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TopTen2004

TopTen2005


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Autocad Inventor ® Helpful Tips


Improved Chrome Reflection for Direct 3D Posted on the Autodesk Newsgroup
by Paul Hanau from Autodesk


You must be using Direct 3D. Extract the file to your Inventor Install dir\Textures directory. You can then either edit the Registry such as this
The color scheme entry is this one (where 'X' is the color scheme name or number):
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inventor\RegistryVersion11.0\System\Preferences\ColorSchemes\
Schemes\X]"EnvironmentCubeTexturePath"="parkingLot512.dds"
or use this .Reg file to make a new Color Scheme called Millenium+ParkingLot
Download

1.89 MB
File Date 05/16/06


Troubleshooting Inventor Stability v2.2

Download

737 KB
File Date 07/02/03


Inventor Large Assembly Performance Tips

Download Zipped DWF

1,170 KB
File Date 11/25/03

PDF

920 KB
File Date 02/17/04


Inventor Log File Format. Very helpful in debugging problems

Action First Column Second Column
Open Time in seconds for the file to open Not used
Update Difference between the number of comatose features before and after the update. Difference of the number of sick features before and after the update.
Compute Difference between the number of comatose features before and after the rebuild all Difference between the number of sick features before and after the rebuild all.
Check Difference in the volume from when it was opened up to the point after the update and rebuild have been done. Not used
Save Time it took to save the document Difference in file size before and after save
Close The time it took to close the document Not used
Purge Not used Not used

Filleting Tips From Kevin Schneider
Originally posted on the AutodeskR8 Newsgroup

Most experienced users will suggest leaving fillets to the end of the feature history. This is not always possible. Some general filleting tips I use:

1. If I have to fillet the edges of a face, and I then need to put a sketch on the same face, I will make a workplane first that is offset 0 units from said face. This allows me to more easily add, delete, and change the fillet without worrying about the sketch on the face reacting "badly."

2. If a round is so important to a shape to need to be put early in the history, I put it in the sketch, and avoid using fillet features.

3. I use the "loop" and "feature" fillet select options as often as possible. They react better to radical design changes.

4. Once a model's functional shape is done, I start with the largest rounds first, then move my way down. This not only makes the feature tree organized and predictable from one model to the next, it can also increase the chances of a tough round working the first try.

5. If you find a vertex where multiple rounds come together, try doing this in one fillet operation. Remember that the fillet dialog allows you to mix multiple constant radius fillets and multiple variable radius fillets in one feature.

6. For cast parts with many rounds, I avoid turning off the "Rolling ball" option. Rolling ball fillets are spherical. Non-rolling ball fillets are n-sided patches (good for consumer products and aesthetics). Why does this matter? ASM is much faster working with the "Rolling ball" fillet type.

7. In very tough fillet cases, ones where no-matter how you try to fillet it does not work, try turning off "Automatic chain edges." Fillet the edges that are important first then come back and pick up the remaining edges in another fillet. This technique has allowed me to fillet many models considered unfilletable...


Various Tutorial From Bill Bogan

Bill works for Autodesk on the Inventor team, and has done a lot of work with the Rendering and Drawing portions of the program. Bill is a regular on the Autodesk Inventor Discussion Groups. title="Autodesk Autocad Inventor" target="_Blank">Autodesk Inventor Discussion Groups.

Web Site


Surfacing Tutorials From JD Mather

JD is a teacher at Pennsylvania College of Technology and has made some Tutorials that I think are very helpful. JD is a regular on the Autodesk Inventor Discussion Groups.

Web Site