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Constrain User Defined Symbols within Drawing

12 REPLIES 12
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Message 1 of 13
codyc-9096
1135 Views, 12 Replies

Constrain User Defined Symbols within Drawing

I have created various symbols to be placed into drawings when required, rather than having to re-create the same sketch everytime the drawing is produced.

 

When I place the symbol I am given the option to select where to insert it, based on the insertion point.

The problem is... once the symbol is placed there is no way (that I can figure out) to constrain to the view or dimension to it.

 

Does anyone know how to fix this? Surely there has to be a way...

Thank You,
- Cody C
12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: codyc-9096

I don't know of any way to do what you are asking, if I understand correctly.

Could you post an example of what you are trying to do?

Message 3 of 13
codyc-9096
in reply to: Anonymous

John,

 

Thank You for your reply. I have attached a step-by-step that hopefully better explains what I am trying to do.

 

Thanks again.

Thank You,
- Cody C
Message 4 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: codyc-9096

As far as I know, you can only attach the leader to an object in a view, there is no way to specify an offset or dimension the sketched symbol.

 

Maybe you can do what you want with sketch blocks?

Message 5 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: codyc-9096

The only solution I could come up with is to do your symbol in Autocad as a block, then add a sketch to the view you want the symbol on and insert the Autocad block into the sketch.

 

Then you should be able to dimension from geometry projected from the view to the Autocad block.

 

Just a thought.

 

Good luck!

Message 6 of 13

Hi codyc-9096,

 

Unless I'm misunderstanding, you should be able to define Insert and Connection point for your symbols to assist with this. You can add sketch points, or use existing endpoint of lines for this.

 

Autodesk Inventor Insert and Connection Points.png

 

Autodesk Inventor Insert and Connection Points-2.png

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

Message 7 of 13
codyc-9096
in reply to: Anonymous

I am not familiat with Sketch Blocks, but just read through the wiki help on them...

 

I am not sure how that would help me, as I am looking to show the symbol in the drawing... unless I am not understanding it correctly.

I will try out your suggestion with the AutoCAD block.

Thank You,
- Cody C
Message 8 of 13

Curtis,

 

I have tried your suggestion... those "grips" are only used for the insertion and selecting of the symbol.

They do not allow you to dimension to or constrain to these points.

Thank You,
- Cody C
Message 9 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: codyc-9096

I was thinking you might be able to use a sketch block on a sketch attached to the drawing view, but I see that is not an option.

Message 10 of 13
cameron.neill
in reply to: Anonymous

I would like to further elaborate on this as i dont believe it has been solved. 

I have created a sketch symbol definition as shown. I have a connection point at the bottom of the arrow so it connects to my linework.

However for my drawing to look as clean as possible ideally i would want these aligned along the red line. If you could put a vertical constraint in it would be fine but its greyed out. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to do this. ?

Message 11 of 13
SharkDesign
in reply to: codyc-9096

I think this is what you are trying to do. 

Create your symbol,

Drag a box around the geometry, go to the annotate tab, and change the layer to something visible. 

 

step1.PNG

Go into style editor, create a layer called 'invisible' and turn off the lightbulb icon.

Go to the leader option that you want to use for the symbol and make sure colour/line type everything is set to 'use layer'

 

Next, place the symbol and attach it as a leader to some geometry on the page.

Select the symbol.

Now, go to annotate tab, select the invisible layer and the leader style we just talked about.

leader2.PNG

 

The symbol is now constrained to the geometry, but without the leader. 

step3.PNG

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Message 12 of 13
cameron.neill
in reply to: codyc-9096

No thats not quite what im after. I would like to align sketch symbols together to create a uniform drawing. Ideally having a vertical constraint between the points is what im after but the constraint tab is greyed out so im looking for another option. 

Message 13 of 13
-niels-
in reply to: cameron.neill


@cameron.neill wrote:

No thats not quite what im after. I would like to align sketch symbols together to create a uniform drawing.

.... so im looking for another option. 


Workaround:

Start a sketch on your drawing

Draw a vertical line, exit sketch

Drag your symbols to the vertical line

Edit sketch and make the vertical line "sketch only" so it isn't visible on the drawing.


Niels van der Veer
Inventor professional user & 3DS Max enthusiast
Vault professional user/manager
The Netherlands

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