Inventor - Frame driven by parametric sketch not working in Infraworks

[Nic.renaudeau]

Hi all,

I've created a frame driven by a parametric 3D skeleton frame that works like a charm in Inventor.

But when I try to export it using the Infrastructure Part Shape Utilities an bring it to Infraworks the Model does not display.

Note: shrinkwrapping the model does display the export model but gets rid of the parameters

[Xun.Zhang]

Hello @Nic.renaudeau,

Frame is driven by skeleton part with adaptive technology for frame member, please make sure the skeleton part are proper transfer the parameters to infraworks with the bridges.

It is true that you have to set up all of the parametric in Inventor, when you create the part.  But once you bring it into InfraWorks, you can change ANY of the parametric attributes on that part.  You can set it up to have a variety of different part sizes when you bring it in to InfraWorks, and each of those sizes will be listed  in the Content picker.  But you can also directly select a pier in InfraWorks, and change any of its parametric attributes like column thickness, cap depth, etc.

Here is a video showing the complete workflow (You might have to Right click and download the video if the player isnt working properly).  

The only thing it is missing is Right Click > Send to Revit.  Try it out. 

Here is some more information for your reference -

In the InfraWorks >2018.1 release, we added support for parametric road decorations that leverage the same approach that we have been creating for bridges.  Also, in >2018.1 releases, we can use Inventor assemblies as parametric content, in addition to parts.  

In the attached 3 images, I created an Inventor assembly of a very basic bridge bascule. I imported it in the InfraWorks Parametric Models tab of the Styles Palette as a road decoration.  I was then able to add it to an existing road as shown in the first image.  On the right side of the image, you can see the Inventor assembly parameters that were exposed as "key" in Inventor and thus, available for editing in InfraWorks.  For instance, I changed the BasculeAngle parameter in the 2nd image and the model updated.  Note that since this Inventor based bascule is introduced in the model as a road decoration, I had to play with some of the hard coded road decoration parameters shown in the Geometry section, such as spacing and rotation, in order to align as desired.

Alternatively, instead of placing this bascule along a road that has an InfraWorks based parametric bridge (where, by the way, all the bridge components are based on Inventor sub models), I created a "dummy" road in image 3 and made it really short and narrow with the goal of leveraging road decorations to place any Inventor assembly or part and being able to move it around in InfraWorks as desired and having access to the models parameters.

By the way, there are many advantages in modeling bridges directly in InfraWorks. While we do not yet directly support more specialized bridge types such as movable, suspension, arch or cable stayed, these can be modeled using a combination of InfraWorks, Inventor and some java script code in InfraWorks.

One interesting aspect of the bridge modeling in InfraWorks is the fact that you can easily open up the bridge model in Revit for detailing with rebar and creating construction drawings etc.

Regards,

[Nic.renaudeau]

Thanks so much for the speedy answer. I am modelling road gantries for traffic management systems

How do I make sure the skeleton part has properly transferred the parameters to infraworks with the bridges?

I have tested parametric assemblies without frames (just parts) and it works like a charm. The issue here seems to be the framing.

[Xun.Zhang]

Hello @Nic.renaudeau,

Expand the Frame sub-assembly and the skeleton part is on top of the sub-node, open it and check the iProperty, you will find where the part located.

Hope it helps!

[AECOM-AC]

@Nic.renaudeau 

Hello Nic,

Wondering if you figured out how to make parametric frame assembly (which works fine in Inventor) to work properly in Infraworks?

Seems I have the same problem with exporting frame assembly from Inventor to Infraworks - all parameters disappearing in Infraworks.

Thank you

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! When you export the Inventor frame assembly, only geometry, assembly structure, component names, and appearances are retained. The parameters are not exported. If you want to keep the parameters, you need to import or insert the Inventor assembly to InfraWorks.

Many thanks!

[AECOM-AC]

Hi! Thank you very much for the reply. To add Inventor's assembly to Infraworks I added it as a new style in Parametric Models. Can you please elaborate how to directly insert/import Inventor's assembly? Thank you

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I am very sorry that my comments were confusing. I thought you exported the Inventor file as a neutral format like STEP. Then the parameters would not be included. InfraWorks was built on top of Inventor Server so there should be a way to insert or place an Inventor files. I assume that the parameters would be included this way. However, I cannot say it for sure, since I am not an InfraWorks' expert.

Here is an InfraWorks article describing a workflow similar to yours. Please take a look.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/infraworks/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/ENU/InfraWo...

You may want to post the question on InfraWorks' forum (https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/infraworks-forum/bd-p/509). I am sorry for not being helpful.

Many thanks!