Being Inventive

Important: new behavior for Inventor service packs

With the release of Autodesk Inventor 2012 Service Pack 2, Autodesk has changed the installation requirements and behavior for Inventor service packs going forward: Service Pack 1 is no longer required to be installed as a prerequisite for the installation of Service Pack 2.

Service Pack 2 includes all fixes included in Service Pack 1. If you are updating from the release version of Inventor 2012, you only need to install Service Pack 2 to obtain the latest updates.

Uninstalling Inventor 2012 Service Pack 2 uninstalls Service Pack 2 only and maintains Service Pack 1 and/or any Hotfixes you may have installed previously.

This is the new standard for Inventor Service Pack behavior and will hold true for any subsequent service pack releases for 2012 and 2013.

Bob

Controlling the zoom speed of the scroll wheel of your mouse

I bet most of us use a scroll wheel mouse as these type of mice are ubiquitous these days. So I wanted to share a tip with you all.
Generally I am a bit reluctant to share registry hacks as it could get you into trouble if you are not very careful when editing the registry.
But this registry hack is very useful. So it is hard to pass on not communicating this to the world.

There are probably two things you might want to configure as far as the scroll wheel goes: zoom direction and zoom sensitivity.

For the zoom direction we offer a convenient Application option on the Display tab that allows you to reverse the zoom direction.

This is very useful for users that switch regularly between AutoCAD and Inventor.

Fig 1: Controlling zoom direction in Application Options

For the zoom sensitivity we don't offer such a thing as an Application option and you either live with the default that we offer or you can change the value in the registry.
Here is the way how to do it for an Inventor 2013 installation.

1. Exit Inventor
2. Run regedit from the cmd window on the Windows Start menu
3. Locate following registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inventor\RegistryVersion17.0\System\Preferences\Display\Wheel Zoom Speed
4. Change the value (default is 1). Changing to 0.1 makes the zoom 10 times slower. Changing to 10 makes it 10 times faster.
5. Exit regedit
6. Restart Inventor.

For older versions of Inventor change the version number string that I marked in red in the registry key.
Example:

17.0 = Inventor 2013

16.0 = Inventor 2012

15.0 = Inventor 2011

Etc.  

Note: users that use a 3DConnexion device don't have to worry about all this as they can set zoom settings in the Properties dialog that gets delivered with the device.

Cheers

Bob

Inventor 2013 hanging on startup, check your Microsoft downloads

Here is a tip from our Installation and Licensing team concerning Microsoft KB2633171.

Microsoft KB2633171 addresses some vulnerability issues in the Windows Kernel but adds the risk of more crashes on machines with ATI and Intel graphic cards.

And apparently also causes crashes of Inventor 2013…

So probably you will not be too sorry to see this KB go if it gives you back the chance to run Inventor 2013 J

For the full details, read the article on our UpandReady blog

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/05/inventor-family-hanging-on-the-splash-screen.html

Cheers

Bob

Cannot embed PDF files in a 64 bit version of Inventor

Please read this new technical article if you experience problems when linking or emdedding PDF files in Inventor.

Bob

Change default template units

After installing Inventor, you select the default template from the "New" drop down menu, for creating, for instance, a new part.

But the units you get are not the one you expect.

For instance you were expecting to have mm, but you get inch as default Length unit.

You can set the default template units when you install Inventor from the configuration options.

So if you forget to do it and the default choice is not what you want, or if you have done it and, for some reason, you have simply changed your mind afterwards and want to change the default template units, you can do the following.

• Start a new file selecting the default template from the "New" drop down menu.
• Menu Tools, Options, Document settings, Units tab.

• Change the settings according to your needs.
• Save Copy as Template.

• Replace the default Standard.ipt

 

In case one of the other templates in the Template subfolder (i.e.: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2012\Templates\Metric\ Standard (mm).ipt) has already the unit settings you need, you can simply do the following.

• Start a new file opening this template.

• Save Copy as Template.
• Replace the default Standard.ipt

Alternatively, go to the template file locations and copy over the metric templates to the default location and then rename them to the default names.

Ale

Default Add-ins for Inventor

You have installed Inventor from Product Design Suite or Factory Design Premium 2012 and you are wondering if it is normal that some functionality is not available.

For instance, you cannot open the IDF Board Files, you cannot start the Stress Analysis environment in your parts and assemblies, etc.

For double-checking if the current behavior is correct, you can read the complete list of the Inventor add-ins here under User Interface > Default add-ins for Autodesk Inventor.

At the same page, you can read as well the complete list of the Inventor Professional add-ins under User Interface > Default add-ins for Autodesk Inventor Professional that you get installing Inventor from Product Design Suite or Factory Design Ultimate 2012.

Ale

Changing Application Options on low resolution displays

Autodesk University is around the corner. Every year this reminds me that I need to start thinking about working on a laptop. Moving from my usual 1900x1200 desktop monitor to a less luxurious screen resolution of 1280x768 is not something I am looking forward to.

The system requirements of Inventor clearly stipulate that you need as a minimum a 1280x1024 screen resolution. This means that in principle my Autodesk supplied laptop is not capable of running Inventor L

But what happens exactly if I decide to take my chances and still bring my laptop to AU?  One of the obvious reasons why we ask a height of 1024 pixels is because the Application Options dialog is rather humongous.

On a 1280x768 screen, the OK button at the bottom of the Application Options dialog drops off the screen. Which means you cannot change your Application Options while being on the road or in the middle of a demonstration...

One of the workarounds is to use the ALT-A shortcut key combination to reach the Apply button. But sometimes this trick does not even work as can be witnessed on this newsgroup post. Hence my proposal to solve this problem  via VBA.

• Paste this text in a module of the Application project in the VBA editor.

• Start the Application Options and make any modifications to it.

• Run the macro called "AppOptions_OK" from within the VBA editor.

The macro automatically saves your modifications and closes the Application options dialog for you (even if the OK button is off screen).

I hope this will be a useful addition to your roadrunner's toolbox

Bob

Data Migration and You

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding how to manage your data from one release to the next. Determining if and what to migrate may depend upon any combination of the following: the type of data you create, the quantity of files you manage, and whether you are using a data management system (such as Vault).

This guide is intended to help you determine the tools and methods that are right for you and when to use them.

If you have these questions:

• Do I need to migrate?
• How to decide what and when to migrate?
• What tools are available?

This Guide is designed for you!

This is Wiki content and so can be continuously updated!

Error 1402 installing the SP1 for Inventor 2012 on XP 32 bit machine

Installing the SP1 for Inventor 2012 on XP 32 bit machine you get the error 1402 as in the image below.

 

This should be a rare event, but, if this happens on your XP 32 bit machine, do the following for installing the SP1.

Click OK on the error dialog.

After the installer fails, try to install SP1 again.

The problem should not happen again and you should be able to install the SP1.

 

If you still have the problem installing the SP1 for the second time, try to install it from the Live Update.

 

Note. If Inventor 2012 is the only Autodesk product installed on your machine, apply the solution http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS17548186 before installing the SP1 from the Live Update.

New kid on the blog: Up and Ready blog

Here at BeingInventive central we not too often blog about installation and licensing issues. This is for a good reason. The real authority in this domain can be found on a different Autodesk support blog and we don't want to duplicate information.So check out the Up and Ready Blog if you have problems with installing or authorizing our products.

The Up and Ready Blog is a blog maintained by a team of 5 product support engineers with a collective experience of 57 years (!) dealing with installation, set-up and configuration of Autodesk products. So you can't go wrong with that pedigree. The blog is relatively new but it will pick up steam in no time. Hence I have a very simple advise for you: point your RSS feed readers to http://feeds.feedburner.com/UpAndReady and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Please join us in welcoming and wishing many years of successful blogging to the folks from Up and Ready blog.

Cheers

Bob