Inventor Nesting utility can't set negative priority

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I am trying to set an .ipt to be a filler part for a nesting study, the Autodesk literature says that you can set the priority of the part as negative and it will fill available space without starting a new sheet but I am unable to enter a negative value? Please advise.

Thanks and Regards

Phil

[Xun.Zhang]

Hello Phil,

I am not expert of Nesting, let me passing along to the project team for a better understanding.

Thanks for the time.

[bobvdd · Accepted solution]

You are absolutely right Phil. I filed a defect for this with number TRUNINV-1038.

This functionality is supported in our bigger brother TruNest product. Unfortunately, we carelessly carried over the nesting utility help from big brother without actually implementing it in the nesting utility. We will fix it, no worries.

In the meantime, could you not restrict the Inventor QTY of your nest from the default infinite value to a specific value and adjust width and length of the packaging to accommodate the filler QTY you have in mind. Restricting the Inventory QTY has an almost  similar effect as using filler parts.

Cheers

Bob

[Anonymous]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I'll give the restricted qty workaround/method a try.

I'm looking at the nesting util for our customers. So far I have been using the Autodesk PC case sample model but have come across several occasions where the util has misinterpreted boundaries. Both on import 

creating the mask to be nested, where it made a mess and missed out a load of holes where the sheet is perforated for a fan mounting. On export to 3D solid it missed a boundary and gave me a negative of the part I wanted i.e. I had material where holes should be and holes where material should be.

Have you got any advice to work around, or something I can do to the source geometry to avoid this?

Thanks and Regards

Phil

[Anonymous]

Also, when RMB on a pattern and select open, nothing appears to happen. What is this button supposed to do?

Regards

Phil

[Anonymous]

Hi again, could you point me to where I may be able to restrict the inventory quantity?

Thanks

Phil

[bobvdd]

Inventory QTY can be found in the Edit Nest dialog as one of the columns. it is set to infinite by default but you can override it by clicking on it and set it to a smaller value.
Bob

[bobvdd]

Concerning the RMB problem, this is a known issue with the marking menu for which I have logged an improvement request (TRUNINV-1043).

The cause is that a shape has no Open command associated with it but has a graphical representation.
Its parent source node in the browser tree has an Open command associated with it but has no graphical representation in the nesting utility. So we are basically between a rock and a hard place.

My suggestion is to ignore that Open in the marking menu for now (until we come up with a solution) and use the Open context menu on the source node in the browser instead, which will open or activate the source in its native application (for an IPT that will be a new window in Inventor, for a DXF that will be a new window in AutoCAD).
See my image for more details.

Bob

[Anonymous]

Yea I don't get those options

[bobvdd]

Use the blue bar that you see in your screen shot and drag the blue bar down a little bit to reveal the Packaging section of the dialog. You will find the Inventory QTY in that section.

Bob

[bobvdd]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 .....

Have you got any advice to work around, or something I can do to the source geometry to avoid this?

"

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Phil,

Concerning this question it could be that the default tolerances that we are using in nesting utility are a bit too coarse. I would suggest to locate and edit following file with any text editor:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Nesting Utility 2019\Translation\DefaultConfiguration

Change the compression settings from 0.1

"InsideCircleCompression": 0.1,
"InsideLinearCompression": 0.1,
"OutsideCircleCompression": 0.1,
"OutsideLinearCompression": 0.1,

to something smaller

"InsideCircleCompression": 0.01,
"InsideLinearCompression": 0.01,
"OutsideCircleCompression": 0.01,
"OutsideLinearCompression": 0.01,

Save the file and then try your entire extract and nest process to see if you get better results.
Thanks

Bob

[Anonymous]

Cool, I'll have a play with the config file and report back if I find any improvements and what numbers worked for me.

I had to make the whole dialogue larger to expose the tables, I think that might have been the size it came in at from installation.

Thanks for your time 🙂

Phil

[AmyLiu]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Cool, I'll have a play with the config file and report back if I find any improvements and what numbers worked for me.

I had to make the whole dialogue larger to expose the tables, I think that might have been the size it came in at from installation.

Thanks for your time 🙂

Phil

---

Hi Phil, 

you're right, the size is the default value when install, you should drag it to make it suitable. We have ticket logged to  improve the default value. TRUNINV-1005

thanks,

Amy

[Anonymous]

Hi Bob,

Tried the import settings as suggested. Tried at 0.01 closing down inventor and opening again and starting my nest from scratch. No Change. Reduced to 0.001 and did a reboot. Still nothing. Hit a load of settings at random, no change.

I noticed while looking at the config file there is a PC chassis model in a folder called "sample". It appears to be the same PC chassis that I am working on but when I look at the flat pattern the corner relief etc. is different. Am I attempting the impossible getting the "old" Autodesk PC chassis model to nest?

Thanks and Regards

Philip Russell

[bobvdd]

I think you are onto something Phil. The PC Chassis sample file we provide with the Nesting Utility is a slightly modified version of the PC Chassis you know from the olde days. Especially we took care of removing tear corner flanges as tear corners momentarily cause problems in nesting. I bet the PC Chassis set you are working with still contains tear corners  and other small geometry that confuse the nesting.

Bottom-line: for your testing, use the new PC Chassis sample set at C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Nesting Utility 2019\Samples\PC Chassis

Bob

[drafting_nufab]

Hi Bob,

Going back a while but was having a browse when this topic (and your suggested solution) came up. Noted today that I am still unable to generate a negative priority value for source nested parts. Has this been abandoned as a workflow?

Associated question: does the nesting utility allow me to constrain the nest to a specific number of high (100) priority parts as well as low priority 'other/filler' parts but only add the filler parts if they are going to fit in the plate skeleton?

I have not found Process or Nest settings that achieves this outcome. I have found that any change to filler part priority (below 100) results in filler parts being placed outside of the skeleton (in the remnant plate).

thanks wade