The Autodesk Informer

Must Have Freeware Applications

Alright everyone, here's your chance to help all the readers of this blog. What must have freeware applications do you use on a daily basis that you couldn't do without and that you think other readers shouldn't do without either?

Here's one to start the ball rolling: Convert - Easily convert units for all types of measure such as distance, volume, temperature, etc.

Add yours by posting a comment to this message.

Autodesk Discussion Groups: New Forums

As a followup to yesterdays post about Autodesk discussion groups: Autodesk has just opened the discussion forums for Inventor 9 and Mechanical Desktop 2005. Although these products have not begun shipping, you know its getting close :)

Autodesk Inventor Newsgroups

Mechanical Desktop Newsgroups

Identify Assembly Parameters In Autodesk Inventor

Whenever an assembly constraint is added, the offset or angle value gets stored in a parameter. A parameter is like a variable and by default Inventor names them d1, d2, d3, etc. At any time you can see a list of all the assembly parameters by selecting the Parameters command from the Assembly Panel. However, it is difficult to identify what parameter relates to what assembly constraint in this dialog. An easier way to identify your parameters is to move your cursor over the assembly constraint icon in the browser. Leave your mouse motionless for a moment and a tooltip will appear listing information about the constraint including the parameter name. As you can see from the image, the angle value for this constraint is stored in parameter "d14".

Autodesk Discussion Groups

The Autodesk reseller that you purchased your software from should be your main technical support resource. In addition to this, very few users are aware that Autodesk hosts their own peer-to-peer discussion forums at http://discussion.autodesk.com.

This can be a very quick method of finding a resolution to your problem as the forums are frequented by both knowledgeable users and Autodesk employees. Also, you may be able to find the answer quickly by doing a search since its possible that someone has already had a similar problem.

Manipulate "End of Part" marker in Inventor

Here's a handy modeling tip:

Part models in Autodesk Inventor are history-based. As a result, the browser shows you how a part was modeled by listing the features that were used to build it (Extrusion1, Hole2, etc.). At the bottom of this feature tree is an item labeled "End of Part". This end of part marker can be dragged and dropped anywhere within the list of features; features below the marker are suppressed. This can be useful for a couple reasons because it allows you to see exactly how a part was modeled so that you can learn from the experience of others or for the purpose of determining how to approach editing the model. Additionally, since new features in a model are placed immediately above the end of part, you can use this technique to create new features at specific locations within the feature tree.

Autodesk Inventor Series 9: What's New

Although Autodesk has not begun shipping Autodesk Inventor Series 9, product information for R9 is available at Autodesk's website for general consumption.

This will provide you with an overview of what features and enhancements will be included in this forthcoming release.

Autodesk Inventor Series 9 product information

AutoCAD: Match properties between drawings

Most users are familiar with AutoCAD's "Match Properties - MATCHPROP" command; often using it on a daily basis. However, did you know that you can use the command between drawings? That's right. When the command prompt requests you to pick your "desitination object(s)", simply switch to another drawing (using either the "WINDOW" pulldown or "CTRL+TAB" key combination) and the properties can be painted onto objects in this different drawing.

What is "Building Information Modeling"?

The new trend in Architectural cad is "Building Information Modeling" - often referred to as "BIM" for short. Sure, its an architectural industry buzzword but what does it mean?

Create DWF Files From Any Application

Most Autodesk products have a feature built-in that allows you to create a DWF file from within the program. However, if you want to create a DWF from a non-Autodesk product (or from an Autodesk product that doesn't support direct printing to DWF), the "DWF Writer" will overcome this.

According to Autodesk:

Use the free Autodesk DWF Writer to securely and efficiently distribute your designs or other documents in Design Web Format™ from any application. The DWF Writer is a certified Microsoft® Windows® system printer driver, so you can publish DWF files by simply selecting Autodesk DWF Writer from your standard Printer Name drop-down list.

Download DWF Writer

Discreet "Best of the Best" Showreel

If you want to see some really cool effects done with Discreet software, take a look at the "Best of the Best" showreel. It is a compilation that is about 7 minutes long showcasing some really cool effects.