Auto Share Sketches

[JLeeSaxon]

My preferred worflow is to create a single sketch and share it between multiple features, rather than draw a lot of duplicate lines. This takes takes far too many clicks : click the little plus sign to unhide the sketch, right click the sketch, click "share," click the little minus sign to rehide the sketch (this step is theoretically skippable but doing so will make your model tree a mess), create the second feature, right click the now-visible shared sketch, click Visibility to make it invisible again. I feel like I spend half my day repeating those steps.

If you try to extrude/revolve/whatever without a shared (or new) sketch, you get a warning that "a 2d sketch is required to extrude/etc" with a prompt to create a sketch. I think that window should also have buttons to (2) "select a sketch to share" (this would temporarily "click" all those little plus signs and then once you make your selection "click" all the little minus signs) and, far more importantly, (1) "auto-share the most recently used sketch."

(A note about Visibility. Extruding/etc from a new sketch makes it unavailable for re-use [until you share it] and as such automatically turns its Visibility off. Extruding/etc from a shared sketch does not make it unavailable for re-use and as such does not turn its Visibility off. This makes sense, but as I already mentioned results in wasted mouse movement and clicks. Were the "auto-share" feature added, this could change: extruding/etc from a shared sketch could turn its Visibility off because re-using it again would be a simple matter of clicking the "auto-share the most recently used sketch" button again (though it this case the button's functionality would actually be "make most recently used sketch Visible"). )

[drawings]

Having to turn on a sketch to use it, then turn it back off is time consuming as stated. To be able to select any sketch in the browser even if it is not on, would save a lot of clicks. Then to have it turn off again when finished.

One note. Auto sharing works currently if the sketch is visible. Just selct the sketch when prompted from the window or the browser and it automatically shares it.

[inv.ideareview]

Thanks for sharing your Idea. We use this forum to guide product development and help users in the best way we can based on voting. We occasionally merge Ideas or archive old ones to keep the forum working properly - it ensures there is room for people to review new Ideas and that the most relevant and meaningful ones can gain votes. We’re archiving this Idea because it's been on the board for well over a year and hasn't received many votes from the community. If you want to raise it again and try to gain more support, you're welcome to do so. We’ve found that pictures and mock-ups can help get concepts across and win more votes from other users. If you have questions or see a connection between this Idea and others, let us know. - Inventor product team (Inv.idea review)

[inv.ideareview]

Accepted[INVGEN-14899] for Extrude and [INVGEN-16397] for Revolve

[andrewdroth]

Has this been implemented somewhere?

A co-worker and I were just discussing that with our workflow we never want features to consume sketches, and there should be a feature to have sketches set to 'Shared' Automatically. 

Is this a feature that is coming? 

[ChrisMitchell01]

I believe you already have access to the Inventor Feedback (Alpha/Beta) project... 😉

[andrewdroth]

Hot diggity!

[andrewdroth]

@ChrisMitchell01  Does this exist in IV 2020? I can't seem to find any documentation for it.

[ChrisMitchell01]

From the extrude dialog menu in 2020 (top right corner) there is an option for "Keep sketch visible on (+)" - that essentially shares the sketch, creates an extrude & keeps the extrude dialog open. Whether that fully meets your needs or not, i'd defer to you....

[andrewdroth]

OK, that's not what I was expecting.

That only shares the sketch if you use it again right away.

We are looking for a toggle where the sketch always remains shared. That way it can never be consumed by a feature and dragged down the tree. 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/getting-started/caas/screencast/Main/Details/95f528f...

[ChrisMitchell01]

Ok - that's what I suspected, which is why this Idea isn't set to Implemented.