Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

Hello.

I have been playing with Autodesk Inventor for a while and I have got questions about it:

I have an assembly (human hand model) and I have to draw parts to fit around it (gaming controller).

1. How do I rotate an  extruded object? I see an option that would let me move it around freely, but nothing to let me rotate it against other geometries in the part I am working on.
2. I have planes drawn in my new component. When I try to select parts of the human hand assembly to trace geometry onto my sketches of future controls around the curvature of the hand, sometimes Inventor wont let me trace the 3d objects. Simetimes it will. Why?
3. Why cant I delete points that I add, but I can delete planes that I add?
4. Why wouldn't Inventor let me extrude a sketch in such way that it adds with another extruded geometry, but only allows me to cut through other geometry with my new extrusion?(sounds like I cant expalin to the computer that I am working on a specific region at a specific time)

Technically the my question is: How do I set up my work environment if I want to draw my new parts (controls) around an existing (human hand) model that has an organic shape?

Do I have to work inside a component environment (vs a part environment)?

This is where I got the hand model: http://grabcad.com/library/human-left-hand

No center lines to tell me where finger symmetry lines are. Is there a good way to find those.

LINKS to good youtube videos explaining how to do things are welcome

Maybe I dont know the terminology to look for the right videos.

Thank you.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

First of all I recommend that you go through ALL of the tutorials in my signature.

You are attempting an advanced problem that probably takes 3 years to learn.

Attach your file here.

For Rotate of a feature it is under Move Bodies

The reason you can only Cut is because your sketch is at the assembly level rather than at the part level within the context of the assembly.  (just like the real world behavior)

You should probably be using multi-body solid techniques and/or derived components rather than assembly anyhow.

Attach your file(s) here.

[#3]

Thank you.

3 years is a lot of time. All I know is all I could find in the videos. If there were more videos about how to work with odd shapes, I could save a lot of time.

Pretty much all I need to make a model for is promotional purposes so it has to be accurate only for the looks or if I want to show some concepts.

[#4]

I want to refine my question:

How would I make copies of 3d outer surfaces of the hand assembly into the parts that I am drawing?

Copy->Paste is not allowed for individual parts so I cant just copy parts of the hand model into my new folder where I am attempting to build a controler.

I see under 3D sketch that I can make a 3D sketch based oon edges of geometry, but there seems to be no way to select all those edges at once, only to click one by one.

[#5]

This doesn't seem like an appropriate application for Inventor. I'm not familiar with other AutoDesk products, but you might want to look into something like 3DSMax. Inventor is meant for manufacturing.

[#6]

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mailswamp wrote:

I want to refine my question:

How would I make copies of 3d outer surfaces of the hand assembly into the parts that I am drawing?

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Since you are making a controller (I assume this is some sort of mechanical glove) this is a valid application of Inventor (if my assumption is correct).

Did you download a surface or solid or stl of the hand file?

If surface or solid the command is Copy Object.

I think you would then want to do Thicken/Offset.

[#7]

Thank you.

At this point I am trying to copy elements (two phalanxes of each finger from the hand model) and join those falanxes so they become a single 3D object, but the program wont let me perform any operations on them.

When I try to copy two phalanxes , they come out separated and this is a problem because I need my input device allignment to match the original hand.

Pretty much I want to make a 3D replica of each fingertip and make a shell around it.

How would I do it in Inventor Pro?

Inventor Fusion is a good program but it is not designed to handle mechaincs and it has bugs and ocomplaines that operations are too complex.

When I tried to make fingertips into shells, the program complained to me that "a hollow object cannot be made into shell". But how do I make it not hollow than?

I even tried using Solidworks but I ran into similar problems.

It all boils down to :

I have an organicly shaped assembly and I am tryiung to cast a set of organically shaped parts off of it.

When I solve this problem I will make a youtube film because it seems like none exist.

[#8]

Have you gone through the built in Help>Learning Tools>Tutorials and Skillbuilders? 

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2013&product=Inve...

Have you gone through Curtis's tutorials

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html

Have you gone through the tutorials in my signature?

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/content/DSG322/inventor_surface_tutorials.htm

Have you gone through the Surfacing classes available here http://au.autodesk.com

Have you gone through Ed Eaton's and Matt Lombards available tutorials?

What book are you using to learn Inventor?

You will have to do a minimum of this preparation before even beginning to tackling your problem.

Inventor (and SolidWorks) is a professional program and deserves (requires?) a professional level of prepartion.

What you are trying to do is an advanced topic at the limits of Inventor capability, usually not tackled until years of basic experience is under your belt.

Early on in your training the trainer should have drilled into your head (or even just going through the built-in Tutorials) that an assembly file (*.iam) by itself is useless.  An iam file is little more than a list of hyperlinks to the part (*.ipt) files and a record of assembly constraints.

[#9]

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mailswamp wrote:

When I solve this problem I will make a youtube film because it seems like none exist.

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Looking forward to your video.  I suggest that you also submit a paper proposal on the process to http://au.autodesk.com and http://www.augi.com AUGI World publication.  (You might as well try to get a trip to Vegas out of the effort.)

[#10]

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mailswamp wrote:

3 years is a lot of time.

Pretty much all I need to make a model for is promotional purposes  ....for the looks or if I want to show some concepts.

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Oops, just read this.
Inventor might not be the right tool for concept art.

But I suspect any tool will take some time to master enough to complete this project.