Rotating a part/assembly in an assembly

[mslosar]

I'm using 2010 and maybe this has been addressed in subsequent versions, i don't know.

Anyhow, i've designed parametic platform that I would like to insert into an assembly and have it prompt me for elevation and orientation. Short of VBA code, i'm not sure I can do this. I AM trying to make the process as simple as possible for use by people who will not be overly familiar with Inventor. The easier it can be done, the sooner it can be adopted and more people taught how to actually use it.

I know I can bring it in and constrain it different axes and planes.

I also know that I can insert a piece into an assembly and ground it at 0,0,0. Using that I can ground it at 80 feet in the air or whatever elevation I choose using the occurence tab of iproperties for the part/assembly. That in and of itself goes a long way toward what i'm trying to do. There's also a rotational setting there that would work for setting an orientation, but it's greyed out. In fact, in any example I try and make, it's always greyed out.

I've tried doing it as an iassembly as well, but there doesn't seem to be any provision in iassemblies for making custom values like there is in an ipart.

Is there something i'm not thinking of to achieve what i'm after? Either a dialog to prompt for the info or via something like the occurence tab is fine.

Or is the answer the obvious in that each identical assembly/part has to be individually constrained to get the correct orientation?

[JDMather]

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@mslosar wrote:

I'm using 2010 ... Either a dialog to prompt for the info or via something like the occurence tab is fine.

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Sounds something like iLogic (I think introduced to subscription customers in 2010), but can you post a picture of the assembly to give a better idea of design intent.

You might search http://au.autodesk.com for classes on iLogic, the one in particular that I'm thinking about showed a video on a dialog-box driven playground layout.

[mslosar]

Really, i just need input on how to adjust the rotation of an assembly on a case by case basis without having to make copies of the entire assembly structure. The Y value under occurence is an easy enough way to set the elevation.

I'll check out that link for the playground. Now that you mention it, i think i've seen it referenced elsewhere, sounds like the type of thing i'm after.

*been searching, but i'm only being able to search 2012 classes which haven't occurred yet*

Thanks

[mrattray]

iLogic is perfect for this, but if you don't have iLogic then a VBA macro would work as well. Don't be intimidated by it being code, it's actually pretty easy to do what you need here.

[mrattray]

This sets a parameter called elevation to a value specified in a pop up prompt:

elevation = InputBox("Please enter your elevation here:", "Elevation", 20)

Obviously, you can use multiples of this line to set as many parameters as you need.

[mslosar]

Say i'm putting 4 identical platforms on a cylindrical body at 20', 40', 70', and 95'.

I've built the plaform in an assembly platform.iam.

I then insert platform.iam into structure.iam.

The ilogic code you're describing would be in plafrom.iam wouldn't it? I'm looking to insert plaform.iam into structure.iam and control the elevation and rotation from within structure.iam so i could insert four identical plaforms in four unique locations. Ideally, you'd insert plaform.iam into structure.iam and it'd ask you for the elevation and orientation. You then enter the values and you're done. Ilogic would be fine, I have it and use it.

I can't think of a way of doing this without constraining each plaform individually in structure.iam. Maybe that's the only way it can be done.

the only other way would be to make 4 copies of the plaform.iam file and set the rotation individually in each platform.iam file. Iparts actually do this. If you make a box and and make the width a custom parameter in the ipart, when you insert the ipart into a new assembly, it asks you for the width and creates ipart-01.ipt in your project folder. This would be acceptable on the platform as well, but i can't create custom parameters like that in iassemblies.

[JDMather]

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@mslosar wrote:

*been searching, but i'm only being able to search 2012 classes which haven't occurred yet*

Thanks

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I hadn't been to the AU site in the past couple of weeks.
I see they have really screwed it up.
Autodesk as a company is backpeddling fast.

I'm loosing all confidence in this company.

[mrattray]

In my one liner above, elevation was to refer to a parameter linked to a constraint. Now that I have a better understanding of what you want to acheive I see that it may be a touch more complicated. I'm still not 100% on what you want to achieve and what our limitations are.

Will it always be four platforms?

Will their locations always be referenced off of the same planes (like the origin)?

Can we always use the same asembly file (as a template)?

Will it always be the same platform?

Will it always be the same cylinder?

[mslosar]

Not it won't always be 4 playforms.

The cylinder will change in size (it's account for inside each platform - 0,0 is the center of each platform)

In the example I gave before, plaform.iam would always be the same file.

It is possible and probable that other platoforms would exist in the final assembly (structure.iam).

The height of all platforms would always be referenced off the xz/ground plane.

Hope that helps. 🙂

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, I got sidetracked on other projects today.

[mslosar]

Anything?

[JDMather]

You will need to attach an attempt at solving the problem.

I went back and checked the AU site - the previous year's classes are avialable again (back to 2009).

[stevec781]

It's still the same in 2012.  You can see the values but you cant edit them.  Doesnt make any sense not allowing manual over ride.  It's the same for mass properties, they allow you to over ride mass but not COGl, what trhey are thinking is beyond me.  Maybe they forget that this is meant to be an engineering tool.

[mrattray]

Sorry, I haven't really had time to mess with this.