This week is only a brief post, as I've taking this entire week for a holiday in Lake Tahoe. This time I've brought my trusty mountain bike up with me, so I'm hoping to get some good riding in, even though I'm about 6000 ft (roughtly 2000 meters), higher than my usual riding altitude.
My truck and my bike. Both better prepared for working at this altitude than I am!
I hope I don't end up gasping like a landed fish.
But now, the post!
Most of the time when I'm using Autodesk Showcase, I can pick what on want by choosing the part, on screen, right in the scene. It's there, it's simple, and it's easy.
But there are also those scenes that aren't so simple. They have a lot of parts that aren't easy to find on screen, making working with the model a tedious and frustrating affair.
Not every component in this scene can be easily selected
But Showcase provides a tool that can help out with that. It's called the organizer, and it lists the parts by in a list type of format that you can use to, well, organize your information!
The Organizer can help locate and organize your scene!
It's my personal belief that this tool doesn't get the credit it deserves, and is probably underused since I think many users get accustomed to picking on screen, which lets face it, probably covers most of our needs.
By using the organizer, data can be moved into folders that make it easier to select, move, hide, change materials, etc.
But why describe it when I can show it. Here's a quick video on using the organizer.
And by the way, have a suggestion on how you use the organizer? Throw a comment (it's down at the bottom).
There are times when I'm working in Autodesk Showcase that I find I need to change the color of a portion of a face, and I'm not able to do so.
For example, here's a model I built in Autodesk Inventor. It has the KETIV logo on it, which I'd like to change it to red. When I select the model, the entire model highlights
I just want to select the letters!
Usually this is because the faces were imported as a single color, and Showcase "unified" them.
So what to do? I could open the file in Autodesk Inventor, copy faces or change color there, and update the CAD model. But Showcase has a tool that can do this for us, without having to fall back to a CAD tool.
Extract Patches as New Objects. This tool copies faces and creates new ones that can have Showcase materials applied to them.
Extract Patches as New Objects will do the trick!
Once the patches are selected, all that's left to do is select which patches to extract!
Extracting the patches
And these colors of these faces can be changed separately from the faces they were copied from!
Now the patches can be selected separately
For a little more detail, here's the video portion! Enjoy!
And if you have a tip on how you might approach this challenge, leave a comment!
Not that long ago, I ran into a real head scratcher with Autodesk Vault.
A user was trying to start the ADMS Console, and recieved the following error.
Error starting service 'Autodesk Data Management Job Dispatch'onmachine 'SERVERNAME'. This service is required for execution of the server console.
Apparently the Job Dispatch Service wasn't running. No problem! The scary part was ADMS would not open. That meant no backup could get made.
Even worse, this also meant the command line script wouldn't run, since all it's doing is starting ADMS sans the user interface..
No problem though! I can just open up the Windows Services and start that bad boy up!
Start 'er up!
Instead, I was created with this, disheartening error.
Windows could not start the Autodesk Data Management Job Dispatch service on SERVERNAME.Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
Now what?
No ADMS, no backup. One rightfully worried end user.
My goal, we need a backup. A new server is ready and and able to accept a Vault upgrade, but how do we get the backup to the server, when ADMS can't be opened.
I actually did find a way to copy the filestore and database over to the new machine and reattach them to a new Vault.
But it's crazy,... just crazy enough to work.
I feel like I'm about to hotwire the Starship Enterprise...
But just before we pull off the covers to the reactor and try to MacGyver something, the user tries "one more thing".
They were running Kaspersky Antivirus, and played a hunch that it was causing a problem.
So they uninstalled it.
And ADMS started to the light from heaven and the voices of angels.
So it was an overzealous anti-virus seeing the job dispatch and marking it as something bad. I had never seen that happen before.
Now before everyone goes out and tears out your anti-virus software, an exception to the Job Dispatch Service will likely fix this. I found this on the Kaspersky site for adding this exception here.
In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't add the exception personally, nor can I speak for every anti-virus software out there.
But what I do hope, is that this experience I found helps someone else out there.
When in doubt, turn off the anti-virus and give it a shot. You never know when it's gone a bit too far!
Do you have an experience with anti-virus crossing up Vault, or any other Autodesk product?
There isn't a video for this weeks blog. I'm currently dog sitting for my sister and her husband while they're on vacation, so I'm away from my recording gear.
But it was good company this weekend!
Smokey the incredible fetching mixed Chihuahua
Aretha. Quite the diva, her name suits her.
So we'll revert to the written word for this post!
Here it goes!
One of Autodesk Vault's strengths is how it can handle user permissions and therefore, accessibility to the data in safeguards. But there are two ways to grant user permissions in Vault, at the user, level, or via a Group.
When I first plunged into Vault basic in the back several years ago, I started by assigning user permissions. It seemed easier at the time. I also was working in Vault environments that only had a few users and relatively simple permission schemes.
When I first looked at Groups as a method of controlling user permissions, it seemed like an unnecessary level that was going to do nothing more than create a convoluted the system. So I stayed far away from Groups.
But a few years of experience, and the wisdom of mentors has taught me the values of Groups, and what I thought was an extra layer of complexity is actually simplifying the task.
Now, almost without exception, I look to Groups to set up Vault permissions.
So what caused my change of heart in my approach?
The Users have no permissions by themselves. They are members of a Group, and the Group contains all the permissions they'll need.
In other words, you have to be a member of the "Vault Club" to get inside. And if you're not on the "VIP list", you're not getting into the Administrator's lounge, and so on.
This approach began to really show it's strength when in environments with many users.
Typically these environments have Users that lend themselves into being organized by groups, such as Administrators, CAD Users, CAD Viewers, and so on. The Users in these Groups have the same permissions, and therefore, the Group can manage the permissions.
Now, Users permissions can quickly be moved from one group to another if their permissions changed. And if an entire Groups permissions change, it can be changed in a single screen instead of clicking through several users and hoping you don't miss one.
With all that being said and done, how do you assign a user to groups?
First you need to be an Administrator, so if you're not on the "list" (that is Group), you're not getting past the bouncer.
But if you do have those privileges, you can go to Tools>Administration, and choose "Global Settings
Accessing Global Settings in Vault Explorer
Once in the Global Securities dialog box, choose the "Groups" button
The Group button is on the Security Tab
Next,the Group Management Dialog opens up. Here Groups can be created, and edited. In this example, the Groups are already created, one of these Groups can be edited by right clicking , and choosing "Edit"
Right click and choose "Edit"
Now the heart of the matter. Now Groups can be given roles, given access to specific Vaults, and even collect different groups under this group (although I haven't needed to do this yet.
So there it is. Using Groups in Autodesk Vault. It's definitely something that's worth a look if you're a Vault Administrator.
And if you access Vault through the ADMS Console, the same options are available through the Console as well.
In ADMS Console, got to Tools>Administration
On the Security Tab, choose the "Groups" icon. From that point, it's like the steps above!
Choose the Groups icon, and you're off!
That's it for this post! And I'll be adding some more video tips later on!
I've done it before. I've been working on a part that is nearly symmetrical, but not quite. I draw a profile on a face, extrude it, and it's then that I realize that I should have put it on a different face.
Usually there's a bit of profanity at this point.
In cases like this, many of us would just redraw the profile on the new face, and carry on. And there are cases where this "cut bait approach is the fastest way to complete your task.
But if there's been a significant amount of work put in the sketch, this may be "less than appetizing", so to speak.
What to do if this was accidentally built on the wrong face.
In cases like this, there is another, little known tool that may be an option for you.
Redefine
So what makes this tool special?
Redefine is selected by right clicking on a sketch or workplane and choosing "Redfine".
Selecting Redefine to move the feature
After activating the tool, a new face can be selected, much like when a new sketch or workplane is created.
Moving the sketch and the feature.
The sketch or plane will attach to the new face, bringing nay geometry with it. The sketch may have to be rotated and moved to get it correctly placed on the new face, so there may be a little bit of work involved on the "back end".
Some repositioning may be required.
That's why I say there will be cases where it's easier to rebuild the geometry. Redefine won't necessarily "Redefine" how you approach ever sketch (pun intended).
But what it does do is give you another tool, when faced with having to get geometry from one face to another.
So while there may be times when it's easier to recreate geometry, there may be those other times when redefine saves you the trouble of having to recreate a lot of geometry.
So keep keep it close, and use it wisely!
I've attached a video for redefine below, take a look!
And if you have any suggestions, or places where you've used Redefine, leave a comment!
As you might have noticed, I had a long trip out of the USA to Edmonton, Canada for work. It was a great trip that I enjoyed, but I'm still playing a bit of catchup.
So this week's blog is a bit brief, but does contain a lesson that I've been wanting to share. Once I'm caught up again, I'll be looking to create some more "verbose" blog posts!
One thing I've always liked about Autodesk Inventor's project file is it's ability to set a Workspace that defines a root open and save location for all your Inventor files. It's always helped me keep things a little more organized.
The Workspace helps organize your files
It's a bit of assistance I've always been grateful for.
Although I don't use AutoCAD as much as I did back in the days of R14, I did want a way to direct AutoCAD to do something similar. Open in the directory I'd like.
Fortunately, there is a way to do it. It's a two step process.
First take the AutoCAD shortcut, right click on it, and choose "Properties".
Choosing the shortcut.
The Properties screen for the shortcut appears. Next, choose the "Shortcut" tab and change the "Start in" directory to the desired directory.
Setting the new open location
This tells AutoCAD to start in the folder you define. But there's one more step.
Open up AutoCAD and type "REMEMBERFOLDERS" at the command line. If AutoCAD is set to default, the setting will be "1". Change this to "0".
Now when you start AutoCAD and choose the open or save command, it will open in the folder you set in the shortcut.
Have any suggestions on how you've approached this challenge? Drop a comment below!
It was a busy week of working, not sleeping quite enough (those long Canadian nights really kept me up)!
But it was a great experience of seeing a different part of the world, meeting new friends, and learning a little more about installing Autodesk Vault in the process.
Canada, you're a great neighbor with wonderful people. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to visit!
But while I enjoyed the trip, and I'm grateful for the experience, it's good to be home!
I have some ideas for a future blog or two coming up. But for this Friday night, here's a few of pictures from the trip. Tonight, I have an appointment to catch up on some lost sleep! They're long summer evenings meant I was staying up a little later than a boy should! :-)
The Maple Leaf. I'm not in the U.S. now!
I saw electrical connections in every parking lot. At first I thought Edmonton might have a lot of electric cars. Then I found out it was for the engine block warmers! In winter it can get well into negative digits!
Open fields in a city. Not something you see much of in Los Angeles, sadly.
The view of Downtown Edmonton from Sherwood Park, were I stayed.
A friend who is an Edmonton native hooked me up with the local Starbucks! Thanks Irene!
This week's blog is only a brief one, due to a trip to Edmonton, Canada for an Autodesk Vault install. I spent most of today traveling. But I'll likely come back with some new installation lessons to share!
My office this AM. A Boeing 737.
But on that theme of Vault, I'll give a brief lesson life taught me last week.
That them is: "If it's crazy, and it works, it's not crazy."
I ran into a Vault installation that was crashing when files were checked in from Autodesk Inventor. The files would start to check in, then BOOM, Inventor would go to ground.
We checked system virtual space, service packs, and server logs.
No smoking gun jumped at us.
Finally a suggestion came out of the blue. "Test it without publishing a DWF on checkin. I have a feeling we've got a bad video card."
We were out of ideas, so what the heck, right?
We tried it.
Turning off the DWF Publish option
The files checked in perfectly.
We scratched our heads, and checked the video card. Sure enough it was below spec.
We never thought of that one!
So what's that lesson? Sure, if your Vault is crashing on checkin, try turning off the DWF publishing. That's the easy lesson.
But the other? Don't dismiss something too quickly. We never thought about the DWF publishing, but thankfully, someone else did.
"If it's crazy, and it works..."
The other thing. Send in those CERs, or Customer Error Reports to Autodesk, and make sure ot add your e-mail address.
Because it was an astute Autodesk tech, looking at that CER that had the suggestion that solved our issue. The CER showed the crash was happening when the DWF visualization file was created.
So there will be new video cards to be had, and more testing to be done, but we're now on the trail of what caused the issue.
So if you run into your own issues, send in those CERs, and try the stuff that makes no sense.
You might just be on to something...
Have an unusual solution you encountered to an usual problem you encountered? Share it! Leave a comment!
I talked about everything but how to rename the labels! By Default, the labels identifying the parameters in form take the form name. But you don't have to keep them! They can be changed!
Example of labels in an existing iLogic form.
Now, changing labels is, for the most part, pretty simple. But I'd hate to imply that it can't be done by leaving it out!
The steps are pretty simple. First, edit the form from the iLogic browser. It's on the "Forms" tab. Just right click on the rule you want to change, and choose "edit"
Choose the form to edit.
The form editor will pop up. Just double click on a label to change it. The description in the form will change.
The process of changing the form "Board Width" has been changed "Board Thickness" is in the process of being changed.
So there it is! Not difficult, but a good to know.
So go ahead and go wild on creating forms!
Have an idea or an interesting use for iLogic! Feel free to drop a comment!
In last week's blog. I created an iLogic rule that changed the length, width, and thickness of a board for the template I use in my woodworking projects. It also turned the tenon joint on and off, as well as setting the dimensions of the tenon.
But, while effective, the rule could be refined to make it more effective. This is especially true when looked at with respect to ease of use.
So in this blog post, we don't make the rule. We make the rule better.
How do we do that? We create a dialog box, or form, that makes the rule easier to interact with. It puts all the critical inputs in one simple, easy to use interface.
The board with the form open.
To create the form, right click in the iLogic Browser, and choose "Add Form"
Adding the new form
Next, drag and drop the desired parameters from left to right to create the form. That's it!
Drag from left to tight to build the form.
Labels of Parameters can also be changed, so you can make them look exactly the way you want them to.
We'll also set up two types of triggers. This will help control when the form is displayed.
The first, is an Event Trigger that will start the form when the template starts.
The second, will fire the form when the iLogic "iTrigger" icon is clicked. This will let us fire the rule, "at will".
In order to create the iTrigger functionality, add a new rule by clicking "Add Rule" from the iLogic Panel on the Manage tab.
The :"Add Rule" icon
Give the rule a name, and type the following code.
'Fires rule when "iTrigger" icon is clicked trigger = iTrigger0 'Shows form named "Board Options" iLogicForm.Show("Board Options")
Where "Board Options" is the name of the form created.
Now this rule will fire when the 'iTrigger" icon is clicked.
Next, we add an "Event Trigger" which fires the rule when the template starts.
Selecting the Event Trigger
Setting the rule to fire when the template starts.
Now of course, this blog post wouldn't be complete without a video! So here it is!
Have more ideas? Leave a comment!
P.S. If you'd like to download the part used for this blog post. It's located on the GrabCAD website here!
One of the side projects I work on semi-regularly is designing furniture in Autodesk Inventor. Mostly, that means taking designs that I find on the web or in books, and increasing the detail to the point of having full piece and assembly drawings.
I quickly learned to create templates containing "board blanks". Templates that contained a board already created, with parameters named "Length", "Width", and "Thickness".
The original template. Just a board with Named Parameters
Instead of redrawing that geometry every time, I would start a template with the geometry already created, and I was off to the races!
But soon, I found that I was using a lot of tenon joints. So I went ahead and created a second template with a tenon joint in it.
The tenon "enabled" template. With it's extra parameters
And I was proud of my ingenuity.
But now the challenge I faced was caused by my poor memory. There were many times I grabbed one of the templates, then part way through realized I should have grabbed the other template!
So I simplified my templates to one template that contained all I needed.
I created a template where I could control the suppression of the tenon using an iLogic Multi-Value List. Now I had something I could toggle on and off at will. With the flip of a switch, a "standard" board, or a "tenon" board.
The combined template. The Multi-Value List shown with it's two options
Over time, here and there, I created a better interface.
Over the years, and releases of Inventor, utilizing spurts of motivation to overcome barren planes of procrastination, I added a dialog box. Now I had something that was easier to interact with then opening parameters
A few months later, I got around to setting the dialog box greet you on file creation, saving the trouble of activating manually.
After completing that task only a few weeks ago, I decided to share this template with the world, so to speak.
This is one of those blog posts that frankly, I procrastinated on a bit. Why? It's a lot to write up.
So to ease the task I'm breaking it up into parts. So, first, let's get something functional.
How to Suppress and Unsuppress the Tenon!
For starters, name your parameters. It makes them easier to work with when creating your code.
Note the bottommost parameter "Joint Type" this is a multi-list that sets what type of joint is used.
Also, note there are a "Shoulder_Length" and an "Overall_Length" parameter. This parameters are toggled depending on whether or not a tenon is placed on the part. Ultimately, this parameter can be exported to the parts list for a cut length.
The Parameter list.
Once those parameters are created. Create an iLogic rule and use the following code to drive the rule.
'If Parameter "Joint_Type" is "Tenon Joint", then unsuppress the feature named "Tenon" If Joint_Type = "Tenon Joint"Then Feature.IsActive("Tenon") = True 'Set Value of Length equal to Parameter "LengthOL"(for eventual parts list export) Length = LengthOL
'IfParameter "Joint_Type" is "Regular Joint", then suppress Feature named "Tenon" ElseIfJoint_Type = "Regular Joint" Then Feature.IsActive("Tenon") = False 'Set Value of Length equal to Parameter "Shoulder_Length"(for eventual parts list export) Length = Shoulder_Length End If
Check out the video below for the fulls steps.
In Conclusion
This portion of the blog only gets to that "functional" part of the rule It works great, but it requires that the parameter screen be opened every time. It may not be elegant, but it is effective.
I ran it like this for quite sometime? Why? It worked, and I never got around to further tweaking.
It's that classic case where I fell victim to "good enough".
In the next post, we'll add a form and make this rule run more efficiently and more user friendly.
