Colorado Inventor Users

2009-12-01T09:00:00.003-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Labs has been busy developing a utility to help Inventor users generate product documentation more quickly and completely. They have released the Inventor Publisher Technology Preview for testing by the user base. Now you can generate 3D tech manuals you never had time for before.

Check it out at:

Inventor Publisher Technology Preview

2009-11-04T13:00:00.003-07:00

Position: Project Engineer
Dept: Engineering
Employment Classification: Full Time, Salaried (Exempt), At Will

Reports to: Director of Engineering
Positions Supervised: None
Interacts with: Engineering Department Members, Machine Shop Personnel, Assembly Personnel, Sales & Manufacturing
Purpose: Assist in design and development of new equipment as well as refinement of existing equipment.

Responsibilities:
• Is responsible for all technical aspects of the project including:
Correctness and accuracy of designs and details, Functionality of equipment, Compliance with NTM standards and specifications.
• Is responsible for proper processing of all engineering paperwork (drawings, BOM’s, releases, ECN’s, ECR’s, etc.).
• Is responsible for meeting engineering schedule deadlines.
• Is responsible for debug, testing, and documentation of prototype equipment.
• Is responsible for assisting assemblers in questions of proper assembly techniques or procedures.

Primary Functional Duties/Tasks/Activities/Operations:
• Analyze technical requirements.
• Perform engineering calculations where required (i.e. size machine drives, frame deflection, etc)
• Perform challenging design work.
• Calculate and design progressive rollforming tooling.
• Utilize existing components where possible for all new designs.
• Work with the manufacturing department in order to coordinate all engineering changes.
• Monitor and report assignment status to Director of Engineering.

Secondary Functional Duties/Tasks/Activities/Operations:
• Design machine electrical controls and hydraulic circuits as required.
• Assemble and debug prototype machines and tooling.
• Attend trade shows in order to gain industry knowledge as well as represent NTM to potential customers.
• Direct and review work of other engineering team members as necessary.

Education/Licenses/Test
• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with two years experience.

Knowledge/Skills
• Extensive machine design experience.
• Working knowledge of engineering principles.
• Rollforming experience desired.
• 3D CAD experience (Autodesk Inventor preferred).
• Knowledge of machining practices and how part tolerances affect machining requirements and cost.
• Knowledge of material properties (machinability, weldability, heat treatment, corrosion resistance, etc)
• Extensive knowledge of GD&T (desired).
• Good organizational skills (ability to manage time and set priorities)
• Ability to communicate ideas clearly.
• Knowledge of MS Word & Excel.

Work Behaviors
• Punctuality
• Team player (ability to get along with others).
• Well-organized work area.
• Positive attitude.
• Flexibility in order to help out where needed.

NEW TECH MACHINERY
1300 40th Street • Denver, CO 80205-3311 • Phone 303-294-0538 • Fax 303-294-9407
“THE INDUSTRY LEADER IN PORTABLE ROLLFORMING EQUIPMENT”

2009-11-02T09:00:00.004-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Inventor "YouTube" Videos:

Below is a web site that consolidates all the YouTube videos for Inventor, Inventor LT and Showcase. We know a lot of companies will not allow employees to access YouTube from their work computers. Hopefully, this helps solve the problem. You can also right-click on and download the videos to show on your computer as well.

Hope this helps.

Check them out at:
Inventor Does

2009-10-30T15:00:00.003-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 – 11:30am-12:30pm

You are invited to join us for a presentation and discussion on Inventor 2010 Advanced Sketching Techniques via WebEx. Please mark your calendars now and keep this hour available to participate in an on-line discussion of ideas and technology.

Getting the most from Inventor 2010’s Sketching Tools

Investigate the tools available to maximize the intelligence in your sketching methodology!

Inventor Q&A

Join us to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

As in the past, you can access this meeting through the following link: COInvUsers.

Please follow the instructions at this site for joining the group. You will need to join this group to participate in our monthly User Group webcasts. Aside from the benefits of added convenience and increased frequency, our meetings will be held to one hour.

Please RSVP to: Rob Johnston
8101 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 400
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
303.796.0204, ext. 108

2009-10-16T09:00:00.001-06:00

Online CO Inventor Users Group meeting

For those that were unable to attend the online meeting, we have made the link available here.

October CO Inv UG

Hope to "see" you next time.

2009-09-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

For anyone using any version of Autodesk Inventor 2010, we would recommend applying the following service pack:

Autodesk Inventor 2010 - Service Pack 1
Inventor 2010 SP1 - all versions

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2009-08-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

Important Alert !!! - Inventor 2010 Service Pack 1

There are some major problems with SP1 as posted here on the Autodesk website. Please don't download it from this link. We will update you as soon as Autodesk has the new service pack available for download. Let us know, if you are facing any problems after installing the SP1 from the above link.

2009-03-19T09:00:00.001-06:00

Online CO Inventor Users Group meeting

For those that were unable to attend the online meeting, we have made the link available here.

March CO Inv UG

Hope to "see" you next time.

2009-02-20T09:00:00.002-07:00

Online CO Inventor Users Group meeting

For those that were unable to attend the online meeting, we have made the link available here.

February CO Inv UG

Hope to "see" you next time.

2009-02-03T09:00:00.001-07:00

Fellow Inventor Users,

In an effort to increase the convenience and frequency of our Inventor Users Group, we have moved our meetings to the web and are changing our meeting time. Starting this month, our monthly Inventor user group will be hosted via webcast. Communications for the group will be managed online through the following link:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/COInvUsers/.

Please follow the instructions at this site for joining the group. You will need to join this group to participate in our monthly User Group webcasts. Aside from the benefits of added convenience and increased frequency, our meetings will be held to one hour.

Please contact us if you have any questions or have difficulty joining the Group.

Thank you.

Eric - efrance@avat.com and Rob - rjohnston@avat.com

2008-10-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Here are the latest Service Packs for relevant Inventor 2009 products:

Autodesk Inventor 2009 (all versions) - Service Pack 1 Inventor 2009 SP1

AutoCAD Mechanical 2009 (all versions) - Service Pack 2 AutoCAD/M 2009 SP2

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2009 (all versions) - Service Pack 2 MDT 2009 SP2

Autodesk Design Review 2009 - Service Pack 1 Design Review 2009 SP1

And for relevant Inventor 2008 products:

Autodesk Inventor 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 3 Inventor 2008 SP3

AutoCAD Mechanical 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 2 AutoCAD/M 2008 SP2

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 2 MDT 2008 SP2

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2008-10-07T11:45:00.001-06:00

Mechanical Desktop Retirement

Autodesk has terminated development of Autodesk® Mechanical Desktop® and will no longer release new versions of the product. This decision was made to allow Autodesk to focus on the development of the Autodesk® Inventor® and AutoCAD® Mechanical product lines.

As a result of this decision, Mechanical Desktop 2009 becomes the last version of the product to be made available.

Autodesk recognizes that our customers have created many Mechanical Desktop files containing their intellectual property. To protect this data, Autodesk is taking the following actions:
• In accordance with section 2.2.3 of the Subscription Terms and Conditions, Autodesk Support will continue to provide product support for Subscription customers for a period of no less than three years after the removal of Mechanical Desktop from the Inventor product line.
• Autodesk will continue to make Mechanical Desktop 2009 available for download with future releases of Inventor.
• Autodesk will continue to support the DWG Import wizard for Mechanical Desktop parts, assemblies and drawings.
• Despite anything to the contrary in our Subscription terms and conditions or our license agreement(s), Autodesk will allow customers the right to continue using earlier versions of Mechanical Desktop with Inventor releases.

For additional information, please contact Avatech Solutions, Inc.

Thank you for choosing Subscription for your Autodesk products.

Sincerely,
The Autodesk Subscription Team

2008-10-01T11:30:00.002-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 6:30 – 9:00pm

We are happy to host this month’s Users Group at our location here in the Denver Tech Center.
We will be hosting with a twist, because we are also offering the option of attending via the
Web.* Please mark your calendars now and keep this night available to participate in an open
discussion of ideas and technology.

• Representations in Inventor
Examine how View, Positional, and Level of Detail Representations can be used to your advantage
• Streamlining Tube and Pipe Design
Understand the tools available to significantly reduce the time it takes to create or edit tube and pipe runs
• Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences
to share!

Come discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other
Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP to: Rob Johnston

8101 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 200
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
303.796.0204

* If you are interested in attending via the Web instead of in‐person, please email Rob for website and login information.

2008-09-30T12:00:00.001-06:00

Autodesk® Inventor® 2009 Subscription Bonus Pack continues focus on user productivity!

The first Subscription Bonus Pack is now available featuring improvements to frequently used commands. In fact, three of our current AUGI Top 10 wish list items are provided along with many other productivity based improvements for part and assembly modeling to drawing creation. Tools included in the Bonus Pack will reduce the amount of picks and clicks as well as reduce editing steps which will delight our customers. Our subscription customers will be able to install these tools to their current Inventor 2009 after downloading a small file from the subscription portal and these same tools will be rolled into the next release of Inventor.

What’s in it?

Drawing Manager Tools

· Arrange dimensions
· Dimension Selection Filters
· Directly open a corresponding drawing right from a part or assembly
· Refreshing drawing parameters
· Balloon snap and alignment on placement
· Project geometry works like part environment
· Edit dimension upon placement

Part Modeling Tools

· Create parameters on the fly when dimensioning
· Specify iFeatures normal direction
· Create iFeatures from iParts
· Apply buttons on Scale and Rotate dialogs
· Simplified loft selection through right click context menu

Assembly Design Tools

· Bill of Material Editor

Shift or Control for contiguous or non-contiguous selection
Copy/Paste
Capitalization
Find and Replace
Cross highlight from the BOM editor and Assembly model

· Auto Save Reminder

Where can you get it?
Current Inventor subscription customers will be able to login to the Autodesk Subscription website and download the small Bonus Pack.

2007-11-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Just as a recap, here are all the latest Service Packs for relevant Inventor 2008 products:

Autodesk Inventor 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 1
Inventor 2008 SP1

Autodesk Inventor 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 2
Inventor 2008 SP2

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 (all versions) - Service Pack 1
MDT 2008 SP1

Autodesk Design Review 2008 - Service Pack 1
Design Review 2008 SP1

Autodesk Data Management Server 2008 (applies to both client & server) - Service Pack 1
ADMS 2008 SP1

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2007-11-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Tuesday November 20, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month for an exciting look at Autodesk Inventor sheet metal design tool and best practices for utilizing this powerful tool. This months meeting will be held at our location in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Using Inventor sheet metal design

Best Practices for using sheet metal design

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or to get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Derick Asher: derick.asher@avatech.com

Avatech Solutions, Inc.
8101 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 200
Greenwood Village, CO 80111

2007-10-10T12:24:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month for an exciting look at Autodesk Vault and Inventor iFamilies. Wood Group, a leading manufacturer of energy services, located in Loveland, Colorado has graciously offered to host our next Inventor Users Group.

Best Practices for Implementing Autodesk Vault

iParts, iAssemblies, & iFeatures

Tour of Wood Group facility

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or to get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Derick Asher: derick.asher@avatech.com

Wood Group Gas Turbine
591 W 66Th St
Loveland, CO 80538
(970) 669-0801

2007-09-21T15:30:00.001-06:00

Drafter Designer

Geotech seeks a Drafter Designer with 7-10 years experience to join our Engineering Department. You will assist in the design and development of new equipment. Prior experience with Autodesk Inventor CAD software in a manufacturing environment is required, as are strong math skills.

Pluses:

Adobe Suite
MS Office
Materials background

Please furnish verifiable references.

Pick this link, for more information about Geotech Environmental Equipment

Send resume to stever@geotechenv.com or fax to 303-322-7242 attn: Engineering Manager

2007-09-21T15:15:00.000-06:00

Mechanical Detailer

New Tech Machinery seeks a Mechanical Detailer to join our Engineering Department and assist in the design and development of new equipment. Prior experience with Autodesk Inventor CAD software in a manufacturing environment would be helpful.
View job description by clicking here.

Send resume to engr@newtechmachinery.com or fax to 303-294-9407 attn: Director of Engineering

2007-09-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

At CoorsTek, we change our world by providing industry with break-through solutions for an amazing variety of engineered parts and integrated systems made from ceramics, metals and plastics. Our Golden Facility has an opportunity available for a talented Engineer II. This position will be located in Golden, CO.

Job Description:

At CoorsTek we change our world by providing industry with break-through solutions for an amazing variety of engineered parts and integrated systems made from ceramics, metals and plastics. Our Golden Facility has an opportunity available for a talented Engineer II . This position will be located in Golden, CO.

Position Summary:
Responsible for designing, developing, and testing equipment, processes, and materials; seeking opportunities to apply technical knowledge, under direction of engineering and technical staff.

Essential Functions:

Meets or exceeds all requirements of an Engineer I.
Develops, implements, and improves production/processing methods and controls to meet quality standards in the most cost efficient manner; requires use of moderate decision making skills.
Performs work that is varied.
Receives instruction on specific assignment objectives, points of emphasis, reference and information sources, and possible solutions.
Unusual problems are solved jointly with supervisor, and work is reviewed for application of sound engineering judgment.
Assignments include equipment design and development, test of materials, preparation of specifications, process study, research investigations, report preparation and other activities requiring knowledge of principles, practices, and techniques commonly employed in the specific area of assignments.
Performs work which involves conventional types of plans, investigations, surveys, structures, or equipment with relatively few complex features for which there are precedents.
Develops estimate and cost guidelines through the use of operation sheets, engineering standards, and manufacturing process knowledge.
May review completed orders and investigates orders completed above/below initial cost estimates to detect potential problems in the manufacturing process or cost guidelines.
Develops and maintains written standards on the production processes.
May supervise other employees.
May have interaction with customers and suppliers.
Possesses the ability to enhance the functionality of computer systems to more efficiently perform job tasks.
Willingly accepts responsibility of sharing skills and knowledge; trains other employees.
Understands and meets or exceeds quality standards; seeks to minimize error rate.
Participates in continuous improvement efforts. Supports and helps to implement new ideas.
Performs detail-oriented tasks utilizing very effective communication skills and very high math skills.
The position is for a tool designer. This position requires the skills of mechanical engineering and automation design skills are a plus. Applicant should have tool design experience and be proficient in AutoCAD and Inventor.

Education, Training, and Skill Recommendations/Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or appropriate science, and 5 years education and experience in a equivalent or similar discipline.
Must participate in relevant continuing education

At CoorsTek we offer excellent benefits: medical/dental/vision insurance, 401K, life insurance, AD&D, STD/LTD, PTO, tuition reimbursement, health club reimbursement – plus much more! A casual, yet professional working environment.

Enjoy working with an exciting company, which has almost a hundred years in business! Send your resume and salary requirements to: triley@coorstek.com or Call 303.277.4121

Local Candidates Only!
Principals Only – No Agencies Please.
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Pre-employment drug screen and background check required.

2007-09-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1*
MDT 2008 SP1

*This applies to any MDT included with all versions of Inventor 2008.

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2007-09-12T08:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month at one of Denver’s own technology leaders – Gates (part of the Tomkins, PLC). They have been an innovative user of Inventor for over 5 years and have graciously offered their new Tech Center as the site of our next Users Group. Jeanne Pake and Justin Paulsen from Gates will be presenting two very interesting topics.

Tour of the new Gates Customer Solutions Center*

Using Skeletal Models-Justin Paulsen

Building iAssemblies-Jeanne Pake

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or to get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Derick Asher: derick.asher@avat.com

Gates Corporation
330 Inverness Drive South
Englewood, CO 80112
(303) 744-1911

* We will all be required to read and sign a RELEASE OF LIABILITY, WAIVER AND ASSUMPTION OF RISK which is also attached to our invitation. You can complete this beforehand and bring it with you or sign one at the front door when you arrive.

2007-08-31T09:00:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

For anyone using Autodesk Vault or Productstream 2008, we would recommend applying the following service pack to BOTH the server and clients:

Autodesk Data Management Server 2008 - Service Pack 1
ADMS 2008 SP1

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2007-08-31T08:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

August, 2007

No, you didn't miss it. Due to vacations and other summertime distractions, a Colorado Inventor Users Group meeting was not held in the month of August.

Unfortunately, we didn't notify anyone it would not be happening and we apologize for that. So, now you know.

The next meeting will be held Wednesday, September 19, 2007 in the Denver area. Location and topics to soon follow.

Thank you for your participation and we will see you soon!

2007-07-19T09:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk Inventor® 2008 (All Versions) - Service Pack 1
Inventor® 2008 SP1

For those of you still on Inventor 11 and waiting for more info on Service Pack 3, your wait is over.

Here are the procedures Tim at Genesis Fixtures has found to be successful in loading SP3.

Try this.
1. Make sure you restart your computer.
2. Make sure no programs are open (especially Inventor)
3. Install SP3 or reinstall.
4. Restart when asked to restart or if not asked, restart anyway.
5. Then start Inventor as normal.

Note:
As usual, Inventor on the first restart will take extra time loading because what it’s doing in memory and startup instructions, then it will start much faster the next time.

Autodesk Inventor® 11 - Service Pack 3
Inventor® 11 SP3

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2007-07-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group BBQ

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Join us this month at Avatech’s DTC Offices for a Summertime BAR-B-QUE. Enjoy fresh-grilled favorites with cole slaw and potato salad while we run through an overview of new and improved features in Inventor 2008, including:

DWG TrueConnect

Natively view, plot, and measure DWG’s
Copy & paste into new 3D designs
Maintain 2D associativity to the 3D model
What it means for your existing IDW’s

Sheet Metal for Manufacturing

Improved tools: multiple-flange operations, cut across bend, etc.
Define punches using table-driven iFeatures
Add features to the flat, and configure the DXF output with layer mapping, etc.

Everyday Enhancements

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Eric France: eric.france@avatech.com

2007-07-05T10:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk Inventor® 11 - Service Pack 3
***Please be advised, due to problems on the installation of Inventor 11 SP3, Autodesk has pulled it from the website.***

If you have already installed it and had problems, please remove it through Add/Remove Programs with the Show Updates checkbox checked. If you got it installed correctly, you make the call, but we would recommend removing it also.

This does not appear to effect the Inventor 11 Professional or Inventor 11 DWF Extension SP3.

Autodesk Inventor® 11 DWF Extension - Service Pack 3
Inventor® 11 DWF Extension SP3

Autodesk Inventor® Professional 11 - Service Pack 3
Inventor® Professional 11 SP3

Check here often for additional listings of Service Packs as they are posted.

2007-06-06T16:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month in Colorado Springs at Siemens Water Technologies (aka MEMCOR Products). They are one of Colorado’s first adopters of Inventor, and continue to be a technology leader in delivering clean water solutions to millions of customers daily. We will be discussing:

Autodesk Data Management 2008

Improvements & New Features for Vault 2008
Improvements & New Features for ProductStream 2008

Using Skeletal Design to quickly draw complex assemblies

Derive workflow enhancements
Reduced update overhead
Selective control of linked parameters
Create links between any model type

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2007-05-25T09:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Inventor loads with a set of additional tools that might be helpful to some users. These tools include:

Revision Clouds
Chain Dimensions
Ground and Root Component (Good for Skeletal Modeling)
Rename Browser Nodes
Alpha Sort
Color Scheme Editor
Spell Check

And many others.

These tools can be found in the following location: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor {version}\SDK\Tools\Users

Special Thanks to Joe Bartels & Tim Dench for pointing these out.

2007-05-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month at one of Denver’s own technology leaders – Norgren (part of the IMI Group of engineering companies). They were one of Colorado’s earliest adopters of Inventor, and now they’ve opened their doors to host a Users Group for us. Mo Jalaly has graciously volunteered to give a brief demonstration, and Avatech will be presenting a brand new 2008 technology:

Using Dynamic Simulation

Predict dynamic performance and peak stresses without building prototypes
Complete library of motion joints with friction, damping, and stiffness – and NEW in 2008 – automatic translation of assembly constraints into joints!
Graphical input of driving loads with time-based force functions – and NEW in 2008 – export motion loads over multiple time steps!
Transfer reaction forces to Inventor Stress Analysis (ANSYS)

Quickly create a parametric Inventor part using standard views of an AutoCAD drawing

Use DWG TrueConnect to open AutoCAD files directly in Inventor
Leverage Autodesk Labs to quickly recognize 2D features and create parametric 3D solids.
Update 2D projects with new 3D designs

2007-05-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Installing Autodesk Inventor 2008 Errors:

As everyone starts to receive and install their Inventor 2008's, we have heard of some errors during the install. Here are links to the resolutions for some errors you may run into during the install process.

Hope this helps.

Check them out at:

Deployment Error:
TS1070070

Second DVD Error:
TS1070073

Forbidden by System Policy Error:
Discussion Group Thread - 5567713

2007-04-25T13:30:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Translator Add-ins for Autodesk Inventor:

Autodesk Labs has recently posted add-ins that will allow users to read part and assembly data from Parasolid, UG-NX™, Pro/ENGINEER and GRANITE directly into Autodesk Inventor 2008 as base solids. With this technology preview, you can streamline projects that require opening files from vendors or customers in native formats.

Check them out at:

Translator Add-ins

2007-04-11T16:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month at one of Northern Colorado’s fine manufacturers – Leggett & Platt - Store Fixtures Group in Fort Collins. They’ve been a long-time user of Inventor, and now they’ve opened their doors to host a Users Group for us. Tim Dench has graciously volunteered to present a topic for discussion, including:

Derived Spreadsheet-driven assemblies

Re-using parameters from derived components
Leveraging parameters to drive a dimension
Update the assembly – drawings & ALL!

Using Macros to automate Tedious Tasks

Surface Tools for Solid Modeling
Who writes them?
What do they do?

2007-04-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

Eric's Take...

...on Inventor's Task Scheduler.

With the next release of Inventor imminent, the migration of files to the next release is likely not a task any of us are looking forward to. If you are not already using it, you may want to consider the Task Scheduler. Going from the Start button, it can be found under the Tools sub-menu of your Inventor program menu.

There are almost a dozen different tools that Task Scheduler provides to run unattended tasks. To get started, pick one from the Create Task pull-down. When picking Migrate Files (or any of the other tasks), identify the files, folders, or Project to Migrate, fill out the Task Properties below, and the task is scheduled to run (Immediately or at a later time that is more convenient). Using Task Scheduler with files in a Vault Project will require Vault Authentication from the Files pull-down prior to running successfully. Please review the Help files for further clarification of specific task capabilities.

Additionally, provided below is a link to the Search Results for Articles on Autodesk's website related to the Task Scheduler.

Check them out at: Task Scheduler Results

Hope this helps.

Eric

2007-03-27T14:45:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Per our discussion at this month's User's Group, I've provided several links to sites that offer downloadable CAD files and Catalogs:

https://reidecom.reidtool.com/xephr/qbe/homepage
http://www.thomasnet.com/
http://www.dodge-reliance.com/html_pages/Part_Server_Instructions.html
http://www.3dcontentcentral.com/3DContentCentral/Default.aspx
http://www.partserver.com/
http://www.gates.com/designView/form.cfm?location_id=866&display=1
https://sdp-si.com/eStore/

Lots of content here. Good luck!

2007-03-21T10:00:00.001-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

While Autodesk has not announced any support for any previously shipped products on Windows Vista at the time of this writing, Avatech has found a method that may allow users to run in an unsupported mode.

Avatech's National Support Center recently had a support call were the client was trying to install Inventor 11 onto Windows Vista (32-bit). The problem was that they were receiving an “Unsupported Operating System…” error.

By browsing to x:\bin\acadfeui\inventor\ {where x: is the DVD-ROM Drive} and right-clicking the setup.exe file, they were able to select ‘Run as Administrator’ and it installed fine. The same thing was needed to install Mechanical Desktop 2007, but applied to the x:\bin\acadfeui\mdt\setup.exe file.

This seemed to work for both installs. The machine was rebooted and when they double-clicked the icons, both applications launched fine.

Hope This Helps!

Eric

2007-03-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

For those of you who have been busy getting billable work out the door, you may not have had the time to check out what is coming in the next release of Inventor 2008. Under the title of Inventor 2008 Countdown, Amy & Gavin have been providing snapshots of the coming functionality on their "In the Machine" blog since 2/23. I think you will be please with a lot of the new or improved functionality.

Please check it out if you have a chance and let us know what you think.

In the Machine

2007-03-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us this month at one of Denver’s fine academic institutions: the Community College of Denver. We’re proud to be partnering with one of the area’s best Drafting programs led by ex-Lockheed engineer Rick Glesner, whom some of you already know. Bring your thinking caps, and some quarters for the Auraria metered-parking, as we will be presenting a challenge problem with a prize for one lucky person who can provide the correct solution – along with:

Re-visit Inventor’s Parametric & Adaptive Design

Adaptive part associations that recognize how parts fit together in the assembly
Parts “Adapt” to fit
No parameters or variables required
No ordered relationships
Associate by parameters tables, formulas, master sketch, or part

AEC Exchange

Publish Native ABS models that include 3D geometry and intelligent connection data
Export Inventor Assembly models as 3D DWG files for use with ADT, Revit, and AutoCAD

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or to get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2007-03-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Autodesk has managed to repair the problems that the Microsoft Hotfix KB918118 was breaking. This hotfix applies to multiple versions, so make sure you download and apply the right one.

Autodesk Hotfix DL9229921

We are sorry for an inconveniences this has caused and appreciate your patience.

Hope this helps.

2007-02-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

M$ came out with an update last night that hoses Inventor's text editing. Here's the reply from ADSK I received this AM:

Dear Gregory,

I've got new information on an MS update today: If you've applied Microsoft Hotfix KB918118 you will notice that you can’t create or edit texts in Inventor .IDW’s.
The workaround is to uninstall this hotfix. Please uninstall this from Add/remove programs and spread the word. Let me know if I may close this case. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Daren Lawrence
Autodesk Support Team

2007-02-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk has announced the next release of their Manufacturing Suite of Products.

Please follow the link below to the press release.

Autodesk's FY2008 Mfg Products

2007-02-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Design Review is now available as a FREE download!

Here's the deal: the download is free, but Autodesk has not broadcast that fact. Go to Design Review. There is no mention on this page that it is free; however, there is a link near the bottom of the page which says download.

When you reach the download screen, there is a small note at the bottom (in italics) which says it is free. The instructions when you start the download give you a serial number to use to activate it. This won't work and isn't required.

There are two downloads, one for the product and a separate one for SP 1. According to another user, it works once you do all these things.

Good Luck and Good Design Reviewing!

2007-02-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Eric's Take...

...on a HUGELY revitalized Colorado Inventor Users Blog.

For those of you who have been wondering what has been up with this since May, I've been slacking, honestly. I just wasn't making the effort to post information that we all would find useful. That being said, I have made a New Year's Resolution to keep it much better updated than I have in the past. Let's hope it last much longer than most Resolutions!

Now to some of the changes. Blogger updated the capabilities of the Blog engine, so you will notice a little different look. We now have Labels, which will take you to the specfic topic you are seaching for information on. We also have a slightly different Archive listing, as well. The Disclaimer has been moved to the very bottom for everyone to see?!? Finally, Blogger has integrated it's login with Google accounts. If you already have a Google account, you can link your login to this with it and simplify the process. If you don't have a Google account, or would like to keep this one separate from your personal one, we can invite you to join through Gmail. You can email us at COInvUsers@gmail.com or you can pick on the Request Invitation Label at the top of the Sidebar on the left.

If you dig into the Labels area a bit, you can see I added a lot of content I should have been adding all along and I did some filing. I broke everything up into the most logical catagories I could come up with; so we now have: Eric's Take, News You Can Use, Service Packs, & Users Group Meetings. More can be added if needed, based on YOUR feedback.

One of the bigger reasons this fell to the wayside, was I felt like I was the only one out here... and I still do. I am not doing this for me guys, I know I like to talk and all, but I am doing this for you. If you have a comment on something I posted; or an issue you haven't been able to resolve on your own; or a solution you were able to come up with that you think others would benefit from...
Post It!

I have protected the blog from random blog spammers, so you have to be invited to be linked to this blog, but after that you have free-rein to speak your mind and I expect you to. Some of you may have forgotten how to logon to post, if so, let me know and we will set you back up.

Here's to a great 2007!

Let's hear it, folks! Comments are welcome.

2007-02-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk has signifcantly expanded the Blogs that it hosts about the various products that fall under the Manufacturing division. No longer is Amy's "In The Machine" the only one in town.

Check them out at:

Autodesk's Mfg Blogs

2007-01-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Products: Compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista

Until Autodesk reports their findings in regards to software compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista, we do not recommend installing and/or using any current or past version of any Autodesk product on Windows Vista in production. When Autodesk announces an official position on compatibility, the information is generally posted on their website. Autodesk typically announces compatibility with currently-sold software only. Products not currently being sold or retired products are typically not tested and therefore will remain unsupported.

To check to see if Autodesk has changed its position on Vista, pick here:

Autodesk Search

Then type Windows Vista

We hope this helps clarify any questions regarding Microsoft Windows Vista.

2007-01-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Labs has recently posted a utility to make converting 2D sketches to 3D Solids much easier in Inventor 11. As with anything at Autodesk Labs, this utility is not supported by Autodesk and should be seen as a "Use At Your Own Risk" utility.

Check it out at:
Autodesk Labs

2007-01-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us for our first Users group of the New Year at Avatech’s DTC Office. Due to the poor weather recently, we’ve decided to stay close to home to kick of the first meeting of 2007. Mark your calendars now to participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’re planning to share a short presentation before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users, and allow access to our own technical experts for questions of their own.

Introduction to Avatech’s Professional Services

Custom Programming & Automation
Data Management & ERP/MRP Integration
Custom Training, Implementation, and resource auditing & optimization

Leverage Inventor 11’s Enhanced Surfacing Tools for Solid Modeling

Surface Tools for Solid Modeling
Loft to a point
Two rail sweep w/ XY scaling

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2007-01-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

If you have not yet installed the Assembly Tools for Inventor 11, follow these steps:

Close Inventor, if necessary.
Browse to the \SDK\Tools\Users\AssemblyTools folder that is located in your Inventor installation path.
Double-click the Setup.exe file.
Follow the instructions to complete the installation.

There will now be an Assembly Tools toolbar in the Assembly environment.

For an example of why you would want them loaded, check out:

Grounding Component to Origin of Assembly

2006-12-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

We apologize for the late notice, but we think you’ll be pleased with this month’s topic. Join us once again at SVI Trucks in Loveland, CO for this month’s Users Group. Mark your calendars now to participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’ve prepared two short presentations before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users to share their experiences from the field.

Utilize Inventor 11’s adaptive Content to increase your productivity

Streamlined selection and placement workflow
Advanced AutoDrop capability
Automatic resizing as mouse moves over target geometry
Interactive adjustment of component lengths

Publish your own approved parts to the Content Center

Enhanced tools for editing and publishing content
Unified content library
Fully integrated with Design Accelerators

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-12-07T16:30:00.001-07:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Labs has recently posted updates to a couple of utilities that I think you should check out.

Project Freewheel allows the posting of DWF files to an Autodesk website and allows you to send a link to a client or other party you would like to have view the DWF file, without requiring them to download and install the DWF Viewer. Be careful, we don't know how well protected this site is and proprietary information may be vulnerable!

Vault Mirror will allow users of Vault 5 or Productstream 5 to create a read-only mirror of the files and directory structure in an ADMS Vault, as seen from Vault Explorer. Used with Task Scheduler, Vault Mirror can create remote copies of the up-to-date Vault file tree. An example where this would be useful is when you have CAM programmers who need access to the Inventor models, but do not have an Autodesk product (nor Vault) installed on their machines.

As with anything at Autodesk Labs, these utilities is not supported by Autodesk and should be seen as "Use At Your Own Risk" utilities.

Check them out at:
Autodesk Labs

2006-12-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk® Design Review 2007 – Service Pack 1
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8269645&linkID=4083878

For those of you who weren't aware, Autodesk rebranded DWF Composer to Design Review 2007. Design Review 2007, like DWF Composer before it, allows for the Redlining / Markup of DWF files to capture change information electronically.

2006-11-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us at Avatech’s DTC Office for this month’s Users Group. Mark your calendars now to participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’re planning to share one short presentation before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users to address our technical experts with questions of their own.

Utilize Inventor 11’s adaptive Content to increase your productivity

Streamlined selection and placement workflow
Advanced AutoDrop capability
Automatic resizing as mouse moves over target geometry
Interactive adjustment of component lengths

Publish your own approved parts to the Content Center

Enhanced tools for editing and publishing content
Unified content library
Fully integrated with Design Accelerators

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-10-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk has recently posted a Technical Document outlining the proper method of modifying the Content Center in Inventor 11. Please download and review the Content Center Stand Alone User Guide before attempting to manipulate your Content Center files.

This document provides guidance for tuning the Autodesk Inventor Content Center to meet your company's specific needs. While initially focusing on the stand-alone designer and expanding to larger workgroups, it will be followed by a second document to address more detailed advice on large centralized server installations. When that is released, we will post it here.

Check it out at:
Content Center Stand Alone User Guide

2006-10-11T12:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us once again at US Filter (now Siemens Water Technology) in Colorado Springs, CO for this month’s Users Group. Mark your calendars now to participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’ve prepared two short presentations before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users to share their experiences from the field.

Explore Inventor 11’s Frame Generator to quickly create structural frames with custom or standard parts.

Library of standard structural shapes
Works with 2D/3D wireframe or solid model edges
Automatic placement on frame outline
Quickly and easily add welds and define end conditions

Autodesk University

More industry professionals than ever are discovering that an annual trip to AU pays dividends all year long.
Plan now to join your peers at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas—one of the world's most celebrated venues for meetings and conventions - for the 14th annual AU.
Nov. 28 – Dec. 1, 2006.

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-09-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Inventor Series or Professional 11 - Service Pack 2
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8008737&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2007 - Service Pack 1 - For Inventor Series 11
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8113081&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2007 - Service Pack 1 - For Inventor Professional 11
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8113052&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2007 - Service Pack 1 - For Inventor Professional for Simulation 11
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8113016&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2007 - Service Pack 1 - For Inventor Professional for Routed Systems 11
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8112993&linkID=4183232

2006-09-19T08:00:00.001-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Labs has recently posted a utility for Feature Recognition in Autodesk Inventor 11.

You can use this application to convert neutral 3D CAD (STEP, SAT, or IGES solids) models into fully featured Autodesk® Inventor™ 11 models. Feature mapping can be executed automatically or interactively as needed to maintain design intent.

As with anything at Autodesk Labs, this utility is not supported by Autodesk and should be seen as a "Use At Your Own Risk" utility.

Check them out at:
Autodesk Labs

2006-09-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk Data Management Server 5 Service Pack 1
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8012637&linkID=4183232

Anyone using Vault 5 or Productstream 5 NEEDS to apply this Sevice Pack to both the Server and the Clients that connect to it!

2006-09-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension Service Pack 2
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8008766&linkID=4183232

For those of you who weren't aware, Autodesk released the DWF Extension for Subscription Members of Inventor 11. DWF Extension adds significant capabilities regarding what can be placed into Inventor-generated DWF files, as well as, Redline Markup Overlay capability to Inventor.

2006-09-08T17:45:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Please join us once again at SVI Trucks in Loveland, CO for this month’s Users Group. Mark your calendars now to participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’ve prepared two short presentations before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users to share their experiences from the field.

Explore Inventor 11’s Frame Generator to quickly create structural frames with custom or standard parts.

Library of standard structural shapes
Works with 2D/3D wireframe or solid model edges
Automatic placement on frame outline
Quickly and easily add welds and define end conditions

Autodesk University

More industry professionals than ever are discovering that an annual trip to AU pays dividends all year long.
Plan now to join your peers at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas—one of the world's most celebrated venues for meetings and conventions - for the 14th annual AU.
Nov. 28 – Dec. 1, 2006.

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-08-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Following in the footsteps of Google, Autodesk has recently created a website called Autodesk Labs to post utilities that they are testing the functionality of and that they think fill a need for their users. One such utility is called Vault Mirror.

Vault Mirror creates a read-only mirror of the files within a Vault. The mirror will contain the same files and directory structure as seen from Vault Explorer. It's similar to running the "Get Entire Folder" command on the root folder, but Vault Mirror is smart enough to pull down only the needed files. When used with Task Scheduler, Vault Mirror can be used to create remote copy of the latest versions of the Vault file tree.

As with anything at Autodesk Labs, this utility is not supported by Autodesk and should be seen as a "Use At Your Own Risk" utility.

Check it out at:
Autodesk Labs

A permenent link to Autodesk Labs is available on the Sidebar to the left, under Useful Links.

2006-08-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

We are happy to be back in the Denver Avatech office (DTC) for this month’s Users Group. Please mark your calendars now to keep this night available to come participate in an open discussion of ideas and technology. We’ve prepared two short presentations before we open the floor to fellow Inventor Users to share their experiences from the field.

Explore Inventor 11’s iAssembly feature which allows you to document multiple configurations of your model within a single assembly file:

Table driven assemblies
Auto-capture mode
Full BOM and DM support
Full drawing support

Autodesk University

More industry professionals than ever are discovering that an annual trip to AU pays dividends all year long.
Plan now to join your peers at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas—one of the world's most celebrated venues for meetings and conventions—for the 14th annual AU
November 28 – December 1, 2006.

Inventor Q&A

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided for those who bring questions and experiences to share!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-07-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

Once again, the Users Group is very pleased to be hosted in Colorado Springs! Come join us at SuperFlow Technologies in Colorado Springs, CO for what is sure to be an enlightening discussion with fellow Colorado Springs Inventor Users, and enjoy two short presentations by Avatech’s resident experts:

Share and collaborate your design intent with Autodesk Design Review (formerly DWF Composer) and Extension R11

See how you can minimize your design review and approval times using
DWF and Autodesk’s electronic collaboration tools.

Autodesk Vault 5.0 and ProductStream 5.0

Find out how other companies are streamlining their production process using these Autodesk data management solutions.
And if you’re not using it yet, why not?

2006-06-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension

This week Autodesk announced the launch of Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension, which delivers enhanced DWF publishing, security, and design review capabilities. These enhancements strengthen the collaboration component of Autodesk's Manufacturing solutions by giving you improved DWF file-sharing capabilities and security throughout the design review process.

This is only available to Subscription Customers, so if you are on Subscription, pick the link below to logon and download the Autodesk Inventor 11 DWF Extension.

Subscription Website

2006-06-07T19:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

For the first time ever, the Users Group is traveling to Boulder! Come join us at MKS Instruments in Boulder, CO for what is sure to be an enlightening discussion with fellow Colorado Inventor Users, and two short presentations by Avatech’s resident experts:

Autodesk Vault 5.0 and ProductStream 5.0 Overview

Walk through the Autodesk data management system to find out how other companies are streamlining their production processes
Find out why you’re not using it yet.

Share and collaborate your design intent with Autodesk Design Review (formerly DWF Composer)

See how you can minimize your design review and approval times with DWF’s and Autodesk’s electronic collaboration tools.

2006-05-25T16:30:00.000-06:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Inventor Series or Professional 11 - Service Pack 1
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=6418565&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2007 - No Service Pack - Series or Professional

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 2 - Series Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=7259965&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 2 - Professional Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=7259897&linkID=4183232

2006-05-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group - Inventor-Q

Wednesday, May 17th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

It’s almost summer and you know what that means: BBQ! Please join us at the Avatech DTC offices for our first annual Inventor-Q. We’ve got two exciting presentations set-up including:

Making the most out of your Inventor Presentations:

Use the Inventor Studio, exploded assemblies, and recorded AVI files to produce marketing materials and product manuals

Take your designs from “Model to Metal” using EdgeCAM technology for CNC Toolpath:

*Hosted by special guest MFGtech*

Solid Machinist for Inventor
EdgeCAM / Inventor Associativity
Automatic Feature Recognition
2 thru 5 Axis Mill Functionality
2 thru 4 Axis, Sub Spindle & B Axis Turning
Strategy Manager & PCI Macro Language

As always, food and soft drinks will be provided – but this time we’ll be grilling hotdogs and hamburgers!

Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech and MFGtech’s experts - AND other Colorado Inventor users.

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 303.796.0204 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avatech.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avatech.com

2006-04-18T18:00:00.000-06:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

If you’re a Colorado Springs Inventor User, your time has finally come! Join Avatech and your fellow Inventor Users at US Filter in Colorado Springs for this community event. Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Southern Colorado Inventor users.

A special thanks goes out to SVI Trucks in Loveland who hosted a very well attended March meeting where we discussed the advanced capabilities of the new Inventor 11, and how Autodesk Vault is helping local companies control their design data.

Fresh from the Autodesk Americas Solutions Bootcamp, we will discuss the new features of Inventor 11, Autodesk’s Manufacturing vision, and as always, we will keep an open forum to include specific examples from our clients and partners involved with mechanical design in Colorado. We’d love to hear from you if you have additional issues you’d like us to address that you think others would benefit from hearing.

Food and Refreshments will be provided if you bring your mechanical design issues to discuss!

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avat.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avat.com

2006-03-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Colorado Inventor Users Group

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
6:30PM – 9:00PM

For the first time this year, our User’s Group is traveling! Join Avatech and your fellow Inventor Users at SVI Trucks in Loveland for this roundtable event. Come to discuss ideas, increase knowledge and get advice from Avatech’s experts and other Northern Colorado Inventor users.

Thanks to our Denver Users, we had a very successful February meeting where we discussed the advanced capabilities of the Inventor 10, and an in-depth discussion of how the Autodesk Vault can be used to simplify your workflow and decrease tedious tasks and errors.

With this next meeting, we will finally be able to discuss the much anticipated Inventor 11 release, and the advancements that have been made to the technology since Inventor 10. As always, we will keep an open forum to include specific examples from our clients and partners involved with mechanical design in Colorado. We’d love to hear from you if you have additional issues you’d like us to address that you think others would benefit from hearing.

Once again, Food and Refreshments will be provided if you bring your mechanical design issues to discuss!

Please RSVP or get directions:
Call us at: 800-487-8729 or email us
Rob Johnston: rob.johnston@avat.com
Jared Drennen: jared.drennen@avat.com

2006-03-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Autodesk Manufacturing Community website

For those of you that have been looking for a good consolidator site as a primary "go to" site for Inventor, you are at it... just kidding!

Autodesk has announced a new site that gives you access to most of the tools you need that are out on the web in a single location. It is called the Autodesk Manufacturing Community and it has quick link access to many of the sites we link to, but it is managed by Autodesk. It does require free registration for access to personalized content.

Check it out at: http://mfgcommunity.autodesk.com

A more permenant link is located under Useful Links to the left.

Let us know what you think!

2006-02-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Autodesk Beta Programs & Wish List Site

As we approach the release of Autodesk Inventor 11, some of you may be wondering how you can get a preview of what is coming in the next release. If you are on Subscription, you can use the Subscription Portal to sign-up for the Beta Program. But, what if you are not...

Whether you are on Subscription or not, I would highly recommend checking out the My Feedback Portal at Autodesk. In addition to being able to enlist in the Beta program, this site gives you another conduit to getting Autodesk to listen to the direction their products need to go. In your opinion, of course. Especially if the feature you need is not going to make it into the next release. :^)

http://myfeedback.autodesk.com/

Check it out and let us know what you think.

BTW - There is a permenant link to the left you can use also, under Autodesk's "My Feedback".

2006-02-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Inventor Series 10 - Service Pack 3a
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=6418565&linkID=4183232

Inventor Professional 10 - Service Pack 3a
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=6418567&linkID=4189376

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 1a - Series Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5943625&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 1a - Professional Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5943663&linkID=4189376

2006-02-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Fellow Inventor Users,

A lot of you have been wondering when our next Inventor Users’ group will be held. We have set a date for our next meeting which is coming up at our Denver office. The date is set for Wednesday, February 15th and the meeting will start promptly at 6:30pm. As before, dinner and refreshments will be served.

Please contact either Rob Johnston or Jared Drennen if you plan on attending so that we will know how much food to order. You can do so by calling us at 303-796-0204, ext. 108 or 111 or via email to Rob.Johnston@avatech.com or Jared.Drennen@avatech.com respectively.

Many of you have asked us about parking. We have plenty of parking in our building on the 2nd through 4th floors. Our gate code is 2204#. For the record, our office address is 8101 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 200 in the Denver Tech Center.

We hope to see you for a very fun and interesting discussion.

2005-12-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Eric's Take...

...on Inventor 10's "global" Bill of Material functionality.

For those of you who have long agonized over the limited capabilities and controls in Inventor assembly's Bill of Material and its lackluster relationships with presentations and drawing Parts Lists, Inventor 10 goes a long way toward fixing your issues.

We are all aware that the BOM in the assembly drives the Item Number that is displayed on the drawing when Ballooning components in a view of an assembly or a presentation. We also know that we can adjust the order (and thus the Item Number) by reordering the parts in the browser, but if we do that after creating a presentation or placing a parts list, we do not see those changes reflected in those views. This causes us to have to spend an unacceptable amount of time editing the parts list to override what the assembly is dicating to display the components with the Item Numbers we need them to show.

The Bill of Material in Inventor 10 addresses those issues and more, eliminating a significant amount of the workarounds we have come up with to control the assembly BOM and how it is displayed. To start with, we can choose which Properties, including Custom Properties, we want to display in the dialog and they stay there. We can then edit those Properties and have those changes pushed into the individual files, eliminating the need to use the Design Assistant or iProperties. We can even override Quantity to add spares or occurances we haven't modeled.

With the addition of the BOM Structure property, we can now correctly reflect how a component fits into the assembly, such as Normal (fabricated), Inseparable, Purchased, Phantom, or Reference. We can add components that have not or cannot be modeled, such as paint or lubricants, with Virtual Components.

Once our BOM is correctly represented in the assembly, we can Sort the BOM by any of the Properties discussed above. After sorting, we can Renumber the BOM to update those components with properly ordered numbering. For example, if we sort on BOM Structure, we can number all Normal components first and all Purchased components after.

Additionally, we can display both the Model and BOM structures in the same dialog. We can enable Parts Only mode to view the assembly without any of the Assembly Heirarchy. On the Export side, we can take the Structured or Parts Only assembly heirarchy out to a variety of data formats, including Excel and Access.

And with all these changes, the presentations will update based on changes made to the assembly BOM and the Parts List are more easily updated, while retaining their ability to display the BOM information as circumstances dictate.

Let's hear it, folks! Comments are welcome.

2005-11-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS!!!

If you haven't seen the Press Release, Autodesk announced at Autodesk University, that it is now offering downloadable Inventor content from major manufacturers.

For the full press release, go to TenLinks: http://www.tenlinks.com/news/PR/AUTODESK/113005_portal.htm

For Accessing the Portal directly, go to Autodesk: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2982576&linkID=4183232

You will have to create an account and login, but it is worth it. Also, make sure you check back often for more content.

2005-11-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

The BIG 500,000!!!

Autodesk has recently announced through a Press Release that Autodesk Inventor has reached the 1/2 Million mark for seat count.

Read more at MCADCafe: http://www10.mcadcafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=225231

2005-11-15T10:45:00.001-07:00

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2005-11-14T16:45:00.001-07:00

Eric's Take...

...on Autodesk Vault 4.0 and beyond.

We all know that Vault ships with all Autodesk Mechanical products (Inventor, Inventor Pro, AutoCAD/M and AutoCAD/E), but how many of you are using it?

Why should I, you ask?

Prior to Vault 3, I would have agreed. There wasn't much of an incentive to move to Vault. Those of you that did were brave and definitely were riding the bleeding edge of technology. Congratulations if you have stuck with it and have migrated through the releases. If you didn't, it is time to revisit Vault.

Vault 3 was enough of an advancement that it was usable by those who were willing to get it in place and rolling.

Vault 4 (the latest shipping version with the above-mentioned products) has advanced enough that you need to convince me you can't benefit from using it. With the inclusion of Copy Design, it sounds a death knell to my beloved friend the Design Assistant (it always worked for me!). While not perfect, but fixed in Vault 4.5 (ProductStream 4.5) and should ship with Vault '5', the ability to reuse an existing design and all its documentation for a new design without having those troublesome links back to the original should be reason enough.

If not, the superior Search capabilities just by having the data in a relational database instead of Windows Explorer has got to sell you. How about the ability to Rename to your hearts content with everything being notified automatically? Or the ability to Filter, Create Shortcuts, Save Searches, Create Labels, Auto-Publish .DWFs, & Show Custom Properties and Thumbnails.

Oh... did I mention you also get a history of everything done to your designs through the Check-Out / Check-In process. Hmm, it's there too.

Let's hear it, folks! Comments are welcome.

2005-11-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

In case you guys weren't aware of it, Autodesk has an official blog for Inventor moderated by the Team Leads at Autodesk. Check it out.

Autodesk's Official Inventor Blog:

http://in_the_machine.blogs.com/

2005-11-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

INVENTOR GRAPHICS CARD CERTIFICATION:

For the Latest Drivers and Card Certification, go to:
http://www.inventor-certified.com/graphics/

2005-11-11T15:10:00.001-07:00

LATEST SERVICE PACKS:

Inventor Series 10 - Service Pack 2
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5973751&linkID=4183232

Inventor Professional 10 - Service Pack 2
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5972949&linkID=4189376

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 1a - Series Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5943625&linkID=4183232

Mechanical Desktop 2006 - Service Pack 1a - Professional Only
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5943663&linkID=4183232

2005-11-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Fellow Inventor Users,

A lot of you have been calling us asking when our next Inventor Users’ group would be held. We finally have set a date for our next meeting which is coming up at our Denver office. The date is set for Wednesday, November 16th and the meeting will start promptly at 6:30pm. As before, dinner and refreshments will be served.

Please let either Rob Johnston or Jared Drennen know if you plan on attending so that we will know how much food to order. You can do so by responding to this email or by calling us at 303-796-0204, ext. 108 or 111.

Many of you have asked us about parking. We have plenty of parking in our building on the 2nd through 4th floors. Our gate code is 2204#.

For the record, our office address is 8101 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 200 in the Denver Tech Center.

We hope to see you for a very fun and interesting discussion.

2005-11-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here it is.

Initial Post to the Colorado Inventor Users Blog.

Welcome. We look forward to your comments.