Autodesk Inventor and iLogic Tutorials

Rounding Decimals to Nearest Fraction in Inventor iLogic

Mark Randa — 2012-02-03T19:40:52Z

This post is an adjunct the Shaker Table series, and describes how to grab a decimal number from an Inventor Parameter, round that number to the nearest specified fraction, then pass that new number to a new parameter that will make its way to a Cutlist.

Creating a Woodworking Cutlist with Autodesk Inventor and iLogic – Part Two

Mark Randa — 2012-02-02T20:43:18Z

I’ve used the TigerStop stop/gage and pusher system at a couple of the places I’ve worked at, and neither of them had any sort of automation ---like using your vacuum cleaner as a push broom. We manually typed in values that were manually pulled from crappy drawings. So we will find a good way to automate…..or die trying. Maybe not. But we will look gosh-darned hard!

How-To Create Templates in Autodesk Inventor

Mark Randa — 2012-02-02T14:41:02Z

Templates are a very productive way of reusing modified Inventor files. For example, LENGTH, WIDTH, and THICKNESS iPropertes for woodworkers that normally create cutlists. Or you can have a company standards FX part pre-inserted (something I do). If you only …

Tutorial for Creating a Woodworking Cutlist with Autodesk Inventor and iLogic

Mark Randa — 2012-02-01T20:23:55Z

It uses Custom iProperties to hold WIDTH, LENGTH, and THICKNESS values on a per-part basis. These values are filled in automatically using and iLogic rule that reads parameters in the parts, and are then used at the drawing level in fields of the same name.

Review of 3D Connexion’s SpacePilot Pro

Mark Randa — 2012-01-28T21:01:44Z

The reason the eye robot scientists are using a 3D mouse is because it is the only way to fluidly navigate in 3D. Would you trust a doctor operating on your eyball with the clumsey "orbit" tools you'll find I imagine the reason they are using a 3D Connexion product is that they are far and away the best 3D mice out there –at least from my experience.

New and Improved?

Mark Randa — 2012-01-28T16:57:00Z

Part one of my review of 3D Connexion’s SpacePilot Pro will be posted a bit later today, and will be followed by Part two which will have an imbedded video.

Inventor Assembly Automation Tutorial iLogic Code Explained

Mark Randa — 2012-01-27T16:17:23Z

The first two lines of code (above) are creating variables. The Nut_Offset variable gets its value by reading the Nut_Offset parameter in the Hanger Bolt:1 part. The second variable, Overall_Size is reading two local parameters (Blue) and multiplying them against each other to get its value.

Assembly Automation Tutorial for Inventor iLogic

Mark Randa — 2012-01-24T14:51:59Z

In this tutorial we will insert a small subassembly (the Hanger Bolt) into the main assembly (the Shaker Table), create a bidirectional information flow between the two with iLogic code, and create an interface that will run the assembly as well as report model information.

A Layout Part Workflow Strategy for Autodesk Inventor

Mark Randa — 2012-01-21T22:04:45Z

Because we will be going back and forth between the Layout Part and the assembly (most of the physical changes are going to be made to the layout part, not the components in the assembly), I usually place my layout parts in the assemblies they control as sort of a quick launch scheme. Sounds a bit convoluted, and some of you old-timers may be thinking of the dreaded cyclical dependency, but that is not the case. In some of my models I have dozens of layout parts, some controlling hundreds of parts (as can be seen in the image to the right). Having quick access to layout parts becomes very important as models become larger.

Autodesk Labs Mesh Enabler (Catia Importer) – Kicking the Tires

Mark Randa — 2012-01-21T03:57:45Z

Which is where Inventor comes to the rescue. Inventor now has more import formats than you can shake a stick at. The addition of the Rhino importer was a big one for me as I was working with ship hulls that were created in Rhino and Rhino Marine by the Naval Architects, but I’m sure there are tons of folks out there that need to convert Catia files.

Inventor Perspective Camera Angle Wizardry

Mark Randa — 2012-01-19T16:34:54Z

Scott Moyse has a new post titled Inventor | How to Adjust The Perspective Camera Angle over at the Design & Motion website…

Creating a SmartPart with Inventor iLogic – 03

Mark Randa — 2012-01-18T19:42:41Z

In this, the final installment in this little sidebar tutorial for the Shaker Table series of tutorials, we will add the iLogic code that will hook the model to the spec’s posted at the beginning of this miniseries. Once this tutorial is completed, we will insert this part into the table and have the table control it automatically.

Inventor iLogic Tutorial for Creating a SmartPart – 02

Mark Randa — 2012-01-17T19:11:09Z

…choose the Nut_Offset constraint from the Parameters List, then put a minus sign before it as you can see in the image above. We will need to use, and possibly control this distance via iLogic later on when we are automating things. Not a bad idea to name the constraint –I called it Nut Offset

Working On It…

Mark Randa — 2012-01-17T14:21:12Z

The end result will be a more consistent site with fewer broken links, better navigation, and far less time for me to maintain. I’m adding several new features as well, so please be patient for the next couple of weeks as I work through this. If you find a broken link or something else amiss, please let me know!

Inventor iLogic Tutorial for Creating a SmartPart

Mark Randa — 2012-01-12T22:41:41Z

So in order to create one of the formulas we need to know the length of the point, so you need to double click on the sketch in the Browser Bar to go back to the sketch, then add a driven dimension to the point as shown below…

Making Components From an Inventor Multi-Solid Body Part Tutorial

Mark Randa — 2012-01-10T10:36:37Z

This tutorial will use the Shaker Table as the example –the version being where we left off after the post: Creating Min/Max Design Limits W/ Autodesk Inventor’s iLogic – Part 3 – More Code. Having said that, any part with multiple solid bodies will work for this demonstration –it’s just easier to be on the same page.

Create a Simple(?) Parametric Half Lap Joint.

Mark Randa — 2012-01-10T01:43:18Z

We recieved a question last week from a regular visitor to the website, Mark Meier, a student at the University of Michigan: Basically I’m trying to make a simple parametric half lap joint. Like the image below: The way …

Autodesk Inventor Tip – Zooming Around Inside Solid Bodies

Mark Randa — 2012-01-09T15:16:10Z

I have always used this technique –zooming inside of models, and assumed everyone else did as well, until a coworker gave it a try –-----and couldn’t do it! In fact, none of the people I worked with at the time could get it to work! When they tried to zoom into their models, the program would bog down and not let them do so.

Autodesk Inventor and iLogic Question Form Now Open

Mark Randa — 2012-01-08T16:02:53Z

Here's the thing..... I get tons of questions via email, and I answer the majority of them, but there is a problem with that approach in that the same questions keep coming up because they were answered in private.

The Autodesk Inventor Default Setting From Hell

Mark Randa — 2012-01-07T23:54:01Z

By default, Autodesk Inventor sets the constraint as mentioned above, to Parallel and perpendicular (as seen in the image to the right) as opposed to Horizontal and vertical –the other choice in the Application Options. This default setting can screw you up big time –but it all depends on what you design. We’ll get into that a bit more later, and I hope others will weigh in the comments as to why they have the setting from hell enabled.

Creating Min/Max Design Limits W/ Autodesk Inventor’s iLogic – Part 3 – More Code

Mark Randa — 2012-01-04T01:05:32Z

This driven dimension will feed real-time information to the formula we are about to create. I also created a normal parameter called Apron_Center_Min with an value of 3”. With the addition of these two parameters, we now have parameters that describe the entire width of the unit.

Creating Min/Max Design Limits W/ Autodesk Inventor’s iLogic – Part 2 – The Code

Mark Randa — 2012-01-01T20:26:26Z

Now, back to the iLogic code. The maximum apron width code is shown below. The formula I came up with makes sure you can make the apron as wide as you want without blowing things up in the model. The parameters used within the formula (mostly the Taper_Min_Height and the Taper_Reveal) can be tweaked as well to create whatever look or other outcome you may desire.

Writing and Testing iLogic Code in a Semi-Transparent Model with Autodesk Inventor

Mark Randa — 2011-12-31T17:27:15Z

To create semi-transparent solid bodies in Autodesk Inventor, all you need to do is expand the Solid Bodies folder in the Browser Bar, then select the solids you wish to have transparency (use Ctrl-select or Shift-select for multiple selections), right click anywhere in the Browser Bar or Modeling environment to bring up the context menu, then select Properties. From the Body Properties dialog that will appear, change the Body Color Style to Glass…

Creating Min/Max Design Limits Using Autodesk Inventor’s iLogic

Mark Randa — 2011-12-31T02:37:30Z

In this case, the only thing that happened was that the design became downright stupid and unbuildable –but changing parameters beyond their intended limits can also damage the underlying sketch, and it can do so without you noticing. Poorly constrained sketches can just plain fall apart, but more likely a loop will cross another and cause some funky combo solid, one (or more) of your extrusions will fail to exist, or as is very common, a sketch element will flip to the opposite side of a line creating some crazy geometry or an open loop.

Creating Custom Materials and Colors in Autodesk Inventor – Part 2

Mark Randa — 2011-12-24T16:47:43Z

Like almost every function in Autodesk Inventor, there more than one way to skin this cat. Color overrides can be applied at the feature level by right clicking on a feature in the Browser Bar, or by doing the same to a solid body in the Solid Bodies folder –which would add the override to all of the features contained within said solid, or by selecting one or more faces in the modeling environment.