Resizable logo iFeature

[pball]

I'm trying to create a resizable iFeature of a logo. The problem is the logo has complex elements to it which wouldn't be easy to constrain. Simplifying the P and constraining it so it's driven by one dimension is trivial enough. Constraining the splines and making them parametric to the letter is something I'd rather not think about.

Does anyone know a trick or method to make something like this resizable without spending forever constraining it?

Right now it's looking like having an AutoCAD master you scale and plop in Inventor is the easiest solution, but that leaves room for people to screw things up. That or creating a bunch of iFeatures for various sizes of the logo.

[mcgyvr]

I'm basing some of my assumptions of thinking that the logo as drawn so far is not sized properly..

I would expect a logo/graphics designer actually started with an ellipse and then broke that up...

While its close it seems the logo is off some.. Not sure if it should be or of that was some mistake along the line..

So I would start with one ellipse driving some of the placement..

I would then think you would want to have the "gaps" between the P and the "swooshes" be consistent based on the thickness of the letter so I would start by making those gaps be driven off the width of the letters solids..

In general there is really no easy button... But you should know what constraints that logo must hold from a design standard and dimension accordingly.. 

[pball]

I used a P in place of our actual letter so the two swooshes don't actually line up nicely like that. The shape of the swooshes is from our official logo and they are not part of an ellipse sadly (d**n you graphic designers). So unfortunately they can't be approximated by even a partial ellipse.

For now I've used the lazy button which is an unconstrained sketch scaled to the size I need. Maybe Inventor will some day support sketch blocks in iFeatures and using a dimension to scale sketch blocks (I can dream right lol).

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Guys,

I am not sure if this is applicable. But, I think you might want to consider using Sketch Block. By turning the logo into a sketch block, you can derive the block to another sketch and then change the scale, instead of changing the dimensions or constraints. Could you try it and see if it works better?

Many thanks!

[Tom_Sturtevant]

Hi pball,

Sketch block may indeed be a better way to go with this, but there is one trick to get a resizable iFeature.

You know that Inventor will scale your entire sketch when you add the first dimension.  If you create the sketch you will extract with NO DIMENSIONS you can add the first dimension after placing the iFeature and the entire sketch will scale.  I’m not sure how well this will work if you need to precisely position your logo because the global scaling does not happen if the sketch is constrained.

Here’s an example (apologies for trashing your logo!!).  The 1in and .5in dimensions were added after placing the iFeature.  This will work with a sketch-only iFeature or if the iFeature contains an un-dimensioned sketch that has been consumed by a feature.

Hope that helps...

T.0.M.

[pball]

@johnsonshiue

I have tried using both blocks and derived features but iFeatures can't be created from features that contain either of those.

@Tom_Sturtevant

That is a neat trick, but placing a sketch only iFeature and then having to dimension and extrude it afterwards seems to negate the benefit of using an iFeature.

Maybe if I get extremely bored I'll try dimensioning that swoosh and see if it's possible to make it parametric.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It is true that iFeature does not work on derived feature. I am wondering if you could store the sketch blocks in a ipt file. When you need it, simply copy and paste it or derive it. It is kind of like AutoCAD's Block Reference workflow.

Many thanks!