Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

I have a panel with holes,cutouts and silkscreen

In the drawing the panel is detailed to show hole locations and sizes on one sheet and in another view @ 1:1 the silkscreen is shown.

The silkscreen is a feature on the panel, text either embossed  or extruded .005" outward. The feature is colored (filled).

On my drawing all the silksceens show up like un-filled fonts. This really bothers some people and my task is to fill the fonts.

Also i need to get the silkscreen by itself and (suppress/invisible) remove the other features from the view.

Suppress will not work as the feature i am trying to show will also be suppressed.

Visibiliy of features is not an option.

Q. HOW CAN I GET THE FEATURE SEGREGATED AND SOLID IN MY DRAWING? but still a feature of the part. ie. i dont want to create an assembly with a panel and a silkscreen

    How do i suppress features in a view on the drawing??

[#2]

My first thought is to show the silkscreening as a shaded view on the drawing so the letter shows up filled.

Another thought is to create in your model an ipart factory.  One ipart with everything and another ipart showing either just the silkscreening or just features.  Which ever one makes it easier.

[#3]

Without any files or even images  to guide the discussion -

one solution might be to place a side view off the print.  Do a depth section and show it as shaded.

[#4]

Hi tmoxam,

In addition to the other replies, another approach is to use layers to control the objects.  In the drawing you can go to the Annotate tab and click the Edit Layers button. Then create a new layer named silk screen, and set it to be turned off (using the light bulb icon):

Then once the layer is created, expand the view in the bowser that you want to hide the silk screen for, and locate the feature, then right-click on it and choose Select As Edges (the edges will high light on screen to show which view you're working with in the browser):

Then use the Layer pull down menu located on the Annotate tab to place the edges on the SilkScreen layer:

You can then manage the other features in another view and select multiple features using the SHIFT and CTRL buttons. Once selected, right click and choose Select as Edges, and then place them on the Silk Screen layer also. Keep in mind that this layer control is being done per each view, so feature edges can be on a layer in View 1, and on a different layer in View2.

You could take this thought a step further and create a sketch on the view, and then use the Select As Edges tool to select the text, and then use the Project Geometry button to bring them into the sketch, and then use the Fill/Hatch tool to shade each letter, but it might be a bit time consuming depending upon the number of characters.

Some one will likely suggest just hiding the selected edges as well, but be aware that this can cause your drawing to open very slowly if you hide a lot of edges (such as text). So typically the layer control approach is best.

Another approach would be to create the text as a separate solid feature, and use the Design View controls to show/hide the separate solids, but that will require the 2013 version of Inventor.

As JDMather suggested, a screen shot or sample file might help others understand what you're up against also.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[#5]

And another solution is to use multi-body solids:

1. Create part with silkscreen

2. Rectangular pattern the part (whole solid) a convenient distance away, choosing New Solid option

3. Add holes, cutouts, etc. to the second solid

4. Make Part the two solid bodies into two separate files

5. Place views in drawings as needed.

As far as filling the silkscreen, a closely spaced hatch might do the job, but it's not automatic, and may be really tedious if there are many distinct areas in the silkscreen.

[#6]

thanx all for your answers.  All work.

i ended up creating separate parts for the silkscreen as the orignal components were heavily constrained to many other items. I was lazy and didn't want to re-connect all the constraint.

In the future i will likely create an assembly with the panel and the silkscreen as a sketch with text.