Auto Dimensioning when opening a drawing file of an assembly

[Anonymous]

Hello

I am using inventor 2011. My question would be is there a possible way to auto dimension a drawing file of an assembly once I want to create a drawing file.. It's a bit too daunting to dimension parts when u have more than 100 parts involved.

Regards

Alex

[JDMather]

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello

I am using inventor 2011. My question would be is there a possible way to auto dimension a drawing file of an assembly once I want to create a drawing file.. It's a bit too daunting to dimension parts when u have more than 100 parts involved.

Regards

Alex

---

1. An assembly drawing generally has only a few key dimensions.
2. Dimensioning means more than dimensioning - the dimensions indicate design intent, manufacturing considerations and inspection rules.  I have yet to see a computer software that can think for you - do your job for you.

There are some semi-autodimensioning tools built in Inventor and more auto drawing/dimension in Inventor Tooling, but you should still be doing your job.  If this is too daunting, hire someone to do the job.

[Anonymous]

I'm with JD.

Unless your parts are just super simple, auto dims are just garbage.

I routinely clean up drawingd dim'ed by others that are cluttered and dimensioned in a way that causes manufacturing to have to interpret or guess at some critical feature.

The point is, creating a well dimensioned drawing is about communication with another person(s) and just slapping dimensions on the sheet is never the best approach, and in the end will result in the wasting of a lot of time and money downstream.

With that said, if you really plan out your parts, you can place your sketch dims in views and orientations that lend themselves to using the retrieve dimension option for each view. We have some parts where I take the time to do this, but for the most part I'd say sketching this way is not very realistic. So generally you'll need to tweak dims after they've been retrieved either way.

Also there is an option to retrieve dimensions when the view is created that mey help:

OptionsDrawing tab

Retrieve all model dimensions on view placement

Sets the default for retrieving all model dimensions when placing a view in a drawing. When the check box is selected, all applicable model dimensions are added to each drawing view when they are placed.

Clear the check box to retrieve dimensions manually after view placement.

[coreyparks]

If all your looking for is to Auto Ballon you can do that.  Hit the little arrow under the Balloon buttun and then select the autoballon function.  It has some different ways you can set up the callouts and such.  However like the others said about autodimensioning it never seems to do this operation the cleanest.  I find myself tweaking things quite a bit to clean it up.  I usually just ballon each part myself.  If you are woriied about missing a part callout just edit the parts list you have placed in the drawing and look down the left side.  This will tell you what parts have been ballooned and which have not.

[Anonymous]

1. My boss came up with this idea of auto dimensioning some parts using either VBA or API or iLogic. That's why I am trying to ask for solutions here as a final resort to see whether anybody has come up with a solution to solve this problem.

Considering as one of my task, i have an assembly which involves changing of mid sections with different dimensions attached to a head and a tail. As shown below, A1 A2 A3 have different overall lengths and different mid sections.

A1     |-------|------------|-----|------|

A2    |-------|------|----|-----|------|----|----|

A3    |-------|---|-----|----|-----|-----|----|-----|-----|------|

Something similar to trains with lots of carriage mid sections. The IDEA I have is to draw the dimensions on sheet1 as reference. And thus Auto dimensioning with reference to sheet 1 so that i dont have to repeat the same thing doing the same thing for A2 and A3. So my idea of a solution to this is to try and write a rule or to write a program on VBA or iLogic to see whether it is viable.

It might sound like a dumb task to do but I am TRYING to figure out whether this is viable.

2. I am the hired guy to do this job...So yea.Thanks for the advice.Appreciate the advice.

[Anonymous]

"You should still be doing your job" is pretty critical and is incorrect, second you failed to provide him with what auto tools were available. Inventor is computer software that does thinking for you. Conversions, stress testing, even colors is all done so that you don't have to mentally process it. If anything dimensioning should be automatic because dimensions should follow a consistent standard to be universally understood. The job of the engineer is to create intelligent ideas and new designs, and a good engineer does not mean someone who can label already known lengths according to standards. That is a mundane number crunching task creating plenty of opportunities for human error to under, over, or incorrectly dimension the parts.

I agree I do not know of anyone who has made a successful program do this however that sounds more like an opportunity on Autodesk's part than laziness on engineers side.

So long as the drawing is going to someone who is going to be manufacturing it; it needs to follow standards. However if you are dimensioning something to make the general shape understood by someone who doesn't use standards and won't be manufacturing it; that is a different story. (However I believe even that can eventually be done with good programming). Design intent and other inputs by the engineer can be made separately with less wasted time.

[Rmuthiah]

Hello

I am using Auto desk inventor 2012 in Rotating equipment's (Mechanical seals) design My question would be is there a possible way to auto dimension a drawing file based on X and Y Co-ordinates (0,0)

(or) any possible to Get all the dimensions automatically in Rotating equipment part drawings (Drawing file)

Please provide your valuable suggestions

thanks

[dotails]

Alex, is it okay that I share that I thought this seemed a bit mean or shortsighted. As software develops it is appropriate for people to expect it to get out of they're way and allow them to design, just them and the model and the software taking the tedious and technical out of the way as much as you want. So you say annotate and it anotates and then you just delete the one's you don't want instead of trying to remember all the one's you do. This is a good thought process that should be encouraged so that it ripples into a feature down the road.

[Anonymous]

Alex, I'm in the same position you were a few years ago.... I was told to automatically provide an outline drawing for our customer, and my career with this employer may depend on it.  Did you every find a way to accomplish this, or did you find any useful information on this topic? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kelly.young · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous I see that you are visiting as a new member to the Inventor Forum.
Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

There isn't a surefire way to auto-dimension as most of the previous replies have stated. Don't be too eager for the day we can auto-dimension better than you can otherwise that career will be in serious jeopardy.

A good way to get started to save you some time would be to select the view and create a Baseline or Ordinate or Chain dimension depending on what your employer is looking for and your design field is.

Here is a short and quick screencast that shows how to lay down dimensions everywhere. Then you can go back and clean up, arrange, add bend notes, leaders, etc. I would use this to get the basics down and then implement your drafter magic.

Hope this helps!

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[JDMather]

Man, I was a bit rough 7 yrs ago.

I think I might have mellowed a bit with age.

There is a sort of auto-drawing and dimensioning tool in the Mold Design (tooling) environment that I think might be tricked into working with any assembly - but I have never tried.

It is kind of fun to sit back and watch it create 200 dimensioned drawings.

[Anonymous]

I don't have the Mold Design environment but thank you for the advice JD.  I think Kelly might have the best route to take so far. Thank you guys!

[cadman777]

SDS/2, Tekla and Advance Steel have "automatic drawing creation" and "automatic dimensioning" of views.

Everybody who uses AS & Tekla (don't know about SDS/2) says it's great for single parts, but sucks for ISO's and GA's.

I've seen drgs of STRUCTURAL assemblies which are very good, but not so much for NONstructural assemblies.

Lotta manual work involved.

That's always the problem with automatic drawing creation and dimensioning.

Considering that automatic drawing creation and dimensioning is such a big help when there are over 100 unique parts in a large assembly, one would THINK that Autodesk would have created such an app for Inventor.

I can't tell you HOW MUCH TIME I WASTE LAYING DOWN FLAT PATTERN VIEWS ON DRAWINGS SHEETS AT THE END OF A DESIGN CYCLE! Same with individual details. AUTOMATIC DRAWING CREATION AND DIMENSIONING would save me at least 3 days' work on a normal job.

Same with STRUCTURAL and Inventor: the FrameGenerator SUCKS for structural, b/c there are no AUTOMATIC CONNECTIONS like the above mentioned structural softwares have. This subject could easily become a rant.

Anyways, it's VERY SAD that nothing of substance has been added to Inventor for the past DECADE to help us production design-drafters!

[cadman777]

Here's a link showing SDS/2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DobOBU0-_hA

Advance Steel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puuKyEU4beo

Tekla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZaT3C8hi9U

           Same with part drawings, but easier.

           And modeling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBOlKlN6cGg

           Think: FRAME GENERATOR

[cadman777]

To give you an idea how this works, you can download an educational or trial version of Tekla here:
https://download.tekla.com/tekla-structures/for-businesses

Just install is and it will get you into the tutorial part.

I don't know about SDS/2 or AS, if there's a trial or educational version like Tekla has.

But I hear SDS/2 has THE BEST structural "automatic drawings" and "automatic dimensions" of all the programs available in the world.

This is just an FYI to give you an idea of what FRAME GENERATOR could be if Autodesk wanted to add substantial enhancements to Inventor. It will also give you an idea of what Inventor could have along the lines of "automatic drawings" and "automatic dimensions" if Autodesk wanted to add substantial enhancements to the program.

The way things are going in the "global market", Inventor has become a 2nd Rate CAD program. AutoCAD isn't even worth using anymore. Inventor's WAY over-priced for what it has to offer. Plus, Autodesk has shifted the burden onto their END USERS for the work that their programmers are supposed to be doing to enhance the program. Not many of us are programmers. Nor do many of us have time to "customize" our CAD tools, and there certainly isn't any point wasting time and money customizing this dead-end program at the price-point.

My proof that Inventor is now a 2nd Rate program (and is DYING) is the amount of work I lost to foreign slave labor and "the big boys". I just can't compete with the time restrictions and pricing they offer my former customers. One example is, I never get STRUCTURAL work anymore b/c it all goes to ONE SHOP in the area that is totally CNC, and uses TEKLA exclusively. So even if I COULD compete using enhancements to Inventor, the fact remains that they DO NOT WANT and CAN NOT USE Inventor files.

So, unless I pimp myself out to that whore corporation and work using Tekla, I'm not going to get any more STRUCTURAL work. Machinery design has gone over to INDIA or to the "automated". My neighbor comes from the very city that employs most of those INDIAN CAD operators.

Then there's the machine design-manufacturing businesses IN EUROPE that now gets most of the work I used to do designing and drafting drawings for building machinery. How can I compete with THAT? AUTOCAD AND INVENTOR DO NOT GIVE ME ANY COMPETITIVE EDGE. Plus, the PRICING of the two programs and their suites is OUTRAGEOUS.

So what benefit does AutoCAD and Inventor give me in THAT market? Cabisci?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Chris,

I fully understand your sentiment to Inventor and Autodesk. You have expressed it in other threads before. It is true Inventor lacks the ability to create drawing views automatically. It is also true that Frame Gen has room for improvement. But, please refrain from generalized comments. It is a stretch to say nothing substantial was added to Inventor in the past 10 years. You are entitled to your opinions. We have million users worldwide using it for production works and learning. It is unfortunately, Inventor isn't working well for you.

You are still on Inventor 2010. The latest release is 2019. I encourage you to take a look and see if it works better for you, though no automated drawing. Please give us feedback so we can make it better.

Inventor is still growing in healthy pace. It is one of the most popular mechanical CAD systems on the market at the moment. I am not sure I understand what you meant by Inventor dying. Do you have information that I don't have access to? I would love to see the proof.

Many thanks!