Auotcad Layout in Inventor drawing - Collaboration

[jaskiratVPK8U]

We make Shelves/Racking/Storage units. We have to provide layout drawing with our units in existing layout. I can not find a way to collaborate autocad layout drawings with inventor model drawing.

For example: attached a Frame model done in inventor and layout drawing in autocad. Currently I make models in inventor and copy the block to autocad and do all that manual work to make my layout drawing in autocad. I want to do everything in inventor. Can anyone suggest a solution.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! AutoCAD can create 2D Drawing Views associative to Inventor assemblies and parts. The command is called VIEWBASE. Is this what you were looking for? If you want to insert the drawing views to AutoCAD dwg Model Space, you can use EXPORTLAYOUT command to export the viewport as a block.

Does it help?

Many thanks!

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Thank you for the reply. I want other way around. I want to insert existing factor layout (done in autocad) in inventor drawing/model and make the drawing of model in inventor drawing. 

I have tried inserting layout in inventor model in sketch but that makes the file very heavy. I have also tried making inventor drawing file in .dwg format and opening it in autocad and inserting layout with MVIEW command but with this method its hard to get same scale as I have open file in autocad every time to adjust the scale.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Are you aware of DWG Underlay workflow in Inventor? You can start a new part or an existing part (assembly works the same too). Go to Import -> pick the dwg file -> select a workplane, an origin plane, or a planar face -> select a vertex to snap to. The dwg geometry will be like a transparency on the selected plane. You can use Project DWG Geometry command to project the wires in underlay to a sketch. The underlay itself can also be shown in drawing.

Many thanks!

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Thank you

I am able to import autocad file layout inside sketch but its not parametric or linked to the original file. I mean I have to modify the sketch in the inventor if there are changes in layout.

The import cad file option opens the autocad dwg file in inventor drawing. 

I found the option (in inventor drawing file) to insert the part drawing in model space and then inserting the layout in it by opening in Autocad but this way I can not insert the layout back in the inventor drawing with right scale

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I believe you are using the import sketch workflow. The downside is that the sketches can become heavy and the import may take a look long. Could you try DWG Underlay workflow like I mentioned earlier? I believe it should serve your need better.

Many thanks!

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Thank you for the reply.

I found the import option in part file but could not find import option in assembly file.

I need to import layout in assembly file

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! In assembly, the command is different. To use DWG Underlay in an assembly, you need to go to Place -> Place Imported CAD file -> select an AutoCAD dwg file.

Many thanks!

[gcoombridge]

I use the same functionality with AutoCAD layout from time to time. The underlays are associative... Rather than bring them into an assembly I make a part file in Inventor and add them to the assembly. Make the part file phantom so it does not appear in the BOM. You can even turn layers on an off...

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Thank you very much for the reply.

It works.

One more question, I want to snap the corner of the layout to the origin in inventor. It does not allow me to pick a point in the layout and attach it to origin. Do I need to make changes in auotcad layout drawing to bring it at right location in inventor? I have tried changing UCS in autocad drawing but it did not work

[gcoombridge]

I think a named UCS will be internal. A work around could be to Xref it into another file and move it to origin then overlay in Inventor. Alternatively just constrain the overlayed part using the Acad geometry to the assembly origins.

I often use this approach for laying out equipment in buildings with 2D layouts. I constrain the equipment to the overlay line geometry

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Looks very complicated.

Thank you for the reply

johnsonshiue can you suggest something simple

[jaskiratVPK8U]

I tried creating a inventor part with autocad layout in it and then using constraints to bring origin to the desired place in the assembly. Very hard to do constraints.

I have also tried moving my autocad drawing to the origin within autocad and even by measuring the distance inside the inventor assembly but it does not work either, layout moves differently in the inventor. 

Its is very frustrating to do so.

There must be a simple fix inside the autocad layout to bring it to the origin of inventor assembly.

Can anyone from Autodesk help?

Thank you in advance

[jaskiratVPK8U · Accepted solution]

So I finally found the solution of this problem. Actually my autocad layout file has some ghost assembly in it. I created a new autocad file by copying the layout. Now the origin of autocad layout file snaps to origin of inventor assembly.

Thank you all for your replies.

[gcoombridge]

I'm really struggling to see what's so frustrating or complicated about this (I do it frequently and its not one of the many things I complain about). You have two things that are in different places, you need to move them. Also if you exclusively want Autodesk's help I would contact them directly, questions on this forum are usually answered by other users. Otherwise follow the steps illustrated below:

1. Create or acquire layout in ACAD
2. Overlay the geometry in Inventor paying attention to selecting the correct origin plane
3. Constrain the new part using the over-layed line-work and the assembly origin planes as below (mate constraints and a flush to the origin as this example was on the XY in AutoCAD).

[jaskiratVPK8U]

Thank you for the reply.

I appreciate your help. Check the recent reply that I posted before accepting the solution. My autocad file had some issue so even if my layout was on origin but in inventor I was not showing on origin as it should be. I created a new autocad file and it worked finally.

The frustrating part was importing the autocad layout in part and using constraints on part to bring it to origin. Also importing autocad layout in inventor assembly and trying to bring it the origin.

I have already contacted the autodesk directly as well to find out what was wrong with the file.