View Assembly (IAM) Files Online

[barnumw]

I am trying to create an online gallery of my students' work.

I can't find any online viewers that will support IAM files.

I can convert them to STL files and use something like 3dvieweronline.com, but then I lose color.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Bill Barnum

http://www.tinyurl.com/BarnumSTEM2

[swalton]

Try exporting the iam files to dwfx with Inventor.  IE should open dwfx files natively.  According to this article, there are plug-ins for Firefox and Chrome.

http://ketiv.com/support/tech-tips/viewing-dwf-files-in-an-internet-browser

http://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-D50603F3-EC6D-440E-9BF9-7E7245DE90A9

[barnumw]

I was hoping for something that wasn't browser dependent, that way parents on my middle school students could view it easily.

[JDMather]

I have a good example I will share later today - but don't nearly all computers have IE browser installed?

[mcgyvr]

I've had numerous problems even with IE and dwfx files.. Some computers work just fine.. Others not at all and its a nightmare trying to troubleshoot the ones that don't work.

As you are a teacher I'd guess you can get Inventor publisher maybe which can export a 3D PDF.. everyone can view those. (well everyone with the adobe reader) and its hard to find someone that doesn't have that installed. 

I wonder if there is a simple way to go HTML5/Canvas elements now.. Haven't checked.. 

[JDMather]

Here is my dwfx example.

There is a link to the actual dwfx file and a Screencast Recording.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-general-discussion/friday-pics-12-12-2014/td-p/5441215

[SBix26]

I just tried JD's dwfx file with Chrome, and it opened without a problem.  I don't recall installing a dwfx viewer for Chrome, so it either installed with Inventor, or on the fly, or Chrome has it built in (unlikely).

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2015 SP1 Update 1
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[JDMather]

---

@sbixler wrote:

I just tried JD's dwfx file with Chrome, and it opened without a problem.  I don't recall installing a dwfx viewer for Chrome, ..

---

Do you have Autodesk Design Review installed on this machine?

I think the key is to check on a machine that does not have any Autodesk software (particularly Design Review) installed.

[SBix26]

Chrome on my work machine doesn't show any Autodesk extensions, but I'll try it at home this evening and see what happens.  IE shows the DWF viewer as an add-in.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2015 SP1 Update 1
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[barnumw · Accepted solution]

I have been communicating with Marco at 3dvieweronline.com. He just made some changes today so that STL files exported from Inventor will show color.

It isn't much extra work to export IAM files as STL files, so I am going to use this as my solution.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Regards,

Bill Barnum

[SBix26]

For what it's worth, I tried viewing JD's DWFX file on Autodesk 360 from Chrome on a computer that has no Autodesk software installed at all, and it viewed just fine.  Firefox gave the same results.  I wonder if A360 is simply loading the viewer in the browser session rather than requiring that it be already installed as an add-in, or using Flash or some other existing utility.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2015 SP1 Update 1
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M