Inventor sketch block adaptive?

[bradeneuropeArthur]

How to make a sketch block adaptive?

These are two blocks:

• Rectangle Block
• Line Block

I want Line "Block" to be adaptive to be able to constraint to the left bottom corner point of the "Rectangle Block" 

Is that possible?

How do I achieve that?

Adaptive is on for the block, still not adaptive to use.

Regards,

Arthur

[bradeneuropeArthur]

How to make a sketch block adaptive?

These are two blocks:

• Rectangle Block
• Line Block

I want Line "Block" to be adaptive to be able to constraint to the left bottom corner point of the "Rectangle Block" 

Is that possible?

How do I achieve that?

Adaptive is on for the block, still not adaptive to use.

Regards,

Arthur

[Gabriel_Watson]

I haven't tried this yet, but are you able to project the rectangle block into the other block as construction, and use that projection as an adaptive geometry to constrain your line to? If not that, maybe use the angle+length of the internal construction lines on the rectangle to save those as a parameter, and consume the parameter for the line? Sorry I'll try these later as well because I'm curious, but just wanted to brainstorm in case you can test sooner.

[Gabriel_Watson]

I haven't tried this yet, but are you able to project the rectangle block into the other block as construction, and use that projection as an adaptive geometry to constrain your line to? If not that, maybe use the angle+length of the internal construction lines on the rectangle to save those as a parameter, and consume the parameter for the line? Sorry I'll try these later as well because I'm curious, but just wanted to brainstorm in case you can test sooner.

[SBix26]

Adaptive is only valid in the context of an assembly.  Checking Adaptive doesn't make sketch blocks somehow take on the same behavior.

I believe that sketch blocks cannot alter their geometry when placed in a sketch.  That's one of their selling points, that a sketch doesn't have to be fully constrained or constrained at all if you can turn it into a sketch block, it cannot be altered without editing it.

Perhaps someone else has better insight?

---

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2022.2.2 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

[SBix26]

Adaptive is only valid in the context of an assembly.  Checking Adaptive doesn't make sketch blocks somehow take on the same behavior.

I believe that sketch blocks cannot alter their geometry when placed in a sketch.  That's one of their selling points, that a sketch doesn't have to be fully constrained or constrained at all if you can turn it into a sketch block, it cannot be altered without editing it.

Perhaps someone else has better insight?

---

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2022.2.2 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Folks,

The "Adaptive" context menu here is a bit confusing. There is no such thing called adaptive sketch block. A sketch block is a rigid body. There is no degree of freedom within the geometry. Checking Adaptive when right-clicking on a sketch block simply makes the sketch adaptive.

Many thanks!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Folks,

The "Adaptive" context menu here is a bit confusing. There is no such thing called adaptive sketch block. A sketch block is a rigid body. There is no degree of freedom within the geometry. Checking Adaptive when right-clicking on a sketch block simply makes the sketch adaptive.

Many thanks!

[CStilesCARE]

Just came across this thread when looking up info about sketch blocks. Is it safe to say, then, that sketch blocks are completely cut-off from being able to be defined relative to other things, or is it possible to drive their dimensions with parameters maybe?

Reason I ask, is because I've found the rigidity of sketch blocks to be their biggest draw-back, and I very rarely use them for that reason (possibly to my detriment at times). Many of the parts I end up creating have aspects that need to be driven by other things present in a design, so I can't use something that's completely cut-off from updating, other than by doing it manually.

This isn't great, because it means that I can't use Inventor's built-in tools to work with sketch blocks, which seem like they'd be useful.

One thing that would make sketch blocks INSANELY helpful for me would be if you could create a sketch block from items within a layout sketch or similar, then have that created block design drivable by the sketch it was created within (and ONLY by that sketch, plus maybe parameters).

So, if you used the sketch block in other sketches after (or derived it), those instances would all be static. BUT, if you changed something in the driving sketch, all instances of the block would update to match.

Is there any way sketch-blocks could be updated to allow for that kind of use, or a current work-around to enable something similar? I work a lot with parameters, so maybe I could come up with a way to drive blocks by them...

Is my above idea something that other people would find useful too, or am I missing something that would make it a move perhaps?

[CStilesCARE]

Just came across this thread when looking up info about sketch blocks. Is it safe to say, then, that sketch blocks are completely cut-off from being able to be defined relative to other things, or is it possible to drive their dimensions with parameters maybe?

Reason I ask, is because I've found the rigidity of sketch blocks to be their biggest draw-back, and I very rarely use them for that reason (possibly to my detriment at times). Many of the parts I end up creating have aspects that need to be driven by other things present in a design, so I can't use something that's completely cut-off from updating, other than by doing it manually.

This isn't great, because it means that I can't use Inventor's built-in tools to work with sketch blocks, which seem like they'd be useful.

One thing that would make sketch blocks INSANELY helpful for me would be if you could create a sketch block from items within a layout sketch or similar, then have that created block design drivable by the sketch it was created within (and ONLY by that sketch, plus maybe parameters).

So, if you used the sketch block in other sketches after (or derived it), those instances would all be static. BUT, if you changed something in the driving sketch, all instances of the block would update to match.

Is there any way sketch-blocks could be updated to allow for that kind of use, or a current work-around to enable something similar? I work a lot with parameters, so maybe I could come up with a way to drive blocks by them...

Is my above idea something that other people would find useful too, or am I missing something that would make it a move perhaps?

[admaiora]

No. Sketch blocks are not "completely cut-off from being able to be defined relative to other things".

For example with a multibody strategy you can derive them with other things

[admaiora]

No. Sketch blocks are not "completely cut-off from being able to be defined relative to other things".

For example with a multibody strategy you can derive them with other things

[CStilesCARE]

@admaiora Hey, thanks for replying so quickly.

I'd be very interested to learn how to use sketch blocks as you say. Do you know of any sites or videos that explain how to do this, or can you give me a rough explanation perhaps?

Thanks!

[CStilesCARE]

@admaiora Hey, thanks for replying so quickly.

I'd be very interested to learn how to use sketch blocks as you say. Do you know of any sites or videos that explain how to do this, or can you give me a rough explanation perhaps?

Thanks!

[admaiora]

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/Inve...

[admaiora]

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/Inve...

[AIR_123]

It seems concept of sketch blocks not well understood...

You are not using sketch blocks to be adaptive to outer geometry, its opposite around.

You insert sketch blocks to represent design intent, connect them, and them use current sketch geometry to be adaptive to interactivity of those sketch blocks.

You can use layout/skeleton principles to control current model design.

Also "Derive" feature comes in handy in such designs.

[AIR_123]

It seems concept of sketch blocks not well understood...

You are not using sketch blocks to be adaptive to outer geometry, its opposite around.

You insert sketch blocks to represent design intent, connect them, and them use current sketch geometry to be adaptive to interactivity of those sketch blocks.

You can use layout/skeleton principles to control current model design.

Also "Derive" feature comes in handy in such designs.

[AIR_123]

here is how you can make it quasi "adaptive"

make sketch block with required parameters. I've added diagonal driven dim.

then define the second block and make line length parametric to first block length.

then constrain line to rectangle. change dimensions of first block and line will follow in second block.

click update at this step.

 you can add form and whole design will adapt without "update" button

[AIR_123]

here is how you can make it quasi "adaptive"

make sketch block with required parameters. I've added diagonal driven dim.

then define the second block and make line length parametric to first block length.

then constrain line to rectangle. change dimensions of first block and line will follow in second block.

click update at this step.

 you can add form and whole design will adapt without "update" button

[CStilesCARE]

@admaiora Thanks for the link. That just takes me to the standard info on sketch blocks though, so it doesn't tell me anything new. I skimmed through it again, but I don't believe those pages mention anything about driving sketch block dimensions from external (to them) means, like parameters. Please do let me know if I'm mistaken though.

@AIR_123 Hey, thanks for giving the great example of driving sketch blocks with parameters. I suspected that could be done, but hadn't got around to trying it yet myself. Knowing I can do that should give me a few more opportunities to use them going forward though.

I always understood that sketch blocks were intended to be static once created, but was unclear on how much freedom there is for driving the block design itself. I always want them to act like dynamic blocks in AutoCAD (I would LOVE it if Autodesk made an equivalent to those for Inventor) and get disappointed when I try to use one and get reminded that they're different.

[CStilesCARE]

@admaiora Thanks for the link. That just takes me to the standard info on sketch blocks though, so it doesn't tell me anything new. I skimmed through it again, but I don't believe those pages mention anything about driving sketch block dimensions from external (to them) means, like parameters. Please do let me know if I'm mistaken though.

@AIR_123 Hey, thanks for giving the great example of driving sketch blocks with parameters. I suspected that could be done, but hadn't got around to trying it yet myself. Knowing I can do that should give me a few more opportunities to use them going forward though.

I always understood that sketch blocks were intended to be static once created, but was unclear on how much freedom there is for driving the block design itself. I always want them to act like dynamic blocks in AutoCAD (I would LOVE it if Autodesk made an equivalent to those for Inventor) and get disappointed when I try to use one and get reminded that they're different.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! On top of what has already mentioned here, an adaptive sketch can contain sketch blocks. These blocks are rigid bodies. In an adaptive sketch, the block's location or rotation can be driven by assembly constraints just like points, lines, and circles. However, the block's shape will not change, since it is a rigid body.

Many thanks!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! On top of what has already mentioned here, an adaptive sketch can contain sketch blocks. These blocks are rigid bodies. In an adaptive sketch, the block's location or rotation can be driven by assembly constraints just like points, lines, and circles. However, the block's shape will not change, since it is a rigid body.

Many thanks!