No Fill/hatch region in drawing ribbon? Inventor Pro 2018

[Anonymous]

I am using Inventor Professional 2018 in an Educational setting to create products to be cut out on a Laser cutter.  Regular lines (set to RED, continuous, 0.05mm in my case ) will be cut and BLACK lines will be engraved when I create a drawing file.  I have found instructional videos that show that there is a HATCH/FILL function in the Sketch Mode (.ipt) similar to AutoCAD but it seems like you must enter into this command thru the Drawing Mode.

In this video, it looks like the User reenters Sketch Modeling Mode to add a Hatch.  I am NOT able to double click to "edit the Sketch"  to add a Hatch pattern.  I can't find the Hatch/Fill command in the Sketch Mode. What am I missing?

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2014...

Thanks,

Myq Beresford

Hugh Boyd Secondary School

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I think there is a bit misunderstanding of the workflow. AutoCAD allows you to create almost any geometry or any object any time within the model space. Inventor is more context sensitive. In a part document, you will be creating a part. Certain workflows are allowed within the document. In an assembly doc, you will be assembling parts. In a drawing doc, you will create associative drawing views to assemblies or parts.

The image you attached is in a part sketch. Hatch workflow is not available in a part. It is only available in drawings. You will need to create a drawing and then you can create sketch-based hatch or the hatch will appear in any section view of an assembly or a part.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Johnson

Thanks for your response.  I understand completely what you are saying and agree that AutoCAD may be a better fit but in High School education,  we pick our battles and Inventor is a MUCH better program to learn as it can do more of what we need to do. 

Unfortunately, if you watch at the attached video link, Hatch/Fill some how DOES appear in the Sketch Mode in some Version of Inventor or there is a way to allow one to apply a Hatch/Fill pattern to a 2D object and not as a section view.  For what we are trying to accomplish with our Laser cutter, we need to be able to both cut and engrave at the same time without having to teach AutoCAD.  I am hoping Inventor can do that.

thanks,

Myq 

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi! AutoCAD is an exceptional tool for 2D drafting workflows and 2D modeling in general. Nobody comes close. Inventor on the other hand is geared toward high-precision 3D models that you can make.

If I understood your request correctly, there are primary two workflows to do that in Inventor. You can create a part. Just model the way the sheet metal part should look like and create a flat pattern. Then you can export the flat pattern to DXF and laser-cut it.

Or, you don't bother creating a part. You can do it in Inventor drawing environment. Create Draft View (sketch-based view) or Drawing Sketch to outline the shape. Then export it as DXF. In drawing sketch environment, you can create the hatch. I am not aware of a workflow creating hatch in part sketch environment or assembly sketch environment. If you see the video, please share it with me.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

I hear what you are saying but the way our Laser cutter works (Trotec Speedy 300) is with the print driver so our work flow is to make a sketch, then make a drawing, then print the drawing to the Laser cutter just like you would to any other printer or plotter.   We don't make DXFs.  We use Inventor as it allows us to create assemblies of our projects to prove that they will work BEFORE we commit to cutting them out on the laser cutter.  The attached files of the robot arm and lantern show what we cut but we would like to be able to engrave which requires hatch/fill.  Text works fine but we are not able to draw 2D shapes and engrave them to create something like a channel/trough in a part.  The wooden boxes are cut out to create nice finger/box joints and then engraved in Photoshop.

The video I posted in the original question has some method of adding and editing 2D hatches withing the drawing mode.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2014...

[Anonymous]

Not sure if the link worked in the last post:

Add hatch/color fill to drawing sketches

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2014...

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

In the video, everything is happening in the drawing environment.  If your model contains the features you mentioned, they will show in the appropriate drawing view. 

 - Select the view

 - Type S (to start a new sketch attached to that view)

 - Project the edges of the profile that needs to be hatched

 - Use the Hatch/Fill tool as shown in the video

 - exit the sketch

The hatch pattern will adapt to changes in size of the profile; changes that result in adding more edges to the profile will break the hatch pattern, but it can be edited to reestablish the pattern if needed.  The key to remember is that hatching always takes place within a drawing sketch, and mostly within a view sketch.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2019.1.1 | Windows 7 SP1
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