Inventor R2010 - Ribbons! We Don't Want No Stinkin' Ribbons!

So now we're sitting with Inventor R2010, and the first thing you'll likely notice is the interface. I refer to it as 'Vista-ized', since with Windows Vista, we started seen the ribbons in Microsoft Office.

Last year AutoCAD went to this format in R2009. Even Snagit, which I use to take the screen captures you seen in this blog has gone to the ribbon.

Now, it's Inventor's turn.

For my part, I like the ribbon. I've gotten used to it, and once I got over that hump, it liked what they did. But for me to say that I didn't struggle with a learning curve would definitely be an exaggeration.

So if we need to go back to the 'Classic UI', here's how you do it.

First, bring up your Application Options

Now you'll see you applications screen, which is much like the same old one we saw before. Switch to the colors tab, and change from 'Ribbon UI' to 'Classic UI'.

Once you hit either 'Apply' or 'Close', Inventor will prompt you to close and restart.

Once you restart, Inventor R2010 will open up in the same layout we're used to seeing. Once you're ready to switch to the new interface, just repeat the steps and you can return to the Ribbon UI.

Enjoy everyone!

2010 is here (at least for Inventor)

I take a week off in Mammoth and what happens! Inventor 2010 ships when I get back. But, in a lot of ways, it's like Christmas in March for geeks like me! :-)

I haven't had a chance to start playing around with it like I want to, but believe me, I'll be installing it as soon as I get my little hands on it!

You can start reading up HERE!

Look for some what's new posts soon.

As for me, I almost got snowed in at Mammoth! Here's a picture of my truck shortly before I started digging it out.

I also need to extend a thanks to Giro. I took one heck of a wallop on my (helmeted by Giro) head. Rung my bell enough to give me a 2 day headache and send me to the doctor for a checkup.

Fortunately, they said I'll be fine (at least what qualifies for me as fine)!

All I can say is that I just became the worlds biggest fan of Snowboard helmets!

Here's one more picture. It's me at the Mammoth Summit. It's 11,053 ft. Trust me, I got winded putting my bindings on!

Showcase and Mammoth Mountain..

So here I am at Mammoth Mountain. I'm relaxing and getting ready for my first day of snowboarding.

And yes, I'm blogging. Just tally that one up to being a geek.

Here's a quick tip before I cash in for the night.

This week I did a lot of work on Showcase, so here's a quick reference on Showcase.

I decided to share one of the tricks, but, since I'm in Mammoth, and I'm going to be vacationing. This is just a quick one.

Using Handles on a part.

When you have a part in Showcase, you can translate, rotate, and scale the part inside Showcase. See in the picture below I've selected a part, then hit the 'H' key to display the handles.

By using the handles, you can perform several actions on the part.

1) Click and drag along X,Y,Z arrows on the handles to translate.

2) Click and drag on the curved heads to rotate

3) Click and drag on the box next to the X,Y,Z arrows to scale allong that axis.

4) Click and drag on the center box to scale universally

5) Click ang drag on the plane to translate on that plane.


If you click on the head of one of the arrows (translation or rotation), you'll also get a dialog box that lets you enter a value.



That's the big stuff right now. I may post a picture or two from the trip up here. Just because this is one of my favorite places to visit.

Happy Inventing, while I'm vacationing I may post a picture or two of what's up here in Mammoth. It's definitely one of my favorite places to be!

(I) Logically Speaking, it Makes Sense

Lately, one of my treks through the Inventor world has been into iLogic, the rules based functionality that Autodesk rolled out to Inventor subscription customers.

It's been a very unique experience, mostly because it's been entirely brand new.

For those of us who aren't familiar with iLogic, picture being able to enforce rules and automate with simple lines of code. It's a way of capturing knowledge that extends beyond the dimensions and constraints of the model.

As I've been practicing, I created a quick example.

I just built a small part with threaded holes, and a matching pattern. I'm going to write some iLogic code that alternates suppressing the threaded and clearance holes together. However, we'll change it by selecting a pulldown from the iLogic parameters screen.

Here's our starting point. If you click on the picture, you can see the clearance and threaded holes (I renamed the features. This will help me in writing the code later).

First, click on the 'Parameters' button on the iLogic toolbar.

This is what the Parameters screen will look like initially.

Create a parameter named Hole_Type, use the pulldown (circled) to make the parameter a string, check the 'Key' check box, and finally, right click and choose 'Multi-Value' (this makes the parameter a list of selections).

Once the parameter is set to 'Multi-Value', a second parameter comes up. Type in the Clearance_Holes, and Threaded_Holes into the screen and click 'Add'. You can type as many entries as you need, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm only using two.

I hit 'OK', and the box closes. We'll use this later. Now I click on 'Add Rule'. I chose to name mine 'Hole Suppression'. Hit 'OK' to close this particular rule.

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Now, we get down to the real business of iLogic, writing the code that controls the features. The code is written in the area indicated, and the 'Rules Syntax' tab provides a wizard to help you with the syntax of the commands.

Here's a the code I created. You can type it, double click on code in the 'Rules Syntax' area, use the buttons at the bottom of the screen, or use any combination of the three. If you have a line of code that's already similar, you can even use copy and paste commands.

The code in the window controls the suppression. Here's a quick key of what the code does.

If Hole_Type = "Threaded_Holes" Then ==> If the mutli-value is set to "Threaded_Holes" then...

Feature.IsActive("Threaded_Hole") = True
Feature.IsActive("Thread_Pattern") = True
Feature.IsActive("Clearance") = False
Feature.IsActive("Clearance_Pattern") = False ==> This code sets the Threaded Holes to calculate, but suppresses the clearance holes

Elseif Hole_Type = "Clearance_Holes" Then ==> States that if the 'Hole_Type' Parameter is set to "Clearance_Holes" Then..

Feature.IsActive("Threaded_Hole") = False Feature.IsActive("Thread_Pattern") = False Feature.IsActive("Clearance") = True Feature.IsActive("Clearance_Pattern") = True ==> This group of code inverts the previous section. This is a great place to use that copy and paste I was talking about!

End If Tells iLogic we've got all the selections we need.

With that finished, we can return to the iLogic parameters and change our multi-value settings. Now the rule controls the selection.

One final note. The first thing you might say (as a matter of fact, I did too), is 'I can use I-parts for that'. You'd be right of course. I-parts can do exactly this. So why go throught he effort of writing this code, even if it is simple?

I think this really comes into play for templates. IYou can easily create new parts from these, and not have to worry about things like proxy files that I-parts require. iLogic grants a level of flexibilty that I-parts aren't able to easily achieve, especially when the configurations get more complex.

Don't get me wrong, I think I-parts are a great tool. For things like library parts, I think they're a great solution, and I'll happily use them in that capacity.

So that's the first in many things. Look for more info as I go deeper into this, and my other, worlds.