Importing 2D Autocad geometry into Inventor

[Anonymous]

I was hoping someone could tell me how in import 2D geometry into Inventor so I do not have to redraw the profile, only extrude the existing geometry. I tried to export from Autocad a IGES file, and then create a sketch plane in Inventor and project the geometry onto the sketch plane, but I ended up with a bunch of open loops. Perhaps, I have figured it out and real question is how to I close open loops?

Thanks,
Craig

[Anonymous]

Start a new sketch and hit the Acad button on the Feature Panel.

QBZ


wrote in message news:5060590@discussion.autodesk.com...
I was hoping someone could tell me how in import 2D geometry into Inventor
so I do not have to redraw the profile, only extrude the existing geometry.
I tried to export from Autocad a IGES file, and then create a sketch plane
in Inventor and project the geometry onto the sketch plane, but I ended up
with a bunch of open loops. Perhaps, I have figured it out and real
question is how to I close open loops?

Thanks,
Craig

[Anonymous]

Hello Quinn,

I am also new to AutoCAD and I have imported a .dxf profile from AutoCAD into Inventor. But i am having problems with creating the extrusion. Did I get something wrong? I am able to get the extrude but it only extrudes the profile and i am not gettting a Volume or a 3D extrusion.

Any idea what i should do to fix it?

Thanks!

Jimmy

[SBix26]

First, Quinn's message is more than seven years old, and he has not posted here for a long time.

As for your question: using AutoCAD to create sketches for Inventor is a "sketchy" practice at best.  Inventor requires a closed profile to produce a solid, and apparently the dxf profile is not completely closed.  Re-create the sketch in Inventor and make sure it is completely dimensioned and constrained to the origin.  Now you have complete control of it and can make changes as you wish.

It sounds as if you may not have had much (any?) training.  I'd recommend you start with this tutorial from JDMather: http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf.  If you'd like help with a particular modeling task, post your file here and someone (maybe Dr. Mather, if you're lucky!) will point you in the right direction, or in several right directions.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

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[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It seems that either the AutoCAD Sketch is not completely closed or coincident constraints are not properly applied. Could you attach the DWG file here or send it to me (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)?

Thanks!

[BarryZA]

What I do is exit the sketch and create a boundary patch of the profile.

Create new sketch on the plane and project cut edges.

New sketch comes across as a closed loop and extrudes.

[Anonymous]

In addition to being old, I'm pretty sure that Quinn's reply was firmly tongue-in-cheek.

The challenge with importing from ACAD is that unless YOU created the ACAD file, you have no idea how good the geometry is. It is not uncommon for "quick and dirty" work to survive as DWG files that worked fine when they were simply drawings but not so good as the basis for generating a sketch.

Often the end points are not coincident.

When the 3 DWG tutorials were created that are included with Inventor, care was taken to ensure that the geometry was clean and that the sketches worked as the basis for solid features.

The routine advice is to just re-draw the geometry.

- Gary