Sorry......I've been a bit quiet posting new blogs and YouTube videos lately! With the launch of the new Autodesk 2012 Digital Prototyping Solutions it's been a hectic couple of months with a lot of travel but it's been great meeting designers, engineers and manufacturers to talk about how the new Autodesk Suites will help them.
One of my favourite tips when using Autodesk Inventor is using the Shift + right-mouse button to access the list of selection filters. It's a great way to select exactly what you want quickly and easily directly in the geometry window without having to look in the model browser and activate parts & sub-assemblies.
I use this work flow a lot when I want to change a feature of a component that is buried deep in the model browser amongst all of the parts, sub-assemblies, work features etc. Just hold the shift key on the keyboard and at the same time click the right-mouse button. You'll get a list of all of the selection filters and options - the one we want is Feature Priority. Just select it from the list as as you move your mouse around the geometry features are highlighted and can be selected - regardless of what level they are at in the model tree.
The selection filter shortcut also works in the drawings environment where you can select parts, features and also quickly select annotations such as Model Dimensions or Overridden Dimensions. You can use the Part Priority in a drawing to toggle the visibility of a part in an assembly drawing!
Here's a quick video of this in action......
I've got a list of more Quick Tips that I'll be posting over the coming weeks and months so make sure you vist back.