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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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No need to Trim!
March 17, 2009, 12:01 PM Garin Gardiner
The other day I was talking to one of our developers and as a side comment, he mentioned this little tip that I didn't know even existed. I was so excited that I showed it to a local User Group that same night and nobody there knew about it there either. I assumed this was one of those little nuggets that everybody but me already knew but I am discovering that isn't the case.
What is it you ask?
Have you ever created an overlapping profile and wanted to extrude just a portion of it although the "Select Other" wasn't able to select the portion you wanted?
I this case I want to extrude the portion of the profile where the circle and square overlap
In the past I would start the trim or break sketch tool to remove the other areas so I could get just the profile I wanted. In most cases this was fine although in cases where I wanted to share the sketch for several features, using trim/break doesn't work very well. Here is where the great tip came in handy from the developer. If you place a sketch point at the intersections of where I would normally trim or or break, I can then enter the extrude dialog and select just that portion of the sketch.
This example I insert two points where the circle intersects the rectangle
Once the sketch points are in place, I can instantly use the inner portion of the profile!
6 Comments | Add Comment In the Machine > Inventor LT, Tips, Autodesk Inventor
Comments
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March 25, 2009 08:11 AM Stephen Robbins
That's a great tip Garin! ...I wish I'd known about that trick many years ago. The "Split" sketch tool became my friend a few releases back...but this one will allow the same results without breaking loops!
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March 25, 2009 09:08 AM Sunith Babu
Hi, This is a great tip, I'm planning to share this tip to my friends, but I feel this can be modified as a wish list in the next release of Inventor 2011.
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March 25, 2009 09:22 AM Dan Kowalski
Sometimes I project the axes (axeses, axii?) and try to use that corner in my profile. I almost never remember to put the point in first. Also, I like to take the extra click and make them "sketch points" instead of "hole centers" (it really only makes a difference if you have OCD). Sometimes I find that it won't grab the intersection on its own (note the intersection icon in the example above), so I will place the point on one of the curves and then use a coincident constraint to the other.
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March 25, 2009 09:58 AM Dominique Rudaz
Hi, This feature exists since version 3.. :) regards Dom
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March 25, 2009 01:59 PM mark rushton
Wow, thats shocking. In SolidWorks we dont even need to put the sketch points in. Its just called selected contours. Mind you, we have only had that for, hmmm, let me see, AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER! Ive got a tip for you Garin. Use SolidWorks!
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March 25, 2009 04:44 PM David Gaskill
Awesome tip, thanks so simple but yet so powerful. Thanks D.E.G.
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