Just noticed that this is my 200th blog post.......
Yesterday a new Autodesk Inventor technology preview was added to Autodesk Labs to help with the design of jigs & fixtures within Inventor.
Project Bruchman is a 37Mb download from the Autodesk Labs site and is supported on Autodesk Inventor 2012 with both 32-bit or 64-bit versions.
Once installed the Jigs and Fixtures tool will be available from the Tools ribbon in an assembly (.iam) document:
When selecting the Jig and Fixture Design tool you will enter the Jig and Fixture Design environment with a new ribbon bar and access to all of the new technology preview tools:
You will see a new Jig and Fixtures Ribbon bar containing all of the new tools as well as three new panel bars on the left:
- Asset Preview
- Assett Properties
- Asset Browser
The Asset Preview is an interactive preview which allows you to zoom, pan and orbit the part preview. Just right mouse click over the preview window to get all of the view options include slice and change view style.
The Asset Properties shows all of the data for the asset you have selected from within the asset browser. What is also very useful is that with each asset there is a document preview which gives details of how the asset should be used as well as parameter references.
The Asset Browser allows you to browse through a cloud based asset library to find components such as alignment pins, clamps, bases, locator's, supports, plates, stop buttons, rests, feet etc but also browse through local user assets. You can select to browse the assets in an icon or list format:
Once you have found the asset you wish to use, if it is cloud based you just right mouse click over the asset in the list and select Download Asset:
NB: You don't need to download the asset to have access to the interactive preview and\or property data but you do need to have internet access. Without internet access the preview and property details of cloud based assets will not be displayed.
To place an asset into your assembly, just drag and drop it from the Asset Browser (once downloaded if it is a cloud based asset) and from within the geometry window you can use the mini-toolbar to configure the sizes of the component:
The mini-toolbar is pretty self-explanatory but it allows you to select the part number you wish to insert as well modify each of the individual size parameters available (use the document preview in the Asset Properties to see how the parameters map).
Once an asset has been placed into the geometry window you can use the tools on the ribbon bar or just select the component to use the heads-up-display which gives you options to re-position and re-size:
Have a watch of the video from Autodesk Labs of this new technology preview in action and if you want to download and install, just click here...
