info@rand.com www.imaginit.com800.356.9050

TECHNICAL WHITEPAPER

Understanding the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard

IntroductionCompanies that use Inventor will normally place all their 2D drawings on their own Inventor drawing templates. These templates contain all of their configured styles for text, dimensional styles and parts list to name a few. They will also contain their own title block and maybe a special company border.

Many companies are vendors, creating Inventor modeling and drawings, in the course of a project, for other companies. The final drawings may have to be supplied to the customer who, in most cases, will require the final drawings to be supplied with their title block and border. You have two methods of handling this situation. The first method involves building new Inventor templates which match the customer’s templates. This will preserve the template internal configuration, which you will need to finish the project in an efficient and timely manner, while providing the title block and border required for final shipment. This method may be ok for a large customer that you frequently do project work for but it is very time consuming for a small one time job.

The second method is to use your standard company Inventor 2D drawing template(s) and finish the job completely. When the final drawings are required for shipment, use the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard (IDTW) to replace your title block and border with the customer’s. This method will take a much smaller amount of effort to setup and execute.

This document will use “Vendor” to refer to the company that has created the project Inventor drawings that need to have the title blocks and borders changed to the drawing standards of the “Customer”.

One last note, it is important to experiment on a few Inventor drawings to make sure your settings are correct before running the wizard on your complete database. You may still consider making a back-up of your existing files before running the wizard. There is no “Undo” button!

Preparing the Customers Template for TransferThe IDTW functions totally automatic if your customers drawing template has the same named title block and border as the vendor drawings. This also applies to any special sketch symbols that will need to be replaced. The IDTW scans the master template and then compares the names of these three components to the list of drawings being processed. If the names match perfectly, the transferred features will replace the existing features of the same name. If the name does not match, the IDTW will copy the source features into the drawings being processed but will not replace them. This would mean that each drawing would have to be opened manually after transfer, and the resource changed out by hand.

The vendor’s title block and border are shown below. Please note the name of the title block and border.

Table of Contents

■ Introduction

■ Preparing the Customers Template for Transfer

■ Executing the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard

■ Conclusion

■ About the Author: John R. Hackney, Manufacturing Solutions Consultant

The customer’s title block and border that will replace the vendor’s title block and border are shown below. Note the name of the title block and border have been configured to match the vendors.

Understanding the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard 2

info@rand.com www.imaginit.com800.356.9050

The first screen is just informational, select “Next” to continue. The next screen will automatically ask you to select the Source Drawing. In our example this is the Customer’s Inventor 2D drawing template. Browse to this file and “Open” it. If you wish to change the source drawing or you cancelled the Select Source Drawing dialog box, you can use the folder icon at the end of the source drawing line to reopen the dialog box. The wizard will take a minute or two to load a portion of Inventor in the background and then open the source drawing. A preview of the source drawing will appear to the left of the current screen. On the right hand side you will see a list of all the resources that the wizard found in the source drawing. You can remove or add the check boxes as needed. In my example I would like to transfer all three features. Select “Next” to continue.

It is also important to make sure the title block properties are mapped to the proper model or drawing resources in order for them to fill in automatically.

If there are any special sketch symbols you wish to transfer from the customer’s template to the vendor drawing, make sure they are configured in the master customer template. If the sketch symbol has the same name in both documents, it will replace the sketch symbol in each vendor drawing rather than being added.

Executing the Inventor Drawing Transfer WizardThe IDTW is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. Inventor must be closed before you start the wizard. If you forget, the wizard will warn you. The IDTW is found in the Start menu under Autodesk in the location shown below.

Understanding the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard 3

info@rand.com www.imaginit.com800.356.9050

The wizard will automatically open the Select Target Drawings dialog box. Browse and select all the Inventor drawings to be processed. In our example, these are the Vendor’s Inventor 2D drawings. The routine will accept either Inventor IDW or DWG files. If you wish to re-select or re-open this dialog box, use the folder icon indicated.

If you accidentally selected drawings you do not wish to process, remove the check in the front of the desired files to remove them.

The next screen will ask if you wish to (automatically) replace the resources in the target files with the resources of the same name from the source file. Be sure to select “Yes” here to take advantage of your earlier work. Remember, if you select “No”, each drawing will have to be opened up manually in order to assign the transferred resources. Select “Next” to continue.

The next screen is a summary of your process selections. You can use the “Back” icon to correct any mistakes. Select “Start” to start the process.

Understanding the Inventor Drawing Transfer Wizard 4

info@rand.com www.imaginit.com800.356.9050

About IMAGINiT TechnologiesIMAGINiT Technologies, a Rand Worldwide Company, is the world’s largest provider of enterprise solutions to the engineering community, including the building, manufacturing, civil and mapping industries. With over 25 years of experience, and 45 offices throughout North America, we provide the expertise, training and support to help companies realize the full power of design technology, maximize ROI and gain competitive advantage.

IMAGINiT is a leading provider of Autodesk software solutions and the largest North American Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) partner. All of our locations are supported by a vast pool of engineering resources focused on developing real-life business solutions for their local clients.

It is important to open a few of the processed files to confirm the transfer process was a success.

ConclusionThe IDTW can save you hours of work and please your customer at the same time. This wizard does not alter the internal styles of the Inventor drawings. If you customer requires you to use their Inventor styles, this process cannot be used. If all you need are drawings for printing or display, the IDTW is the tool for you.

About the Author: John R. Hackney, Manufacturing Solutions ConsultantJohn has 25 years of experience in the manufacturing industry including experience in Converting Machinery, High Speed Pick and Place, Packaging Machinery, and Waste Incineration Equipment. He has served as CAD Manager, Designer, Quality Control Checker and Engineering Manager during his manufacturing years.

John is currently an IMAGINiT Technologies Manufacturing Solutions Consultant and is an Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional. His current assignments include Autodesk Application Implementation, Training and Contract Engineering Assistance using a variety of Autodesk applications including Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical and all versions of Autodesk Vault.

The IDTW will show a progress line and also write a log of all transfers that are taking place. This log indicates the success or failure of each transfer. Select the “Exit” icon to finish the IDTW.