Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Noob General Inventor Q's

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Cool Noob General Inventor Q's

    1. Is it possible to copy an entire assembly and its parts, sub assemblies, basically all its info. then I want to open it up and not have it linked to the original so I can just modify a couple aspects of it and have two completely different assemblies. I tried a couple things external to the program (ie: zipping and trying to remap the path of the files) but alas I failed each time.. there must be a simple answer to this and I feel ridiculous not being able to find it.

    2. I work with some highly detailed assemblies and before I know it, out of the blue it seems, I am being forced to save my assembly as Level of Detail 1. What did I do to cause this ?

    thanks guys for answering my questions... Im getting frustrated

  2. #2
    Certifiable AUGI Addict tedg's Avatar
    Join Date
    2005-06
    Location
    in the upper right corner
    Posts
    3,504
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    I've only dabbled a bit in inventor myself, so there may be better answers to your question(s).

    These are just some ideas with my limited knowledge...

    Why don't you just NOT have the assembly drawing open?
    You can work on parts and sub-assemblies on their own with out being asked to save the assembly file (I think).

    Or if you just want to break out a part to work on and not have it linked, maybe do a saveas from "Widget" to "Widget_01" and make your edits to that?
    And when you're ready to make it linked again, save your "Widget_01" back to "Widget" (overwriting your old "Widget").

    Like I said, there are probably better, more cleaner answers out there.

    good luck.

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    in addition I forgot to mention we are not utilizing the vault yet "gasp!".. so that may be mostly my problem...

    Tedg, giving the part a new number like _01 to it sounds like it would make sense coming from an acad background and I thought the same thing too... but it still links itself to the original drawing. It's an xref I can't break. Thanks for the thought though... Ill try some more and check back later with even more frustration

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    Okay, I got it to work through zipping and extracting.

    1. Zipped all .ipt files
    2. Zipped all .iam files
    3. Extract both zips to new folder in same project file folder
    4. Claim Victory

    It's a cheap way to fix my problem, so if anyone knows a better way, please let me know.

  5. #5
    Manufacturing Moderator jonathan.landeros's Avatar
    Join Date
    2005-03
    Location
    Los Angeles County, Ca.
    Posts
    440
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    Quote Originally Posted by eweber View Post
    1. Is it possible to copy an entire assembly and its parts, sub assemblies, basically all its info. then I want to open it up and not have it linked to the original so I can just modify a couple aspects of it and have two completely different assemblies. I tried a couple things external to the program (ie: zipping and trying to remap the path of the files) but alas I failed each time.. there must be a simple answer to this and I feel ridiculous not being able to find it.
    If I'm not using Vault, I would use Pack and Go to copy all assemblies and drawings. You can locate the tool by right clicking on the top level assembly in Windows Explorer, and choosing "Pack and Go" There's a dialog box that lets you change the settings for copy.

    Note there's two search buttons in the screen. One to locate parts, the other to locate drawings.

    Quote Originally Posted by eweber View Post
    2. I work with some highly detailed assemblies and before I know it, out of the blue it seems, I am being forced to save my assembly as Level of Detail 1. What did I do to cause this ?
    It sounds like somewhere a long the line you right clicked on a component in the assembly and chose 'Suppress' This unloads the part from memory (Reducing memory footprint), but needs to create the Level of Detail your seeing. It doesn't really do any harm, although I can definitely understand why you would want to know where it came from!

    If conserving memory isn't an issue, you can also right click and uncheck visiblity (when in the assembly), and the Level of Detail won't be created.
    Jonathan Landeros
    KETIV Technologies
    Orange County, California.

    I've got a blog: www.inventor-tales.blogspot.com

    “We have now left Reason and Sanity Junction.Next stop, Looneyville.” -Bob the Skull in the Dresden Files

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    Quote Originally Posted by jonathan.landeros View Post
    If I'm not using Vault, I would use Pack and Go to copy all assemblies and drawings. You can locate the tool by right clicking on the top level assembly in Windows Explorer, and choosing "Pack and Go" There's a dialog box that lets you change the settings for copy.

    Note there's two search buttons in the screen. One to locate parts, the other to locate drawings.
    I'm trying my hardest to get this Pack and Go to work, but every time I do it, all it does is make a copy of everything in another folder and references it back to the original folder.

    I can't believe this is not a common problem.. am I the only one really ?

  7. #7
    Manufacturing Moderator jonathan.landeros's Avatar
    Join Date
    2005-03
    Location
    Los Angeles County, Ca.
    Posts
    440
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    Are you switching to the new project file created by pack and go?

    If not, that could explain the referencign back to the old files.

    Some of these issues are the normal 'rookie' mistakes we all make. It get's easier, just keep an open mind.
    Jonathan Landeros
    KETIV Technologies
    Orange County, California.

    I've got a blog: www.inventor-tales.blogspot.com

    “We have now left Reason and Sanity Junction.Next stop, Looneyville.” -Bob the Skull in the Dresden Files

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    Okay, so can someone actually explain this to me then? I have 2 project files... Which one should be active when I pack and go? which one should I select when where it says "find referenced files-Project file:" The one Im packing from or packing to? 2 days of frustration is building up here....

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    2008-10
    Posts
    32
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    nevermind, I got it...

  10. #10
    Manufacturing Moderator jonathan.landeros's Avatar
    Join Date
    2005-03
    Location
    Los Angeles County, Ca.
    Posts
    440
    Login to Give a bone
    0

    Default Re: Noob General Inventor Q's

    It might help to think of Projects as a list of directories by which Inventor looks for its files.

    The active project is the one that indicates which directories Inventor can use to search for its files.

    Therefore. The projected used for Pack and Go should be the one pointing to the files you want copied.

    Sean Dotson's website has a nice document called Demystifying Project Files that explains the project file concept pretty well. Look toward the bottom of the page in the link.

    It's a little dated now, for example, local search paths are no longer used, but the overall concept of how a project file functions are still valid today.

    Good luck!
    Jonathan Landeros
    KETIV Technologies
    Orange County, California.

    I've got a blog: www.inventor-tales.blogspot.com

    “We have now left Reason and Sanity Junction.Next stop, Looneyville.” -Bob the Skull in the Dresden Files

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. 2013: Super NOOB here
    By NickD22 in forum Revit MEP - General
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 2013-02-25, 07:58 PM
  2. Noob to Revit
    By emwhite81 in forum New Forum Users (Non technical)
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 2011-11-28, 10:11 PM
  3. VBA NooB Question
    By caddog71 in forum VBA/COM Interop
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 2008-01-25, 05:43 PM
  4. Hi from a Noob
    By justin.clark in forum New Forum Users (Non technical)
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 2005-04-15, 04:52 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •