Paperless Design and Manufacturing Process

[e_frissell]

Hi guys,

I'm a long time removed from a place I used to work which had a mostly paperless manufacturing process from design to finished product...except we used SolidWorks.  While paperless doesn't mean drawingless, manufacturing didn't need physical drawings.  While I'm somewhat familiar with what's required for the process, I'm curious how the approach works in Inventor because I started looking at the first step of the process which is a free drawing review/markup software and I found Design Review.  While I haven't downloaded the product or used it yet because IT reasons, I did watch some demonstrational videos on youtube but one thing I didn't see was anyone place a missing dimension... it seemed like it was mostly used for notes, which is cool and all...but being able to place a red dimension on a drawing that's missing just seems like important functionality?  Sure you can use the notes to call out missing dimensions but it seems very inefficient...  Is my assumption correct that it won't place a dimension on the drawing?  Is there a free/cheap software that will, or one that would at least place a dimension that says "DIM" as opposed to the actual measurement?

[CGBenner · Accepted solution]

@e_frissell 

Hi.  The first thing I should point out is that Autodesk Design Review was essentially discontinued in 2017.  It is still there, and still free to use, but no new development has taken place since then so functionality may be limited... especially with newer OS and newer releases of other software.  My understanding is that the free Autodesk Viewer has become the new tool for these functions, but I have not used it since I left an Inventor workstation behind.

Hopefully others in here have more specific advice for you on how it works, and how well it might serve your plans.  Are you using Vault as part of this workflow?

[e_frissell]

@CGBenner thanks for letting me know the product was discontinued!  Probably saved me from a bit of embarrassment when management were to ask why I'd like to bring in a discontinued product as part of our workflow...  I'll take a look at the AutoDesk Viewer and see if that's got the functionality, but I didn't really see it having mark-up functionality for dwf's?

The plan is to use Vault as part of our workflow with an item release process however we're just getting started and nothing is set in stone...mind if I ask why you bring Vault workflow up?

[CGBenner]

@e_frissell I mention Vault only because it does add an additional layer of complexity to the equation.  With Vault as part of your workflow, you may end up generating the visualization file from Vault client.  It's the exact same thing as the Shared Views in Inventor, it's only a question of where you generate it.  

The viewer doesn't use a dwf file like you're used to, but it does have a markup set of tools.  I'm not personally familiar with these, but it's free to use so maybe you want to just play around with it and see if it does what you need.

[e_frissell]

Sounds good, thanks for letting me know

[shallN6L5D]

Hi all, looks like the original problem wasn't resolved. I have a similar question, namely

what desktop software is available to view *and mark up* 2D *and 3D* DWFx files?

We are using Vault so these are created by a job processor when the CAD files are released. I have found that Design Review will open the files, but the markup tool is broken - I can add a callout and type text, but I can't see the text as I type so it inevitably has mistakes in it.

Inventor read-only doesn't open DWFx.

Vault Thin Client doesn't show DWFx files.

Uploading and downloading files to/from an online viewer is a poor workflow. Autodesk Viewer (online) is very slow and couldn't open my 3D DWFx.

Can anyone please suggest software and a workflow that's working for them?

cheers

Simon

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Have you tried Autodesk Design Review?

https://www.autodesk.com/products/design-review/overview

Many thanks!

[shallN6L5D]

@johnsonshiue yes that's what I started with.

As described in this Forum thread https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-review-forum/workflow-for-markups/td-p/13807255 , it's not working properly. I can't see the text as I type it into a markup. I also have a support ticket with Autodesk, but it seems Autodesk don't support Design Review.

[ProductivCADUser]

Attached link to other forum dissucion with nearly same topic:
Request for a Lightweight Viewer for Inventor Files (.ipt, .iam, .idw) - Autodesk Community

It seems to me that Autodesk does not offer or cannot offer a solution to this problem for its customers that meets their requirements and does not involve additional license costs or third-party software.

[swalton]

Use the Markup feature in Vault?  I believe it works with dwf/dwfx created by Job Processor and requires either a Vault or Thin Client license.  It seems to run on the local machine and does not require pushing the file to the cloud.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/VAULT/2025/ENU/?guid=GUID-E2624D7F-772F-46F4-B0F6-876AB837E00D

Example: 

We haven't tried to go paperless, so we just send the drawing to the printer. 

[shallN6L5D]

Thanks @swalton , on Friday I actually got the markup facility working in Vault Client (desktop). I had previously tried this and also markups in Vault Thin Client, with neither working.
Now it seems I can also see the markups in Vault Thin Client. I've found that models and drawings don't always display in the View tab in Thin Client (even when they display in the desktop client). But this is all much closer to a feasible workflow.