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Show Sketch in Part (Burn-Through model)

Anonymous

Show Sketch in Part (Burn-Through model)

Anonymous
Not applicable

Is there a way to force the sketch to be shown all the time?  I routinely have to draw sketches that are hidden by parts of an extrusion or faces that are inside of parts and it is difficult to see the sketch when it is hidden by other sections of the part.  I know there is the slice graphics command, but that hides sections of the part that I may need to reference...

 

I end up having to switch between wire frame and part view to find the edges I need.  Granted, the parts could be setup differently to avoid this, but I have to work with what I have.

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SBix26
Consultant
Consultant
Accepted solution

Would (temporarily) setting the part appearance to something transparent do what you need?  That gives you the visibility of the sketch, as well as the visibility of the rest of the part.  

 

As I'm sure you already know, using the Slice Graphics (F7) still allows the invisible geometry to be selected, though it can be somewhat tricky to find it.  Still, F7 allows you to toggle the slice view very quickly back and forth, so you can look at your sketch, decide you want to project something invisible, hit F7, select the edge/point/face, then F7 again to return to your sketch.  And of course you can also roll your part so you slice from the opposite side.

 

Very long way of answering your question: no, there is no way to force the sketch to be shown all the time.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2016 Update 2
Vault Basic 2016
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1

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Anonymous
Not applicable

There are times where dealing with all the hidden edges creates a mess on the screen and having to move the model around and reset the slice graphics is a bit cumbersome.  The parts we deal with can be complex casting models and without dumbing down the solids, there are a lot of tangent edges that create lines on the screen.

 

Slice graphics seems to be the way to go for 2D sketches, however, that still leaves the issue of geometry being blocked in 3D sketching.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

If a barely known voxel sculptural CAD program like Geomagic FreeForm can do it.  A well known, vastly used program, like Autodesk Inventor, should already be doing it.  Forcing the users to use material settings to see our sketches, is a waste of our time when such a simple solution already exists.

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johnsonshiue
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi! What Inventor release are you on? The ability to see a sketch through part bodies has been in 2018 already. The opacity control is in Tools -> Application Options -> Sketch.

Your analogy to another program is interesting. However, many things can be said the other way too. Inventor does many things that our competitors or non-competitors cannot do.

Many thanks!

 



Johnson Shiue (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)
Software Test Engineer

mjp.purdy
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You're a bleedin life saver! I come from solidworks, which has the burn-though standard. Not once have I ever said "man it's really nice not being able to see the sketch through this material." A few more weeks of dragging slice-graphics planes to just barely show my sketch and the material (sometimes crashing inventor) and I'd have developed a concussion from the head-smashing I've been doing into my desk. 

 

I gotta use this google-thing more often, you find out all sorts of stuff.

PaulN_UK
Participant
Participant

Haha - this is so true.  I think someone at Autodesk actually needs to use Inventor and make some settings standard.  It's like they are trying to make it a pain in the ar*e to use. 

It's like using Solidworks from 15 years ago!  Just little things like changing a dim in an initial sketch and you have to zoom out - Solidworks does this automatically.

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