Ever want to get really complex or organic shapes into Inventor??? Check out this example of a Mudbox model converted to an Inventor solid model.??

I used Mudbox to create a basic head; exported to an .fbx file which I opened in 3DS MAX; saved as a DWG file; opened in AutoCAD and converted the mesh to surfaces.?? I then saved to an ACIS (.sat) file from AutoCAD and opened it in Inventor.?? From there it was a matter of closing the model with a boundary patch and stitching it into a solid.

You can watch the video HERE.

    Many companies today are finding ways to streamline work flows to save time and money by removing redundant task within their companies.  One of the most common practices I see in the industry is extracting key information from engineering to feed a erp or mrp system.  This removes the manual process of data entry and any time a manual process exist it is prone to error.  Automating this process can only be as good as the information being supplied.  That’s where i CHECK IT for Inventor fits in.  Anyone within a company can run a batch check on engineering data to ensure that critical information needed to supply a erp or mrp system does exist and is formatted properly.  With this process a report is made available to review the results and allow you start the corrective action process as needed.

Let’s take a look:
i CHECK IT – Not Just for Designers

After using the latest Inventor Fusion technology preview 4 for a while now, I have come to realize that this is an ideal tool for editing imported or translated files.?? These could be from neutral file formats like STEP, .SAT, or Parasolid, or native Pro-E or Catia V5 for example.?? Inventor Fusion incorporates a non-paramentric “click n’ drag” type editing environment that is ideally suited for translated geometry.?? Check out this example video??showing a Parasolid file of a hydraulic cylinder??I imported for editing.

High Resolution ScreenCast Video HERE.

Download Fusion at http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/fusion/

This post will look at a couple tricks when working with the Inventor User Interface.?? Have you ever deleted your model browser and it took you more than a minute to figure out how to turn it back on.?? This post is for you.

Video Link:
Inventor User Interface – Tips

There??is??a public trial available for Autodesk’s latest FEA based optimization tool available for download on Autodesk Labs (labs.autodesk.com).?? This allows a user??to specify model parameters that they would consider changing, and the optimization iterates through all of the available combinations to determine which will result in the lowest weight while maintaining a specified safety factor.?? This is something that could be accomplished with the optimization tool in Inventor Simulation, but it could take hours to solve.?? The beauty of the new tool is that all of the computing is done in “The Cloud” with multiple iterations being processed simultaneously.?? This allows you to continue working on your workstation while the calculations are solved online and in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take.?? After solving, a configuration sorter allows you to see the results of each combination and filter for options that meet your safety and weight factor criteria.