 |
This Month
Vault/Productstream Tips - Vault Database Disaster Recovery AutoCAD Electrical - Crash when performing a component retag on a file that is checked out Downloads, Hotfixes, Service Packs & Other Issues 5 Inventor hotfixes, 1 Inventor DWF extension hotfix, 2 Mechanical Desktop hotfixes, 3 AutoCAD Electrical hotfixes, 2 AutoCAD Mechanical hotfixes, 1 AutoCAD hotfix, 1 AutoCAD LT hotfix, XML graphics update. Last month's competition results and a new question for you. Micro Concepts Technical Update Conference 2007
It's the new year, so it's time, once again, to start planning
for our Spring conferences and the new Autodesk manufacturing
product versions. We've listened to your feedback and once again
have a change to the format to enhance the delivery of our
update training information to our Silver, Gold, and Platinum
level contract holders.
Our annual Technical Update Conferences are planned for Thursday 12th and Tuesday 17th April 2007 in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. This year's conference logo may give you a clue to our intended conference locations. Further information and registration details will follow in next months Technical Bulletin.
*Gold level contract allows one software installation during the
period of the contract. Free Web Training Seminar - Border creation, iProperties and MCTools The next in our series of Micro Concepts live web training seminars will take place on Monday 26th February between 2:00 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. This seminar will be showing simple methods for creating drawing borders and title blocks in Inventor and using the iProperties and MCTools Set Properties command to easily and consistently populate the border. This web training seminar is available free of charge to customers with current support contracts. Details and registration can be found here. New Inventor Professional Analysis Training Course This month we have introduced a new training course to cover the analysis aspects of Inventor Professional, stress analysis and motion analysis. Details on the course and its contents, along with the other available courses, can be found on the training area of our website here. This course includes workshop sections to work through examples of your own data and is therefore limited to one company per course. Therefore this course will be scheduled on demand. If you are interested in this course please contact us for further information. 3Dconnexion Software Update Link Last month we supplied a link to the 3Dconnexion download of the latest driver. Unfortunately the link supplied was incorrect and connected to the Autodesk web site to a VIZ 2007 update. The correct link to the latest 3D Spaceball controller software update can be found here. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this. Using Task Scheduler Guy Sheppard has created a Quick Guide technical document showing one of the many functions of the Autodesk Task Scheduler. This explains how to create and run a migration task. The document can be downloaded here - TD0115 - Using Task Scheduler. Previously published documents can be found in the Technical Documents section of the Members area. Auto-Consume Work Features and Surface Features A new Application Option on the Part Tab in Inventor 11 is "Auto-consume Work Features and Surface Features"
This will also consume any surfaces in the browser that have been stitched together. Thus potentially clearing the browser of many unnecessary features. Useful tip to place a Single Balloon When placing a single balloon on an IDW view you will normally right click once you have placed the balloon and select continue then right click again and selecting done . Rather than following this long winded process, now you can just double click to place the balloon and exit the command. This only applies to Inventor 11 with Service Pack 2 installed. Converting Standard Inventor parts to Sheet Metal Sometimes it is easier to model a Sheet Metal component as a solid version of the final folded part. In this case the Standard Inventor part will then need to be converted to a Sheet Metal part. This can be done using the Convert tool and changing the relevant parameters to equal the Sheet Metal Thickness parameter. For example if you have shelled a simple cube to create a square section with filleted corners.
This can be easily converted to a sheet metal part using the following method; Use the Convert drop down menu and select Sheet Metal.
A warning will appear informing you that the uniform Thickness must be equal to the parameter “Thickness” for the part to unfold properly.
This warning can be turned off in the prompts, however it is a good reminder that you need to change the appropriate parameter and features for this to work. In this case to change this parameter you will need to edit the shell. When editing the shell you can now remove the thickness dimension value and type 'Thickness' in its place. Make sure that a capital T is used or this will not relate to the parameter Thickness set in the Sheet Metal Styles for that part file as it is case sensitive. You would set the parameter Thickness to the value previously used for the shell i.e. the material thickness.
Once this has been done the part can be cut to allow it to be unfolded. A face can then be selected and the Flat Pattern tool used. Using the Ctrl key when sketching When sketching using the line tool, Inventor will automatically snap to common constraints such as parallel, horizontal and so on. This is not always necessary and can sometimes snap a constraint to a line where it is not required. To avoid this hold the Ctrl key when using the line tool and no constraints will be added. Also when editing a part in an assembly and projecting an edge from one component to the part being edited, Inventor will automatically link the parts and make them, and the sketch, adaptive. This can slow down the assembly model. Adaptivity is not always required. When it isn't the Ctrl key can be held down while projecting an edge. This will project the edge as a fixed line and not as an adaptive line, and there will not be a link to the original edge. Creating view's of models with surface data When a drawing view of a model containing surface data is placed, by default the surface data is not displayed. This surface data could be an imported STEP or IGES file. To display the surface data in the drawing use the following steps:
Now, surface data will be displayed in your drawing view. Reducing the DWF size if the DWG file includes a raster image When publishing DWG files with raster images attached, to DWF format, sometime this produces a large DWF file. This is due to the resolution of the Raster image and the file can be too large to manage. In this case the size of the DWF file needs to be decreased. To decrease the size of the DWF file produced, adjust the DPI that is used for the embedded images in the DWF printer driver. Follow these steps:
Vault Database Disaster Recovery If you're using Vault it is critical that you carry out a regular backup in case of a system failure. A normal backup program will not typically back up the vault database as it is running continuously and therefore seen as in use. The document on the link here explains how to create and setup a routine that will create a snapshot of the vault database and filestore that can then be backed up by your normal backup process. It is critical this backup routine is put in place. Equally as critical is to regularly check that your backup routine is completing correctly and also to verify the contents of the backup. To do this you can install Autodesk Data Management
software (ADMS) to a spare machine, and on this carry out a test
restore of your backup data. You can then access this vault to
verify the data has restored correctly. This may
seem like an extra drain and burden on your time, but if the worst was to
happen and the Vault databases were corrupt or lost at least you
would have the piece of mind that the back up works correctly
and you know how to restore it safely, and quickly. Crash when performing a component retag on a file that is checked out There have been cases where AutoCAD Electrical crashes when performing a retag on a file that has been checked out of vault. To resolve this issue there has been a hotfix released for the vault client. This hotfix is specific to either Vault or Productstream and there has been a variation released for each. Please ensure if you have this issue that you apply the correct hotfix to your system. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=7201631&linkID=4199150 Downloads, Service Packs & Updates New Downloads, Service Packs & Updates released
this Month. Major service packs and fixes in bold. Inventor Inventor Series/Professional 11 Hotfix - Unable to Use the Delete Face Command for Internal Empty Lumps Hotfix - Cannot Change the Size of Migrated Content Parts Hotfix - Can't Place a Customer Library Part from Content Center Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Hotfix - Open Base Component Command Dirties Derived Parts Inventor DWF Extension Edition Hotfix - Print DWG Problem: No Option to Turn Off the Parts List and Table Mechanical Desktop 2007 Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Hotfix 2 for AutoCAD Mechanical 2007 and Mechanical Desktop 2007 Certified Hardware XML Database Update (December 20th 2006) AutoCAD Mechanical Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Hotfix 2 for AutoCAD Mechanical 2007 and Mechanical Desktop 2007 Certified Hardware XML Database Update (December 20th 2006) AutoCAD Electrical Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Hotfix for AutoCAD Electrical 2007 Service Pack 1 Hotfix - Unable to perform component retag on a file that is checked out Certified Hardware XML Database Update (December 20th 2006) AutoCAD Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Certified Hardware XML Database Update (December 20th 2006) AutoCAD LT Hotfix - Deployment Error with Internet Explorer Miscellaneous Space Controllers To add greater usability and compatibility to the entire product line, 3Dconnexion have released 3DxSoftware version 3.0. Version 3.0 of 3DxSoftware features a new Configuration Wizard and added support for Autodesk Design Reviewer, Autodesk DWF Viewer, and Google Earth 4.0.
In the last bulletin we ran a competition to win an original Atari 2600 with 10 original games. The question asked was the total number years of experience the Technical team has of working at Micro Concepts not including the new member of the team, Andy. The answer, as correctly calculated by Ralph Coulson of e2v technologies ltd, is an amazing 42 years. Not bad for 6 people especially as Guy has only 1 year with Micro Concepts. A wealth of experience to assist and guide you. Obviously we've all been using Autodesk software for more years than we would like to remember, but this month we have an interesting question for you all, as suggested by Peter Shorrock of CS Technical Services. Which of you has been using Autodesk products the longest? Who is the AutoDaddy?
What is the earliest versions of the products you have worked with at a professional level? You can find a full AutoCAD release history
along with functionality added with each release
here. |
Contact Details
|
Published by Micro Concepts Ltd Copyright 2007 Micro Concepts Ltd. All rights reserved. This Newsletter is provided by Micro Concepts and may be used exclusively for informational purposes by the addressee only.
www.microconcepts.co.uk I 01223 716200 |
-