How to Animate Similar to SolidWorks

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I love the way I can animate things in Solidworks. I feel like I can do so much more that way. Is there a way that I can do the same in Inventor?

In case you're not familiar with Solidworks, you can basically move a component in whatever way you like and record it during the process. This opens up an unlimited amount of possibilities.

Thanks

[mcgyvr]

Lots of different ways..

You can drive constraints or using Studio (part of Inventor) you can do lots of animations..

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016...

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017...

[JDMather]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In case you're not familiar with Solidworks, you can basically move a component in whatever way you like and record it during the process....

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Can you provide a youtube link to how this is done in SolidWorks or attach a SolidWorks example?

I am not familiar with any differences between animating in SolidWorks and animating in Inventor (except that I can Animate Parameters in Inventor).

[Anonymous]

Hi JDMather,

Thanks for your reply. I should have provided this link earlier. This is from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd6DqjREv-w

What I like about this, is that I can do anything. However, I'm sure that I can do the same animation with Inventor, but with a different technique. I would love to be able to have the SolidWorks' way, just in case I'm animating a very complex animation.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mcgyvr,

Thanks so much for the help. I have looked at those documentations previously and it didn't provide me with information on how to automate similar to how it's done in Solidworks, Maya, and etc.

However, if I need that flexibility, I can go to AutoDesk Showcase. I can simulate things there like I would in Solidworks, Maya, and etc.

Thanks for your reply.

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous

OK, I thought you might be referring to something different.

Environments>Inventor Studio to do the same thing.

Inventor Studio is not a different program - just a different Environment within Inventor.

I recommend that you go through the tutorials to find the differences (you have to display the Animation Timeline and Expand the Action Editor).  I teach a class on Animation using both Inventor and SolidWorks.  They are essentially the same.

You might also look into Inventor Presentations File>New Presentation (*.ipn) used for creating Exploded Assemblies.

This also works essentially the same as SolidWorks (but much easier creation, editing of Trails).

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to accept this as a solution, but it is still a little bit different. In Solidworks I can have a component at one location and then move it to another location by hand and Solidworks would record that movement. I'm just starting to learn Inventor and don't need a tool like that now, but maybe later. Thanks again for your help :).