Improved measurement tools

[DRoam]

I find the tools in Inventor's Inspect > Measure panel very cumbersome, limited, and non-user friendly. I often have to escape out of the command between every measurement to be sure it will operate properly. I cannot measure any distance involving a round surface, such as the tangential distance to a circumference. I cannot see a history of previous measurements. I have to use round-about methods to measure certain features; for example, I have to click a random face before I can pick the center of a circle as my first measuring point.

The ability to keep measurements displayed, almost like temporary 3D dimensions, for the purpose of active analysis of a component (as I was trying to do with my boss the other day) would be very useful; that way as I'm navigating around my part or assembly I can see in real-time the precise dimensions of features I care about rather than measuring and re-measuring as I'm trying to determine things about the model.

I'd love to hear of functionality that other users would like to see added for measuring and inspecting 3D models, and to see all of these implemented in future releases of Inventor as well as in service packs to current releases, so that all users can take advantage of this very foundational functionality.

(Please see related Discussion Groups post here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Better-measure-tool-in-Inventor/m-p/3841929)

[CAD_CAM_MAN]

Kudos given, See also another enhancement idea for the measure tool which is a feature Creo (Pro-E) has, and I have found very useful...

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideastation/allow-measument-to-be-saved-as-a-feature/idc-p/56...

[DRoam]

@CAD_CAM_MAN's idea is an excellent idea and one I've wished for many times. It would eliminate the need for multibody parts in many instances. Everyone please take a look at it and give it a vote! 🙂

[dan_szymanski]

Dan Solo (great name btw), I am marking this Idea as Duplicate of http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideastation/improved-measurement-tools/idi-p/3842001.  The Master Idea is currently a Top20 request (wrt Kudo count) however feel free to cast kudos to both.  Thanks & Regards, -Dan

[CAD_CAM_MAN]

Great ideas! It would be the ultimate measure tool if all this functionality was implemented and was available to the API (of course )

[JimmyDoe]

Inventor 2016 and still waiting for this...Unless I just don't see it. Is this in 2016? All I see is the 'inspect' tab with 'distance', 'angle', 'loop' and 'area'

[JimmyDoe]

...and 'region properties'

[DRoam]

Here's a related request for a specific measurement functionality: Measure from clicked point to Surface with direction. Essentially the same as what's been requested here (measure with choice of measurement vector direction) but with the added flexibility of being able to free-click a specific point anywhere on a surface.

[JimmyDoe]

How has this been 'accepted' in 2013 and not implemented in 2017?? Do I not understand how this works? Or is Autodesk slower than molasses in the Canadian wintertime?

[DRoam]

@JimmyDoe, I feel your pain. But Autodesk has been busy implementing other very useful functionalities. I have to take a look at the What's New from time to time to remind myself of that. Take a look through that list for the past few years and try to find more than a couple "fluff" enhancements that wouldn't benefit a lot of people. You'll be surprised at how hard it is.

Now, that said, I do wish that Autodesk would focus on more of the Ideas at the top of the IdeaStation, and on those that fill critical functionality gaps. Yes, everything in the "What's New" is useful and I have a hard time saying "Autodesk shouldn't have added any of that", but I do think many of the requests in the top 40 of the IdeaStation (this one included) should have been prioritized over other recent enhancements.

But all in all, Autodesk has done a great job these past few years of adding useful functionality. We just have to wait for this particular enhancement to trickle to the top of their priorities list and find itself in the center of their product vision. With 336 votes and #5 in the Ideas forum, I have a feeling we won't have to wait much longer...

[JimmyDoe]

I suppose... But updating measuring tools doesn't seem that difficult to do and it's been 'accepted' since 2013. Being able to quickly and accurately measure a model is a pretty essential tool when using this program. I just find it really surprising that we've been waiting 4 years for such a basic and essential upgrade. It does seems quite a bit(most) of the 'enhancements' they make are, as you say, 'fluff'

[JimmyDoe]

And also...all the links that Autodesk puts in the comments about duplicate ideas lead right back to the original idea thread that they posted their comment with the link to??

[DRoam]

Well, Inventor DOES have a "quick and accurate" measure tool. It's just not very user-friendly or feature-rich. But it does work. The fact is (I'm not sure if you took the time to look through the What's New), but nearly every major enhancement in there is filling out and improving existing functionality and making it better, not adding new "fluff" on top of insufficient existing functionality... which is just what we want. Autodesk's priorities are in the right place, in my opinion. They just haven't yet focused on some of the SPECIFIC functionalities that I (and others) would really like to be focused on. And in that respect, I agree with you. But I think they're on the right track.

Regarding the comments... those comments were originally made on a duplicate Idea, and got carried over when the duplicate was merged into this one (the master). That's why it takes you back to the same thread. I agree this system could use some improvement -- it would be nice if IdeaStation comments had a "RE: [Original idea title]" label like general Forum comments do, so that we could have an easier time following conversations when threads have been merged together. As it is, when threads are merged, it can be impossible to follow the two, three, sometimes even four or five separate conversations with no indication of which thread the comment was originally made on. I've wanted to create a request for that before, and you provided the perfect opportunity  If you want to vote for it, it's in the Community Ideas section here: When Ideas are merged, show which thread comments were originally on.

[JimmyDoe]

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Saying Autodesk's priorities are in the right place, but that they are not focusing on the SPECIFIC functionalities that you and others would like to be focused on..sounds somewhat contradictory. If their priorities were in the right place then they would be focusing on what people- the paying customers, would like, wouldn't you agree?

And this is very basic stuff that should have been implemented in the first few releases. Accepting measuring tool enhancements and sitting on it, doing nothing for 3 years, is not having priorities in order..

How about having a list of references that are used in a sketch? When I go to a sketch that is no longer fully constrained- I get pink lines. No way to tell what that pink line was projected from, no option to let me re-select a line and keep all constraints. It becomes difficult when working on another designer's model. FINALLY a 'relationships' dialogue box in the part environment...only took 17 years.

Face it, most of their improvements are fluff to keep Autodesk 'loyalists' just happy enough to defend them. Even when the people admit it themselves, that Autodesk doesn't focus on what the people actually want.

There are dozens of ideas on the ideastation with tons of kudos that have been there for years that Autodesk seems to ignore, going more towards the fluff stuff. I would much rather see measuring tool improvements rather than showing the relationships between part features, that anyone who knows how to use design software can follow easily enough through the browser.

[JimmyDoe]

...It's just not very user-friendly or feature-rich. But it does work...

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Classic Autodesk loayalist 

[dan_szymanski]

This idea has been implemented within Autodesk Inventor 2018. Special thanks to everyone who cast a vote for it.  The Measure command received a large number of enhancements of which include; a single command delivers exhaustive results, results can be expanded or collapsed as desired, selection groupings, enhanced in-canvas graphics (display radius, diameter, length, angle delta values [dependent upon selections]), center-to-center, min & max distance measurements, ability to copy single value or All values to clip board for easy reuse and a modernized browser interface that is dock-able, stack-able & configurable.

[JimmyDoe]

This sounds promising...

[jeanie.wayker]

See here for more info: What's New 2018 Measure Enhancements

[_DanSolo_]

Very good, thanks Jeanie.

Looking forward to using it.

[leowarren34]

I feel and drag and auto select would be neat to measure point to point rather than specific geometry.

[markGlthen]

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/to-highlight-selected-areas-when-measuring-a-region-su...