Inventor to Showcase

[Anonymous]

I have an assy in Inventor 2013, but would like to open and render it in Showcase, but I only have Showcase 2012.

I get an error during the conversion process saying it simply can not import the file.

Am I not able to open an Inventor 2013 file in Showcase 2012?

Import Status report:

[Anonymous]

Well, one work around is to save the file as a STEP and import it into Showcase.

An extra step, but it works.

Would still like to know some possible answers with bringing in native Inventor files though.

[Anonymous]

Jim - I'm no help on your original question, but have had significantly better luck bringing in STEP files rather than native Inventor files anyway.  Aggravating, but consistently gives better results - I typically do small size, high-complexity stuff and Showcase mungs up most of the small details with straight IPT/IAM import.

[blair]

I normally use the 003-Small-Details setting. The "No Units" error is a puzzle though, I will see it at first when doing the import and the "grear" is spinning. Then it finishes the conversion and at the end shows the correct units. It's like the conversion is getting hung.

[blair]

Possibly check: Tools tab > Document Settings > Units tab and change units, and see if that makes any difference to the Inventor model before you import/convert into Showcase

[Anonymous]

Jim,

I just went through this exercise. Very frustrating. We're still using 2011 and from what I can tell, the workflows are supposed to be better using 2012/13.

I have had no problem getting parts into ShowCase but only marginal luck with assemblies.

I suspect project files to be part of the problem as well as dirty parts and assemblies that work just fine but aren't clean enough to survive importing.

I had the "can't import" error (troubling after all that sunk time with no progress indicator) as well as "no units".

I also have available a seat with the full Productivity Suite 2013. I did a pack-n-go on the assembly, took it to a local sandbox, opened and saved in 2013, then tried the direct workflow and it still wouldn't go. I was able to take the assembly through NavisWorks and export it as an FBX file which opens just fine in ShowCase. 

The maddening part was that I was able to work on the file in Inventor Studio, its just that the process time and subsequent re4solution of the output was not nearly as good as what I could get in ShowCase.

Gary

Inventor Routed Systems 2011
3 GHZ Intel Xeon
8 GB RAM
Quadro 2000 v276.19 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 memory
Windows 7 - 64 bit

[blair]

Make sure you have all the SP's installed for Showcase.

[Anonymous]

Roger that on the SP's. Even after dropping them on 2013 I had no luck.

In the end, I got what I needed - a workable workflow  (albeit, through NavisWorks when required).

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone!

I do think a good part of the problems may be very well due to "dirty" files and differing units (if that's the case).

I'm just looking to make some decent looking presentation files for a client and figured Showcase would be the best option for being able to show the base assembly and then be able to cycle thru the different varients for that base assembly.

Would doing this in Inventor Studio be a better fit?

I've never used Studio and have only played with Showcase, so I'm a complete newbee on both.

[Anonymous]

Jim,

Inventor Studio will very likely open your assembly and generate a rendering.

Studio doesn't "remember" you scene and needs to initialize each time, which is time consuming.

What ShowCase rendered for me in under five minutes, Studio took 2 hours - each time.

The fooling around that I did to get the model INTO ShowCase ate up time, but now that its there, I can generate render variations in about 2 minutes each.

Also, ShowCase will output a much larger file as far as pixel resolution.

Studio has been neglected as far as ADSK development because their emphasis has been on ShowCase as a solution across their product suite.

Gary

[fin.winther]

I am having the same issue with importing PIT into Showcase.

We have two computer with Showcase 2014. One of them import IPT just fine, the other one fail on the same file.

I have not be able to find any difference in the settings or preference.

It is a time consuming process for us to export to STEP file or DWG first, as there often are adjustment to our models, and if the person updating the part forget to export a Step file, there is no indication in Showcase that the files has been updated. And with 5.000 products it has proven had to keep track of updated models.

It would be great if Showcase could identify what the issue is when a import fail, even the log file is not much help.

Fin Winther,

Graphic Designer