Life Lesson: The Temp Directory is not Infinite!

Yeah, it felt a little like that!

Sometimes it pays to check the obvious!  Occasional "spring cleaning" of your CAD machine is always a good idea too!

Just today I was working with Autodesk Showcase, prepping some models for KETIV's Autodesk Manufacturing Academy.

I notice Showcase has started to slow down.  I'm not over-tasking it, I've run larger models at higher resolutions.  

But it's still seeming sluggish.  I perform the "three finger salute" (Ctrl + Alt + Delete) and check the task manager.

My machine is running fine.

I'm getting ready to try a new video driver, although I wasn't having problems a few weeks ago....  Why so slow now?

Then I think, "I wonder what my Temp directory looks like?"

I open up Windows Explorer and type "%temp%" to take a peek under the hood. 

My Temp directory looks like the aftermath of a frat party that was simultaneously hit by an hurricane. 

In other words, it's a mess!

I use "Ctrl +A" to select all the files.  I hit delete.  I don't even bother checking the size of the directory.  It's time to get serious.

And with this Temp directory, I wanted to be SURE!

Windows counts the files as it prepares to delete them.  The total size of the collected files climbs like an altimeter on a space bound rocket.

Finally, the numbers settle at nearly 5GB worth of  files!

Suddenly, I can hear Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame proclaming; "There's your problem!"

After a few minutes, the Temp directory is as clean as I can get it.  There are always some files in use, so you can never get every last one.

I open up Showcase, and try the same model.

It was night and day!  Showcase maneuvered around as smoothly as my memories recalled.

What's the lesson!  Check that temp space!  It clutters up over time, and keeping it clean can really help your performance!

Don't let it get to 5GB like I did! 

Pushing My Blog Post back

 Delay is preferable to error.
Thomas Jefferson

I'm afraid this is one of those weeks that I have to push my blog back a bit.  It was a pretty intense weekend building some Autodesk Inventor Publisher videos, so a quality post was a pipe dream.

The good news is I did get some ideas for my next tip!  Look for it soon.  I'm hoping to have something by mid week!

One Fell Swoop - Affecting Multiple Snapshots in Autodesk Inventor Publisher

“In one fell swoop they could make a pretty big dent.”
Harry Schuhmacher

This week I found myself working with Autodesk Inventor Publisher again.   As I worked with it, I realized that each storyboard snapshot had it's own camera view set.  So as you moved through to each snapshot, the camera was constantly zooming in and out.

In some cases, I liked it.  In others, it was unnecessary, unless part of my goal was to give my views motion sickness.

I also wanted to change the material on some of my snapshots, but the materials are also set per snapshot.  Hmm.  I didn't want to have to click through each snapshot and set the material.

How to I affect all my slides at once?

So, what to do?

With a little bit of searching, I found the solution.  If you right click on your story board, you can choose the snapshots affected by your action.

Here's the little gem!

Some of the choices I've come to like are:

• Choose Selected Snapshots - Be sure to use the Ctrl+Left Click, or Shift+Left Click to choose your slide)
• Choose All Snapshots - The "fell swoop" option
• Choose Preceding Snapshots
• Choose Following Snapshots

Give them a try!  I think you'll find they help a lot!

And of course, here's a video to go along with what I've described!

Wash, Rinse, Repeat (my work features)

“It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible”
 Mark Twain


While enjoying the day off for Labor Day here in the United States, I got to thinking about some of the settings I change right away on a new installation in Autodesk Inventor.

One of those settings is the "Repeat Command" option in Work Features.

The default behavior for Inventor when your placing a work plane, work axis, or work point is to place the work feature, then exit the command.

While many users like that functionality, I like to stay in the command until I exit with the escape key, or by right clicking and hitting "Done".

Fortunately, Inventor allows for this.  While in the Work Feature command, right click and check "Repeat Command".  From that point forward, the command won't exit until you tell it to.

Repeating a Work Feature Command

It's a nice little feature, and one not everyone knows about!

Check out the quick video!

And for all you social media fanatics out there, check out KETIV's Autodesk Manufacturing Academy website on Facebook.  Become a fan!

Tricks o' Me Trade ol' boy, Tricks o' Me Trade!

Tricks of Me Trade, Boy-O.  Tricks of Me Trade!
Jack Dalton in MacGyver (Jack of Lies)

When working in an assembly, one of the tricky things can be trying to pick a narrow edge when using the mate constraint.  Murphy's Law grabs you by the lapels, then shakes vigorously like a bartender shaking a martini. 

You can pick every edge, sketch line, and point, but never get the face you want.  If you're on your forth cup of coffee, you probably can't even hold your hand still enough to use the "Select Other" tool.

So now what?  You could zoom in to the part so closely you feel like your reenacting the "extreme closeup" scene from Wayne's World.  But that can get a little irritating.

You could hold your breath, grab your mouse hand by the wrist, and stick your tongue out the corner of your mouth until you can steady yourself enough to make the pick.  But that just looks silly.

Or you could learn this trick I picked up from somewhere in my past.  I wish I could tell you who showed it too me, but that recollection has fallen to the fog of Autodesk Universities past.

What's the trick?  Instead of using Mate, choose Flush first.  Why?  Flush sees ONLY faces.  It doesn't pick edges, points, or sketches.  Only faces.  Once you have your faces selected, switch back to Mate.



It's like it's own filter!

Using Flush to filter faces.  Try saying that 5 times fast!

Give it a try.  It's pretty quick, simple, elegant, and a lot easier than you might think.

Plus, you don't have to cut back on your coffee intake!

And here's a quick video version!

Creating Narrative Assembly Instructions - Camtasia Studio and Inventor Publisher United

Typing the quote just doesn't have the same effect.  So let's hear it from Gene Wilder himself:

For this weeks blog, I had a crazy idea, and opted to go a bit off the page. 

For years I've been using Camtasia Studio, by Techsmith, to create the videos you seen in so many of my blogs.

Then in the last few weeks, I've been working with Autodesk Inventor Publisher, and talked about exporting video files from Inventor Publisher

Then one night, it occurred to me, and I had that moment that Gene Wilder spoke of so well. 
Camtasia Studio for years.  Inventor Publisher can export a video format.  Why not combine the two?"

Using Techsmith's Camtasia Studio for editing my Autodesk Inventor Publisher video

So I did.  Here's the result.  It could definitely use some polish.  But for a first try, it's not too bad (at least I think).  I could probably add a few more bubbles, and tweak the narration a bit more.

Perhaps some of you out there in the "Cloud" can share some of your thoughts on how you might approach something similar?

In any case.  Here's my video.  Take a look, and let me know what you think!

Delaying this Weeks Post a Bit

Life is too short for traffic.
Dan Bellack

I've got to put this weeks post off a day or so.  I was fortunate enough to drive to Las Vegas for a good friends wedding, but not so lucky as to get back at a reasonable time.

Why?  A see of taillights.

Why me?

The normally 4 hour drive ended up taking more like 7 hours.

So after getting home at midnight, I thought it best to save the post, and get to bed.

Tomorrow is a work day!

I'll post as soon as I can.  I've had some interesting ideas combining Techsmith's Camtasia Studio editing capabilities, with an *.avi generated by Autodesk Inventor Publisher.

Exporting Your Inventor Publisher Data - The Final Step

“He who distributes the milk of human kindness cannot help but spill a little on himself”
James Matthew Barrie

At long last, my next  (and final, at least for now) video in my Autodesk Inventor Publisher series of videos!  We're going to publish your Inventor Publisher data into "publicly" consumable format.

Those formats can be one of several.  Microsoft Word documents, Adobe PDFs, Adobe Flash, Autodesk DWF formats, and even files for the Autodesk Inventor Publisher formats for iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices.

Example of an image Exported from Inventor Publisher

So the first thing we'll have to decide is what format is the best for the end user we want to supply.  That will ultimately a decision based on the best format to send to the end user.

So far, we've seen how we can create the formats, adjust the timing of our instructions, as well as add annotations to the instructions.

In this video, we'll talk about exporting the instructions and finally get them distributed to the users who will be using them!

Busy Weekends, Avengers, and Learning from the Past

“The truth should never die. It is our mission to keep the true history of 'our' side alive for our descendants.”
Grady Howell

Another busy weekend has prevented me from putting together my next planned Inventor Publisher video.  I promise to get one out as soon as I can.

I can at least see the light of day with my current projects, and I'm pretty sure it's not an oncoming train!

But on a "tangent blog", I thought I'd share an anecdote picked up from my volunteer work at Planes of Fame in Chino, Ca.

I recently began learning out to recover control surfaces in fabric.  That's right.  The old school cloth and fabric rudders, ailerons, and elevators. 

My first assignment?  Not a trip to the shop to get dirty.  Start reading the manual.  Get familiar with the process, so you know what we're doing, and why we do it.

After that, I finally after a couple of weeks, I got to start working on a real project.  The rudder of a TBM Avenger.

The rudder of the Avenger looking from the bottom up.

The first thing I'm told before we start looking at it?  "This is more art than science."

We begin working.  Actually, they're doing more working, I'm doing more watching.  But I'm learning the art of tugging, stretching, and; cutting the fabric to fit around the curved surfaces of the rudder.

As the project progresses, the team stands up and studies a compound curve.  They discuss whether or not the material will shrink around a given bend when heated.  If it should be cut instead, and if so, where it has to be cut, and how many cuts are required.

And if we cut the fabric, here, that's going to have an effect two steps down the line, so that has to be considered too.  

It's an exercise in patience and planning.

So why would I put this in a blog?  This is about CAD software, not about seventy year old warbirds.

I put it in here because the planning of the project is as important as the process, maybe even more important.  Even the veterans of doing this have to check the manuals, stop and talk over a step in the process, and even step a way for a few minutes to pace around the hangar until inspiration comes.  (These are referred to as "coffee breaks").

Starts sounding a bit like an implementation, or maybe an installation or software upgrade, doesn't it?

So that's where my observations are this week.  A reaffirmation of all those times that I've wanted to charge ahead, get 'er done.  All those times I've wanted to "make it happen" so we can get to happy hour and high five for a job well done.

The same rudder, a little bit closer now.

What did I learn from those guys stretching the fabric on a 70 year old Avenger's rudder?  The experts know what they know, and they also know what they don't know.   

Don't neglect your planning.  And when you think the planning is done, self check yourself as you go forward.  You never know when you may learn a better way to do things.

And on that note, here's the aircraft that rudder belongs to.  This video was recorded when it flew at an event last year.

Autodesk Inventor Publisher - Creating Annotations

“He listens well who takes notes.”
Dante Alighieri

At long last.  Here's my next post for Autodesk Inventor Publisher.

In the last big post, we saw how we could adjust timing to get our time line to show the details when we need it.  Now in this post, we see how to add annotations to the post, so we can make sure we include as much key information as possible.


By using annotations, value can really be added to files you export out to the end users!

Here's the video to go with it.  Happy Inventor Publishing everyone!  

 

Still Working on the Next Blog, but for now, a Quick Publisher Tip

“We learned a lot and lost a lot of sleep.”
Mabel Smith

I still haven't had a chance to come up for air!  :-) 

It's been a hectic week working on some tests, a data creation project or two, plus our normal office duties at the KETIV homestead.

But I promise to have another, full featured, blog up by Monday (yes, it may have to go that long).

But until then.  Here's a short litttle Inventor Publisher tip I learned while working on one of my projects!

When moving components, click on the glyph to see options align the Triad, show your Trails, or restore your component to its home position.

A quick tip on Inventor Publisher Trails!

And on one last note.. We created a "commercial" for Autodesk Manufacturing Academy, and I got to be a part of it.  Feel free to check it out! 

A busy weekend. Blog delayed a bit

This weekend was a busy weekend composed of my usual volunteer gig at Planes of Fame on Saturday, and taken technical test for the new 2012 releases.

I love exams!  Don't you?

So instead of forcing out my next post at this late hour and putting out something half baked, I've decided to hold it back a day or two and make sure it's up to par. 

Look for the announcement on my Twitter feed, or just check the blog a little later! The next post will be on creating annotations in Autodesk Inventor Publisher!

Inventor Publisher - It's a Matter of Timing

“A little help at the right time is better than a lot of help at the wrong time.”
Proverb

Last week's blog saw us explode an assembly inside of Autodesk Inventor Publisher.

Of course, this is the first step of many we can take.  We might intend to place these in a document format for a technical manual, or perhaps create a video that can be put on the web or a mobile device.

But before we send that data to whatever it's final destination is, why don't we use the storyboard to add as much critical information as possible, as well as make sure that the assembly shows all the information it needs as it comes apart and goes together.

 

The Inventor Publisher Storyboard

So in this week's video, we see how to add descriptions, and adjust timing in our storyboard!

There we go!  Happy Inventor Publishing!  :-)

Autodesk Inventor Publisher - If You Don't Write it Down, It Didn't Happen

“Real programmers don't document. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.”
Unknown

I'll admit, I always thought Autodesk Inventor Publisher was a just a "cool program".  The power of being able to create documentation was impressive, but I asked myself the question, "What does it do that I can't do using presentation files?"

Trust me.  Creating exploded views are just the start!

I told myself, "I'll have to look into it's capabilities later on".  

Then, time marched on.  I found myself working on Vault, on Inventor, on Showcase.  Every once in a while, I'd stick my head up and say, "I need to get back into Inventor Publisher."  Then I'd put my head back down and carry on as I had before.

Nearly a year ago, I saw a presentation on Inventor Publisher's capabilities, and I finally "got it".  I understood the power of being able to create documentation directly from your 3D model.  It can create in in 2D pdfs, publish to a mobile device, you can even use it to create Flash movies!  I get it! I get it! 

I really facepalmed myself for not seeing it sooner.  

Now, at long last, I've found the time (alright I'll come clean, I made the time) to take a deep look at Inventor Publisher.

The more I use it, the more I like it.

So I've decided to create a short series on Inventor Publisher.  Here's the first installment, inserting a 3D model and creating a timeline in Inventor Publisher.  We're just getting started.  I'm going to add more in the up coming weeks!

On the Road Again - Autodesk Inventor Publisher Viewer

“We are in or are entering TWO cycles instead of one — broadband Internet and mobile.”
Mary Meeker

 I just got back from my July Snowboarding Trip.  That's right, July snowboarding.

Even up there, I couldn't complete stop thinking about CAD, so between runs, while sitting at the watering hole, enjoying the sun reflecting off the slushy snow, I was thinking about CAD.

I wonder if there's a support group for that....

That's me, on the 4th of July at the top of Mammoth Mountain

What I'm going to blog on today isn't exactly earth shattering.  I'm talking about Autodesk Inventor Publisher Mobile viewer.

First, what is Autodesk Inventor Publisher?  Inventor Publisher let's you create technical documentation, from a 2D instructions in a traditional format, or in 3D interactive formats.

If you've never seen Inventor Publisher before.  Rob Cohee does a nice job describing it here.

If you've heard of Inventor Publisher, then you probably have heard of the mobile applications Autodesk Inventor Publisher Viewer, available at no charge on the Apple Store and Android Market.

Once again, I'll rely on Rob Cohee's excellent work.  It would be a shame for it to go to waste, and I didn't get a chance to create my own, being on vacation and all!

Wonderful!  If you have Inventor Publisher, you can publisher them to your mobile device.  The Coefficient of Really Cool pegs the meter at a 9+. 

But now we get to the part of the story where I thought things got interesting.

I was talking to someone about Inventor Publisher Mobile, and they stated, "I'm not giving our shop, iPads.  They're too expensive and we can't afford to have them get broken."

Fair enough!  I think of how long an iPad would last in the restoration hangar at Planes of Fame.  Probably not long.

Could you picture an iPad or Droid plummeting to its death off the top of this Avenger?  I can.

But that doesn't mean that the mobile apps are immediately not an option.  How many technical folks out there have personal Android phones, iPhones, or iPads we carry around?

I'm on a Droid!

I'm on an iPad!

Sure if you make components with "some assembly required", you can make the files available on your website.  But what you don't do that?

To put it simply.  I told this user to keep their options open.  The shop is just one place you can use the mobile applications!

What if you have someone off site, in a different facility somewhere.  Maybe they aren't "on the floor", but they need a quick reference of an assembly?  Perhaps they don't have Inventor Publisher itself, and dealing with your laptop's boot time is a nuisance (I've been known to put something off because I didn't feel like waiting for my laptop to boot).

Then Inventor Publisher Mobile becomes an option.  It's quick and it's interactive.  You can zoom in on parts and inspect the assembly operations up close.

So the morale of the story?  Don't limit yourself.  Inventor Publisher Mobile applications just aren't for the shop.  They're for anyone who can take advantage of them!

I'm On Vacation this Week

Good morning, everyone!

Once again, I'm delaying this weeks blog post.

It's Independence Weekend in the U.S., and I took a snowboarding vacation to Mammoth Mountain. 

That's right, snowboarding in July, in the Northern Hemisphere! 

I'll be putting something up a little later, in the meantime, I've got one more day to go enjoy the slopes.

Hiding the Skeleton in Frame Generator Part 2 - Using a Reference Part.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Benjamin Franklin

Okay, this post didn't quite come out at the end of the week like I promised.  Last week got busy, with trips to Fresno, demos, and a million other little things taking up most of my time.

So finally, here's the post I've been promising.

In my last blog post.  I showed how to hide the skeleton component when using Frame Generator.  In that video, I used a phantom component to do so.

A very astute reader,  Piou2fois,  pointed out that even though the skeleton has been made a Phantom component, it's mass is still added to the overall mass to the assembly.  This can result in an erroneously high number if you're using a solid as your skeleton.

Piou2fois pointed out that by using a Reference Component instead of a Phantom component, the skeleton's mass will be removed from the calculations and you'll get an accurate result for your overall mass.

Use "Reference" instead of "Phantom"

Thanks for the correction, Piou2fois!  Keep it up!

Here's the video showing all the steps!

This Week's Blog Post Delayed

I'm afraid that I have to delay this weeks blog post for a bit due to visiting friends and family. 

Yes, even I have them! 

I'll be posting later this week, so watch the Twitter feed for my announcement! 

Talk to you all later this week!

Hiding the Skeleton Part in Your Inventor Frame Generator

“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
George Bernard Shaw


Many a blog post has been inspired by a simple question.  This post is definitely one that came out of the "How can I get rid of the skeleton model used for Inventor's Frame Generator." 

Since the skeleton is part, by default, Inventor counts it as a component when we use it to make a frame with Frame Generator.  Every frame created using Frame Generator has one.

This leaves us with an extra part, one that Inventor uses for it's purposes, but will never exist in the real world.

Wouldn't it be great if we could make that component a "ghost" component?  Maybe like a "phantom"?

I'm playing on words, Inventor does have phantom components, and just like their name implies, they're intended to help us build our assemblies, but may not be part of the "real world" design.

In short, you can edit the Bill of Materials from the Assembly tab in your Inventor assembly, and change the BOM structure there.

First, edit the Bill of Materials

Then you can change the structure

 Naturally, there has to be a video to go with it.  So here it is!  Enjoy!

And by the way! If your new to Frame Generator, Rob Cohee has some nice videos HERE on how to use Frame generator!

Publishing a Downloaded Valve to Inventor's Content Center

“The biggest difference between time and space is that you can't reuse time”
Merrick Furst

This weekend I was put forth the challenge to "Build a valve from this website, then use it in an Inventor Design".

I went to the website to get the specifications, and found that the company had already published their content for you to download, which is becoming quite common these days.

The downloaded valve

So why rebuild it?  I'm sure you could make a case for having full control over the model, since you decide how it's built.  But then again, why spend your time, and money, building another company's part if they've already supplied it?  It might take you a couple of hours to build it, when you can download it in a few minutes.

So I decided to go ahead and download the part.  Then show how you can publish it to content center, straight from the website.  And many times, the part has all the accuracy you need for it's proper integration in the design.

So the next time you think about building a vendor part, make sure they haven't done the heavy lifting for you.

After all, isn't good engineering about not reinventing the wheel?