MasterGraphics Weblog
Archive for the ‘Manufacturing’ Category
Push in the Clutch!
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
These were the words I remember my mother saying countless times as I was learning how to drive a car with a manual transimission. As hard as I could, I tried to remember the steps it took to get from 1st up to 5th gear and backdown. Then how to start from a complete stop. The worst by far was starting from a complete stop on an incline with someone right on your rear bumper. What does this have to do with Autodesk Inventor and you? Frustration.
Yes, frustration. Power Users get them from time to time, so New Users, you will see them too. If its as difficult as linking parameters to drive custom configurations to deciding what to Copy and what to Reuse in Vault Copy Design. Things happen daily that lead us to frustion with Inventor and what I have learned is that with the proper training and then applying the learned knowledge, we can minimize these times.
My name is Thomas Fitzgerald, but you can call me Tom. I am an Application Engineer at MasterGraphics specializing in the manufacturing products Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Vault and Autodesk Productstream. This is my very first, hopefully of many, blogs. I consider this my attempt at working at my writing skills. Some of you may like what I have to say and others may not but I assure you it will always be of the utmost quality.
Just as I eventually learned how to drive that manual transmission and consider myself a darned well driver, you too will become a good if not a great user of Inventor. I encourage you to take the classes MasterGraphics offers to learn what is making everyone else a successful engineering department. We take what Autodesk has to say in addition to what other companies just like you are doing with the applications. We host User Group Meetings which allow you to ask the questions and get real answers from other users in your community. Together with the resources we provide and your personal time behind the application, you shall succeed.
More to come…
Play It, Sam
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Many of you already know (and love?) FLEXLM utilities that are needed for network licensing of Autodesk products. Did you also know that there is a utility that comes free with most Autodesk products and can be used for more in-depth license reporting? The utility I’m talking about is SamReport-Lite, by Macrovision.
With this tool you can get a very clear picture of how many licenses are being used and by whom throughout the day. It can help you make decisions as to whether or not you need more licences.
The only trouble is that the documentation that comes on the DVD is not Autodesk-specific and is confusing. People commonly get Java error messages installing off the DVD and just give up.
The following instructions will get you past all the confusion. As long as you know how to install FlexLM, you can get through the document.
Good luck and happy reporting!
Autodesk Inventor 2009 - What is New
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
It’s that time of year and Autodesk is launching their new 2009 products. With Inventor 2009 there are many enhancements that users have been asking for. Here is a list of my favorite enhancements.
- 64 bit support - When you install Inventor 2009 it will automatically install the 64 bit version if you are running a 64 bit version of Windows XP or Vista.
- When sketching a slot the last point of the arc and line can now have a tangent constraint automatically applied.
- When displaying sketch constraints all of the coincident constraints are now displayed as glyphs at the point that they touch - greatly cleaning up the screen clutter.
- For complex sketches that you are struggling with to constrain you can now display degree of freedom for sketch which will show arrows direct you to where the sketch is under constrained
- A View Cube has been added that allows you to easily change to different views and to rotate the viewpoint
- You can now import and export the following file formats. The parts will not have features:
- SolidWorks part (*.prt, *.sldprt) and assembly (*.asm, *.sldasm) files
- Pro/ENGINEER part (*.prt*), assembly (*.asm*), Granite (*.g), and Neutral (*.neu*) files
- UGS NX part (*.prt) and assembly (*.prt) files
- Parasolid text (*.x_t) and binary (*.x_b) files - You can now substitute assemblies with a derived part or a part that you model
- You can now easily publish your own profiles to use in the Frame Generator
- Inventor now supports sub and super script text
- A new Crop view has been added that can crop a view to a rectangle or circle
- Sheet metal styles have been changed to use the Style and Standard Editor and you can easily push out style changes.
- In sheet metal the contour and flange tool now support Auto Mitering for internal corners
- The assembly angle constraint has a new option that allows you to select a vector - think of the right-hand rule. This solves the issue of guessing what direction the angle will go.
- You can dimension to the center of gravity in a drawing view
- In an assembly you can measure to the center of gravity (point or planes)
Getting Started
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
By Dan Banach - Jan 17, 2008
To get started my background in CAD started as a mechanical designer with AutoCAD R9. Since then I’ve been training and consulting for the past 15 years at MasterGraphics where I’m currently the Director of Professional Learning.
During the last 15 years I also wrote / co-wrote 12 books; 3 on Mechanical Desktop and 9 on Inventor. I’ve been involved with Autodesk’s Inventor Certification program and helped to create video tutorials for 4D Technologies on Inventor. I’ve also been a speaker at Autodesk University for the past 11 years. The CAD industry is going through a huge period of change. With the new operating systems removing the RAM limitations and the software programs maturing many barriers are being removed to why CAD hasn’t reached its potential. Some of the topics I’m thinking about writing about are:
- Preview technologies on Autodesk Labs
- DWF - What is it and how could it be used
- Digital Prototyping - What does it really mean
- 2D to 3D - Can I / should I make the change
- How to deal with multiple CAD platforms
Let me know if there are other topics that you would like to discuss.
Dan Banach
Director Professional Learning
MasterGraphics Inc.
January 2008 - Happy New Year
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
This is my first blog entry for the year (ever), so I thought I would start out introducing myself. My name is Darren Hartenstine and I have been with MasterGraphics for a little more than three years. Before MG, I was an industry professional for more than 16 years specializing in Manufacturing. During that time, I’ve worn many hats….I’ve been a CAD/UNIX Administrator, Mechanical Designer, IT and Engineering Consultant and even spent some time working as a webmaster for a large website. So, I’ve been around the block. I’ve had the pleasure of working with many renowned manufacturers, like Ford, Maytag, Newport News Shipbuilding, St. Jude Medical, Medtronic, Starkey Laboratories, Pampered Chef, Tyco Valves and Controls and Turck; just to name a few.
My role at MasterGraphics is specializing in Data Management. My primary focus is on Autodesk Vault and Productstream and its integration with the Manufacturing products we sell, like Inventor, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Electrical, etc.
December and January are a fun time of year. This is when Autodesk releases its Beta versions of software and we get to play with all the new features. Unfortunately, I can’t discuss what’s coming in the 2009 software releases; I’d probably lose my job. I can tell you that there are some great enhancements and new features that will improve productivity and reduce that time-to-market thing.
We’ve just finished a major project writing a Data Management test drive for anyone that wants to play with the software. It’s a hand’s on process that mimics what typical users go through in designing products and the challenges they face managing their data. It’s broken into two parts; one section for Inventor Users and another for AutoCAD Electrical Users. Each of these products interfaces with Autodesk Vault and Productstream and the many features that will help improve productivity.
Adding Us as a Feed
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
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