Dimension to Theoretical Intersection

[AceRimmer]

I read countless posts on this subject and I had a MarterGraphics tech try it over VNC and he could not make it work. So what makes the picks work? The right click resets the dim so you can't really pick the intersection. At random you can get two lines to work but the intersection between an arc and a line seems not possible. This is a bona fide  bug. Right? I have read posts that go back 5 or more years. Will they ever fix it? If they did fix it. What version does it work. I have 2011 and it don't work. Can I revert back to a version before they broke it?

[cbenner]

In the dimension command, pick one line or edge that forms the theoretical intersection, RMB and select "Intersection", then select the other line or edge that forms the intersection.  This counts as the first pick of your dimension.  Now pick the second line, edge, feature etc... and place the dimension.

[AceRimmer]

If only have one line/arc selected there is no "intersection" on the menu. Now if you pick two you can toggle "intersection". The bug comes in when you go to pick the next two that make the other intersection. There either is no "intersetction" on the menu or it loses the 1st two and creates a useless dimension.

[AceRimmer]

If only have one line/arc selected there is no "intersection" on the menu. Now if you pick two you can toggle "intersection". The bug comes in when you go to pick the next two that make the other intersection. There either is no "intersetction" on the menu or it loses the 1st two and creates a useless dimension.

[mflayler2]

If you want video of it working with two apparant intersections it is in this video I made a while back

http://vimeo.com/8910999

to go between one apparant intersection and a line use the method cbenner mentioned and just don't do the second intersection.

[AceRimmer]

I have seen that vid and i can't get  that to work with a line and arc to a line and arc. You always lose the 1st two selections.

[BMiller63]

Can you provide a screen shot of what you're looking at?

[AceRimmer]

Now if you pull it away from the line (un-documented feature) you can select "intersection" but when you pick the arc it just dim's the arc center to the line. If go down to the other side of the part and pick the other two no matter what order pick/right click it will not make a usable dim. Even the guy from MasterGraphics had issues getting it to work on simple lines. But between a line and an arc i can't get to work.

[AceRimmer]

[IgorMir]

To AceRimmer: It has been a limitation of the software for as long as I can remember. And it is quite a few years back, BTW.

To all those who replied to the post before me: Why don't you read carefully what the man is asking for before replying?

Igor. 

[acad-caveman]

Well, it works flawlessly in AutoCAD and has been for 20+ years.

[IgorMir]

It sure thing does. But, as we all know, Inventor is not AutoCAD.

[SBix26]

I agree with you and others that this is a needed extension of the "dimension to theoretical intersection" ability.  A workaround that I have used in this situation is to create a sketch on the view and create the needed extension lines/arcs manually (tied to the actual geometry), and dimension to the actual intersection of those sketch lines.  The (small) added benefit to this method is that you can control the look and spacing of those extensions for best clarity.

[cbenner]

Igor:

I believe we did read his post befoire replying.  Why did you feel the need to include that jab in your response?  If we didn't quite hit the mark of what he was looking for, at least we were trying to help!

[IgorMir]

Chris,

Because I was amazed that three people in a row were missing the mark so badly. At least from two of them I didn't expect that to happen.

[Steve_Bahr]

Why not put workpoints in the model and include them in the drawing view?  I do this all the time and it makes dimensioning to the intersections so much easier.  And the workpoints update when you change the model so your dimensions don't go pink.

[SBix26]

The sketch method I suggested assumes that the sketched extensions are constrained to projected geometry so there's no problem with pink dimensions unless you make drastic changes to the model.  Even with the workpoint method, though, if you want extension lines or arcs, you have to sketch them yourself.

[AceRimmer · Accepted solution]

Ok Thanks guys. It looks like this is a long standing bug/useless feature. That has no solution. When you pay that much for software work arounds are completely unacceptable.  Every feature must work as advertised.

Has anyone seen any feed back on this subject from the software developers?

Well this is the "Last Straw" I'm done with Autodesk after 23 years.  The stupid ribbon menu, retirement of MDT, Nazi licensing to this sad piece of software engineering.

If you get sick of paying the Autodesk tax try this.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/free-cad/index.php?title=Download

Yeah sure it has bugs but it don't cost 6k a year for no support like Autodesk and you won't have the BSA crawling up your butt with a microscope accusing you of theft. 

[JGR44]

I can't beleive it's still not fixed in IV Pro 2015.

Unless I'm missing something.

Trying to dimension the theoretical intersection of the vertical line and the large arc to the top end of the line.

-Pick vertical line

-RMB large rad.

-Click "Intersection"

No intersection point comes up.

The result is  a useless dimension either the  legth of the line (vertical) or the distance between the line and the center of the arc (horizontal).

I know there're workarounds but .....

Julian

Inv Pro 2015

Windows 7 - 64 bit

16 GB Ram

[IgorMir]

Hi Julian,

To see the dimension - you need to finish the command by picking second point. (After you have defined the intersection). Looking at your sketch - it is pretty trivial task.

Regards,

Igor.

[SBix26]

Igor, I think Julian's problem is the same as the original poster-- he's trying to dimension to the apparent intersection of a line and an arc (the element in his image designated 'B' is an arc with a long radius).

A quick search of the Inventor IdeaStation forum turned up some complaints about the current functionality, but not much in the way of actual ideas.  So, I created one here.  Please give it Kudos if you agree.

 

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Inventor Professional 2015 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M