AutoDesk Inventor
- Thread starterchawalang
- Start date
There are some good videos on YouTube you can check out. It's been a few years since I've touched Inventor but based on what I remember about the learning curve, I suggest you start small. Build some simple widgets as components and then play around with turning them into assemblies and exploded diagrams. Then work your way into more complex extrusions/blends. Resist the urge to start with the race car and maybe start with the scooter instead.
Before you get too far in, seek out some tutorials specifically on parametric constraints. Inventor is much more powerful when you model components based on relationships (parallel lines, perpendicular lines, coincident points, equidistant lengths between lines, etc) and formulas rather than hard-sketching everything. Allows to adapt and adjust your model content much smoother.
Probably the best way to learn is to arm yourself with a vernier caliper and some grid paper and pick up stuff on your desk and try to model it. Start with a tape dispenser or a stapler and work your way up to some gears or a trash receptacle and then onto a computer monitor or a stage flat. Rather than building your models as one giant component, compartmentalize bolts/hinges/framing/etc as components. Then you can reuse them as much as you want really easily and turn them into assemblies and create exploded diagrams marked up with dimensions that any person in the scene shop can readily decipher.
Before you get too far in, seek out some tutorials specifically on parametric constraints. Inventor is much more powerful when you model components based on relationships (parallel lines, perpendicular lines, coincident points, equidistant lengths between lines, etc) and formulas rather than hard-sketching everything. Allows to adapt and adjust your model content much smoother.
Probably the best way to learn is to arm yourself with a vernier caliper and some grid paper and pick up stuff on your desk and try to model it. Start with a tape dispenser or a stapler and work your way up to some gears or a trash receptacle and then onto a computer monitor or a stage flat. Rather than building your models as one giant component, compartmentalize bolts/hinges/framing/etc as components. Then you can reuse them as much as you want really easily and turn them into assemblies and create exploded diagrams marked up with dimensions that any person in the scene shop can readily decipher.
bobgaggle
Well-Known Member
I gave the 30 day trial a go, figuring it would be similar in layout and workflow to AutoCAD. nope. would also like to hear if anyone has a good resource for learning it. Maybe I don't understand the workflow, but it seems like to build a standard hollywood flat, I need to make each little bit of wood its own file, then assemble all of them in a different file. Seems so slow and clunky idk...
CrazyTechie
Well-Known Member
Lynda.com would be a good place to look for tutorials. They offer a 30 day free trial and they have plenty of videos for learning almost anything. A quick search turned up 18 different courses of varying length for Inventor alone. I would highly recommend looking into it, I've personally used it myself to learn all sorts of things from web development, to IT, to Photoshop. Many tutorials include exercise/project files so that you can work along side the instructor during the course which is super helpful, I would imagine you would have access to those during the trial period.
DRU
Active Member
I learned Inventor many moons ago in my high school engineering class. You have the workflow for it correct. You build part files, then put the parts together into a different file. The closest AutoCAD comparison would be if you had to make each piece of wood a block, and then built the flat with those individual blocks. Very time consuming and inefficient.
If you had a special effect mechanical system or a piece of custom rigging hardware that you needed to break down and see in 3D, using Inventor would be helpful, but for flats and platforms, AutoCAD is still king.
I regularly use Inventor to draft shows in scale from large automation heavy musicals to much smaller, college scale, shows. I've been drafting in Inventor primarily for the past 5+ years.
On to resources on learning it, Youtube is a great resource for finding help with specific things. The tutorials from Autodesk are also very good. They are built into the software and installed when you install the software. If you have money for an online class I have good experience with Globaletraining.
http://www.globaletraining.ca/etraining-courses/product/autodesk-inventor-2018-guided/
The class is expensive, but it is worth it in my opinion. I have used a similar class to train a draftsperson in drafting for theatre from minimal CAD experience very successfully. The one thing most tutorials or classes don't cover is a tool called the Frame Generator. It is my most used tool because it can frame a flat or a platform in a matter of minutes when properly set up and used.
As to what people have said about making a bunch of parts and then assembling them, that is one workflow possible in Inventor. That is called "Bottom up" modelling. It means you start at the bottom, the parts, and work your way up to the top, the assembly of all the parts. That is just one strategy of many on how to model in Inventor. Autodesk has an article on the different workflows possible. Here is a link to a brief description of them:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/sear...63FA128E-63E2-4176-8653-327BD80D8A43-htm.html
I personally do a mix of them, changing workflows to use whatever fits the situation best. I could probably do a several hour long lecture on the pros and cons of AutoCAD vs Inventor for drafting in theater, as I've had that debate myself with co-workers and myself for many many years but I digress....
Anyone can feel free to send me a PM or anything if you have any specific questions or want opinions from someone who uses Inventor regularly for theater.
On to resources on learning it, Youtube is a great resource for finding help with specific things. The tutorials from Autodesk are also very good. They are built into the software and installed when you install the software. If you have money for an online class I have good experience with Globaletraining.
http://www.globaletraining.ca/etraining-courses/product/autodesk-inventor-2018-guided/
The class is expensive, but it is worth it in my opinion. I have used a similar class to train a draftsperson in drafting for theatre from minimal CAD experience very successfully. The one thing most tutorials or classes don't cover is a tool called the Frame Generator. It is my most used tool because it can frame a flat or a platform in a matter of minutes when properly set up and used.
As to what people have said about making a bunch of parts and then assembling them, that is one workflow possible in Inventor. That is called "Bottom up" modelling. It means you start at the bottom, the parts, and work your way up to the top, the assembly of all the parts. That is just one strategy of many on how to model in Inventor. Autodesk has an article on the different workflows possible. Here is a link to a brief description of them:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/sear...63FA128E-63E2-4176-8653-327BD80D8A43-htm.html
I personally do a mix of them, changing workflows to use whatever fits the situation best. I could probably do a several hour long lecture on the pros and cons of AutoCAD vs Inventor for drafting in theater, as I've had that debate myself with co-workers and myself for many many years but I digress....
Anyone can feel free to send me a PM or anything if you have any specific questions or want opinions from someone who uses Inventor regularly for theater.
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