Hotfix required for color styles being reset

[scottmoyse]

To summarize two separate threads and the inconvenience associated with this problem I have decided to create a new thread requesting a hot fix. For a start the two threads are as follows:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Color-styles-being-reset-to-source-file-color-style-...

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Parts-derived-from-assembly-parts-lose-color-2012/td...

This bug will affect anyone who uses Multi body modeling techniques where there are at least 2 different materials required for components within the multi body model. Given the marketing surrounding this recently new feature of Inventor there will be a very large number of users affected.

We use Multi body modeling almost exclusively in our modeling process, since every single part we model is completely unique. I have seen numerous other users stating similar claims on this forum.

The costs to us as a company are outlined below:

9 CAD users, but problem is affecting the whole company through delays in production of drawings. The risk of rework is greatly increased due to this issue, so the costs compound very quickly.

Our business is super-yacht interiors, so appearance is everything.  Wood-grain textures are used extensively, but this problem requires the re-mapping and orientation of bitmaps every time a model is built or updated from its source file.  This is 100% rework to fix a problem CAUSED by the Inventor software, that didn't’t exist until recently.  The time taken to fix a model can be from a few minutes to a few hours – multiplied by 9 users – multiplied by 2 or 3 fixes each per day.  The impact is crippling production throughput.

Assuming $80/man/hour and three 30 minute fixes/man/day – approximate cost is over $21,000/month plus the cost of any associated rework to parts that slip through the net into manufacturing, that’s material + labor costs. For example a sheet of double sided 18mm Oak veneered ply costs $980 prior to any of the parts being cut or assembled, if the parts were to get to polished before the mistake was found the costs go through the roof.  Current additional cost of double-checking all Autodesk Inventor created documentation prior to submission to fabrication is well in excess of 20 man hours/week.

All of our past, present & future projects are affected by this due to the issue being officially present since Inventor 2011 SP1 and has progressed into Inventor 2012.

I think these numbers speak for themselves. 

I look forward to this issue being fixed.

Cheers

Scott.

[scottmoyse]

This issue has been submitted to support

[scottmoyse · Accepted solution]

Solution is here: http://designandmotion.net/autodesk/mfg-pages/inventor/dreaded-use-color-override-source-component-a...

[ajcampbell]

Am I missing something or are we on 2014 and there is still no access to this other than your macro? I'm glad I finally came across this, it's been driving me crazy.

[scottmoyse]

you will still need to use that macro to fix existing files. But the setting in the Edit Derived Part Dialogue is sticky..... but that means for each new install of Inventor you have to set it in that dialogue for each workstation... it's a ****ty implementation because that setting isn't included in the Application Options settings. I still think the best approach is to use the registry hack, set it up as a file, then run it on each PC from a network location. At least there is a way to work around it.

[Anonymous]

Sorry if I'm missing something but I am on 2014 SP2 and colors are not coming through for me.. How do I implement the visual basic code for existing models and how do I change settings so subsequent models have correct colours? 

[scottmoyse]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry if I'm missing something but I am on 2014 SP2 and colors are not coming through for me.. How do I implement the visual basic code for existing models and how do I change settings so subsequent models have correct colours? 

---

All the information you need is linked to in the Design and Motion post I referenced in the post further up this page. 

To learn how to create a VBA macro using the code supplied in the post, please refer to this document.

You may have issues running VBA in Inventor 2014. In which case you will have to install VBA7 outright or it's possibly just this error here.

Hopefully that will get you started. There's a bit of reading involved, but all the info you need to get 'er durn is here.

[scottmoyse]

Oh & Yes, this sucks!!! and the Inventor teams implementation to fix the issue is rubbish! Every year, once you reinstall the product you get a series of files which get affected in this way. You have to fire up each instance of Inventor and deselect the option in the Derive dialog. OR edit then run the Registry hack... which can't be used within a deployment. It really is a PITA! Why this setting wasn't included in the Application Options like originally planned baffles me. Please get your VAR to pass on your discontent with this issue to Autodesk.

[ajcampbell]

I write my addins in c# .net, I thought I'd post what I use here in case it will help anyone. If run from an assembly it will update all the parts in that assembly.

public class RefreshAppearances
{
  public void Refresh()
  {
    Inventor.Application oApp = (Inventor.Application)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Inventor.Application");
    Document oDoc = oApp.ActiveDocument;
    List<PartDocument> allParts = new List<PartDocument>();
    if (oDoc is AssemblyDocument)
    {
      AssemblyDocument oAssemDoc = (AssemblyDocument)oDoc;
      allParts = oAssemDoc.ReferencedNestedPartDocuements();
    }
    else
    {
      allParts.Add((PartDocument)oDoc);
    }
    int count = 0;
    foreach (PartDocument partDoc in allParts)
    {
      if (partDoc.ComponentDefinition.ReferenceComponents.DerivedPartComponents.Count > 0)
      {
        try
        {
          DerivedPartComponent derComp = partDoc.ComponentDefinition.ReferenceComponents.DerivedPartComponents[1];
          DerivedPartDefinition derDef = derComp.Definition;
          derDef.UseColorOverridesFromSource = false;
        derComp.Definition = derDef;
          count++;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
          MessageBox.Show("Error Updating Appearances: at " + partDoc.DisplayName + "\n"
            + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);
        }
      }
    }
    MessageBox.Show("Completed: Updated " + count + " Documents");
  }
}

public static List<PartDocument> ReferencedNestedPartDocuements(this AssemblyDocument assemDoc)
{
  List<PartDocument> partDocs = new List<PartDocument>();
  foreach (Document refDoc in assemDoc.ReferencedDocuments)
  {
    if (refDoc is PartDocument)
    {
      partDocs.Add((PartDocument)refDoc);
    }
    else if (refDoc is AssemblyDocument)
    {
      foreach(PartDocument partDoc in ReferencedNestedPartDocuements((AssemblyDocument)refDoc))
      {
        partDocs.Add(partDoc);
      }
    }
  }
return partDocs.Distinct().ToList();
}

I call it like this

{ 

  RefreshAppearances refresher = new RefreshAppearances();
  refresher.Refresh();

}

hope it helps