Creating a Dynamic Section View of an Assembly

Posted August 11, 2008

by Community Admin1

Create Dynamic Section Views!

From Aggregate Crushers to Personal Computers, many of today’s products are more complex on the inside than they are on the outside.

These products are often designed from the outside in. During design review meetings with management or stakeholders it can be difficult to visualize internal components and their interaction, as their line of sight is obscured by other parts and assemblies.

Autodesk® Inventor® software provides many tools to work in a design that does not provide a direct line of sight to all parts concerned. One of these tools allows the user to create a section view of the assembly with any cutting plane. Taking this tool a step further allows the designer to create a Dynamic Section View of an assembly or part. A Dynamic Section View allows the cutting plane to be moved through the component, reflecting the varying internal configuration. This technique can be very valuable in presentations and design review meetings. 

The Setup

Imagine that you are working on the design of a personal computer. It is a basic tower, with dual CD drives and the usual compliment of internal components.

The machine is designed, and now it is time to impress the stakeholders with your design. As part of the presentation you would like to demonstrate a Dynamic Section View so that you can move through the assembly and show the internals.

It is very easy to create this Dynamic Section View in the Inventor assembly environment. The view can be interactive, in that the user may drag the cutting plane through the components, or it can be animated.

Let’s look at how this is accomplished.

1. Begin by creating a new assembly document. Insert your completed assembly into the new assembly document. The component is inserted and grounded at the assembly origin.

2. The next step is to un-ground the component from the origin.

3. Create three Flush Constraints between the component origin and the assembly origin. Simply create a Flush Constraint between like origin features. For example, constrain the YZ Plane of the component to the YZ Plane of the assembly and so on.

4. Next, create a section view of the component. This is accomplished with the Half Section   tool. Select your cutting plane. In this case the YZ Plane was used.

5. The newly created section view can be changed by simply adjusting the constraint offset of the Flush Constraint applied to the Origin Plane selected earlier.

6. The cutting plane can be dragged through the component by suppressing the Flush Constraint on the cutting plane and dragging the component in the graphics area.

7. The section can be animated by driving the Flush Constraint applied to the cutting plane.

 

The Conclusion

Using this workflow, it is very easy to create a Dynamic Section View in parts and assemblies. Internal features and components can be demonstrated with clarity, efficiency, and simplicity.

Leveraging this technique gives you an invaluable tool when creating presentations. Adding dynamic sections to your interactive demonstrations and animations can take your presentation to the next level, making it easier to present and discuss your ideas with non-technical stakeholders, saving time and impressing your viewers.

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