Build Your Own Content Center Library - KETIVketiv.com/pdf/AMA2008/Build Your Own Content Center Library.pdf · Build Your Own Content Center 3 of 28 Build Your Own Content Center

Build Your Own Content Center Library

Javier Chavez Course Summary: Do you use all the 700,000+ Content Center parts that ship with Inventor? This session will show you how to streamline your libraries to include only the parts you use. See how this process simplifies part-selection process while significantly improving the performance of the Content Center itself. Attendees will learn how to publish their own custom parts to the Content Center as well as customize the default properties of standard library components, including internal part numbers and descriptions used in bills of materials/parts lists.

Instructor: Javier Chavez Application Engineer – KETIV Technologies Prior to joining KETIV, Javier Chavez was responsible for the successful integration of 2D and 3D CAD with MRP software for a leading manufacturer of recreational vehicles. A Certified Inventor Expert, Javier has trained KETIV customers on AutoCAD and Inventor for over four years. His students admire him for his patience and his knowledge of products and processes.

Build Your Own Content Center

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Overview: .................................................................................................... 3

Getting Started ........................................................................................... 4

Creating a Custom Read Write Library ........................................................................ 4 Exercise 1: Create Your Library ................................................................................................ 4

Adding Your Custom Library to a project ................................................................... 6 Exercise 2: Add your library to a project ............................................................................... 6

Organizing Your Library .......................................................................... 10

Categories .................................................................................................................... 10 Exercise 3: Explore the category structure ............................................................................ 10

Creating Categories .................................................................................................... 13 Exercise 4: Copy and Create a Category................................................................................ 13

Adding Content to your Library .............................................................. 18

Copying Existing Libraries ......................................................................................... 18 Exercise 5: Copy a Library ................................................................................................. 18

Publishing Your Own Content ................................................................................... 21 Exercise 6: Publishing an iPart ............................................................................................... 21

Modifying and Customizing your Library .............................................. 25

Controlling families and properties ........................................................................... 25 Exercise 7: Edit a Family Table............................................................................................... 25


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Build Your Own Content Center Javier Chavez – KETIV Technologies, Inc Overview: The Content Center libraries that ship with Autodesk Inventor contain 700,000+ standard parts such as bolts, steel shapes, tube, plumbing and electrical components, etc. If you’ve tried using the Content Center you’ve probably discovered the following;

• If you’re like most users, chances are you don’t need all of those parts, just some.

• These parts will not come populated with your company’s part numbers or

descriptions.

• Although Autodesk continues making improvements, Content Center could still use a boost in performance.

This is why it makes sense to build your own Content Center Library. The ultimate goal, being to limit your library to just the parts your organization uses and having them populated with relevant data (such as part numbers). Besides making the Content Center easier to use and navigate, you will also see a significant performance increase when using the Content Center.


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Getting Started The exercises in this document refer to the 2009 versions of Inventor and Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) Console however the process is similar for 2008. In preparation for these exercises, make sure you have the following installed;

• Inventor 2008 / ADMS Console 2008 or Inventor 2009 / ADMS Console 2009

• Content Center libraries - Launch ADMS Console

and expand the libraries folder to make sure they are installed.

Creating a Custom Read Write Library The libraries that ship with Inventor are Read-Only (this cannot be changed). So the first step is Building our own Content Center is to create our own custom library. By default, when a new library is created it is Read/Write, which will allow you to;

• Copy parts from the existing read-only Content Center libraries • Publish your own custom parts the new library • Allow you to modify the part properties such as the description and part numbers

Exercise 1: Create Your Library

Step 1. Launch ADMS Console 2009

Step 2. Login - This might be a remote server or it may be you own local computer. The process is the same for either

a. In the log in dialog enter your username and password. Of course, if

you haven’t created users and haven’t the changed the default Administrator password you can login as Administrator and keep the password entry blank.

b. Click OK


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Step 3. Right click on Libraries and select Create Library.

Step 4. In the Display Name box type in a name for your library. For this example

our library was named KETIV. Keep the selection for Autodesk Inventor 2009 in the Partition entry and use the default of AI2009_ (your library name) as the database name:

Step 5. Click OK when finished. You will be notified that the library was successfully created. Note the icon indicating that your new library is read/write enabled.


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Adding Your Custom Library to a project Before you can use the new library you created, library you need to connect to the server where the library was created and set up Autodesk Inventor to use the new library. It is important to add our newly created library to the list of available libraries. This is accomplished by adding the new library to your project file(s). Autodesk Inventor uses project files to store information about the current project. You may have one or many project files you use to organize designs. Regardless of the number of projects files you have, the basic steps to use your new library are the same. Exercise 2: Add your library to a project Step 1. Launch Autodesk Inventor 2009. Step 2. Login into ADMS in Inventor.

a. From the Inventor File pull-down select Autodesk Data management -> Server then Login…


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b. If you do not see this dialog box proceed to step 2c. If you see a dialog box like the one below then you can simply click the Log In button (Note: if you want to avoid seeing this dialog in the future, then clear the “Show this dialog at startup” box

c. In the log in dialog enter your username and password

d. Click OK


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Step 3. Add the library to the project.

a. From the File menu select Projects… This will launch the project editor. It is very important to make sure that your current active project is correct. If it is not, select it in the top pane and activate it clicking Apply at the bottom of the .project editor.

TIP! If you are using single project method with Vault it is important to make sure that the project is checked out by you and is available for edit. Projects not checked out will be listed as read only in the bottom pane. If the bottom pane says that the project is open in another application. Close all other Inventor sessions and any data management applications and re-launch the project file dialog.

b. On the project editor dialog in the lower right, click the Configure Content Center Libraries button (see above). This will bring up a dialog where we can see the available libraries on the server we are logged into. We can then choose which libraries we want to use in our active project.

TIP! If the list is empty then you currently do not have any libraries configured for you active project. You should add the default libraries now. Once complete the list should look like above. It is important to have at least one default library configured before continuing.


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c. In the lower left of the dialog is a button to Add Library. Click this button to

add our new library.

d. The Add Library dialog will display a pull down with available libraries not already in the active project. Select your newly added project. And click OK.

e. Click OK on the configure libraries dialog and then, from the Autodesk

Inventor Project file dialog, save the edited project file. You are now ready to use you new content center library to customize your content


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Organizing Your Library You will most likely want to create your libraries so that they are easy to navigate. For this reason you will want to use categories to organize the data you put into your library. All content center data is structured into categories. Categories Categories separate the data into easily searched groups. Categories are structures so that there can be a logical hierarchy and organization. Categories are more than just folders. Categories structure data and also contain specific properties, parameters and data that can be different from one category to another. A category is defined by Category Name, Category Image, and Category Properties. Part categories can also include Category Parameters. In Each category you store the data that describes your standard components. These components are called families. It is very important if this is your first time starting Inventor or the content center editor that you have the default libraries installed. If you do not, the content center cannot create the default categories. The dialog will come up empty and you will not be able to continue. Exercise 3: Explore the category structure Step 1. Launch Inventor Step 2. Login into ADMS in Inventor. (As described in Exercise 2, Step 2) Step 3. From the Tools pull down menu select Content Center Editor…


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Step 4. In the Content Center Editor you can see the default category structure (Make sure Library View is set to Merged View). This shows the hierarchy of categories. For example, the category structure to get to O-Rings is Other Parts-> O-Rings.

Step 5. To examine the parameters on different categories, use the left side pane and

right click on a category as shown below and select Category Properties…


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a. If you click on the Parameters tab you can see the category specific parameters for the O-Ring category. In this example, there is only one specific parameter and it is the O-Ring Outside Diameter.

b. To look at a category with many more parameters browse to Fastener -> Nuts -> Hex, right mouse click and select Category Properties. Here you can see many more specific parameters that describe specific information that are relevant for a hex nut.


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Creating Categories When creating your own library, it is recommended to try and use the default categories as much as possible. However there may be data that you want to store in content center that does not easily fit into the existing categories. You then need to create a new custom category. This can only be done in our own read write library. To save time, we can copy existing category structure from one of the default libraries into our own library. As an example we might want to make a new category to store parts for Metric Aluminum T-Slot Extrusions. For the exercise below we will copy an existing category structure and then create a custom category under Structural Shapes called T-Slot Extrusions. Exercise 4: Copy and Create a Category Step 1. Launch inventor Step 2. Login into ADMS in Inventor. (As described in Exercise 2, Step 2) Step 3. From the Tools pull down menu select Content Center Editor… Step 4. Copy Category Stucture

a. In the content center, right click on the Structrural Shapes category and choose Copy Category Structure To. This will expand a menu showing the read write libraries currently in you active Inventor project. In the example we have selected the library we created earlier (KETIV).


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b. This will copy the complete category hierarchy for Stuctural Shapes into our read write library. No actual parts are copied just the folder structure. A dialog will display letting you know that the copy has completed. Click OK.

c. Next you will be prompted to refresh the current library view to reflect the

changes you have made. Click Yes to refresh the view.

d. After the refresh the Content center dialog will look different. So far all the folders in the content center have looked dim or faded. Now you should see that Structural Shapes category folders in the dialog are now opaque or bright.

Note the visual difference between read only and read write.

READ WRITE

READ ONLY


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Step 5. Create a new category

a. Change you Library View to your read writes library. This acts as a filter so that the only objects visible are the ones that exist in your library.

b. Right click on Structural Shapes and choose Create Category…


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c. Enter the category name. For this exercise we’ll name it T-Slot Extrusions. As an option you can also load a custom category image to make identifying your category much easier. You can create these in image program such as Microsoft Paint.

d. Click on the Parameter tab. Here you can add any parameter that might be necessary to define this category or parts. Right click to add on the first empty row and select add parameter…

LARGE IMAGE 60 X 45 PIXELS

SMALL IMAGE 16 X 16 PIXELS


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e. Name your parameter. In this case I will add a “Finish” parameter. Enter the data type. There are five valid data types as shown below.

String Integer Real Boolean Double

Any characters. Including

numbers, letters and symbols

Any whole number like 1, 2, 3

A decimal to 8 places

True | false decimal to 16 places

For this example we will use String, we will leave the units blank (they’re not necessary for this parameter). The last column determines whether the parameter is required to for new parts when they are published and stored in the content center library. We will also make our new parameter optional.

f. Once the data has been entered we will click OK. Inventor will display a confirmation dialog that the category was successfully created and then refresh the Content Center view to show you your changes

Note: after we click OK you will not be able to edit them. You will have to delete and recreate the category to make changes.


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Your new category should look like the image above. Adding Content to your Library Copying Existing Libraries Copying existing libraries to your read write library will enable you to quickly add parts to your library, while enabling you to make tailor the parts to meet your needs. You will also be able to add sizes not previously available in the read only library. Finally you will also be able remove sizes that are not being used. Exercise 5: Copy a Library Step 1. Launch inventor Step 2. Login into ADMS in Inventor. (As described in Exercise 2, Step 2) Step 3. From the Tools pull down menu select Content Center Editor…


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Step 4. Make sure that the Library View is set to Merged View.

Step 5. Expand the Structural

Shapes category and select the Angles sub category. In the right side pane select the ANSI L (Equal angles) and from the context menu select Copy to… then select your read write library.

You will then see a notification stating that the copy completed successfully and you will be prompted to refresh your view. You now have an editable version of the ANSI L (Equal angles) family of parts.


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Note: When you copy a library you have the following options;

Copy To: Use to enable editing of the family table and family properties. This method copies the family data. It does not create a physical copy of the parent family in the read/write library. The parent family is marked as editable in Merged View and in the view of the read/write library where it is copied. The copied data package receives updates when the parent is changed. All user edits made in the family table and family properties are preserved in the read/write library and can be migrated in new versions of Inventor. Parameter Mapping cannot be edited. If you change the template file, your template file is overwritten on family update (when the template of the parent family is changed).

Save Copy As with a link to the parent family: Use to create a physical copy of the parent family in a user library. The copied family is updated when the parent family changes. In Merged View, the copied family is displayed separately from the parent family. Only the copied family is displayed in the view of the read/write library. You can edit the table and properties of the copied family. All edits are preserved in the read/write library on update from the parent family. Parameter Mapping cannot be edited. If you change the template file, your template file is overwritten on family update (when the template of the parent family is changed). Example: Use the Save Copy As method to create part families with identical parameters but different materials.

Save Copy As without any link to the parent family: Use to create an independent family in a user library. The copied family is treated like a user-published family. You can edit all data of the copied family including the parameter mapping and part template. There is no link to the parent family, so no updates are applied to the copied family.


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Publishing Your Own Content This process takes a part or an iPart you’ve created and loads it into your read write library. It is advisable to create an iPart (even if you only have one version of the part) to publish into your library since it gives you the option of adding new versions to a family table later. Exercise 6: Publishing an iPart Step 1. Copy from the PVC Ball Valve.ipt from the 4C Build Your Own Content Center

folder on the disc to a project workspace that is using read write library. Step 2. Launch inventor Step 3. Login into ADMS in Inventor. (As described in Exercise 2, Step 2)

Step 4. Open PVC Ball Valve.ipt. Expand the table in the part browser to reveal the

different sizes and positions that the part is available in. Step 5. Publish your part using the Publish Guide.

a. Go to Tools > Publish Part…


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b. Select your read write library to publish to. Click Next.

c. Chose a category to publish to. For this exercise choose Valves Click Next.

d. Map properties. The valves category requires two nominal sizes. Map the

ND parameter to each of the nominal sizes. The other parameters are optional. Click Next.


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e. Define family key columns. Since ND and State were already defined as keys in the iPart, they automatically show up as family key columns. Click Next.

f. Set family Properties. Enter a description, standard information (if any) Click Next.


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g. Set family thumbnail. At this point will take a screenshot of your model, so

it might make sense to change your background to white to make it easier to see in the content center. You can also browse to alternate image if you wish. Click Publish

Step 6. You will then see a notification stating that the Publish completed successfully.

Clik OK.

If you check the content center, you should have a new part family available.


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a. Modifying and Customizing your Library Controlling families and properties Within a Content Center category there are many parts. These parts can come from different libraries or may be different type of standard parts. Standard parts are typically available in a set number of sizes. It is convenient to express these sizes in a table similar to iParts. The combination of the part and its table of sizes are called a Family. This table acts as the blueprints for generating any available size of part Note: You are not limited to controlling sizes through the Family Table. You can also control other properties or parameters such as material, part number, etc. Exercise 7: Edit a Family Table Step 1. Launch inventor Step 2. Login into ADMS in Inventor. (As described in Exercise 2, Step 2) Step 3. From the Tools pull down menu select Content Center Editor… Step 4. Switch the library view back to only show the contents of your read write library.

Step 5. In the right side pane select the ANSI L (Equal angles) (copied in Exercise 5),

right click and select Family Table…


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Step 6. This brings up the Complete Family Table. This dialog is where all family table

editing is done. You can filter which columns are visible to help focus on information needed for specific tasks and you can manipulate table data easily using the tools provided here.

Step 7. Limit available sizes to angles that are 2 X 2

and under.

a. Click Designation column header to sort based on this data. Next we simply select the row headers that correspond to the parts that are larger than 2 X 2.

b. Once you have the rows selected,

make sure your cursor is over the Row status column and then from the right click and choose Suppress. You could also delete the rows, however this would be permanent. Suppressing the rows allows you to un-suppress them at a later time. Suppressed rows will no appear grayed out.

TIP! To make selecting rows easier, always select the row from the Row Status column. You can hold Shift to multi-select and use the Ctrl key to remove or add individual rows. You can tell that you have an entire row selected when the entire row looks selected in the table.


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Step 8. Change the Stock Number Parameter and Part Number. Notice that the entries in certain columns are blue. This signifies that the values in this column are generated by an expression as is the case with these columns

a. Right click on the Stock Number column

and choose Column Properties

b. Uncheck the Expression box this column will no longer be generated by the G_D parameter. Click OK.

c. Enter a new stock number. We

entered a series of numbers starting with B10-1000 and stepping up in increments of 1.

d. Right click on the Part Number column and choose Column Properties.

e. Edit the expression to concatenate

the stock number and the published length of angles by entering the following;

{STOCKNUMBER} " - " & {B_L} Click OK.


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f. The part number and stock number column should look like the image

above. Notice the lightning bolts indicating updates that need be applied. Click OK.

g. Once the data has been entered we will click OK. Inventor will display a

confirmation dialog that the category was successfully created and then refresh the Content Center view to show you your changes

Controlling other properties is basically the same as the exercise above. You can make the values static (like our stock number) or use an expression automatically generate values. ©2008 KETIV Technologies of California, Inc. All rights reserved. About KETIV Technologies KETIV Technologies is a leading Autodesk solutions provider with 25 years’ experience delivering CAD software and services. KETIV’s team of industry experts increase the profitability of engineering services companies by helping them simplify the process of conceptualization, design and production. KETIV serves the manufacturing, plant and civil engineering industries. For more information, visit www.ketivtech.com or call 866.465.3848.

http://www.ketivtech.com/

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Build Your Own Content Center Library - KETIVketiv.com/pdf/AMA2008/Build Your Own Content Center Library.pdf · Build Your Own Content Center 3 of 28 Build Your Own Content Center