How do I use inventor....

[drobinson]

Hello,

I've got a technical drawing (more of a messy sketch but its technical) I'd like to replicate in Autodesk Inventor, but I've never used it before and am finding it to be very unintuitive. At the moment I am drawing everything in Adobe Illustrator then importing the images into Inventor to put together in 3D due to what seems to be Inventors lack of support for polygons (or hexagons to be more precise) with multiple different side dimensions and triangles in general.

I'm sure there are ways to do what I want in Inventor, but there is just a lack of information on how. And what takes 2 clicks to do in Illustrator takes 20 clicks and keyboard commands in Inventor.

So I was wondering if anybody knows of any good resources online (such as videos) which could help me out. The inbuilt tutorial videos didn't help much and the online help manual only works if you know what you're looking for - which in this case I don't.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Jonka45]

Search Rob Cohee on you tube. He does a fundamentals tutorial but if you are serious about using inventor you will need some training as its a professional tool. 

[cbenner]

Youtube is a great resource for training videos.  Also take a look at this:  http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf

Inventor is a very powerful tool and not something one can master in a very short time.  However, you should be able to get the basics fairly quickly and then build on that from there.  Feel free to come in here with specific questions as you work on your models.  Tips for asking questions:  Always tell us what version of the software you are using, and include pictures or actual files as much as possible.

[graemev]

I strongly advise doing the tutorials, not just watching the videos.  Learn to constrain your sketches fully, and build your parts in a logical sequence.  Successful parametric modelling is not always as intuitive as one might like, particularly when learning the software, but it is particularly powerful when done properly.

No, you won't be a guru in a week.  I'm sure I'd be fumbling around in the dark a lot in Illustrator.  Start out with some simple parts at first and invest some time in learning the basics.  A good grounding now in proper technique will pay off extrordinarily well in the near future.  I highly recommend looking up J. D. Mather's posts here and looking at his signature for some basic and valuable tutorials.  The learning curve is a bit steep at first, but once you get a good grasp of the fundamentals of how parametric modelling works, the rest comes fairly easily in more digestable bites.

When you run into problems, ask here.  The locals are all friendly and quite helpful. 

[GSE_Dan_A]

Also, do not be afraid to post your files/part(s)/ttempts here so that others may look at your progress and give pointers.  If you do decide to post your part file(s), be sure to post what version of Inventor you are using as some members are running older versions and may not be able to open them.  One last thing, keep an open mind and follow advice on here and as always ask as many questions as needed! There are no stupid questions.... only stupid answers

[drobinson]

Thanks for your advice guys 🙂

I'll have a watch of the videos on YouTube and find my feed with the fundamentals and some basic stuff before I do anything else. I don't expect to be an expert in a week but I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll have the hang of it.

I'm using Inventor 2014 Professional; and most videos are quite old, but I should be able work out where things are (or more likely what things have been renamed to) across the different versions.

I'll be sure to ask if I have any questions.

Cheers!

[cwhetten]

If you have trouble finding a tool (they moved a bunch of them around in recent versions), press the big 'I' button in the upper-left corner of the Inventor window and you can type the name of the command in the search field.  You can launch the tool straight from the list of search results, but the really valuable thing is that it tells you where to find the command in the future.

Good luck!

Cameron Whetten
Inventor 2014

[gsmith9810]

First of all, welcome to the community! It is important to remember that Inventor is a solid modeling tool. It is intended to allow you to create a precise model (at full size). To do so, you create sketches of features in a part model. One of the easiest ways to go about modeling a complex part is to consider how the part will be manufactured. If at all possible, create a VERY simple sketch that defines your stock. Extrude or revolve that then add additional features until you're done. The inventor sketch environment supports quite a robust set of geometry creation tools. It also supports creating a sketch by tracing over an imported image (something I've done frequently when trying to replicate an existing free-form).