INVENTOR 2010

Yes, Inventor 2010 is shipping!!

This release is great. I really like it. I know many of you have heard me say this before, but here it is again ' there is something in this release for everyone.' I will start going through this new release in the next post. If you are on an older version, and usually wait to upgrade, don't. Move now, start to get the new tools working for you.

We have posted on our website some (not all) of the new on-line training courses. What you need when you need it, and extremely affordable. Working on more classes and those will be posted soon.

Inventor 2010

As mentioned previously, here, we are just around-the-corner from the release of Inventor 2010. There are, as usual a lot of; changes, improvements, new features. In this release the number 200 is thrown around. Many of us won't use all 200 changes to this release, but there is something for everyone.

First, a new Interface, born of the need to make the interface more consistent as you moved from modeling to frame generator, for instance. I really like the new interface, and it didn't take me very long to become a fan. Another reason for a new interface is they need room to grow, they keep adding applications.

New application built-in to all Inventor's, tools for designing Plastic Parts, things like lips, rule fillets (this is very cool), grills, rests, bosses.

New tools (this list goes on forever);

For those of you who manufacture "anything" that goes into a building, you will be "extremely" interested in the new tools for sending files to Autodesk Revit, the architectural product. You can now transfer all your meta-data with the file, things like; manufacturer part number, cost, etc. You can also prepare all electrical connections, duct connections, liquid connections, etc. Talk to us about ways to make your products available to all Architects using Revit.

There are lots of new tools/features for those of you that need to "Concept" the desing before modeling starts.

There are all kinds of productivity tools and enhancements for Assembly modeling; organizational tools, large assembly tools, and just tools that make you think "why didn't they do this in Release 4?"

There are new tools in Drawing manager, BOM, alignments, balloon tools.

A new Inventor Pro tool is available; Inventor Pro Tooling Suite, for building molds, and all the analysis necessary to make good plastic parts.

There are new Data Management tools; two new products, Vault Workgroup, and Vault Collaboration, also Producstream has been renamed to Vault Manufacturing.

Needless to say, I haven't even scratched the surface. So, hopefully, you are asking yourself "How do I get my head wrapped around all this new stuff?"

Well we think we have an answer, On-Line training! How about if you could get an hour or two on a specific topic, without having to go anywhere? We have been doing on-line training for about 6 months, primarily in AutoCAD and AutoCAD Updates, full classes with an instructor. And this has been quite successful, I know it is not for everybody, but it does offer the ability to learn just what you need instead of sitting through a class talking about a lot of things you don't do. Contact us and see if we have something that fits your needs.

We will get into more about Inventor 2010 in the next blog.

Changing Times

Inventor 2010.

We at U.S. CAD are very excited about the upcoming release of Inventor 2010. Many new features, many new applications. Can't talk about it yet, but keep your eyes on this space for news very shortly.


These are uncertain times, there's no doubt about that. I have spoken with many of my long-time acquaintances over the last couple of months, some are very busy, some are in the midst of lay-offs. Not a very thrilling prospect to say the least.

I have been working with companies that are hiring, and companies that are laying off. And one consistent thing I am seeing that is bothering me is the number of people that move to a new job, telling their new employer that they 'know' Inventor, and then proceeding to use techniques that are marginal, at best, and at worst damaging to the workflow.

I recently had a conversation with an Autodesk Application Engineer for Manufacturing products and we were talking about some upcoming training aimed at the Dealer Application guys, and he was worried that it would be too general for the guys that had been around Inventor for a long time. I expressed that no matter what level a person is at (me included) there is always something new to learn.

My point is that I think we all owe it to ourselves to get as much training as we can, and never stop. Your employer 'owes' it to you to keep your skills current and marketable. By keeping your skills up your employer reaps the benefits of your increased productivity. And if things slow down and the worst happens you will have marketable skills and be able to jump right in at the new employer.

Ask yourself this, when was the last time you took an Inventor training course? If it was longer than two years ago, you need more training. Inventor has grown exponentially in the last couple of years. And there will be a lot of new technology in the next release that you will want to get on top of, maybe not all of the new things in Inventor will apply to your company, but you might not be at your current company in 6 months or a year. Now, I am not suggesting that you need to go take a fundamentals class (although for some people that might not be a bad idea). What I am suggesting is targeted training for those aspects of the software that are new, and for those aspects of Inventor you might not be as familiar with as you want to be. And then, going back to where I started this, there are people who "think" they know the software using it wrong.

Obviously in these times it's hard to get out of the office for training, but what if you could do an hour, or two, at your computer, on a topic you felt you needed a better feel for. The MSD team, here at U.S.CAD, have been busy putting together (or breaking down Inventor) topics for targeted training. We have been offering on-line training for things like AutoCAD, and some other topics. And we have been experimenting with many different delivery methods.

So, your action item is to start bugging your boss or employer about U.S.CAD's on-line training offerings. We can customize the content and delivery method for your company. One other appealing aspect to on-line training is you can get it in chunks, and pay for it in chunks.

Don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Autodesk University 08

I had a chance to do something I have wanted to do for years, and that is ride the motorcycle to AU. It's always been a hit or miss kind of thing, bad weather mostly. But this year the weather was perfect both ways. There was the usual stuff - classes - always fun for us Inventor folk. And a chance to see old friends. U.S.CAD again had a booth in the exhibit hall, but this year with a twist, we had Lynn Allen in the booth all evening during the AUGI beer bash.




I know you were expecting some kind of insight into the next "BIG" thing announced at AU. But this year there were so many next big things it's hard to know where to begin. Probably the 'coolest' thing was the Touch Screen Inventor model, lots of fun to play with. As usual classes for everyone and every level, several U.S. CAD personnel were presenters. Mark the date for next years event first week after Thanksgiving at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas - you should go.

Also, keep an eye on this space as there will be several posts coming up announcing U.S. CAD events; SCCS '09, and what's new in Inventor / ACAD-E events.

Autodesk Showcase

As some of you may know, U.S.CAD is now authorized as a reseller for Autodesk Alias Studio, and Autodesk Alias Showcase. Over this past weekend I had a chance to explore Showcase, and 'Wow' this is a great tool. Ask your marketing folks how they get images for brochures, the website, etc. Get us involved and take a look at showcase.

I built a fairly simple model in Inventor, and then opened Showcase, and imported the model directly in (didn't have to save it as some strange format). Everything came in perfectly.

In Showcase I was able to apply different materials (and colors) to specific parts of the model. I was able to change the lighting, spin around and change materials at the same time. I was able to reposition different parts of the model. And all of the time this looks like a photo-realistic image, no delay, no re-render. Phenomenal.

More soon, as I get a little better at this.

busy times for manufacturing solutions

For us, it's been a very busy couple of months. First we had several custom training classes. Then we had the Southern California Cad Summit (SCCS - like a one-day Autodesk University), and thanks to all of you who made the trip to San Diego we appreciate the effort. It was a fun day, the weather was fabulous, ate breakfast on the patio of the Convention Center, overlooking the San Diego harbor. I presented 4 classes this year (Frame Generator, Large Assembly Management, Vault, and Interoperability) - whew!

If you read one of my posts earlier this year I said keep your eye on interoperability, boy was that prophetic. Autodesk has a number of people dedicated to just that - making products talk to one another (apparently it is not as easy as we all could hope for). But for those of you interested, there is a lot going on and we should be hearing more on this subject soon.

Now we are poised to do AUGI's version Cad Camp. Same deal different logo.

And then, of course there is the ever present flow of new tools from Autodesk to look at, explore, test..... I will spend more time on these soon, but I have spent some time with a couple of new products from the Autodesk stable - PortfolioWall, and SketchbookPro - both very cool, fun tools with a totally hot interface.

come back soon - and feel free to make suggestions on future topics.

thanks, tod.wallace@uscad.com

Recently, I was asked how to create a parts list for just the items on the screen. What was on the drawing was a design view of an assembly. Since I had not had a chance to talk about that in a while I thought I might take this opportunity.

First, we ballooned the view. Then placed the parts list, and of course the parts list contains all the parts in the assembly. Now comes the fun part, right-click on the parts list and select 'Edit Parts List' from the pop-up menu. In the dialog box that shows up click on the 'Filter Settings' button. In the 'Define Filter' window select the drop-down and from the list select 'Ballooned Items Only'.

If you are skipping the balloons, it is the same process just select 'Assembly View Representation' from the drop down menu.

More about Bill of Materials in the near future.....