Ballooning drawings

[julianJXMMF]

Hi,

My first time posting on here - but have a query, so why not. 

I've been using Inventor on and off for approx 2 years now (no formal training - mainly trial and error), but have used Autocad for 20+ years along with Google sketchup. The company I work for currently have a 'vision' of getting all the designers to switch to using Inventor, and leave Autocad behind. So far, I can see several disadvantages, and advantages with this - but.......onto my query. Having created an elevation model (curtain wall system, consisting of timber mullions and transoms) and a drawing showing this model, I now have to create a 'location drawing' which tells the installation team which part goes where. So, in Autocad this would be a simple task of creating the elevation, layout tab, label the parts - copy and paste labels as required (some areas repeat across the elevation) etc etc....So far with Inventor it seems that I cannot create the equivalent of a group, or block, and copy and paste the balloons (labels) to repeatable areas of the elevation - I'm having to balloon, and position each label individually...which is taking a long time. I cannot be spending so much time with this process as there will be lots of drawings of this type - is there a quicker way to do this that I'm just not aware of yet? Currently, it seems that something that would take about 30 minutes in Autocad, is taking hours in Inventor? Any suggestions anyone?

[NigelHay]

When you add balloons they will relate to a parts list that you insert in the drawing rather than a note attached to each part. maybe it's different if you use the architectural version of Inventor, I don't know. To get the parts list descriptions right, you either create them in the properties for each part as you create them or, in the assembly, open Bill of Materials & add descriptions there.

Inventor does not use blocks in the same way as ACAD. from your main assembly you can create sub-assemblies by selecting groups of parts & "demoting" them to a new file name. You can then reuse the sub-assemblies elsewhere. In the parts lists you can opt to have the sub-assembly listed as a single item or individual parts by changing the setting in the Bill of Materials to 'Normal' or 'Phantom' for each assembly.

[julianJXMMF]

Thanks for quick response.

Yes, I'm reasonably familiar with the parts list, and we actually do intend to use this. Also familiar with the demote function, and creating sub-assemblies - however, I am being led by a more experienced Inventor user who is new to the company, and I've been steered away from creating sub assemblies via the demote function, and in general. Whilst I understand the relationship between the balloon and the part, I was kind of hoping that there would be some way of breaking (or at least working around) this for labelling purposes within a drawing, whilst retaining the ability to create an accurate parts list? Hope I have explained myself well enough there....

[Gabriel_Watson]

Annotate tab > Auto-Balloon?

[julianJXMMF]

Yes, I tried using auto balloon - but would I not still need to re-position them to where I want them? see attached image.

[Anonymous]

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@julianJXMMF wrote:

Yes, I tried using auto balloon - but would I not still need to re-position them to where I want them? see attached image.

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It depends really. When you use Auto-Balloon, it'll "preview" where the balloons will be placed, based on your mouse location. When they are where you want, click and they are placed. At this point, you may need to relocate a few of them.

If I have 50 balloons, I'd much rather place them all in one shot then modify the few that need it as opposed to one by one placing all 50.

One major piece of advice (coming from having taught numerous Acad and SW users moving to Inventor), avoid at all costs, trying to force Inventor to operate like Acad. It'll work for a few but you will eventually paint yourself into a corner you can't get out of. If and when you all move to Inventor, you'll see exactly what I mean as you can bet, someone there will do just that. It won't be pretty.

[julianJXMMF]

Ha...yes I hear what you are saying...but that's exactly what we're doing....looking for tools like 'copy with base point', 'match properties' etc etc. I can see that Inventor works differently, but I'm having trouble being convinced that some of the tasks I would be able to do quickly, and efficiently in Autocad (such as labelling things for an installation team) can be done more quickly in Inventor....very much hoping for that moment of epiphany. Thanks for your replies....

[A.Acheson]

Hi @julianJXMMF 

Yes copying and pasting balloons is not available as a function in Inventor. It would be a good Idea. If you end up duplicating balloons are you not going against the rule I was thought of one balloon per set of views. Granted if this is in another layout drawing then I can see the need. 

There is maybe other ways to achieve the same goal such as copying whole views or drawings and this will duplicated the balloons. If you are adventurous and know any type of coding such as VBA/VB.Net etc you do have the ability to place balloons by code on specific parts in a drawing similar to the auto balloon function. The downside is that it will take some knowledge and effort to achieve the look of a hand annotated drawing. It works best if the part scale is large enough to not have the balloons crossing each other. But if this stuff is cookie cutter stuff and you have lots to annotate it could be a real time saver.

There is also another method of modeling in inventor and annotating in Autocad. It brings the speed of Autocad but with the quick modeling of inventor. It might not have the flexibility Autocad allows but there might be some benefits you might like.

[NigelHay]

This link LINK talks about using balloons as labels, maybe this will help.

[Anonymous]

@julianJXMMF Oh fully understood, but you must keep in mind, just because Inventor may not do a command the way you prefer/want/how it's done by another app, etc...it'll do what it needs to do. You just need to find out the best way.

Right now you are basically learning a new language. It's not going to be easy as human nature favors familiarity/comfort. You'll see numerous posts here of new users pounding their desks because they can't get Inventor to do a command the way they did it in xxxx or even just the way they think it should work.

Now, granted, Inventor is not a trailblazer on the 2D side as Acad is. That's because Inventor is of course, a 3D centric application. THAT is where its power is. Its 2D side (sketching) can really use some help, mainly for doing 2D layouts. For sketching 3D components, it works just fine. Again, this comes back to the fact its a 3D app, not 2D, but I digress.

Once you get used to Inventor and start using the more advanced commands (in due time, don't rush), you'll wonder how or why you ever did things in 2D.

Not sure how many users you have there and if any of them have Inventor experience or even just 3D experience, but either way, you'd be best to seriously consider formal training. It'll make your work life a whole lot easier and it'll pay for itself very quickly. If you have a reseller, reach out to them, if not or you'd prefer not to deal with them for whatever reason (price), PM me, I may be able to find someone to help. There's plenty of users here that'll help as well.

[julianJXMMF]

Hi,

many thanks for your reply - interesting to read, as what you describe is exactly where we are at. We have a mix of experience here - the lead guy is a high level inventor user, I am a newbie in relative terms, with approx 2 years use on and off, but the other guys have zero experience with Inventor - and we're being tasked with learning to use Inventor quickly, to produce a time critical large project. I have my own serious reservations about how feasible this is....but won't go into that. Suffice to say that any help is appreciated on here, as we're trying to move forward as best we can with what we know so far, and learning as we go. Thanks again.

[NigelHay]

The previous advice about formal training is good advice. A lot of problems in Inventor stem from not getting the initial stages of parts & assemblies started off in the right way. if you have several people new to Inventor, you should be able to find someone who will do training in-house. Myself & my colleagues here found this to be invaluable when transitioning from 2D ACAD to Inventor.