Using Autodesk Vault with a Single Inventor Project - part 2

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  Brian Schanen joined Autodesk in 2005 as a Product Designer and currently is a Customer Success Engineer for Autodesk’s Data Management products. Brian has taught at Autodesk University numerous times and has authored white papers on Vault and Productstream. He works with customers to implement a complete digital prototyping solution specializing in Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Vault and Productstream. Brian lives near Detroit, Michigan.

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  Using Autodesk Vault with a Single Inventor Project - part 2
  June 3, 2008, 01:29 PM Brian Schanen

  Welcome to part 2 of the Single Project method. In Step 1 of the previous post, we set up the Inventor project file (.ipj), created an initial Vault structure with folders, and set the stage for populating the Vault with Inventor data. This time we'll take a sample dataset and Check it in from Inventor.

  Step 2: Add data to the Vault

  For this example, use the assembly sample models that install with Inventor. In Windows Explorer, copy a selection of folders under ...Inventor 2009\Samples\Models\Assemblies to C:\Work\Designs. Notice that we didn’t bring the original project file to our new location. We are going to utilize the new Vault project file - which is the active .ipj now - that we created earlier.

  

  The Content Center Files for the Sample Files datasets need to be copied to the Vault Working folder location. Select the en-US folder from ...\Inventor 2009\Samples\STANDARD Parts (also known as Content Center Files) and copy them to C:\Work\Content Center Files. If you're following along at home or work, I am going to focus on the familiar Arbor Press data set.

  Open Autodesk Inventor. Log into the test Vault created earlier. Go to File>Autodesk Data Management Server>Log in. Open the Arbor_Press.idw drawing from under the Arbor Press folder. In this example, this drawing is our top level file and can be used to add the entire assembly to the vault.
  
  Save the file. This step is very important since the files were moved. When you move files, you can potentially change the way that Inventor resolves related files. Saving these changes now prevents other users who access this data from the vault from having issues with opening the files. In Autodesk Inventor, switch to the Vault browser.

  

  The question mark icons in the Vault browser indicate the files are not in the Vault yet. Right-click on the top level file – the drawing in this example in the Vault browser and select Check In Files.

  The Check In Files dialog box is displayed. Note how the vault is displaying the proper folder structure, including the Arbor Press folder. Add any comments as necessary: e.g., Initial Add to Vault, and click OK to copy your files to the Vault. 

  

  Open, or switch to Vault Explorer and click the $ folder. On the toolbar, click Refresh to see the newly added files and folders.

  The Arbor_Press.idw drawing and all of its children have been added to the Vault. More importantly, the structure has been preserved. Note the creation of the Arbor Press folder and it’s subfolder Components. These are directly replicated from the folder structure found in Windows Explorer.

  

  Other notes

  Adding additional Inventor files using the Single Project Method involves creating sub folders under C:\Work\Designs and placing the new Inventor files there. In general, open the top level document and ensure it loads and resolves successfully.
  Upon adding files to populate the vault, always verify the structure before adding the files.
  
  It is important that you understand that you will rely less on Windows Explorer and more on Vault Explorer daily to work with Inventor files outside of Inventor. Windows Explorer will still play a minor role in file management when working with Inventor and Vault, but you will end up using it less and less. Your working folder (C:\Work) should be considered a temporary folder for storing files. When you are finished working on a design and you have added the files and folders to the vault, you can clean up your working folder by deleting the files and folders from your workspace.

  -Brian Schanen

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Comments

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  August 12, 2008 12:48 PM Chuck Bardsley

  How 'bout a link back to part 1. I can't seem to find it. I'll keep looking

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  August 15, 2008 02:57 PM Eric Abbott

  It is on the May 2008 Archive.