Unsupported Features When Importing MDT to Inventor

[Mike_Fox]

Is there a list of features that IV2010 will not import from MDT2009? During my testing, about 80% of my parts were succesfully translated, but 20% had "unsupported features". It looks like having splines in my sketch of a revolved part was not supported and 3D pipe paths (or 3D sweep?) are also not supported. I've just begun my testing, but if I had a list of unsupported features I could diagnose and and try to fix these problems in MDT before the import.

Also, what's the likelyhood that IV2011 will be able to import MDT features that are not currently supported? Should we consider Inventor's MDT import capabilities to be static from here on?

Thanks - Mike

[Anonymous]

I think the "unsupported features" you are encountering are bugs in 2010.
See attached. This is a 2D spline path and a resulting sweep. This should
also work. 2010 apparently sees the spline as multiple segments. I have
attached the MDT2009 (not migrated) file. Autodesk should take a look at
this. Hopefully the upcoming SP1 will address this. Have not checked for a
hotfix as yet.

--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr. Tel. (260) 399-6615
AIP 2008 SP3, AIP 2009-SP2, IV2010 ProPcCillin AV
AMD 64 x2 3.0 Ghz, 8GB RAM GeForce 9800GT 512MB
XP Pro SP3, XP Pro64 SP2, Windows XP Silver Theme
http://teknigroup.com

[GlennPoorman]

This looks like an issue that bears investigation. The odd thing about the example that Dennis posted is that, once your import is finished, if you edit the sweep and reselect the same path, the feature appears to compute successfully.

Generally the only features left that are considered "unsupported" are features that you cannot create in Inventor such as fixed width fillets or protrusions (surfcuts that add mass).

Glenn Poorman (Autodesk)

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was aware of the fact that editing the feature fixed it. It's strange
that the translation failed on the spline sketch path, but IV was still able
to recognize it later. And this was a purposelt simple example.


Needed IV features:

Augmented lines would be a nice addition to surface wireframe creation
Blend Surface
Copy surface U or V wires (without need for independent 3D sketches.
Other surfacing needs.

--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr. Tel. (260) 399-6615
AIP 2008 SP3, AIP 2009-SP2, IV2010 ProPcCillin AV
AMD 64 x2 3.0 Ghz, 8GB RAM GeForce 9800GT 512MB
XP Pro SP3, XP Pro64 SP2, Windows XP Silver Theme
http://teknigroup.com

[Mike_Fox]

Glenn, after I complete my testing, I will post examples of parts that did not translate from MDT to Inventor. They do not have fixed width fillets or protrusions (surfcuts that add mass). In some of my examples, the sketches were not translated. I would be thrilled if Autodesk investigated these and posted a hotfix or corrected it in IV 2011. Give me a couple days....

Thanks - Mike

[Mike_Fox]

Here are 10 parts in one .DWG file that do not import from MDT2009 into IV2009. The parts are relatively simple and without exotic features. It appears that IV does not support 3Dpipepaths, as evidenced by the red exhaust pipes. I can live with that. The more serious problem is the large number of parts in my models that do not import due to mishandling of splines, particularly the endpoints. It seems the endpoint vectors get messed up. The 2 JPG files show messed up spline sketches after translating. The dotted lines show the correct spline path, which the spline does not follow. Perhaps the vectors can be corrected with IV spline commands? But since I have a large number of such parts, it would be better if "fixing" the splines was not required.

Autodesk (or anyone) please help! Thanks

OOPS: Zip file too big. I will upload to Customer files as "Bad Import Files.zip Edited by: Mike_Fox on Jul 30, 2009 4:33 AM

[Mike_Fox]

Reposting Bad Import Files.ZIP by deleting JPG files to make the file smaller.

10 Parts in one DWG file that do not import from MDT to IV

[GlennPoorman]

Thanks. It appears that in all of these cases, there are some issues with the translation of 2D splines and so the subsequent features won't compute. I'm guessing that in the short term, the sketches can likely be edited and fixed up. In the mean time I will file a report on this.

Glenn Poorman (Autodesk)

[Mike_Fox]

Glenn,

If you look at the "before & after" sketch of the blue cover (looks like a disk) you will see the splines start out as parallel in MDT but end up crossing each other in IV. In the other IV sketches, the spline endpoints have a different vector than the MDT splines. I believe all these 2D splines are trimmed splines - if that makes a difference.

Should I submit this issue to other Autodesk support venues or is that unnecessary once you "file a report". I'm really hoping for a hotfix. Is there any way I can know when, or if, this issue will be addressed? I can delay my final translations for a few months if I know the solution is coming.

Thanks - Mike

[GlennPoorman]

Sorry for the delay on my response Mike. Yes you should probably submit this through Autodesk support. It's not really my place to say when a fix for this could be delivered and right now, this is a "new" issue and has yet to be investigated.

Glenn Poorman (Autodesk)

[Mike_Fox]

Thanks Glenn. I did submit this to Adesk support and they duplicated the problem and issued a defect ID. I hope this will be deemed a serious enough issue that a fix will be forthcoming. I understand it's hard to say when that might occur.

- Mike