2009

Creating Sketches
In Autodesk
®
Inventor
™
, sketching is the first step in creating a part. This chapter gives you
an overview of the sketch environment and the workflow for creating sketches.
Understanding Sketches
Most parts start with a sketch. A sketch is the profile of a feature and any
geometry (such as a sweep path or axis of rotation) required to create the feature.
All sketch geometry is created and edited in the sketch environment, using
Sketch tools on the panel bar. You can control the sketch grid, and use sketch
tools to draw lines, splines, circles, ellipses, arcs, rectangles, polygons, or points.
You can fillet corners, extend or trim curves, and offset and project geometry
from other features.
To start a sketch from scratch, open a new part file, select a Sketch tool, and
then start sketching in the graphics window. As you sketch, constraints are
automatically applied to the various sketch elements as you sketch. For example,
if you sketch a line nearly horizontal, a horizontal constraint is implied. You
can modify or delete any implied sketch constraint. You can also add constraints
manually to any sketch element. To exit a given sketch tool right-click, and
then select Done, or press ESC.
You create a 3D model from a sketch by extruding the profile or revolving it
around an axis.
2
21