Inventor – the Virtual Reality Blog

Wasim Younis has a new Blog site titled “Virtual Reality”.

http://vdssolutions.wordpress.com/

Wasim wrote the book “Up and Running with Autodesk Inventor Simulation”, and has proven to be an informative look at numerous points throughout the simulation process.  I plan to promote the book with some chapter reviews and a book giveaway as well.

The site is brand new so go check him out.  If we can extend some attention his way, perhaps he’ll keep the simulation tips coming.

Not just another Space Pilot Review

3D Connexion released the newest creation in their line 3D navigation tools, the Space Pilot Pro.  I have always been fascinated by 3D Connexion’s tools, as they clearly are unique items.  However I kept them at a distance because of a few factors: Price, Uneasiness, and Dependency. 

If I can’t have it, I usually won’t go play with it.  This keeps my marriage in tact as well.

Price  – I believe that at least 50% of the users out there know something about these devices, and know they are fairly expensive.  Well, this is partially true.  If you get in at sale time, you can pickup a notebook model for 80 USD.  I don’t think there are any buttons, just view mobility.  That’s still a nice item for 80 bucks.  The new deluxe model comes in at 500 USD.  That’s pricey.

Uneasiness – Mostly my innate lack of desire to change something that works; namely the way I have been doing it.   The 3 button mouse and an ALT key covers a lot of ground.  I watched some field experts navigate quite well with a 3 button mouse, and there was no lack of speed.  Which brings us to the last item.

Dependency – Ever since Vibrant Graphics dumped us old people, I have been very jaded about dependency on non-OEM functionality.  I still wrote C++/C# code, but usually this was to cover things that were reasonably impossible with other methods.  No odd command aliases, no large menu configurations, mostly out of the box.  This way I would never be bent over the way I was in 2000, when I had to relearn the interface.

AU2009

These 3D mice have always been super-popular at AU. So I decided to do a few 3D Connexion promotions for the upcoming Tekni Creative Inventor training, and the powers that be agreed to pay for the mice.  I however was not one of the lucky ones that will get said mice.

The curiosity was killing me.  While I’d like to try it in Inventor, my question is how will it work in Civil?

So my associates introduced me to some people at 3D Connexion, and Walt and Company, and they kindly agreed to let me play with one of the new toys.  During the last discussion, they asked what I intended to do with it, and I told them I intended to review the product in different environments, and then publish the results.  A few days later a new Space Pilot Pro ended up on my door step.  Like a kid in a candy shop.

The Box

I told my boys, “That’s Daddy’s, get away!” I threw in the universally understood word: “Mine!”.  They reluctantly backed off.  I told my youngest, “It’s not food, go away”. 

What came in the box was a folder from the company, containing some fact sheets, Company Rep contact info, the driver CD, and the Space Pilot Pro….and a note that said basically “If you need any assistance, please call.” 

Inventor – Assembly Constraint Naming

Management of features and components in Inventor is kind interesting.  In AutoCAD, the technician is free to create things in almost any way.  A great deal of management is required to be efficient.  I recall using Inventor for the first time.  It was such a relief, because Inventor automatically took care of entity management through styles.  Features however are a different story.

Naming features such as constraints is one option available to help reduce the confusion in Inventor.  If you don’t rename constraints, you can end up with spaghetti.  Waiting until you have a troubleshooting session to rename the Assembly Constraints will result in a disaster, because you will have numerous Constraints all named similarly.

Design Accelerators compound the issue because they autonomously create features at once, without consulting the user for names.  When you get done with a few gears, you have a mess.

In this example I was troubleshooting why my actuator was not moving in the assembly when the motor motion was applied.  When sorting constraints out, I recommend 3 things:

Changing to Modeling View

Changing the view will group all the constraints into 1 region, assembled into 1 feature instead of broken into pairs over the 2 respective constrained components.  This allows us to see them in a simple collection.

Rename the Assembly Constraints

Renaming the Constraints as you go is quite important.  After creating 2 sets of gears and a shaft, I have about 18 constraints named Angle:2 and Mate:5.

So I like to give them names that include:  The 2 components that are being constrained; The purpose of the constraint; possibly the nature of the constraint as well.

In this example I had an overlapping constraint, but could not see it until I had changed to Modeling view and finished renaming everything.  I pick each object, and Inventor highlights the planar faces and features that are associated in the Constraint, which allows the user to get a feel for what is going on.

I renamed this angular constraint to WormToSpurGearLock, so I would see the 2 Gears involved (Worm and Spur gears), and the purpose was to lock their rotations together.  In another I used MotorShaft-Drive so that I could find the Drive components quickly and distinguish them from the others.

Isolation

If I wasn’t sure what was constrained, which is often the issue, we can Isolate the pair.  This way it is quite easy to see how and what is being constrained.

 

Thoughts

Once the naming was complete, it did not take long to read each one, and check off the list of what was expected between each component. Eventually I found where I had included an angle control on the shaft that would not allow the actuator to turn.

Naming your Constraints as you complete procedures, whether it be manual assembly, or Design Accelerators is a good habit to get into.  In his example I just needed to proof out a solution, but inevitably wanted to keep it.  Taking the small amount of time to name the constraints as you go will really pay off in the future.

Vault – Renaming Computer hazard

Ok, I blew it.  I recently had a fight with my domain server, and lost.  I ended up renaming my computer to work around it.  It’s never been a problem in the past.  Well, at least I didn’t realize it was.

ADMS is getting its content from an SQL server on a site.  That site is my computer, and when renamed, it was lost.  My entire ADMS and Vault was gone for all applications.

Autodesk had this to say about the errors

Issue

During the installation of Vault or Productstream Server (ADMS), you received the following pre-check error message:

The SQL Server instance you have selected is not enabled with Autodesk Productstream Replicator. To enable it, upgrade site '<computername>'. Contact your reseller for Autodesk Producstream Replicator.

Solution

This error is the result of renaming the computer or adding it to a domain while the previous version of ADMS was installed even though replication has never been enabled on this particular computer.

This can be resolved by uninstalling SQL 2005, using Add or Remove Programs (Windows), and then reinstalling it either manually or automatically using the Vault/Productstream Server installation.

Alternatively, you can run the ADMS Console in command line mode and use the -OSiteRename switch. For detailed instructions, refer to the ADMS Console Help menu (available by pressing the F1 function key).

oSiteRename

 

Inventor – Weld Gap nominal parameter

I’d like to see a way to get the Frame Generator tools to access the parameters.  I am a top down kind of guy, and like using extrusions and dependent sketches for my frame skeletons.  I derive almost everything to keep all my parameters centrally located. 

The design I am currently engaged in was started without some specs, and after receiving them I find that he builder does not want any weld gapping.  So I have to run through every weld and remove the gaps.

It would be nice to set the gaps a local parameter that is factored from a derived parameter, like ‘NomWeldGap = MatThickness * NomWeldGapFactorl’ or something similar.  This way I can change the NomWeldGapFactor in the skeleton, and all the gap would alter in relation to their individual material thicknesses. 

Inventor – iFeatures provide a quick fix

This weekend I was up to my neck in a problem with having to rebuild a fast and dirty project.  It was built for pretty only.  The problem was that a weekend build did not cover enough time to do the job right. Shortcuts lead to failures in Inventor.

I had constrained latches of a door in the door assembly, and then reversed my build and snapped the cut edges off the latch in the door part, and cut out the hole.  It was fast and I didn’t need solid build, just fast.  Hmmm, sounds familiar.  Don’t have time to do it right, but always have time to do it over….  And do it over you will.

I started the job with a skeleton containing the global resources, and the overall shell.  This worked like  champ.  Eventually as I began to run out of time, I started to cut corners.  Portions of the projected geometry began to fail for one reason or another (because of the shortcuts).  Everything was fine until I had to make a change.

So was tired of recreating my ‘shortcut’ doors, and decided to get a better shortcut.  The latch plate had to recut for each change. 

Use the iFeature to reduce repetitive steps

Rather than create it for the third time (eventually even I learn from my mistakes), I created an iFeature.  This part however had no geometry and was just the solid model.  Fine.  I created a cut extrusion from sketched cut edges, an sent it out in all directions.

Inventor – Creative Design With Autodesk Inventor 2010/2011™

I am very pleased to announce that I am working with Dennis Jeffrey at Tekni!

He has assembled a team of experts to create the new Web Based training series titled Creative Design with Autodesk Inventor 2010.  Many training programs just ‘throw the information at you’; we (authors)  don’t want a repeat of the status quo, non-intuitive and inflexible methods sometimes employed.  We are developing a complete training course focused on real world application, and a start to finish methodology.

The Creative Series is designed to give the student a better sense of direction and confidence. Students work at their own pace and receive mentoring when needed.  Furthermore we have spent a great deal of time focusing the lessons around solid ‘real world’ design practice. Details, notes, and exercises detail why certain steps are counter-productive, and what can be done to create more efficient and flexible designs.  As the students move from one lesson to the next, they will have developed an awareness of some things that could go wrong in the current lesson, and are conscious of these while studying the steps.  This allows the student to gain more self-confidence as they verify that their cultivated concerns were substantiated. 

While nothing can replace real world practice, this course was designed to put the student a step ahead of the basic (and some advanced) problems that traditional lessons can’t identify.  The result is with designers and engineers that have more self confidence about applying solid design practice in their workplace, what to do when something does go wrong, and how to use that knowledge in an adaptive way at your company.

Tekni web site

I have spent numerous days on each of my segments in the series, going through each portion and applying the lesson to the examples provided.  I focused my troubleshooting skills on creating powerful examples that work well and are easily adaptable.  Bulleted lists of commonly known issues and new insights are furnished in the lesson so that the student gets the benefit of past and present research and adaptations.

The Creative Design series is scheduled to be available by the end of 2009, but we will begin releasing packaged segments earlier.  Check in with us in the mean time as things become available.

Autodesk – DWG Launcher wigged out fix

7/8/2009

Please remember we have moved to http://johnevansdesign.net Come visit us there.

This has been a pain in numerous people’s sides for a long time.  One day you love it and the next day you hate it. 

The DWG Launcher

This gizmo is the thing that loads the drawings from remote requests, based on the registered DWG extension. AcLauncher.exe

Since Autodesk is trying to spread it’s trademarked use of DWG to numerous platforms, it needs some flexible way to allow users to open the DWG easily through explorer and other applications. 

How this works

When the OS sees a DWG file request sent, it uses the DWG registered app to open it with. In this case it is the DWG Launcher. The application uses registry entries to figure out which version of what application to use.  It is fairly simple, except there is nothing evident about it, and it gets fouled up. 

The registry settings governing this work something like a flow chart:

1. Windows initiates default dwg app ->DWG Launcher
2. Launcher reads shell DWG default Application –> AutoCAD
3. Launcher goes to AutoCAD and reads launch instruction –> AutoCAD r18 exe path
4. Launcher executes launch statement with requested dwg file

Most users will never have a problem with this since they only use 1 type of DWG application.  Actually, most users of differing DWG apps never have a problem. 

Design Review – 2010 Hot Fix 1

7/1/2009

Volker, Thank You! 

For all those that may not have experienced the PDF output from DR 2010, I’d like to say “It sucks”, but that wouldn’t be polite.  True, but not polite.

Instead I’ll just say “Thank You Volker! and DR people”.  Autodesk released a Hot Fix June 19th, 2009.  I must say that Volker’s team is very dedicated to fixing problems, and reviewed a few of my issues with me.

I have tried to adopt the Autodesk DWF idea.  A couple of years back at AU, a British Autodesk fellow introduced me to Buzzsaw. (I apologize as I cannot remember his name).  I saw the publishing possibilities in both and decided to push forward, but Buzzsaw is just not cost effective down here in the trenches, so I had to stop working the angles on it.  I have however stayed fixed on DWF. 

I use it as a point of reference for a final product.  Once the job is completed, I use DR to review, markup new revisions, or to distribute.  It serves as a central publishing point as well, whether hard copy, direct email, or PDF.

Since most of my clients use PDF, and are still not on the DWF band wagon, PDF is what I most often publish.  However, since 2010, I have been pulling my hair out, and even considered going to PDF for my publishing platform.

Thank God for the fix.  Now if I can just get something to help AutoCAD get the lead out of it’s direct PDF output.

You can read Volker’s article and community comments here.

You can download the Hotfix and (very important) the instructions here.

Inventor 2009 – 2D Environment

The first volume of the vBook series for Inventor 2009 was released by the publisher, Retrieve Media, and is on the shelf today.

Inventor 2009 – 2D Environment is a complete reference covering the procedures and options regarding the beginning steps of creating Inventor parts. 

This volume contains detailed video lessons on:

• Sketching profiles and references
• Constraints and DOF
• Dimensions
• Parameters
• Edit features
• Inserting objects
• Application Settings and Options. 

We step through and explain every item and demonstrate the chapter exercises. You can download the exercise files, and follow along while you practice.

This reference is intended to give the Beginner a good head start with a solid foundation, and add some additional insight for the Intermediate skilled user as well.

The remainder of the series is in production, and will be released volume by volume, until the compilation is complete.