Inventor Assembly Automation Tutorial iLogic Code Explained

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Mark Randa

This post is a follow-up to the Assembly Automation Tutorial for Inventor iLogic post where we added the fifty-some odd lines of iLogic code to our Inventor Assembly. Today’s post will attempt to explain that code.

This post was supposed to be published yesterday, but I spent most of the day screwing around with a plugin that will eventually allow me to post iLogic code with the proper syntax highlighting that can be copy & pasted right from the webpage into your iLogic Code Editor without intermediate programs adding special characters that screw up the code. I’ll be posting a bit more on that in the next post. Until that is up-and-running, I’ll use images…

This is the image of the first chunk of iLogic code used in our sample

The first two lines of code (above) are creating variables. The Nut_Offset variable gets its value by reading the Nut_Offset parameter in the Hanger Bolt:1 part. The second variable, Overall_Size is reading two local parameters (Blue) and multiplying them against each other to get its value.

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Assembly Automation Tutorial for Inventor iLogic

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Mark Randa

In this tutorial we will insert a small subassembly (the Hanger Bolt) into the main assembly (the Shaker Table), create a bidirectional information flow between the two with iLogic code, and create an interface that will run the assembly as well as report model information.

This tutorial builds on the Shaker Table series of tutorials and picks up after the end of the previous post.

The first thing we will be doing is making a few changes in the Designing a Shaker Table with Autodesk Inventor.ipt. The first is to how the dimension that has the Bracket_Offset parameter driving it was placed. I decided to use the Bracket_Offset dimension to drive the model via a dimension, but it will need to be placed a bit different. In the Shaker Table part, double click on the Corner Bracket Sketch to make it active. Make sure you have your dimensions showing expressions (right click > Dimension Properties > Document Settings > Modeling Dimension Display > Show Expression), highlight the one that has Bracket_Offset as an equation, and hit delete. We will place it again, but do so in a way that cannot turn inside-out when driven to zero. To begin with, draw what I refer to as an ‘outrigger’ line starting at the inside corner of the leg and moving towards the outer corner. When you see the Parallel glyph to the centerline of the bracket, click to end the line…

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A Layout Part Workflow Strategy for Autodesk Inventor

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Mark Randa

In today’s installment of the Shaker Table illogic Tutorial, we will add the layout part to the main assembly, create a new LOD (Level of Detail), and create some holes to accept the Hanger Bolts we created in a previous exercise.

Because we will be going back and forth between the Layout Part and the assembly (most of the physical changes are going to be made to the layout part, not the components in the assembly), I usually place my layout parts in the assemblies they control as sort of a quick launch scheme. Sounds a bit convoluted, and some of you old-timers may be thinking of the dreaded cyclical dependency, but that is not the case. In some of my models I have dozens of layout parts, some controlling hundreds of parts (as can be seen in the image to the right). Having quick access to layout parts becomes very important as models become larger.

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Autodesk Labs Mesh Enabler (Catia Importer) – Kicking the Tires

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Mark Randa

I moseyed on over to Autodesk Labs today to see if they had any goodies to try out. For the uninitiated, Labs is the place where Autodesk places new technologies previews in order to get feedback from the public.

When I got there I switched over to the Inventor section to see if there was anything new since the last time I visited…..and indeed there were several new technology trials, as well as a few plug-ins. I’ll check them all out eventually and post the details here, but for now, a few words on the Mesh Enabler for Inventor technology preview.

As I said in a earlier post Rhino Import Translator for Autodesk Inventor, this importer is likely to solve some headaches in companies that are transitioning to Inventor, but still have a seat or two of some gosh-awful expensive old-school swoopy surface software. Converting files can be a huge headache, and if the one guy who can do it seems to be away from work more than at work, it can truly be a nightmare (been there).

Which is where Inventor comes to the rescue. Inventor now has more import formats than you can shake a stick at. The addition of the Rhino importer was a big one for me as I was working with ship hulls that were created in Rhino and Rhino Marine by the Naval Architects, but I’m sure there are tons of folks out there that need to convert Catia files. Remember, there is no guarantee that this experimental software will ever see the light of day outside of Labs, but I would bet my bottom dollar it will part of Inventor as soon as the wrinkles are ironed out. that’s the MO at least.

Which brings up an interesting fact. There are stand-alone convertors and conversion services out there that cost a hell of a lot more than a seat of Inventor (especially Inventor Lt which is about a fifth of the price of the full-blown Inventor Suites). Check out the comparison of file import capabilities in the image below that compares the screen capture from my January 2010 post to one I just captured today…

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