Inventor Simplification Technology Preview available on Autodesk Labs

[scott-sheppard-autodesk]

Inventor Simplification is a free technology preview of a new and easy way to simplify parts and assemblies for downstream consumption. The shrinkwrap feature was added to Autodesk^® Inventor^® software several releases ago. Since that time we’ve collected feedback on various ways to improve the workflow. We think we have a much better way to simplify models and wanted to share it with you as soon as possible.

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_simplification/

You can post your feedback on this thread.

[blair]

Inventor "Labs" is a "open to public" beta testing site. There really to work out the bugs and get feed-back. It was released back in 2012. Can't say how it will work in newer versions or if all the bugs/issues have been worked out.

[scott-sheppard-autodesk]

The supported apps page just lists 2013:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_simplification/supported_apps

I am not sure how it will work with other versions.

[Anonymous]

The "simplification" would work better, for my company, if the resultant part model resembled the model from which it was taken.

Otherwise, for what we would use it for, we can't identify what the model is



Rob Meckes
Mechanical Designer

Harper International an Employee-Owned Company
Ph. 716-684-7400 Ext. 1151
rmeckes@harperintl.com
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[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Simplify seems like it could be a great addition! but i'm encounter an error when trying to "combine compnents" i get an error dialog stating "the operation failed" and takes me back to the original assembly.

 What am i doing wrong? or is there a bug?

---

I have the same issue.
Autodesk Inventor Professional 2013 64-Bit SP1.1

[Anonymous]

when trying to combine components with too many "open" features, i would get the same "errror", refine the selection process i.e. dumb it down

[kwilson_design]

Is anyone else having issues with Simplify working in 2014 IV? It worked flawless for us in 2013 but in 2014 the "Simplfy" ribbon tab only displays at the assembly level. The add-in is set to Automatic/Loaded so I'm not sure why it's no longer working at the part level. Anyone else having this issue?

[blair]

I believe it was only designed for IV2013. Anything on the Autodesk Labs is really "Beta Testing" that is open for the public.

[kwilson_design]

Yea I knew it wasn't supported with 2014 use so that's why I'm asking if anyone has the same issues with 2014 or if it doesn't work at all for everyone. Just trying to make sure it's not something with my machine. It works as far as the assembly environment goes but doesn't work at all in the part envirmonent, so it's pretty much useless in 2014 lol.

I'm really hoping they bring Simplify into IV full-time or at least promote it to the Exchange site after it expires. It is light years better than trying to do the equivalent using Shrinkwrap.

[freesbee]

Nothing to say: very nice and useful tool.

For a few technical reasons beside the scopes of this forum, we are not yet in the condition to move on from 2013 release, but we are working on it.

We are subscribers, that means we should have support 3 releases backwards (2015 is out now, -> 2014 -> 2013 still supported).

We have developed some interesting workflows based on Inventor Simplification, and since yesterday these workflows are not possible any more (Simplification has been integrated in the upcoming releases, but has expired for 2013 on Jul 1st 2014).

I've been searching aroung if any hotFix/Service Pack can fix the issue, but I didn't find anything.

What shall we do in the meantime with the 2013 release??

[scott-sheppard-autodesk]

As you can tell from the error message the technology preview has ended. When a technology preview ends, the technology can graduate, retire, or undergo another round of feedback via a new technology preview. In this case, the Inventor Simplification technology has graduated to Inventor 2014 and Inventor 2015..

Technology previews are not intended for production use. After all, they're still in the early preview stage. They are in their infancy and are not fully baked. We are realists and recognize that some customers use them at their own risk. Technology previews are like taste tests at malls. We let people take a sip of Pepsi and a sip of Coke and tell us which one they like better. Regardless of which one they prefer, we are not promising to deliver a lifetime supply of soda. Sometimes people hate the taste of both!

We make technology previews available via Autodesk Labs so people can give us feedback. Most customers try them on test projects. If the technology preview works for them - great. If it does not work for them, no harm/no foul, since the customers are only playing with the technology on test projects. Since technology previews have an end date that is published at the onset of the technology preview, customers try them on projects that end before the technology preview ends. Technology previews have a specific end date so no one confuses them with perpetual functionality that is associated with a product offering or subscription service. In fact, technology previews are offered for free to Subscription customers, non-Subscription customers, and educational users alike. When the previews end, I don't have a way to re-activate them. It's not part of the Labs process. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Please don't shoot the messenger.

[Maxim-CADman77]

That's why I escaped Autodesk beta-testing, previews etc.

Next time consider possible losts before spending your time for
Autodesk's favor.



Don't you have to do something for your family instead?

Autodesk need some beta-testers? Great! Just go and hire some people. We
are not your beta-testers.

[freesbee]

...well I mostly agree with you, but actually we used the Simplification to protect our technical knowledge when customers want a 3D model to place in their layout, and to that end the Simplification was a perfect tool.

I still don't know for sure if it has been integrated in the 2015 (I'll check at home over the weekend), but the point is that I cannot migrate our production system further than 2013 at the moment (and for the next 6 months).

So, for us the expiry of the Simplification is a bad news...

(I am also in the BetaTesting program for the entire inventor... I never downloaded any release 😉 )

[EvanGu]

The tool is in Inventor 2015, it can be found in Part/BIM tab, or in 3D Model tab (need to show it)