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Question about making a large array of really small circles HELP!

13 REPLIES 13
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Message 1 of 14
Palchesko
567 Views, 13 Replies

Question about making a large array of really small circles HELP!

I mainly use this program to design photomasks for photolithography.  I am trying to create a 0.5cm X 0.5cm area of 10 micron circles that are 20 microns apart.  A graduate student in my lab showed me how to make patterns by using the rectangular pattern button after drawing one circle.  I did that, and had it do the 30 micron spacing and 250 circles in each the horizontal and vertical direction.. However, this results in the program freezing every single time I try to do it and even if it didn't freeze it would take days to finish because that is about 27,500 circles total.  I have seen other people do similar things and have heard that is should be relatively easy. I have tried searching online and found nothing.  So I am curious, is ther any "easy" or easier way to do this. Currently I have drawn one square and am using the rectangular patter to draw only in one direction at a time and draw about 166 each time.  This hasn't made it freeze yet but is taking a while.

13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
Cadmanto
in reply to: Palchesko

Welcome to the forum.

First it would be helpful if you specify what version of Inventor you are running and what your system specs are. (i.e. memory, graphics card etc.)

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 3 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: Palchesko

I have tried on two different computers.

1. A MAC that is running windows.  Has Autodesk Inventor Professional 2012 Student edition. The computer has 12.0 GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics card.

 

2. A cyberpower PC that has Autodesk Inventor Professional 2013 student edition. The computer has 32.0GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 7900 graphics card.

 

One thing I did just notice as I was doing the line by line method, was that it told me at one point that the memory for the undo function had reached it's maximum and did I want to increase it.  Do you think that could be causing the rectangular pattern function to freeze?

 

Thank you for your help! If you need more info about the computers please let me know. This is my first real attempt to use AutoDesk so I am a little unfamiliar with what is important.

Message 4 of 14
Cadmanto
in reply to: Palchesko

Looks like your PC's are plenty powerful enough to handle the job.

I am not sure what you mean by line to line, but one thing I have learned about the pattern feature it is

better to select axis and planes instead of geometry edges.  More stable.

Can you post some images of what you are doing and the messages you are seeing like the maxed out

undo?

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 5 of 14
JDMather
in reply to: Palchesko

For large patterns use AutoCAD rather than Inventor.

If needed - you could then bring the dwg solid over into Inventor for everything else.


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Message 6 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: Cadmanto

Sorry for the confusion.  As for the line by line-I am using the pattern feature to only reproduce the cirlces (or squares) in one direction as opposed to two directions at once.  So instead of trying to do the whole 166X166 features at one time. I am doing 1X166 at a time and that is working better.  The only error message I received was about the memory for the "undo" feature.  The rest of the times it just freezes and stops working.

 

It is in the middle of running something right now so I can't post images, but perhaps once it stops I can.

Message 7 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: JDMather

Thanks for the response. I don't believe we have AutoCAD though 😞

Message 8 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: Cadmanto

What do you mean by axis and planes rather than geometry? I only know how to select what I want to reproduce and pick a direction.  I did notice there was a button that says geometry in there that I can unclick but that is it.

 

Message 9 of 14
Cadmanto
in reply to: Palchesko

I am referring when it comes to the direction select an axis or plane.

I have experienced inconsistant results when selecting geometry edges.

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 10 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: JDMather

I finally found that we have AutoCAD mechanical on the MAC that is running windows. But I have never used it so I am unsure of what to do.

Message 11 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: Cadmanto

Yeah, I have no idea how to do that. I just know how to select the side of the square I am drawing to pick the direction.

Message 12 of 14
Cadmanto
in reply to: Palchesko

I would start by creating an Inventor drawing of what you have and then calling that up in Autocad.

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 13 of 14
Palchesko
in reply to: Palchesko

Thanks everyone for helping. I was able to use AutoCAD to do what we needed to do and it took like no time at all. Smiley Sad

 

Thanks!

Message 14 of 14
Cadmanto
in reply to: Palchesko

Awesome.  Glad you found a solution that worked.

Make sure you mark this thread as resolved so ones in the future that have similar issues will

know what worked for you.

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


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