Datasheet

CHAPTER 1 Inventor DesIgn PhIlosoPhy

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 standard 2D ortho-

graphic view, because you see what appears to be tapering faces and edges. However you can

get the best of both projections by setting 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 and you will see the option. Note that this setting is per document rather than for the

application itself. So you will typically need to do this for each model.

Most of the tools in the Windows panel are standard controls, such as switching tiling win-

dows. If you click User Interface, a list of items such as the ViewCube and the status bar are dis-

played. The Clean Screen icon hides most of the UI elements. Only the title bar and a minimized

Ribbon bar are displayed. Although the Clean Screen setting certainly maximizes your screen

real estate, it turns off one very critical interface object, the browser pane. In order to use the

Clean Screen effectively you must turn it back on. To do so, use the User Interface drop-down

and select the Browser option. You can click the small drop-down arrow to the right of the tabs to

return the display of the tool panels.

Also on the View tab is a Navigate panel. The tools in the Navigate panel are the same as

those found on the navigation bar, as discussed earlier in the chapter.

Before You Begin…

In the next section you will be using the tutorial ﬁles that accompany the book. Before you begin, ensure

that you have downloaded the tutorial ﬁles from www.sybex.com/go/masteringinventor2011.

Place the ﬁles in a folder on your computer (such as \My Documents\Mastering Inventor 2011), and

then be sure to set the Mastering Inventor 2011 project active:

1 . From within Inventor, close any open ﬁles.

2 . From the Get Started tab, select the Projects button.

3 . From the Projects dialog select the Browse button.

4 . From the Choose Project File dialog browse to the Mastering Inventor 2011 folder and select the

Mastering Inventor 2011.ipj ﬁle and click Open.

5 . Note that the Mastering Inventor 2011 project is denoted as being the active project with a

check mark.

6 . Click Done to close the Projects dialog box.

Now you are ready to get started. You’ll ﬁnd a more detailed explanation of working with and set-

ting up projects in Chapter 2, “Data and Projects.”

The Browser Pane

The Browser Pane (often called the model browser) 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.

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