Datasheet

Waguespack c01.tex V2 - 08/30/2008 1:44pm Page 12
12 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Desktop models into parametric Inventor parts and assemblies, as well as fully associative layouts
into Inventor drawing files. When the Mechanical Desktop file is linked into an Inventor assem-
bly, it behaves similarly to an AutoCAD XRef, and all edits will be maintained using Mechanical
Desktop.
Creating DWG Files from Inventor Drawings
Users of Inventor may often find that they are called upon to create native DWG files from Inven-
tor IDW files for use by customers or other people within the company. A user may create a DWG
file by simply performing a Save Copy As and saving it as an AutoCAD DWG file. The newly
created DWG file will not be associative to the Inventor part or assembly or IDW file and will not
reflect any changes made to the part, assembly, or Inventor drawing file. It is common to use Save
Copy As on an Inventor drawing and save it to an AutoCAD DWG just before making revision
changes, thereby preserving a copy of the drawing in a static state at that revision level. Once
the static copy is saved, revision edits can begin, and the original Inventor drawing will update
automatically.
Beginning with Inventor 2008, users have the option of creating a native Inventor DWG file in
place of the IDW file. This DWG file will behave exactly like an Inventor drawing file, except that
the file extension will be .dwg instead of .idw. Just like an IDW file, an Inventor DWG file will
update whenever parts or assemblies linked to the file are changed and updated. Note too that if
you have IDW files that were created in a version of Inventor previous to Inventor 2008, you can
save those files as fully associative DWG files so that your drawing library contains one consistent
drawing file type. This process can even be batched and scheduled to run overnight using the Task
Scheduler, which you can open by selecting Start  Programs  Autodesk  Autodesk Inventor
2009 Tools Task Scheduler.
You can open an Inventor DWG file in AutoCAD and edit it with some limitation. The primary
limitation is that the Inventor objects are protected from modification. AutoCAD dimensions and
other entities can be added and will remain intact when the file is opened again in Inventor, but
as a rule, objects must be edited in the application from which they were created.
Another aspect of working with an Inventor DWG in AutoCAD is that whereas the Inventor
DWG does not contain a model space by default, once it is opened in AutoCAD, you can access
model space. From model space in an Inventor DWG you can use the Insert command to place the
Inventor drawing views of the model as AutoCAD blocks. These blocks will update automatically
so long as they are not exploded and remain in the current DWG. However, you can explode the
blocks and copy them into other DWGs without worrying about having a negative impact on the
Inventor DWG. If objects such as these blocks are added to the DWG’s model space in AutoCAD,
you will then be able to access model space for that file in Inventor. However, you will be able
only to view, measure, and plot the model space objects.
Moving from AutoCAD to Inventor
If you are moving from AutoCAD 2D to Inventor 3D modeling, you can have a great experience in
the process if you put design concepts used in AutoCAD on the shelf while learning this exciting
design tool.
If your experience is like that of many others who made the transition from the drawing board
to drawing lines in AutoCAD, it was difficult to say the least. At first you may have been frus-
trated with spending more time creating electronic drawings than it would have taken to produce
the drawing with the board. However, a key reason of the acceptance of AutoCAD was the ability
to make edits far more quickly than you could with eraser and paper. Remember your first frus-
trating events learning AutoCAD when you embark on this great Inventor learning experience.