Complex assy translation. From spreadsheet/script? Rhino/Grasshopper?

[nhahn]

Hello all,

I have a situation where I need to automate the generation of a complex assembly.

A colleague is generating a complex truss-like structure in Grasshopper for Rhino.  It consists of many beams in many sizes & orientations.  They are represented as line segments (but could be surfaces or solids if needed).

Now that they have defined the geometry I want to recreate the assembly in Inventor, replacing the segments with parts/assemblies detailed in Inventor. I would even be happy if it used the frame generator, if it could get the orientations right.

Does anyone know how to do this in an automated fashion?  There are hundreds of parts in hundreds of sizes and all the orientations are different.

For example, if we got Grasshopper to spit out a spreadsheet with size, XYZ position and orientation angles for each part, could Inventor place an iPart or a frame member of the right length per those coordinates? Is there a way to use iLogic or other scripting to do this? Would endpoints work? Is there a neutral file format that would help?

Even importing an IGS file with all the segments is a disaster.  Best I've done is Rhino->DXF->Inventor 3D sketch.  But then I still don't have a way to get the beam orientations right.

I want this both for viewing the final model and ideally for import to Simulation CFD & Simulation Mechanical.

[4donwan4]

I do not think there is a viable solution to what you are asking. Autodesk consulting might be able to assist with custom programming but with the out of box tools I would say there is not a way to achieve this.

Regards,

Don