Content center item adaptive length in parts list

[strZ4YVW]

Hello All,

I have problems getting the length of an adaptive content center item into the parts list. It is no problem to create an structural shape from the content center, save it as custom, make the item adaptive and constrain it in the assembly to give it the required length. But now the problem is to obtain the length from the extrusion and push it to the parts list and still be able to use the content center table to change the size of the structural shape. In the fx table I can tell Inventor that user parameter "length" is model parameter "d34" for example. This user parameter is used in my parts list and shown correctly. But however if I change the size of the structural shape through the content center it shows "d34" for the length and that makes it impossible to apply the new size to the shape.

I hope my issue is clear and an solution for this issue is much appreciated.

Thank you all,

Stefan

 

[dave.cutting]

If you modify your parts list to include the column 'Unit Quantity' that should bring through the parameter (B_L) which is the adaptive length of the content centre frame member.

[CGBenner]

@strZ4YVW 

Welcome to the forum!  In addition to what @dave.cutting suggested, I would clarify that once you have saved a structural member "As Custom", I don't believe you can continue to make changes to it through the Content Center interface.  Length changes would need to be made on the model itself, probably by modifying the B_L parameter on the individual part.

[strZ4YVW]

For sure it is possible to change the size of the hollow section (in this case but can be an pipe or I-beam as well) after you save it as custom through the content center menu. That is working without problems. Also changing length is working fine. The problem is when making it adaptive it doesn't recognize the the value of the parameter but instead it displays the parameter name and results in that it is not possible to apply a different size anymore.

[japike]

Where is the d34 parameter coming from? Is that a dimension you added? Normally content center created parameters look more like the B_L that Chris and Dave are talking about.

[strZ4YVW]

We are using customized/self created content center items, not the defaults from Inventor. We called the length parameter not B_L but Length. Normally you fill in the length in the content center menu or through the parameters and the part length is changed. But in this case I want to work the other way around. Make the part adaptive and obtain the Length from the adaptive extrusion. In my case the model parameter d34 is used for Extrusion1. The value of this parameter is the length obtained from the adaptive extrusion. So for the Length parameter I filled in d34 for the equation (nominal value is the required length). However in the CC table it is showing the parameter name and not the value.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I don't think such workflow is supported. The input value has to be numeric, not an expression.

Many thanks!

[A.Acheson]

Hi @strZ4YVW 

You might need to have an internal ilogic rule in the part file to update the driven parameter to the description. This way it can be dynamic. A replace family template with the local rule should be enough to make it dynamic. See the video in this  forum post for the method. An alternate method is to use an external ilogic rule to extract and populate the parameter value.

[CGBenner]

@strZ4YVW Did the information provided answer your question? If so, please use Accept Solution so that others may find this in the future. Thank you very much!

[jtylerbc]

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@A.Acheson wrote:

Hi @strZ4YVW 

You might need to have an internal ilogic rule in the part file to update the driven parameter to the description. This way it can be dynamic. A replace family template with the local rule should be enough to make it dynamic. See the video in this  forum post for the method. An alternate method is to use an external ilogic rule to extract and populate the parameter value.

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I use a method similar to this.  My iLogic rule measures the bounding box of the part in the appropriate direction (for CC lengths this is the Z direction), then assigns the resulting value to a User Parameter.  I use that parameter instead of the Autodesk-supplied B_L parameter.

This results in me getting the correct length no matter how the part is modified.  It can be used in Frame Generator, set to a specific length by the parameters, cut with extrusions, used adaptively, or anything else you can imagine.  My parameter will still come up with the correct length, because it doesn't matter how it got there - only the final length gets measured.

[jtylerbc · Accepted solution]

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@CGBenner wrote:

@strZ4YVW 

Welcome to the forum!  In addition to what @dave.cuttingsuggested, I would clarify that once you have saved a structural member "As Custom", I don't believe you can continue to make changes to it through the Content Center interface.  Length changes would need to be made on the model itself, probably by modifying the B_L parameter on the individual part.

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That's not quite the case.  You can right-click on it in an assembly and use "Change Size" or "Replace from Content Center".  You can't do so from the part itself, but you can in an assembly context.  That appears to be what @strZ4YVW is doing in the screenshot from the original post.

However, as shown in the screenshot, it doesn't like it if the value of the length parameter isn't a number.  Setting it equal to another parameter causes issues with this dialog box.  What I have done when this issue has popped up for me is to give the box an arbitrary length (temporarily breaking the link between parameters), then add the parameter expression back in after changing the size.  It's an annoying extra step, but it gets around this issue.

As a side note - this length field is so picky that you can't even enter alternative units.  If the box asks for mm, you can't give it meters.  If it asks for inches, you can't give it feet.  It's the only dialog box I know of in Inventor that can't handle unit conversion properly.

[strZ4YVW · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I found some solutions. The first way is as described above by jtylerbc. Just fill in the length again and then add the parameter again to the length parameter. Other way is to have two parameters for the length, as done in the standard content center structural items with B_L and G_L. One parameter is used for the input and another for the output. Somehow this can't be the same parameter.

Thank you all for your help. Much appreciated.

Stefan

[CGBenner]

@jtylerbc 

D'oh!  Thank you sir for correcting me on that one!  I'm losing my touch!  🙂