topic Section views in a presentation file? in Inventor Forum

Section views in a presentation file?

dylanasafe — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:33:34 GMT

I have a presentation file for an assembly. Some of the parts are inside a tube and therefore can not be seen from the outside.

Is there a way of showing a sectioned view in the presentation file so that all items can still be seen?

I want to be able to create a snapshot image and animation of the exploded assembly but be able to see all the parts simultaneously.

I have been doing this in Creo but we are switching over to Inventor and I can't find a way of replicating this ability.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can answer this.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

kennyj — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:41:16 GMT

Hello Dylanasafe!

Are you planning on using Inventor Studio for the animation?

My initial thought is to make the outside part a transparent material to show internal parts, or show the internal parts as a separate explosion, then show that subassembly within the entire assembly.

Hope this helps,

Kenny

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

dylanasafe — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 12:05:56 GMT

Thanks Kenny,

I'm not using Inventor Studio. I am creating a presentation .ipn file and exploding the parts out in the sequence that they are assembled.

I need to be able to show this on a 2D "line" drawing, (not shaded or anything), so I can't see how a transparent part would help in this case.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

smokes2998 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 12:12:26 GMT

The only way show that clearly in a drawing is to either

Place a base of the .iam file in the drawing that is set to the same Level of Detail and view setting as the .ipn

Or create Level of Detail in the .iam that represent each build step of the assmbly, create a view in the ipn of each LOD in the ipn file.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

swalton — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:22:03 GMT

I'd stay away from using LODs in drawings. Each LOD that you show in a drawing is a separate memory instance of the parent assembly. On small assemblies the performance hit is not too bad, but when you get to large (1000 or more instances) assemblies it gets much worse. You can also run into errors trying to save when the drawing is at one LOD and you have the parent assembly open at a different LOD.

Use Design Reps to control visibility in iams, ipns, and drawings. Inventor allows you to filter Parts Lists on drawings based on view reps, not LODs. Later versions (2017?) enhanced to the filter to show correct quantities as well. Might be useful to show the required components and quantities for each assembly step.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

dylanasafe — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:20:33 GMT

Because the assemblies are not complex in any way I have just;

- created a basic view of the exploded assembly.

- created a section view from the basic view.

- created a isometric projection view from the section view.

- dragged the basic and section views off to the side.

this will do as a temporary solution but it would be nice to be able to show a section view in presentations in a simpler way e.g. from a saved view representation.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

smokes2998 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:11:00 GMT

View reps don't update the .ipn exploded views correctly if you forget to turn the associated check box on.

It is also easy to screw up a view rep if you use isolate a lot and hide all and show all.

It is Easier to manage 22 exploded views of an assemble in one ipn file through different LOD.

Never had any issues with LOD on 1000 part plus assemblies found it useful for saving memory and CPU cycles by switching to LOD instead of using express mode.

Re: Section views in a presentation file?

Tom.DiGregorio2DPCZ6 — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:18:01 GMT

So I guess the short answer is: No, there is no way of showing a sectioned view in the presentation file. I am using Inventor 2022 Professional and it is absurd that this cannot be done.