Datasheet

USING THE INVENTOR GRAPHICAL INTERFACE 7
Figure 1.9
The View tab
The Visibility panel on the View tab has tools for controlling which objects are visible. When
you click Object Visibility, a large list is displayed so that you can control the appearance of your
graphics window.
The Appearance panel has tools for controlling the way models are displayed. You can switch
between orthographic (parallel model lines appear parallel) and perspective (parallel model lines
converge on a vanishing point) views, display the model as shaded or wireframe, and use drop or
x-ray shadows.
Orthographic and Perspective: Get the Best of Both
Setting the perspective options current displays the model with a vanishing point, as it would be in
the real world. Using the orthographic option displays the model with points of the model projected
along parallel lines to the screen. Using a perspective view may be desirable when viewing the model
in a 3D view but can be distracting when sketching on a flat face or viewing the model from a stan-
dard 2D orthographic view. You can set the ViewCube to Perspective With Ortho Faces so that the
model is displayed in orthographic mode when one of the standard orthographic faces is active and
is displayed in perspective mode in any other view. To do this, simply right-click the ViewCube.
Most of the tools in the Windows panel are standard controls, such as switching tiling windows.
If you click User Interface, a list of items such as the ViewCube and the status bar are displayed.
The Clean Screen icon hides most of the UI elements. Only the title bar and a minimized Ribbon
bar are displayed. Click the small drop-down arrow to return to the display of the tool panels.
The tools in the Navigate panel are the same as those found on the navigation bar, as discussed
earlier in the chapter.
The Browser Pane
The browser pane is a listing of everything that makes up an Inventor file. The part browser shows
all of the features, the assembly browser shows all of the components, and the drawing browser
shows the sheets with the views. Because Inventor files are similar to actual parts and assemblies,
the browser plays an important role in navigating the files. In this section, we will explore the
behavior of the browser pane when working in Inventor:
1. With Inventor open, ensure you have no files open in the current session.
2. Next click the Get Started tab, and then click Projects. This opens the Projects dialog box
from which you can select the Samples project that Autodesk has provided for you as part
of the installation of Inventor.
3. To set this as the active project, click the Apply button toward the bottom of the dialog box.
Once the project is active, you will see a check mark next to the project name.
4. Now that the Samples project is set to be the current one, you can click Done and then close
the Projects dialog box. (You’ll find a more detailed explanation of working with and set-
ting up projects in Chapter 2.)