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Content or iFeature?

11 REPLIES 11
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Message 1 of 12
Anonymous
259 Views, 11 Replies

Content or iFeature?

This may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most of my design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws, nuts, dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little customization to our pull-down menus we are able to select what we need and insert it into our drawing. This is very fast, literally takes seconds and does not disrupt the design process. What is the best way to emulate this in Inventor? When I access the content library it just seems to takes too long to navigate, although iDrop is nice! I know I can copy content to my CAD one at a time but is there a way to batch copy many items to build our own custom libraries? Should I take the time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather than using content ? Or, am I going about this all-wrong being new to the modeling world?
11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Try iparts www.cbliss.com for parts and www.sdotson.com for iparts
tutorial. That will get you started.

--
Cory McConnell
BJ pipeline Inspection
"tmalinski" wrote in message
news:f125536.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> This may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most
of my design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws,
nuts, dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little customization
to our pull-down menus we are able to select what we need and insert it into
our drawing. This is very fast, literally takes seconds and does not disrupt
the design process. What is the best way to emulate this in Inventor? When I
access the content library it just seems to takes too long to navigate,
although iDrop is nice! I know I can copy content to my CAD one at a time
but is there a way to batch copy many items to build our own custom
libraries? Should I take the time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather
than using content ? Or, am I going about this all-wrong being new to the
modeling world?
>
Message 3 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

tmalinsky,

I understand what you are asking for.

Although IV is the latest and greatest, and is made
by the same company as ACAD, until now there is no functionality built-in that
comes close to what you are doing in ACAD and MDT libraries in ease of use,
flexibility and speed.

The way Adesk now took with the content in IV6 is,
according to common sense in this NG and to my personal opinion, not the best
one.

But there is hope for the near future:

- Iparts seem to gain and are a great
concept

- Genius Inventor will be released soon and will
provide exactly the same functionality  known from MDT-PP

 

Regards,
--
Leo Laimer
Maschinen-
und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
This
may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most of my
design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws, nuts,
dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little customization to our
pull-down menus we are able to select what we need and insert it into our
drawing. This is very fast, literally takes seconds and does not disrupt the
design process. What is the best way to emulate this in Inventor? When I
access the content library it just seems to takes too long to navigate,
although iDrop is nice! I know I can copy content to my CAD one at a time but
is there a way to batch copy many items to build our own custom libraries?
Should I take the time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather than using
content ? Or, am I going about this all-wrong being new to the modeling
world?
Message 4 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"Genius Inventor will be released
soon..."

 

Why doesn't that comfort me <g>


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for the
weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

tmalinsky,

I understand what you are asking
for.

Although IV is the latest and greatest, and is
made by the same company as ACAD, until now there is no functionality built-in
that comes close to what you are doing in ACAD and MDT libraries in ease of
use, flexibility and speed.

The way Adesk now took with the content in IV6
is, according to common sense in this NG and to my personal opinion, not the
best one.

But there is hope for the near
future:

- Iparts seem to gain and are a great
concept

- Genius Inventor will be released soon and will
provide exactly the same functionality  known from MDT-PP

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
This
may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most of my
design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws, nuts,
dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little customization to our
pull-down menus we are able to select what we need and insert it into our
drawing. This is very fast, literally takes seconds and does not disrupt the
design process. What is the best way to emulate this in Inventor? When I
access the content library it just seems to takes too long to navigate,
although iDrop is nice! I know I can copy content to my CAD one at a time
but is there a way to batch copy many items to build our own custom
libraries? Should I take the time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather
than using content ? Or, am I going about this all-wrong being new to the
modeling world?
Message 5 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Sean,

may you tell me seriously, why this doesn't comfort
you?

 

Regards,
--
Leo Laimer
Maschinen-
und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">

"Genius Inventor will be released
soon..."

 

Why doesn't that comfort me
<g>


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for
the weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">

tmalinsky,

I understand what you are asking
for.

Although IV is the latest and greatest, and is
made by the same company as ACAD, until now there is no functionality
built-in that comes close to what you are doing in ACAD and MDT libraries in
ease of use, flexibility and speed.

The way Adesk now took with the content in IV6
is, according to common sense in this NG and to my personal opinion, not the
best one.

But there is hope for the near
future:

- Iparts seem to gain and are a great
concept

- Genius Inventor will be released soon and
will provide exactly the same functionality  known from
MDT-PP

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl -
Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
This
may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most of
my design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws, nuts,
dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little customization to
our pull-down menus we are able to select what we need and insert it into
our drawing. This is very fast, literally takes seconds and does not
disrupt the design process. What is the best way to emulate this in
Inventor? When I access the content library it just seems to takes too
long to navigate, although iDrop is nice! I know I can copy content to my
CAD one at a time but is there a way to batch copy many items to build our
own custom libraries? Should I take the time and create libraries of
"iFeatures" rather than using content ? Or, am I going about this
all-wrong being new to the modeling
world?
Message 6 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I wasn't very impressed with the Genius release for
AutoCAD Mechanical or Desktop when it first came out.  I know it did get
better but I had lots of problems at first.  Also the current content
library (I believe) is created by the same company that was originally
associated with the Genius product (I could be wrong on this but I heard this a
while back).  Is the company that is making genius for Inventor (
href="http://www.genius.de/gb/">http://www.genius.de/gb/
) the same one that
did it for AutoCAD / MDT?

 

I think the only way to make a content library 100%
customizable is to use iparts (possibly built into the system) in some
manner.  (My two cents)


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for the
weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

Sean,

may you tell me seriously, why this doesn't
comfort you?

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"Genius Inventor will be released
soon..."

 

Why doesn't that comfort me
<g>


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for
the weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

tmalinsky,

I understand what you are asking
for.

Although IV is the latest and greatest, and
is made by the same company as ACAD, until now there is no functionality
built-in that comes close to what you are doing in ACAD and MDT libraries
in ease of use, flexibility and speed.

The way Adesk now took with the content in
IV6 is, according to common sense in this NG and to my personal opinion,
not the best one.

But there is hope for the near
future:

- Iparts seem to gain and are a great
concept

- Genius Inventor will be released soon and
will provide exactly the same functionality  known from
MDT-PP

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl -
Austria


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
This
may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most of
my design life, I am used to having libraries of components (screws,
nuts, dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little
customization to our pull-down menus we are able to select what we need
and insert it into our drawing. This is very fast, literally takes
seconds and does not disrupt the design process. What is the best way to
emulate this in Inventor? When I access the content library it just
seems to takes too long to navigate, although iDrop is nice! I know I
can copy content to my CAD one at a time but is there a way to batch
copy many items to build our own custom libraries? Should I take the
time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather than using content ? Or,
am I going about this all-wrong being new to the modeling
world?
Message 7 of 12
davej
in reply to: Anonymous

It seems like, even though iParts are part of Inventor, ADesk would rather go with an inferior method of producing standard parts. I don't get that.
Message 8 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Sean,

You were absolutely right if the company we are
speaking about wasn't Adesk...

 

Genius for 2d was absolutely great

Genius desktop was a bit weak and slow at the
beginning, but was absolutely great later on

Adesk bought Genius, cut off some pieces, and
remarketed it as PP (which is still very good, fast and stable)

We use this product every day with good succes,
actually we love it because it supports European Standards very
well

The company Genius (German native) was renamed into
Web2Cad

Now Web2Cad makes Genius Inventor, which is said
was a bit weak at first launch this spring

I hope very much that Genius Inventor will solve
this ugly library / standard parts problem soon and as nice as PP
does

Hopefully they are using the ipart technology,
and hopefully they are designing a really streamlined UI.

 

Regards,
--
Leo Laimer
Maschinen-
und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">

I wasn't very impressed with the Genius release
for AutoCAD Mechanical or Desktop when it first came out.  I know it did
get better but I had lots of problems at first.  Also the current content
library (I believe) is created by the same company that was originally
associated with the Genius product (I could be wrong on this but I heard this
a while back).  Is the company that is making genius for Inventor (
href="http://www.genius.de/gb/">http://www.genius.de/gb/
) the same one
that did it for AutoCAD / MDT?

 

I think the only way to make a content library
100% customizable is to use iparts (possibly built into the system) in
some manner.  (My two cents)


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for
the weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">

Sean,

may you tell me seriously, why this doesn't
comfort you?

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl -
Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
"Sean Dotson" <sean at sdotson dot com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag

href="news:B3CEE9E96EC5746FBBBADA8AFB4CB4D7@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:B3CEE9E96EC5746FBBBADA8...
...

"Genius Inventor will be released
soon..."

 

Why doesn't that comfort me
<g>


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is
for the weak..
-----------------------------------------


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">

tmalinsky,

I understand what you are asking
for.

Although IV is the latest and greatest, and
is made by the same company as ACAD, until now there is no functionality
built-in that comes close to what you are doing in ACAD and MDT
libraries in ease of use, flexibility and speed.

The way Adesk now took with the content in
IV6 is, according to common sense in this NG and to my personal opinion,
not the best one.

But there is hope for the near
future:

- Iparts seem to gain and are a great
concept

- Genius Inventor will be released soon and
will provide exactly the same functionality  known from
MDT-PP

 

Regards,
--
Leo
Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl -
Austria


style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
This
may be trivial to some but having worked in the 2d Autocad world most
of my design life, I am used to having libraries of components
(screws, nuts, dowels, etc) located on our network. Then with a little
customization to our pull-down menus we are able to select what we
need and insert it into our drawing. This is very fast, literally
takes seconds and does not disrupt the design process. What is the
best way to emulate this in Inventor? When I access the content
library it just seems to takes too long to navigate, although iDrop is
nice! I know I can copy content to my CAD one at a time but is there a
way to batch copy many items to build our own custom libraries? Should
I take the time and create libraries of "iFeatures" rather than using
content ? Or, am I going about this all-wrong being new to the
modeling
world?
Message 9 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I don't generally have much need for the type of parts found in these built in library's,
so I always avoided the PowerPack stuff. The few times I used it I found the menu
structure and speed to be just as bad as Inventors current version.

One of the problems for me with the inclusion of the powerpack stuff in MDT was that it
pushed the European standards to much. In one of the Beta's we had a discussion, and it
was said that the European company's don't want their users to have the ability to change
the standards in any way.... this was causing problems getting things set up here in the
states where our standards vary greatly, and many of us use our own concoctions If it
doesn't have flexibility then it is a waste of time IMO.

But the bottom line like Sean has been preaching Until what ever method they come up
with next allows you to add your own company's info and standard, it will continue to be
pretty worthless for most.

--
Kent
Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program


"Leo Laimer" wrote in message
news:77C2C455BD3697DDBCBAD103731E6BA8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Sean,
> You were absolutely right if the company we are speaking about wasn't Adesk...
>
> Genius for 2d was absolutely great
> Genius desktop was a bit weak and slow at the beginning, but was absolutely great later
on
> Adesk bought Genius, cut off some pieces, and remarketed it as PP (which is still very
good, fast and stable)
> We use this product every day with good succes, actually we love it because it supports
European Standards very well
Message 10 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous


"But the bottom line like Sean has been preaching
<G>  Until what ever method they come up with next allows you to add
your own company's info and standard, it will continue to be pretty worthless
for most."


size=2>----------------------------------------------

Amen brother!

 

see post above..."An
iParts Content Library you say...?"  <vbg>


--
Sean
Dotson, PE

size=2>http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is
for the weak..
Message 11 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Kent,
Oh please, give us Europeans a tiny chance to get our work done properly!

Standards are standards, and not something custom-made.
But if you had a chance to see a Genius whiz once, you knew how to change
each&everything inside PP (and add entries)

There are some huge advantages of PP over content lib when it comes to ease
of use:
- huge dialog boxes with big buttons and clear symbols
- very few mouseclicks to get the work done
- complete sets of fasteners in one shot
- use of power copy/edit to change number, type and size
- on-the-fly calculation
- correct overlength of 2...3 pitches protruding the bolt over the nut -
automatically! I'm working for the car industry many times and cannot point
out enough how important this tiny detail is!
- correct length of bolt thread indicated by a small groove - again a very
important detail! (No, this thread bitmap in IV doesn't replace the need of
the groove because in wireframe mode and in cut view you won't see this
bitmap)
- correct BOM entry with absolute correct DIN/ISO naming
- local sub's in MDT holding a fastener set together

Guys, this seem to be small details...But for my work this is one of the
most important things of a CAD package! A typical project here will consist
of about 500...1000 parts and subs (maybe 200...400 of them being unique),
and of 500...1500 instances of fasteners and other standard parts. So,
actually we spend little time with modeling, but most of the time assembling
and inserting "content" (Brrrr...)

Well, forgive me if I overlooked some features of the content library in
IV6 - hadn't had much play around yet.

Regards,
--
Leo Laimer
Maschinen- und Fertigungstechnik
A-4820 Bad Ischl - Austria



"Kent Keller" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:C12B28A9375281EFEC80CE05EFCC7AD0@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I don't generally have much need for the type of parts found in these
built in library's,
> so I always avoided the PowerPack stuff. The few times I used it I found
the menu
> structure and speed to be just as bad as Inventors current version.
>
> One of the problems for me with the inclusion of the powerpack stuff in
MDT was that it
> pushed the European standards to much. In one of the Beta's we had a
discussion, and it
> was said that the European company's don't want their users to have the
ability to change
> the standards in any way.... this was causing problems getting things set
up here in the
> states where our standards vary greatly, and many of us use our own
concoctions If it
> doesn't have flexibility then it is a waste of time IMO.
>
> But the bottom line like Sean has been preaching Until what ever
method they come up
> with next allows you to add your own company's info and standard, it will
continue to be
> pretty worthless for most.
>
> --
> Kent
> Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program
>
>
> "Leo Laimer" wrote in message
> news:77C2C455BD3697DDBCBAD103731E6BA8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Sean,
> > You were absolutely right if the company we are speaking about wasn't
Adesk...
> >
> > Genius for 2d was absolutely great
> > Genius desktop was a bit weak and slow at the beginning, but was
absolutely great later
> on
> > Adesk bought Genius, cut off some pieces, and remarketed it as PP (which
is still very
> good, fast and stable)
> > We use this product every day with good succes, actually we love it
because it supports
> European Standards very well
>
>
Message 12 of 12
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

--
Kent
Member of the Autodesk Discussion Forum Moderator Program


"Leo Laimer" wrote in message
news:762BD8B5AC5DE0AF6DB62C51AC2C2148@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Kent,
> Oh please, give us Europeans a tiny chance to get our work done properly!

I have no problem with you getting your work done properly if it doesn't affect me getting
mine done. 8^) In MDT one of the things that drove me crazy was for instance change the
color of a certain text, then change the text size and the color changes. Yes you can
get what you want, but why oh why do they think it is a good idea to change something I
have specifically set the way I want it.

>
> Standards are standards, and not something custom-made.

I don't think that is quite as true here in the states. I am very weak in using any Set
standard, but the companys I work with and I have agreed on things that make both our
lives easier, but don't necissarily follow any standard. I go with whatever works. 8^)

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