Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

alright autodesk. in inv6 i could rotate text in sketch mode in the .ipt
environment. now in inv6sp1 i can no longer rotate sketched text. this is
driving me insane because i find the edit coordinate systems the (edited)
feature that i have ever used. you know, many people have struggled with
this ucs thing. isn't it about time that you improve the ucs so we can
change it like mechanical desktop? i had to revert back to charles bliss' 3d
text feature just to get what i wanted. i think your emboss feature is
incredible, but if you cannot manipulate the usc or rotate sketch's then one
is pretty limited.

i might have eventually gotten the edit coordinate system to yield what i
wanted, but i don't have the luxury of 3 hours to fool around with it.

maybe release 7 will have the ability to change the ucs.

--
Mark A. Bystry
Engineer
Ziggity Systems, Inc.
mbystry@ziggity.com

[#2]

Yes, I've had intermittent results with the edit coordinate systems also.
When it works, it is great, but sometimes I just CAN NOT get it to respond.
The button goes down, it lets me select the origin, or the x axis, or the y
axis, then it prompts me to select, and I can't select anything. I haven't
had time to figure it out either. If the icon goes down, I would expect the
command to work.

I also tried rotating text first, and was dumbfounded to find that it wasn't
possible (is it?). Such a simple task - why should it be difficult?

Keith

[#3]

Not disagreeing about the rotate requirement but thought I would explain
part of "why". I believe that Autodesk is using the Windows capability
for manipulating the text. There is no "rotate" in it. HOWEVER: there
is a capability called escapement which could be used and I don't know
why they don't. To use this you have to perform some interesting math
and can end up with some odd results but it is possible. If I remember
correctly, this is how I did the text width in the 3DText tool.

Now, how to place Text at an angle using the R6 tool:
Create a new Sketch, put in a line which has the desired angle for your text
Close the sketch
Create a new sketch on the plane were you want the text
Close the sketch
Pick Edit Coordinate system on the sketch you just created
Pick the Blue Ball at the vertex of the XY figure
Pick the end of the line which describes the angle for the text
Pick the Red X Axis on the XY figure
Pick the Line which describes the Text Angle, RMB and pick Done

The sketch were you want to place the text is now aligned with the line
which has the desired angle. Just place the text as you normally would.
 To change the angle, open the sketch which has the angles line in it an
rotate or move it. This will cause the Sketch with the text to follow.

Previous versions of Inventor didn't let you define a Sketch Coordinate
system based on sketch geometry (at least not that I can remember).

[#4]

I have a question that ties into this a bit.

If I edit a sketch the last toolbutton on the panelbar is Edit Coordinate
system. If I click it it says I can't use it while Editing a sketch?? So
why put the toolbutton there? Same with sketch doctor... if there is a
coordinate system messed up and I follow the doctor through to where it puts
me in sketch mode I always have to exit sketch and RMB edit coordinate
system. I am obviously missing something but...???

--
Kent Keller
Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program

http://www.MyMcad.com/KWiK/Mcad.htm

"Charles Bliss" wrote in message
news:3DDF391A.8070407@cbliss.com...
> Not disagreeing about the rotate requirement but thought I would explain
> part of "why".

[#5]

Maybe I missed something here, but you shouldn't have to rotate the sketch
to get rotated text.
When creating text within a part sketch, Inventor creates a construction
rectangle without any orientation constraints.
The way i have been doing it is:
1. Set up my text (justification, size, font style and actual text) and
place it
2. Locate a corner point of the construction rectangle Inventor created. (
Either with a fix constraint or dimensions relative to other features. Just
make sure it is a point that you locate not the actual construction line)
3. Drag an opposite corner up or down to get the box to rotate.
4. Place an angle dimension to control rotation
5. Finish the sketch and create the emboss

Hope this helps
hal c.

"Mark A. Bystry" wrote in message
news:B94872C9BB5F3A945216C81985ABB674@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> alright autodesk. in inv6 i could rotate text in sketch mode in the .ipt
> environment. now in inv6sp1 i can no longer rotate sketched text. this is
> driving me insane because i find the edit coordinate systems the (edited)
> feature that i have ever used. you know, many people have struggled with
> this ucs thing. isn't it about time that you improve the ucs so we can
> change it like mechanical desktop? i had to revert back to charles bliss'
3d
> text feature just to get what i wanted. i think your emboss feature is
> incredible, but if you cannot manipulate the usc or rotate sketch's then
one
> is pretty limited.
>
> i might have eventually gotten the edit coordinate system to yield what i
> wanted, but i don't have the luxury of 3 hours to fool around with it.
>
> maybe release 7 will have the ability to change the ucs.
>
> --
> Mark A. Bystry
> Engineer
> Ziggity Systems, Inc.
> mbystry@ziggity.com
>
>

[#6]

thanks for everyone's help. the workarounds will help...but...it would be
nice if you could manipulate the usc tri-pod a little better in shetch mode.
just missing those autocad days when i had a 100 ways of getting the job
done. i'm done crying about it now...

[#7]

I have always thought this was stupid too. But while I was checking out what
Charles said on my 5.3, I was able to click the button in sketch mode (for
the first time in my life).

To add to what Charles said, I was able to change the coordinate system in a
pre-R6 version by having two perpendicular lines to pick from in the first
sketch. but I had to flip my normal on the workplane in order to get the
desired result.

--
K


"Kent Keller" wrote in message
news:252A7F468CEF43193CC4CD7DC8E2D7D3@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I have a question that ties into this a bit.
>
> If I edit a sketch the last toolbutton on the panelbar is Edit Coordinate
> system. If I click it it says I can't use it while Editing a sketch?? So
> why put the toolbutton there? Same with sketch doctor... if there is a
> coordinate system messed up and I follow the doctor through to where it
puts
> me in sketch mode I always have to exit sketch and RMB edit coordinate
> system. I am obviously missing something but...???
>
> --
> Kent Keller
> Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program
>
> http://www.MyMcad.com/KWiK/Mcad.htm
>
> "Charles Bliss" wrote in message
> news:3DDF391A.8070407@cbliss.com...
> > Not disagreeing about the rotate requirement but thought I would explain
> > part of "why".
>
>