topic Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES in Inventor Forum

CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 20:00:43 GMT

How can I create a custom trail line in an .ipn? I have an assembly that I need to move some parts out of the way for drawing purposes and I want to be able to create a trial line from one feature to another feature. The trail (tweak) lines that inventor generates is not what I wish to show. I know there is a way to this this because I was able to do this at another company. I don't know if it's a case of using a different version of inventor or not because I thought they were both Inventor 2017 (but I could be wrong).

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

mcgyvr — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 21:31:05 GMT

Don't think you can.. You could create a sketch though in the drawing I suppose (assuming you are doing this for drawing purposes)

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 22:15:54 GMT

Thanks, I ended up doing that on a couple of drawings but the problem is if I change the part orientation the sketch doesn't change with it.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

jhackney1972 — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 03:49:44 GMT

I am assuming you want to modify the appearance of the Tweak lines in the presentation drawing view, not the presentation itself. Take a look at my screencast to see how this can be easily done to one tweak trail or all.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 13:51:22 GMT

No, that's not it at all. I want to create a trail (tweak) line that isn't there yet. I want to create my own trail line to where I want it to go to and from. I don't want to just change the appearance. I know how to do all that. I want to create a trail line from one part to another that doesn't exist, or isn't created from, inventor automatically.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

mcgyvr — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 13:54:06 GMT

The functionality to create custom trails like you want is not currently possible..

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 13:57:01 GMT

Was it possible in a different or older version? I know I've created a custom trail line before using inventor at a different company I was at a year ago. I thought it was Inventor 2017 but it may have been a different version.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

mcgyvr — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:13:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Was it possible in a different or older version? I know I've created a custom trail line before using inventor at a different company I was at a year ago. I thought it was Inventor 2017 but it may have been a different version.

Its entirely possible.. I don't remember..

I rarely if ever use presentation so I'm far from an expert in it.

But I know that a few years back they did a substantial overhaul to the "presentation environment" while at the same time killing off Inventor Publisher..

Many of the functions that were in both those programs were lost/not carried over or whatever you want to call it and have yet to be restored..

It created quite a stir amongst Publisher users and presentation users who were told that these changes would be a suitable replacement for the Publisher being killed off or whatever. Development seemed to have run out of time and it seems quite a few useful features/functions were not able to be implemented in time and from what I've seen they aren't actively working to reinstate those features.. (these are my opinions/perceptions)

Personally I looked at the presentation environment after the announcement of the overhaul and after hearing/imagining the "potential" uses and how they might help me do the assembly documentation,etc.. part of my job.. I was quickly let down by the overly basic functionality it presented and could see it taking a long time and extensive manual work to achieve what I wanted.. I suspect its overall usage/user base is quite small though which would be a valid explanation why it isn't being actively developed/improved..

From the little I know about it what is is now is a downgrade from what it used to be pre overhaul..

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:21:06 GMT

Thanks for your help. After I thought about it a while longer I realized the old way of tweaking a part was only one direction at a time and not the 3 dimensional option that there is in the new inventor. I'm thinking that may be the difference? Unless someone else has any other ideas?

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

chris — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:37:57 GMT

The way I currently handle this is to place your .ipn view and then sketch on that view. draw your own "tweak" lines and then close the sketch. now you have some lines.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 13:24:01 GMT

Right click on a trail to the part you wish to add a trail to and select edit trail. This brings up the edit tweaks user interface, see the illustration.

there 2 line segment buttons, one with a green + and one with a red x, choose the green +, see below

Click and point to the hole or location to add your new trail as in previous versions.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

timdown73 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 15:47:42 GMT

Thanks! DstairGBWZT, that's exactly what I was looking for!!

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:12:01 GMT

I am not sure if you are still looking for a solution, i had the same problem then i figured it out. You click on the drop box that comes up when you start your tweak, and change it to a single line. Yeah it is that easy.

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 16:40:37 GMT

IT WAS POSSIBLE BEFORE. I USED TO ADD MY OWN CUSTOM TWEAK LINES ON ALL MY ASSEMBLIES FOR SPECIAL DRAWING PURPOSES. I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY THEY STOPPED THIS OR A BETTER WAY TO DO THIS. I HOPE SOMEONE CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION BECAUSE I REALLY NEED TO FIND A BETTER WAY TO ADD THESE LINES THAN SKECTHING THEM ON A DRAWING

Re: CREATING CUSTOM TRAIL LINES

mncenzipo — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 13:49:27 GMT

Hi did anyone figure out how to tweak using custom trails? Like a circular path or an path that is not straight.