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In The Machine is the official blog of the Inventor Product Management Team. It is a way for us to share Inventor news, interesting information about successful Inventor customers and partners as well as tips and tricks. From time to time we’ll also use the blog to solicit feedback from users via surveys. This blog is hosted by Garin Gardiner our Technical Marketing Manager.
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Multi-Touch Wall for CAD
July 31, 2007 11:10 PMby Garin GardinerTake a look at the following YouTube video of an Autodesk Labs experiment on a Multi-Touch Wall device. The wall is an input device produced by Perceptive Pixel and invented by researcher and (TED conference luminary) Jeff Han. Autodesk Labs believes multi-touch human-computer interfaces may dramatically change how products, infrastructure, and buildings are designed in the future.
For more infomration take a look at the following link.
http://labs.autodesk.com/
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Advanced Fillets
July 25, 2007 06:35 AMby Garin Gardiner
Have you ever wondered what the various fillet types are used for in the fillet dialog?

The edge fillet is the default fillet and simply allows you to select an edge and enter a value for the fillet. In case you have more complex needs the other two types can often create what the edge fillet cant create. The face fillet allows you to select two faces and enter a radius. The unique thing about the face fillet is that it will fill in areas that the edge fillet cant - take a look at the image below for a few examples.

The final option is a Full Round fillet that allows you to select three faces and it will create a full round fillet even if it isnt a constant radius.

Next time you need a more advanced fillet give one of these options a test drive.
Garin
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New Skill Builders
July 14, 2007 05:58 AMby Garin Gardiner
Starting Monday 16 I will be on vacation in the San Juan islands (Washington State) pedal my bike around several of the islands till Friday 20. I am sure there will be interesting things to read from the manufacturing site as well as a few new skill builders you can hone your Inventors skills with while I am gone.

The Autodesk Inventor Skill Builder site has a few new new skill builders posted to help you better understand how to create ribbon cables. If you have need to learn how to use the ribbon cable functionality, take a look at the three part skill builder on ribbon cables. If you aren't interested in ribbon cables would are looking for something else, there are many other skill builders that might be of interest to you.
Skill Builders

See you when I get back!
Garin
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Visit with the man behind upFront.eZine - Ralph Grabowski
July 10, 2007 05:47 AMby Garin GardinerLast week Rosemary Mori and I had a chance to head up to Canada to visit Ralph Grabowski from upFronteZine.com. We spend a few hours primarily talking about several of the new features in Inventor such as DWG TrueConnect, sheet metal, ribbon cable, drawing enhancements and some of the great sketching tools. We also spent some time talking about Digital Prototyping and some of the great ways Inventor saves many manufacturing companies from building additional physical prototypes through the use of tools such as wire harnesses, ribbon cables, Design Accelerators, Frame Generator and a smooth integration with Alias Studio for conceptual designs to name a few. Take a look at his recentl blog post regarding our visit.
After the visit Ralph took us for a quick hike to overlook the small town he calls home. In case you didnt know, thats me on the right and Ralph on the left.

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Sheet Metal Punch Tips (Video Podcast Episode 14)
July 3, 2007 09:46 PMby Garin Gardiner
Tuesday July 3, 2007 - Episode 14 Video Podcast Show Notes
As many of you know, we have been posting audio podcast for several months and have wanted to add video podcast for some time. I am glad to announce the new addition of video tips and tricks to the Official Inventor Podcast. We will continue to offer audio podcast as we have in the past as well as video podcast for additional tips and tricks.
The Official Inventor Podcast is available for free here at iTunes store or you can right click here and save the file to your computer.
In this video podcast we will create a sheet metal punch as well as create a flat pattern with punch and bend tables.

Feel free to email me any suggestions for future video tips.
Garin
inventor.blog.feedback@autodesk.com