manager What's Cooking at Autodesk Labs? On the Back Page

AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008

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