Importing Inventor models to Plant 3D

[ron_lynchEG966]

Hi, I am trying to Import an Inventor .iam Assembly to Plant 3D.

The Inventor Assembly contains files from a Project directory, and also some Std Library parts and Content Centre files which are located on another Mapped Drive.

The Problem is, when I import to Plant 3D it imports the base model perfectly, but omits all the Library files which are on another drive.

Any Help would be Appreciated.  Cheers, Ron.

[h_eger]

Dear @ron_lynchEG966 ,

I think you should be able to solve your problem with these instructions.

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-include-Aut...

[ron_lynchEG966]

No, I am not creating BIM Equipment for use in Plant 3D as this video suggests.

I am simply Importing an Inventor .iam file using the following commands.

FILE – IMPORT – OTHER FORMATS – and selecting the Inventor .iam file.

The Assembly file is made up of Part files from 2 different Mapped Drives.

The Problem is, Plant 3D is only Importing part of the Assembly from one Mapped Drive and not from the other.  Cheers, Ron.

[h_eger]

When importing into Plant 3D, only one file is supported at a time.
Either you combine your Inventor model into one file or you should import each file separately into Plant 3D.

[ron_lynchEG966]

The help files say that is imports .ipt and .iam files, .iam files are Assemblies, it seems to only import the components from one drive, but not the other.

AutoCAD Plant 3D 2023 Help | About Importing Autodesk Inventor 3D Models | Autodesk

[h_eger]

Yes, that's what I wrote. Bring all files of your *.iam into one directory and import again.

[ron_lynchEG966]

Yes, that will work, but then I have Duplicate Files, kind of Defeats the purpose of having a Cad Library.

[Michiel.Valcke]

You cannot set up a link with the Inventor assembly in Plant 3D as you would in any other (incl. Inventor) parametric 3D modeling software, since Plant 3D cannot function that way. 

So create a simplified version of your assembly, which you can link in Inventor with the main assembly. Use the simplified .ipt to import in Plant 3D. That way if your assembly changes you can one-click update the simplified part, since it is linked with the main assembly. In plant 3D no matter how you set it up you will always have to delete and reïnsert your .ipt anyway. So it is no use trying to get the .iam directly into Plant 3D. It will also clear alot of your overhead since you only have a single .ipt file to update, and you do not have to manually keep track of your 'hundreds' of assembly components. Inventor might do that (semi-)automatically for you, Plant 3D cannot. So just simplify your life, and simplify your assembly.

[ron_lynchEG966]

Yes, tried that, it just creates an extra step, and being a large assembly it takes considerable time to simplify in the first place, and then takes more time to update each time, whereas the Plant 3D import only takes a minute or two.  Cheers, Ron.

[Michiel.Valcke]

I'm afraid there is no way around that, either you import from a single directory or you simplify. It is true that simplification can take a little while for complex assemblies, but it does not have to be prohibitive to do other work. You could make updates to your simplification run through iLogic in the background so you can still continue your work.

[WeTanks]

you said

your simplification run through iLogic in the background so you can still continue your work.
Is there any reference material or video?
I am very interested.