Extruding with direction

[ToddPig]

In Solidworks, there is an option to pick the direction for an extrusion.  This is helpful when working with parts that have draft, or rebuilding a part where you had to reorder the draft features, etc...

This has been in Solidworks since at least 2015, so I'm assuming there is an option in Inventor that I am just missing.

As always, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Todd

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Todd,

No, you did not miss anything. The same exact option is not available in Inventor. However, there is a command called Ruled Surface offering similar ability in surface. You can select a 2D or 3D profile (open or closed) and then pick a direction to create the ruled surface.

Many thanks!

[Yijiang.Cai · Accepted solution]

Based on the comments you provided, what about sweep function? Please take a look at the image.

kelly.young has embedded your image for clarity.

[jhackney1972]

I must not understand what you mean by "direction" in an Inventor Extrusion because to me the directions for the extrusion are shown in the Extrude dialog box.  You have four options for direction.

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi John,

Todd is asking for the ability to extrude in a selected direction other than sketch normal directions. Inventor Extrude command does not offer such ability. Like River indicated, Extrude is a special case of Sweep. Sweep does allow a profile to be swept along a path (curve, line, spline), as long as the resultant body is good. The issue with Sweep is that the user has to create the path, which requires additional steps.

Another alternative is Ruled Surface which is similar to Extrude in any direction. But, it is limited to surface body.

Many thanks!

[The_Angry_Elf]

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@johnsonshiue wrote:

Hi John,

Todd is asking for the ability to extrude in a selected direction other than sketch normal directions. Inventor Extrude command does not offer such ability. Like River indicated, Extrude is a special case of Sweep. Sweep does allow a profile to be swept along a path (curve, line, spline), as long as the resultant body is good. The issue with Sweep is that the user has to create the path, which requires additional steps.

Another alternative is Ruled Surface which is similar to Extrude in any direction. But, it is limited to surface body.

Many thanks!

---

Wow....I have no idea how you came to that conclusion from that post. My thoughts were right in line with John's.

[ToddPig]

@The_Angry_Elf 

I can see why my original question was confusing.  I left out the word "normal".  In Solidworks, when extruding, normal is the default direction, then like Inventor you can flip the direction, or use midplane, offset, etc....  but in SW you also have the option to pick a direction(other than normal) simply by selecting  an existing edge, or better yet, an axis.  I don't use this often, but when needed it's very useful.  

[The_Angry_Elf]

Todd,

Gotcha.

Yeah, I see what you mean. Yes, the Extrude command does not have such an option, but you can do such using the Sweep command by selecting the reference line, edge, etc as the Path.

[ToddPig]

I thought it was up to the person posting the question to accept an answer as a solution? In this case I was asking if there was a similar function in Inventor that is in Solidworks. There isn't. Maybe there should be a "Submit to Idea Station" button, so the work does't have to be entered twice.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

I didn't accept the solution on the thread, but I do accept solutions for questions on other peoples posts from time to time, in order to help others find the answer to same questions in the future.

It's probably helpful to think of the "accepted solution" as the best answer(s) to the question being asked, more so than literally the solution to the problem you're attempting to resolve within Inventor, particularly when the answer is that there is not a solution in Inventor.

In any case, there is is no "development" value to leaving a thread "open" if you feel the questions have been answered, meaning that as far as I know the Inventor development team makes no effort to comb the forum looking for "unresolved" threads, and then working on solutions for those issues "open" threads.

Your point about the idea station sounds like a good idea to me, but there are limitations to what this forum platform allows, or can be made to do... but nonetheless you might ask/ suggest it here:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-feedback/bd-p/3011

or here:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-ideas/idb-p/7

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Todd,

I did not accept my posting as a solution either, because the author cannot accept its own posting as a solution. Second, I very rarely  accept any posting as a solution. I think somebody else did. If you disagree with the acceptance, you can undo it I believe.

Many thanks!

[The_Angry_Elf]

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@ToddPig wrote:
In this case I was asking if there was a similar function in Inventor that is in Solidworks. There isn't.

---

Actually, there is, as posted, what you are looking to do can or should be able to be done using the Sweep command as opposed to the Extrude. Just becuase an option isn't offered in the very same way it is in another program doesn't equate it to not being able to do such. Hvae you trying doing what you are looking to do with the Sweep command? Does it work? If not, what is it not doing/failing at?

Can you post the part here so we can attempt a solution?

[ToddPig]

Yes, the sweep feature worked. It just took a few extra steps (compared to Solidworks). I feel like Inventor can pretty much do the same as Solidworks (with the exception of drawings, and designing in the context of an assembly), it just takes more clicking and more time.

In this comparison, If I want to extrude in a direction that is not normal to my sketch, in SW, I can simply click an existing edge or axis, and extrude. In INV I have to create a sketch for the path, and then use the sweep feature.

I used both CAD systems everyday, and I always feel like I'm not as productive in Inventor. But, with that said, that is why I'm on this forum, and why I watch YouTube videos, and buy the books (don't by anything from SDC!!) so I can get better at Inventor. I want to be as good at Inventor as I am in Solidworks, but I feel like that won't happen because Inventor is not as good as Solidworks. I feel like OnShape is going to pass Inventor soon.

[The_Angry_Elf]

No offense but I really have to laugh when someone is counting clicks between the two. Part of this comes from having to deal with a SWx user for 2 years that, like clockwork, twice a day would come over to me claiming Inventor couldn't do something SWx could. I'd then show him how to do such in  Inventor and his response was always "more clicks". I pointed out to him that there may very well be more clicks in Inventor because it offers more options for such command.

I understand that you feel SWx is better than Inventor, but that's based on your comfort level with it. You have far more experience with SWx than you do Inventor. Plus as human nature goes, you are still fighting Inventor due to this comfort level with SWx. You wish it was just like SWx so you'd be just as comfortable in it on a daily basis. I get that, it's very common.

There's been numerous threads here of the SWx vs Inventor type and I'm not going anywhere near that.

Have you had formal training? Note: not all resellers that provide training are worth the cost. I know numerous resellers who's training are worthless (we just canned our reseller here for that reason). I'd highly suggest getting training material (books, vids, etc.) from Ascent. Aslo Curtis Waguespack has put out some great books on Inventor, I can't recommend his books enough. He's on these boards and has replied to your posts I'm sure.Hit him up. I have a 2012 book from him that I still reference at times.

[ToddPig]

I agree, going down the Inventor vs. Solidworks path doesn't help. I only reference SW in hopes that somebody else who has tried to do the same thing, can help. I have not had formal training, our re-seller is useless, other than because of their lack of help, I searched for books and eventually found the forum. As for books, I have Curtis's 2015 book. It's great, I share it with everybody here. And yes, he responds to many of my forum posts, he is very helpful. I'll get a book from Ascent next, thanks for the recommendation.

[The_Angry_Elf]

The Ascent books are typically what I use for all my training classes. They are not cheap. They have both a student version (the one you'd get in formal training) and the Instructor's manual (the one the instructor uses) that includes answers to the questions at the end of each chapter. But any instructor worth anything typically would know the answers already.

As a matter of fact, now that I think of it, I need to call and order some for my iLogic classes.

Just remember, you have 10x the experience with SWx than with Inventor. It's going to be a tough battle for a while. You'll tend to fall back on Sx habits but that'll fade. I went thru the same thing many years ago, going from a guru on CADDS5i to Inventor release 3.

[The_Angry_Elf]

Oh, before I forget,

Ascent used to offer a course book that was geared towards people coming from Swx to Inventor.

I wanna say it was for the 2014 release. Not sure if they've done a more updated version, but I've used that book/courseware a lot and have updated items myself based on what release I was teaching for.

If I recall the original title was something like "Inventor 2014 for Experienced Users".

***update***...here it is: https://www.ascented.com/courseware-solutions/autodesk/courseware/autodesk-inventor/2019/autodesk-in...