November 20, 2008 - Inventor Representations

Our New Look! The Creative Inventor Newsletter has taken on a bold new look and a new direction! Starting with this issue, we will be bringing the latest hot tips and tutorials on using Autodesk Manufacturing products. In addition, we'll reveal new ways to improve your skills and productivity, so that you can remain more competitive in your job.
The bold new look of our newsletter will allow us the opportunity to expand the articles with more graphics, pdf tutorials and streaming videos that can guide you through the rough spots. Just follow the links in each article to get expanded content!
Representations In Inventor - Part 1 Representations in Autodesk Inventor can be a powerful tool in the process of design as well as documentation. There are three distinct categories of representations in Inventor that determine how your design appears and works. Each category provides a specific environment for use in assemblies and 2-D documentation.

Design View Representations offer the ability to save zoomed views as well as creating views where various components are not visible. Level of Detail representations permit creating "light weight" representations, management of the bill of materials and other valuable options. Positional representations allow different views of the same assembly in different positions.

The first step in using representations will be to determine your needs. This in turn will determine whether you create Design Views, Level of Detail or Positional Representations. Once you have made your decision, creation of the representation follows the same basic steps in each of the categories.

The basic creation steps are as follows:

  1. Create and name a representation in the category of your choice.
  2. Make the new representation active by double-clicking on the representation. A checkbox will appear, showing the current active representation. You may have one representation active in each category, so be careful how the other categories are set.
  3. Set the environment in which the representation will be viewed.
  4. Once the settings are correct within the active category, save your assembly file. This preserves the current state of the representation.

(Continued) More details covered in Part 1 of this article here.
Mechanical Desktop Autodesk has announced the retirement of Mechanical Desktop. MDT 2009 will be the last version produced. Autodesk will continue to make MDT 2009 available through the next three releases of Autodesk Inventor.
Tekni will be offering a series of FREE Skill Builder seminars, starting in December 2008, to help current and past users of MDT migrate and convert to Autodesk Inventor. Please look for the schedules on this important series of free training classes in the next newsletter, or by checking the Event Calendar at teknigroup.com.
Motion in Inventor?

Sign Up Now!

 Tekni will present a FREE Live Web Skill Builder seminar on December 11, 11:30 am to 12:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time ( -5 GMT) called "Depicting and Analyzing Motion in Inventor 2009". This skill builder will cover the following options in Inventor 2009 and many previous versions:
  • Using Driven Constraints to affect motion within an assembly.
  • Driving assembly components through the use of Contact Sets.
  • Creating a Restrictive Translational Constraint.
  • Introducing Dynamic Simulation in Inventor Professional.

All sessions are presented via the Internet using Microsoft Live Meeting. Anyone, anywhere in the world may join these sessions with a broadband connection. Registration is required and may be accomplished here.

You will be provided with the link to the seminar course upon completion of registration. Printed documentation will be available during the class. Be sure to sign up early, and test your connection. Great for Lunchtime Learning!

Free Training from your Home or Office

For nearly a year and a half now, Tekni has been providing quality instructor led training live via the Internet. Response from students has been terrific! Not only can you get quality live training at a reasonable price, but there is no travel involved. All you need is a broadband Internet connection, a sound card and headset and you are ready to go from your workstation at the office, or from home!

We have a great opportunity for every user of Autodesk products to sample this live training for free! Currently, we have an Inventor Skill Builder session scheduled for December 11, 2008 starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern daylight Time (-5 GMT) lasting one hour. You may sign up for this Inventor Skill Builder session here. There is absolutely no charge or obligation involved.

In addition to our manufacturing classes, we have added Autodesk Architectural, Civil, and Alias Studio classes, as well as Manufacturing quality control classes to our curriculum. The schedule on these classes will be posted in December for classes starting in January, 2009. All classes are taught by seasoned, industry professionals who do far more than train from a book. All classes are guaranteed.

Going to
Las Vegas?

In addition to my Autodesk University Inventor Power Track session "Create Your Own Content Center" on Tuesday, December 2nd, I will be hosting an AU "Inventor Tricks and Traps" Unplugged event on Thursday, December 4th, 9 to 9:50 am, Casanova meeting room 603 on the first floor of the Venetian Conference Center. Seating is limited, so get there early!   

 - Dennis Jeffrey, AICE

 

  
Content and Design Copyright © 2008, Tekni Consulting LLC. All rights reserved. The Creative Inventor is a trademark of Tekni Consulting LLC, This material is offered as a benefit to the mechanical design community. All opinions expressed are solely those of the contributing writers; and, as such, do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of Tekni Consulting LLC., its suppliers, and customers. Published by teknigroup.com. Autodesk®, Autodesk Inventor®, Mechanical Desktop® are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.