Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Navigation In Autodesk Inventor - The PAN Tool


TOPIC: NAVIGATION IN AUTODESK INVENTOR - THE PAN TOOL


BEFORE YOU BEGIN

  1. Download the dataset.
  2. Save it to a project folder of an existing Inventor project. Set the project active. Learn more about Inventor Projects and Project Files.
  3. Open the part file: Menu Browser menu browser> Open menu > Open > Navigation_Infant_Scooter_Front_End_Assy.iam

INTRODUCTION

Navigation in Autodesk Inventor embodies those operations carried out in order to view the model from different positions, directions (or orientations) and perspectives. When you navigate around your model, the position and orientation of the model with respect to the user-coordinate system is not altered.
Autodesk Inventor contains very interesting tools that allows you to have complete control of how your model is viewed and positioned in your Graphics Area.
The Pan tool is used for moving the Graphics Area around.
Now let's use this analogy to help us visualize the work of the Pan tool. Imagine the drawing board used for manual drawings. The drawing board, itself, represents the application (i.e Inventor). So your ruler, T-square, pencil, compass, protractor,eraser, etc are the various provided in Autodesk Inventor. The drawing sheet placed on the drawing board represents the graphics area - this is where you carry out this design. So you draw or design on the graphics area just as you would draw on a drawing sheet.
Now, imagine having a very big drawing board - the type that contain B-grade sheets, but you have an A-grade drawing sheet on it. You can move this drawing sheet to different positions on the drawing board. The effect here is that, the actual designs on the drawing sheet will move with the sheet but the position of the design with respect to the drawing sheet is not altered. This is the PANNING effect!
So the PAN merely moves the Graphics Area around (with the designs/models on it) but the position of the designs/models with respect to the User Coordinate System is unaltered.
Only the MOVE tool can translate (or relocate) a model with respect to the user coordinate system - this is equivalent to erasing and redrawing the design on another location on a drawing sheet.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, the reader should be able:
  1. Explain the concept of navigation in Autodesk Inventor.
  2. Explain the concept of the PAN tool.
  3. Locate and use the PAN tool in Autodesk Inventor.

LOCATING THE PAN TOOL

We can locate the PAN tool in the following ways:

1. RIBBON

You can locate the PAN tool on the Ribbon by going to the View tab > Navigate panel and clicking on Pan - pan tool icon
Refer to Figure 1 for guidance.
Figure 1
Once the PAN tool is launch, the mouse pointer arrow will change to a HAND pointer. Then you simply press down the left button on your mouse and drag the mouse to pan your design.

2. NAVIGATION BAR

The PAN tool can also be launched from the Navigation Bar. The Navigation Bar is found at the right-hand side of the Graphics Area (in Inventor 2011 and above). Refer to Figure 2 for guidance.
Figure 2
Once the PAN tool is launch, the mouse pointer arrow will change to a HAND pointer. Then you simply press down the left button on your mouse and drag the mouse to pan your design.

3. MOUSE WHEEL

The fastest way to launch the PAN tool is to use the mouse wheel of your external (or USB) mouse. You simply press down the mouse wheel and then drag the mouse the pan your design.

TO DO: Use the above-mentioned techniques to PAN the assembly in the dataset.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Please drop a comment. Thank you.