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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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I want to be a Pilot!
April 30, 2009 05:17 PMby Garin Gardiner
3DConnexion recently released their latest and greatest "3D Mouse" the SpacePilot Pro. I have been a long time user of their products - so much so I use to get stopped at airport security while they searched my bag to find a strange device with a solid aluminum base. My portable SpaceNavigator has as many miles in the air as I do since I can't leave home without it.
I am a big gadget guy (my wife can attest to that) so you can imagine my excitement when we got a few SpacePilot Pro's to play around with. I have been using it for about a month and have to say it's by far the most useful desktop 3D mouse I have used. I had the old Pilot and liked it although the screen was lost to me since I didn't really ever use it. With the new Pilot Pro I can see my Outlook calendar and task items (as well as standard Inventor commands) while I am working in Inventor. You can also display RSS feeds and use it as a Sideshow (Vista) screen where you can download many gadgets (it might be cool to show the weather).
Besides all of the neat extras, the buttons are clearly marked and for whatever reason I find myself using them much more than I have with any other device. I still like my trusty SpaceNavigator for notebooks but while I am in the office working, this is a must have for me. If you would like to know more about the SpacePilot Pro, head on over the 3D Connexion site.
4 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Announcements, Autodesk Inventor, News
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Team Autodesk - MS Ride
April 27, 2009 11:34 PMby Garin Gardiner
Its about that time of year again, we have gathered together several folks out of our Autodesk Portland Oregon office to join us in a local MS Ride. We have posted a goal to raise 15,000 in which Autodesk will match anything we raise. I will be joining the team and look forward to helping reach our goal as well as riding over 100 miles August 1st.
If any of you would like to donate (any amount) to a good cause and help the Autodesk team reach our goal, please select the link to the right. You never know, perhaps I will beat out my co-worker who has set a goal at $2,000.
Thanks for any help!
0 Comment | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Announcements, Autodesk, News
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Friday Quick Tip - Drawing Sketches
April 24, 2009 12:46 AMby Garin Gardiner
It's a safe guess that many of you spend a bit of time in the drawing environment of Inventor documenting your designs. The last few months I have been talking to a lot of Inventor users about creating drawings and have received several questions about adding sketch geometry to a view that is associative to the drawing view. An example of this is the need to add drawing details such as diagonal lines on the windows of the cab below to represent glass. Typically you would want the diagonal lines to update and move with the drawing view so they don't end up sitting in space if the view moves.
If you have tried this in the past and have noticed the sketch isn't associative to the view, let me give you a quick tip to create the sketch so it is linked to the drawing view. First select a view from the graphics window that you want to add a sketch to and select "Create Sketch" from the Model tab. The key is to select the view first, if you don't the sketch will not be associative to the view.
With the view selected and selecting "Create Sketch" you can now use the regular sketch tools to add things like diagonal lines to the drawing view. Once you have added the detail you want, return out of the sketch and you are done. You can now move the view around and the sketch is now fully locked to that view.
Enjoy the weekend!
2 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Tips, Inventor LT, Autodesk Inventor
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Friday's Quick Tip
April 17, 2009 01:49 PMby Garin GardinerFor those of you that have used other 3D products (like AutoCAD) , you may be use to using Shift + Middle Mouse button to orbit the model. I have heard this many times over the last few years and in the latest version of Inventor you can now do this. In Inventor 2010 if you open a part or assembly and hold down the Shift key and middle mouse button, you will be able to orbit your model until you let up on the mouse button.
Enjoy the Friday tip!
3 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Inventor LT, Tips, Autodesk Inventor
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Discovery Channel series DOING DAVINCI in Inventor
April 15, 2009 01:24 PMby Garin GardinerMonday night a new Discovery Chanel show kicked off called " Doing DaVinci" where engineers and historians recreate Leonardo daVinci's inventions. They use Autodesk Inventor to build a digital prototype of the design before they actually build it. I missed the first one but you can bet by Monday I will have it set to be recorded on my DVR. If you would like to see any clips from the show where they are actually showing Inventor at work, select the link below.
2 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Autodesk Inventor, News
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What's your favorite feature in Inventor 2010?
April 13, 2009 02:27 PMby Garin GardinerNow that Inventor 2010 has been out for a little while and many of you have been able to install and use it, what is your favorite feature?
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New Skill Builder for Assembly Optimization Using FEA
April 10, 2009 12:54 PMby Garin GardinerThere is a new Skill Builder available for Assembly Optimization Using FEA. If you are interested in assembly level analysis and would like some help, head on over to this skill builder with sample files to get you started.
0 Comment | Add CommentIn In the Machine > News, Tips, Autodesk Inventor
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Autodesk University 2009 Call for Proposals
April 9, 2009 04:43 PMby Garin GardinerIts hard to believe but it is already that time of year again, we are calling for class proposals for AU 2009. AU will be held this year from December 1 - 4 in Las Vegas. If you have taught an AU class in the past or have a great ideas for a class we want you! We are open for proposals until April 30th in which time we will determine what class will be held this year. I have had a great time meeting many of you in the past and hope to see many of you there this year.
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Sketch Blocks - Almost like Legos
April 8, 2009 12:48 PMby Garin GardinerLast week I was talking to a company that uses a lot of aluminum extrusions and often create custom extrusions for each project. They wanted a way to have all the standard pieces that make up an extrusion and insert them all together to make a custom profile. In playing around a bit with our new Sketch Blocks in Inventor 2010, it looks like this is can be easily done. To get started I created the various profiles and turned them into Sketch Blocks.
First, sketch the various profiles in a single sketch.
You then selected each of the profiles and select Create Block from the sketch tab to create separate blocks for each profile.
You will see each if these blocks in your browser as separate blocks that can be inserted with an insertion point. 
Now is where the Lego strategy comes in. Insert each of these profiles and snap them together to define a new custom extrusion - you can also use dimensions and constrains to define their exact location.
Kick off the Extrusion command and extrude any / all of the blocks to create a custom profile in the matter of minutes.
Sketch blocks were meant to be used as assembly layout although this is a great use for them for building parts with standard profiles. For those of you that have wanted to do something like this in the past - it is now easily possible with Sketch Blocks.
Enjoy!
2 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Tips, Inventor LT, Autodesk Inventor
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Making Skeleton Modeling Easy
April 6, 2009 03:09 PMby Garin GardinerIt's been a while since I last posted a YouTube video but Rob Cohee (Inventor Guru) sent me a link to a new YouTube video he has posted around skeletal modeling. It's a great tip that will allow you to see perhaps a new way you can use skeleton modeling and even ways to automate skeleton modeling.
Let me know if you have posted anything interesting to YouTube Inventor related.
Happy modeling!
Download Script file from video8 Comments | Add CommentIn In the Machine > Tips, Autodesk Inventor
