Updating Using Autodesk Inventor to Release 5

Appendix R51
Introduction
Chapter 1 outlines the concepts of parametric solid modeling, assembly modeling, and
engineering drafting. It also provides a brief introduction to Inventor and familiarizes you
with the design support system that helps you while you are designing. This appendix
complements Chapter 1 by delineating the following features in Autodesk Inventor 5:

Application Programming Interface

Design Support System
Interoperability
Design Management
Third Party Partner Applications
3D Standard Parts

Application Programming Interface

In R5, you can use Microsofts Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to access Autodesk Inventors
application programming interface (API) to construct programs to perform the following tasks:

Tasks

Functions

Sketches

For constructing and editing sketches, including sketch

plane, sketch geometry, and geometric and dimension
constraints

Features query and construction

For querying and constructing extruded, revolved, hole,

pattern, and work features

Dynamic attributes

For attachment of data to object

Assembly constraint construction

For querying and constructing assembly constraints

Printing

For automating printing process

Data exchange

For translation of data to various formats

User selection and mouse events

For selection of objects

Custom graphics

For construction of graphics by using external applications

Highlighting graphics

For highlighting objects in the graphics window

Additional browser tab

For adding tabs to the browser

Transactions

For nesting of transaction in a single operation

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Ron K C Cheng

Updating Using Autodesk Inventor to Release 5

Tasks

Functions

Selection set

For objects selection using the Select command

Render styles

For accessing rendering styles

Part materials

For accessing and modifying all the existing material

definitions and construction of new materials

Menu customization

For constructing new menus custom sub menus

Design Support System

The Design Support System (DSS) has a number of components: Help System, Autodesk On-line, Whats
New About Autodesk Inventor, Visual Syllabus, Design Professor, Design Doctor, and Sketch Doctor. In
R5, it has several enhancements:

Help for AutoCAD Users

R5 includes a set of help topics to help AutoCAD users migrate to Autodesk Inventor. These help topics are
available in the Getting Started dialog box and the Help Topics dialog box. To learn migrating from
AutoCAD to Inventor by using the Getting Started dialog box, perform the following steps.

1.

Select Getting Started in the Open dialog box. (See Figure 11.)

2.

In the Getting Started tab of the Open dialog box, select Learn about AutoCAD
to Inventor Help. (See Figure 12, the Get to Know Inventor dialog box.)

3.

Close the dialog box after reading the dialog boxes.

Figure 11
Getting Started

Appendix R51 Introduction

Figure 12
Get to Know Inventor dialog box
To learn migration by using the Help Topics dialog box, perform the following steps.

1.

Select New from the Open dialog box and start a new part file.

2.

Select Help Topics from the Standards toolbar. (See Figure 13.)

3.

Select Help for AutoCAD users.

Here you will find several useful links:

Welcome to Inventor
Show me Inventor
Use AutoCAD data
Frequently asked questions
Command map
4.

Close the Help Topics dialog box after reading the linked pages.

Updating Using Autodesk Inventor to Release 5

Figure 13
Help Topics dialog box

Support Assistance
The support assistance provides technical support information about Autodesk Inventor and other resources.
To find out the new enhancements in the Support Assistance, perform the following steps:

1.

Select Support Assistance Help from the Help pull-down menu. (See Figure 1
4.)

In the Contents tab of the Autodesk Inventor 5 Support Assistance dialog box, you will find two support
topics: Welcome and Solution index.

2.

Expand the list in the Content tab to find out what kind of support assistance
are available.

By using the Support Assistance, you learn the following topics:

Customization
Documentation
Error Messages
Features and Commands
Installation, Configuration, and Performance
Interoperability/File & Data Translation

Appendix R51 Introduction

Figure 14
Selecting Support Assistance from the Help Topics dialog box

3.

Close the dialog box after reading.

Programming Help
In R5, the Autodesk Inventor Application Programming Interface reference guide is accessible from the
Help pull-down menu. The programming help includes objects, methods, properties, events, and enums. To
read the API reference guide, perform the following steps:

1.

Select Programming Help from the Help pull-down menu. (See Figure 15.)

2.

Close the reference after reading.

Figure 15
Inventor API Reference

Updating Using Autodesk Inventor to Release 5

Interoperability
Apart from opening and saving the four kinds of Inventor files (Part file, assembly file, presentation file,
and drawing file), you can open various kinds of file formats in Autodesk Inventor and export Inventor files
to various file formats.

Open
You can open the following file formats:

AutoCAD Drawing (*.dwg)

DXF (*.dxf)
IGES (*.igs, *.ige, *.iges)
Pro/Engineer File (*.prt*, *.asm*)
SAT (*.sat)
STEP (*.stp, *.ste, *.step)

Save As
You can save an Inventor part file to:

BMP (*.bmp)
IGES (*.igs, *.ige, *.iges)
SAT (*.sat)
STEP (*.stp, *.ste, *.step)
STL (*.stl)
Streamline Part Packages (*.ptp)
XGL Files (*.xgl)
ZGL Files (*.zgl)
You can save an Inventor drawing file to:

Drawing Files (*.dwg)

DXF (*.dxf)
BMP (*.bmp)
Drawing Web Format (*.dwf)
Streamline Drawing Packages (*.dwp)
You can save an Inventor Presentation file to:

BMP (*.bmp)
You can save an Inventor assembly file to:

BMP (*.bmp)

Appendix R51 Introduction

IGES (*.igs, *.ige, *.iges)

SAT (*.sat)
STEP (*.stp, *.ste, *.step)
Streamline Assembly Packages (*.amp)
XGL Files (*.xgl)
ZGL Files (*.zgl)
In R5, major enhancement on interoperability concerns AutoCAD and Mechanical Desktop files. When you
open a .dwg file, the open wizard will automatically determine whether the file is an AutoCAD file or a
Mechanical Desktop file and provides appropriate options accordingly. To open a Mechanical Desktop file,
perform the following steps:

1.

Select Open from the File pull-down menu.

2.

In the Open dialog box, select a Mechanical Desktop file and select the
Options button. (See Figure 16.)

Figure 16
Opening a Mechanical Desktop file

3.

In the Read DWG/DXF File dialog box, select the Mechanical Desktop File
button and select the Next button. (See Figure 17.)

4.

In the Read MDT File Select Model Translation and Drawing Layout dialog
box, check the Translate Parts and Assemblies button and select the Next
button. (See Figure 18.)

Updating Using Autodesk Inventor to Release 5

Figure 17
Read DWG/DWF File Choose Document Type dialog box

Figure 18
Read MDT File Select Model Translation and Drawing Layout dialog box

5.

In the Read DWG/DXF File Choose Destination dialog box, set the Part
Options, select a destination directory, and select the Finish button. (See
Figure 19.)

The selected Mechanical Desktop drawing is opened and converted into an Autodesk Inventor file. (See
Figure 110.)

Appendix R51 Introduction

Figure 19
Read MDT/DXF File Choose Destination dialog box

Figure 110
Mechanical Desktop file opened
You can save an Inventor drawing file to an AutoCAD file by performing the following steps:

1.

Select Open from the File pull-down menu.

2.

Select an Autodesk Inventor drawing file. (See Figure 111.)

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Figure 111
Autodesk Inventor drawing file

3.

Select Save Copy As from the File pull-down menu.

4.

In the Save Copy As dialog box, select AutoCAD Drawing (*.dwg) from the
Save As Type pull-down box and select the Options button. (See Figure 112.)

Figure 112
Save Copy As dialog box

5.

In the DWG File Export Options dialog box, select file version, set options, and
select the Next button. (See Figure 113.)

6.

Select appropriate properties from the Available Properties list box and select
the Add button.

7.

Select the Next button. (See Figure 114.)

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Figure 113
DWG File Export Options dialog box

Figure 114
Parts List Properties Export Options dialog box

8.

In the Layers Export Mapping dialog box, select the Finish button. (See Figure
115.)

The Autodesk Inventor drawing file is converted to an AutoCAD drawing. Figure 116 shows the converted
file opened in AutoCAD.

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Figure 115
Layers Export Mapping dialog box

Figure 116
AutoCAD drawing converted from an Autodesk Inventor drawing file

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Design Management
Design management tools help you manage your design. There are several enhancements in R5.

Design Assistant
There are two ways to use the Design Assistant: Select Design Assistant from the File pull-down menu or
select a file in the Windows Explorer, right-click, and select Design Assistant. (See Figure 117.)
The left pane of the Design Assistant dialog box has three buttons: Properties, Preview, and Manage. Figure
118 shows the properties of the selected assembly file.
To view a component without opening it in Autodesk Inventor, you select it from the Design Assistant,
right-click, and select View. (See Figure 119.)

Figure 117
Using Design Assistant from the Windows Explorer

Figure 118
Properties of an assembly file in the Design Assistant

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Figure 119
Selecting View in the right-click menu
In the Viewer shown in Figure 120, you can zoom, pan, and rotate the display of the component.

Figure 120
Viewer
To view the components quickly in preview images, you can select the Preview button in the Design
Assistant. (See Figure 121.)

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Figure 121
Preview
To manage the component files of an assembly, you select the Manage button. (See Figure 122.) To search
for the files that reference the specified file, you select Where Used from the Find cascading menu from the
Tools pull-down menu. (See Figure 123.)

Figure 122
Managing files in the Design Assistant

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Figure 123
Where Used dialog box
By selecting a component and right-click, you select Properties and discover the properties of the selected
component. (See Figure 124.)

Figure 124
Properties

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Pack and Go Wizard

Using the Pack and Go wizard, you package a set of Inventor files in a project and all of its referenced files
in a single location. You can access Pack and Go wizard by using the right-click menu from the Windows
Explorer or Design Assistance. (See Figure 117 and Figure 124.) In R5, you can create complete
document sets of a given assembly. The Pack and Go dialog box is shown in Figure 125.

Figure 125
Pack and Go dialog box

Volo View
Volo View is a design viewing application that enables you to view files constructed by using Autodesk
Inventor 5 and AutoCAD 2002. Figure 126 shows an Inventor file viewed in Volo View application. By
using the Volo View application, you view, mark up, and print Inventor files.

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Figure 126
Volo View application window

Third Party Partner Applications

In a computerized manufacturing system, you use various computer-aided tools in addition to computeraided design tools. Listed below are a number of companies providing applications that work with Autodesk
Inventor.

Power Piping
Power Piping is a product of CAD Management Group, Inc. It provides fully parametric Autodesk Inventor
solid parts for dragging and dropping into an Inventor assembly. Figure 127 shows the website of the
company.

Figure 127
Power Piping product

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Design Space Product

DesignSpace is a product of Ansys, Inc. Using Design Space product, you set up and simulate your
assembly designs and communicate your results with the rest of your company. Figure 128 shows the
website of the company.

Figure 128
Design Space product

visualNastran 4D
visualNastran 4D is a product of MSC. Working Knowledge. This product provides motion and FEA
(Finite Element Analysis) simulation on Autodesk Inventor assemblies. Figure 129 shows the products
website.

Figure 129
visualNastran product

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COSMOS/DesignStar
COSMOS/DesignStar is a product of Structural Research and Analysis Corp. It is a design analysis tool that
is fully associative with Autodesk Inventor. Changes in either application automatically update the other.
Figure 130 shows the products website.

Figure 130
COSMOS/DesignStar

EdgeCAM Solid Machinist

EdgeCAM Solid Machinist is a product of Pathtrace, Inc. It is a CNC programming system. Figure 131
shows the companys website.

Figure 131
EdgeCAM Solid Machinist

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CADVerter
CADVerter is a product of Theorem Solutions, Ltd. Using CADVerter, you convert STEP files generated
from Autodesk Inventor to various CAD file formats. (See Figure 132.)

Figure 132
CADVerter

AutoManager Meridan
AutoManager Meridan is a product of Cyco Software. It is a document management application. Figure 1
33 shows the companys website.

Figure 133
AutoManager Meridian

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SmartInventor
SmartInventor is a product of Smart Solution, Ltd. It is a product data management application for Inventor
files. Figure 134 shows the products website.

Figure 134
SmartInventor

3D Standard Parts
Use of standard parts and components largely reduces the time to complete a design. Standard parts
constructed in Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, and 3D Studio Viz formats are available from many leading
suppliers of standard parts in the form of iDrop parts. You select the standard iDrop parts from the supplier
and drag them to your design. To install iDrop in your computer, you may visit the Autodesk iDrop website
(http://iDrop.Autodesk.Com). (See Figure 135.)

Figure 135
iDrop

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You can access standard Inventor parts from Redspark catalogs. Figure 136 shows the website of
www.redspart.com. To obtain updates and access to supplier parts, you can go to Autodesk point A website.
(See Figure 137.)

Figure 136
Redspark Supply chain source for engineering

Figure 137
PointA Online design resource and community portal