What’s New in Autodesk Inventor 2018 – Parts

Model-Based Definition

Model-Based Definition (MBD), is a powerful new set of tools for adding annotations, GD&T, and other manufacturing information directly to a 3D part.

Tip: Be sure to check out the guided tutorial in the gallery to help you get started using the new commands.

3D Annotation

To access the 3D annotation commands, use the new Annotate tab in a part file and add the manufacturing information directly to the 3D model.

Use the Tolerance Feature command to attach GD&T annotations, Feature Control Frames, and Datum Identifiers to part faces or features. Enable the Tolerance Advisor browser to check the health of your tolerance scheme and display information such as the following:

• List of potentially problematic datums and Datum Reference Frames (DRF’s).
• Information about which features are not fully controlled.
• Errors in a tolerance feature.

Tip: Right-click an entry and select More Information to open a help page specific to the message.

Use the General Annotation and Text commands to fully document your model.

Note: 3D annotations and view representations are displayed when you create a 3D PDF file.

Retrieve Annotations in Drawings

A new 3D Annotations tab in the retrieve dialog box lets you recover the MBD information from a part and use it in a drawing. Use the Design View and filter options to see the information you want.

 

Export MBD

Step AP 242 support is added. You can now export a fully annotated 3D model that can be used in downstream manufacturing operations. You can also attach a STEP file when you export a 3D PDF.

Sheet Metal Updates

Previously, multibody sheet metal parts were required to share a single thickness. The rules now let you define a unique thickness for each body.

Support Multiple Thickness and Rules
The following commands are enhanced to support unique thickness and rules:

• Face
• Contour Flange
• Lofted Flange
• Contour Roll

In the create dialog box, clear the Follow Defaults checkbox and then click the drop-list to specify a unique material thickness and rules from the predefined list. When you select Follow Defaults, the thickness and rules are determined by the active standard.

When you mouse over a solid body in the browser, a tooltip displays the active rule for the body

You can right-click a solid body in the browser and select the new Set Sheet Metal Rule context menu command to modify the rules and body thickness.

Eliminate Steps with Distance from Face

Save time with the new extents option Distance from Face. Use Distance from Face in the Extrude dialog box to start an extrusion from a face or workplane with a distance. Distance from Face creates a copy of the selected face along the extruded direction. Additionally, modifying the geometry becomes easier. Because Distance from Face creates one central entry point for modifying the geometry, no additional steps to make sketches or workplanes are needed.

This workflow can be especially useful in conjunction with Skeletal Modeling, (a type of Top-down Design) techniques that facilitates centralized design criteria and creates components that reference those criteria.

1. Select a sketch profile, and then select a face, work plane, or surface to start the extrusion from.
    Note: The sketch profile is selected automatically if there is only one.

2. Specify the direction and distance.

The new Select to terminate feature by extending the face option terminates the extrusion on a face that extends beyond the termination plane.

 

 An Inventor® Ideas submission

Use the More Tab Options for Different Results

With Distance From Face and Direction 1 or Direction 2 selected on the Shape tab, use the options on the More tab to get different results.

Direction 1  

Direction 1, Alternate Solution direction 1, and Minimum Solution selected 

 

 

Direction 1 and Alternate Solution direction 1 

 

Direction 1 and Alternate Solution direction 2

 

 

 

Direction 1, Alternate Solution direction 2, and Minimum solution selected

 

 

 

Direction 2 

Direction 2, Alternate Solution direction 1, and Minimum Solution selected

 

 

 

Direction 2, and Alternate Solution direction 1

 

 

 

 

Direction 2, Alternate Solution direction 2, and Minimum Solution selected

 

 

 

Direction 2 and Alternate Solution direction 2

 

 

 

Hole Enhancements

New Hole Settings Provide a Robust Way to Create Bi-Direction Holes

You can now create a symmetric hole type that extrudes in two directions.
The Flip Termination button is replaced with Direction1 and Direction 2 buttons. The Symmetric distance is only available for the Drilled – Simple Hole – Through All hole type.

Legacy Inventor		Inventor 2018
Inventor 2018 Help: Hole Enhancements		Inventor 2018 Help: Hole Enhancements

An Inventor® Ideas submission

Spotface Hole Enhancement

In a part file, you can now specify zero (0) as a value for bore depth on Spotface holes. As a result, you can now place a spotface hole on the termination face of a body. 

Legacy Inventor		Inventor 2018
Inventor 2018 Help: Hole Enhancements		Inventor 2018 Help: Hole Enhancements

Hole Creation Enhancement

Use the new option,

Extend Start

, on the Hole dialog box to extend the start face of a hole to the first place where there is no intersection with the target body.

Support for Partial Chamfers

You can now create a chamfer that does not require an entire edge. A new tab, Partial, is added to the Chamfer dialog box to support the creation of partial chamfers.

The settings on the Partial tab allow you to terminate a chamfer at a specific distance along an edge. You create a partial chamfer by defining the location of end vertexes along an existing chamfer edge, and the start vertex is created automatically.

After clicking a point on an edge to define the end point, you can change the driven dimension type to To End (distance from end of edge to end of chamfer), To Start (distance from start of edge to start of chamfer), or Chamfer (chamfer length), using the new Set Driven Dimension drop-menu. The default driven dimension type is To End. 3 parameters are created, one of which is a reference parameter based on the selected driven dimension setting.

An Inventor® Ideas submission

iLogic Enhancements

New iLogic Security Alert Feature Helps Keep you Safe

A security alert displays when you run a rule Inventor detects to be potentially unsafe. You can choose to run the rule as safe or not run the rule. If you select Run the rule the iLogic Security Advisor displays where you can access the iLogic Security dialog box for additional options for managing unknown code.