Naming Imported Inventor Features, Bodies etc.

[Anonymous]

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In Adesk Inv there is the ability to name; features and bodies etc.

Can we have the ability to utilise these names when Inventor Parts and Assemblies are imported into 3DSM

Trying to find a particular part in the tree when there are 100s with the same name is like searching for a needle in a haystack

[brentscannell]

Hi @Anonymous

Sorry I missed this topic! Can you please elaborate a bit on what you'd like to see? I just did a quick trial with Inventor 2018 and 3ds Max 2018 using a test assy. I renamed one of the 4 instanced .ipt children to something custom (via iProperties/Occurance/Name), saved, and then imported the .iam to 3ds Max and it brought with it the custom name (not the name of the .ipt file). 

[Anonymous]

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@brentscannell you'll have to excuse me for using Inventor terminology as I've not used 3DS Max for a short while.

If an Inv Assembly is imported into 3DS Max all the Parts get renamed with the Assembly file name :

This makes it very difficult to identify which items you might wish to remove and if you wish to Group any.

It would be helpful it each Parts were to have there own name. However, it has dawned on me that a lot of engineers use a numbering system for files, but the Description contained within the iProperties is understandable.

I don't know whether this would work in 3DS Max, but in Inventor you can create multi-body Parts and give each body a name. Can this name be used within 3DS Max to help make things easier to identify.

Furthermore, it is possible to give Features a name, it might also be helpful if the Feature name could also be used in 3DS Max.

Finally, in Inventor Parts are usually assembly within sub-Assemblies, can the sub-Assembly name/Description in used to name a Group within 3DS Max?

Trying to locate specific items within 3DS Max when you've imported a 500 part assembly can be a nightmare.

[brentscannell]

hi @Anonymous, I'm concerned there is something more going on here, would you mind elaborating  on what version of Inventor and 3ds Max are you using?

If an Inv Assembly is imported into 3DS Max all the Parts get renamed with the Assembly file name :

-I am not seeing this behavior in my 2018 versions, in 3ds Max everything goes into a parent group named after the Part Number attribute of the imported .iam. Instantiated subassemblies and detail parts go into groups named after "Occurance" name attribute, which by default is the Part Number with an instance counter. This behavior trickles down to the lowest BOM level until nothing but detail parts remain, and they again take the name of their Occurance names as defined in their parent assembly. I can definitely picture a nice improvement here with a switch to keep the native "Part Number" attribute on all incoming objects instead of defaulting to the Occurance name, but sounds like you're having a totally different issue.

It would be helpful it each Parts were to have there own name. However, it has dawned on me that a lot of engineers use a numbering system for files, but the Description contained within the iProperties is understandable.

I don't know whether this would work in 3DS Max, but in Inventor you can create multi-body Parts and give each body a name. Can this name be used within 3DS Max to help make things easier to identify.

Furthermore, it is possible to give Features a name, it might also be helpful if the Feature name could also be used in 3DS Max.

-Just so I understand, you'd like to be able to have a switch on the import that can force 3ds Max to use the names of the individual bodies or features inside a single part instead of the part name/occurance name attribute?

Would you be able to attach a few screenshots of the current situation of your inventor setup with names, what you get when you import them into max, and a modified example (manually renamed) of how you would enjoy them to be?