Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

When I imported my materials, some of them came in as a "Misc" category.  Can someone tell me how to edit the category for each material?  I would like to get these into the Metal/Steel category.

This new materials/apperance editor is going to take some getting use to.  Its pretty confusing for me right now.

[#2]

Right click on the material you wish to move and select 'add to'. Choose the appropriate library/category.

You may have to delete it from the misc. category but that shouldn't be a chore

You're right about the editor being a little confusing though. Like creating custom appearances, they only appear in the current document until you say otherwise. Not the way one expects it to behave ... oh well ..... lol

[#3]

Try this

[#4]

Andy, Maria,

I was able to do like you both suggested and it did move the material.  Is there a way to change the category of the material.  Notice that it is listed as "Uncategorized" after I move it.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Just figured it out. After I moved the material to the category that I wanted, it shows "Uncategorized" in the Category column.  To get this to show the correct category, hover over the name, then click the  ↑  to the right of the category.  This will move the material to the current document.  Now move up to the document material that was just added, right click Add To> and choose the library you want it to go in. It then gives me a warning, and I choose "Replace".

It will have the correct category now.

Another Question:

Notice how my library shows Metal/Steel, Metal/Iron ......  I would like to create a category Metal/Non-Ferrous.  Is there a way to do that?  When I add a new category and enter the "/" it tells me its an invalid character.

[#6]

Glad you got the 'category' problem sorted, even if it is the long way round. I think Autodesk need to rethink the whole styles/appearance thing. Things are not working as anyone would expect. Kinda takes you back to the days of Windows 3.1 ... eeeeekk!!!!!!!

As far as renaming the categories goes, I'm having the same issues as you. I tried copy/paste and then rename trick, that didn't work. I tried escaping the / with various characters and that didn't work either. Seems that Autodesk have broken their own rules in regards to category names.

I also notice that if you import a style library, you have to reload that library every time you start Inventor. Makes importing libraries a waste of time IMHO. Another X against Autodesk's idea of a style/appearance library.

Another thing, if you look in the Autodesk Material library, it has sub-categories. You can't create those either. Another X?

I don't know who is in charge of software design at Autodesk, but he or she should be fired because he or she couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, full stop!

[#7]

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trumpy81 wrote:

 I think Autodesk need to rethink the whole styles/appearance thing.

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HA HA They just did rethink/redo it all.

But Autodesk LOVES to give users half-finished functionality instead of actually taking the time to do it right (or at least get it close) from the start.

Heck just look at the mini-dialogs and how we STILL have the old dialog boxes that worked prefectly fine.. If the new ones were great we wouldn't/shouldn't have the old ones.  But now I need to put up with some stupid half finished dialog box popping up on my screen for 2 years + now.

[#8]

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mcgyvr wrote:

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trumpy81 wrote:

 I think Autodesk need to rethink the whole styles/appearance thing.

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HA HA They just did rethink/redo it all.

But Autodesk LOVES to give users half-finished functionality instead of actually taking the time to do it right (or at least get it close) from the start.

Heck just look at the mini-dialogs and how we STILL have the old dialog boxes that worked prefectly fine.. If the new ones were great we wouldn't/shouldn't have the old ones.  But now I need to put up with some stupid half finished dialog box popping up on my screen for 2 years + now.

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No No No, all they did was rename it .... it's an old marketing ploy from way back, if you don't want to change anything, rename it and push it out as brand new .... lol

You're right about the mini-toolbars though. I'm not against them, but we DON'T need both dialogs and mini-toolbars. I prefer the dialogs, only because I'm used to them, if I had to live with just the mini-toolbars that would be fine, I could adapt, but why both?

And why do we need to have options hidden in sub-menus on the context menu?

It's not as if there is no room for them, and the whole point of context menus is to provide a QUICK means of selecting options. Hiding them, doesn't make it quicker or easier it just makes it harder if you ask me.

[#9]

You can specify which libraries are avalible from your project file - you can also set the active library there...

[#10]

Yes, you would think that when they put something out like this, they would correct the problems ASAP with a hotfix or SP.  Instead it takes years to get things like this corrected and functioning properly.