CHAPTER 1 Connecting to Inventor’s Interface To access the power of Autodesk Inventor 2012, you have to start with the interface. To some extent, Inventor is an interface between your ideas and the computational abilities of your computer. The ability to navigate and leverage the nuances of a program’s interface can be the difference between struggling and excelling with the application. In this chapter, you will see the components of Inventor’s dialogs, ribbons, tabs, and viewing tools that will help you create your designs. You will also learn how to modify the interface to increase your comfort with Inventor. Exploring inventor’s graphical user interface Setting application options Using visualization tools Working with project files Exploring Inventor’s Graphical User Interface When you first see Inventor’s interface, you will probably think it is rather bare.COPYRIGHTED With no file open, you just have MATERIAL the absolute basics there. Even when a file is loaded, your design remains the focus of the interface. In Figure 1.1, you can see the primary elements of the interface that will be referred to in this chapter. 2 Chapter 1 • Connecting to Inventor’s Interface Application Menu Quick Access Toolbar Ribbon Title Bar Help Tools ViewCube Browser Status Bar Design Window Navigation Bar FiguRE 1.1 ​Elements of the Inventor user interface Users of other current Autodesk or Microsoft applications will recognize the Ribbon-style interface and the Application icon in the upper left. Inventor’s adop- tion of the Ribbon interface goes beyond most other applications by actively offer- ing you tools when they’re most needed. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; let’s start by getting more detail on these features of the interface. Across the top of the Inventor window is the title bar. It will let you know you’re using Autodesk Inventor, or it will display the name of the active file when you’re editing one. In the upper-left corner is an icon with a large I on it. Clicking it will open the Application menu (Figure 1.2), which displays tools for creating and manipulat- ing files on the left and displays a list of recently opened files on the right. If you want to be able to return to a file frequently, you can select the icon to the right of the filename and “pin” it to the list. You can also toggle the list between recent documents and the documents that are currently open and change the list from filenames to icons showing the files. Exploring Inventor’s Graphical User Interface 3 At the bottom of the menu are buttons to exit Inventor and to access the application options, which you will explore later in this chapter. FiguRE 1.2 ​The expanded Application menu and Quick Access toolbar The Quick Access toolbar is embedded in the title bar next to the Application icon and contains common tools to access new file templates, undo and redo edits, and print. The toolbar is dynamic, and different tools will appear depend- ing on the active file. For example, one of those part-time tools is a drop-down menu that allows you to change the color of the active part. You can customize this toolbar by adding commonly used tools to the toolbar. To do this, select the desired tool from the Ribbon, right-click, and select Add To Quick Access Toolbar from the context menu. Opening a File Knowing this much of the interface will allow you to access the Open dialog box and see how the rest of the interface works. In this exercise, you will open a file in Autodesk Inventor: 1. Start Autodesk Inventor if it is not already up and running. 4 Chapter 1 • Connecting to Inventor’s Interface 2. Expand the Application menu, and select Open from the options on the left. 3. In the Open dialog, find the Project File drop-down, and set the active project file toiLogic 2012 Samples.ipj, as shown in You can also access the Open tool on Figure 1.3. the Quick Access toolbar. FiguRE 1.3 ​Changing the active project file changes where Inventor looks for files 4. Double-click the Railing Basic folder, shown in the file list in the middle of the dialog. While you are in the Open dialog, notice the tools at the top. These tools allow you to navigate to other folders as you would in Windows Explorer, to change the way files are displayed (including the option of thumbnail images), and to add new folders. 5. Select the BaseMount.iam file in the file list. Selecting an Inventor 6. Double-click that file or click the Open button to bring this file into file from the file list Inventor’s Design window. window will gener- ate an image in the 7. To see the complete model, move your cursor near the ViewCube in Preview pane on the upper right of the Design window. When the icon that looks like a the left side of the house appears, click it. dialog. Clicking the Home view icon will restore a point of view for the model that was saved with the model previously. Your screen should now resemble Figure 1.1. Exploring Inventor’s Graphical User Interface 5 Exploring the Ribbon You will now see that the Ribbon has more options available. These options take Certification the form of tools are grouped into panels on tabs. Let’s look at these in order Objective from the broadest to the most specific: Tabs ​ ​The options shown as Assemble, Design, Model, and so on are referred to as tabs. The active tab always contrasts with the others that just appear as names on the background of the Ribbon. The active tabs will change automati- cally as you transition from one working environment to another. There are tabs that will appear temporarily when you start using specialized tools or enter a specialized environment such as doing sketching (Figure 1.4) or renderings of your 3D model. These tabs will activate automatically but will also have a special green highlight to help them stand out and remind you that these tools are available. FiguRE 1.4 ​The Sketch tab is not normally displayed but gets special highlighting when it is. Panels ​ ​In these tabs are special collections of tools that are sorted into panels. For example, in Figure 1.4, you can see Draw, Constrain, Pattern, and other panels on the Sketch tab. You will notice that the most commonly used tools appear with larger icons so they’re easier to locate. At times, not all of the tools in a panel can fit, so some of the panels (Draw and Constrain) have arrows point- ing down next to their names. This indicates that you can expand the panel to see more tools. It is also possible to permanently select tools that you don’t often use to be placed in this expandable portion of the panel. You can even rearrange the order of the panels in a tab. Tools ​ ​The last element of the Ribbon is the icon or tool. Many of the tools O will display near the icon. As you become more comfortable with these tools, you can save space on your screen by turning off the display of the names. You Any time you see an arrow pointing can also hide or partially hide the Ribbon if you prefer having a larger Design down next to a word window. or icon in Inventor, it means there are additional options. 6 Chapter 1 • Connecting to Inventor’s Interface Let’s try a few of these options so that you can make yourself more comfort- able once you start using Inventor for your regular work: 1. Keep using or reopen the BaseMount.iam file used in the previous exercise. To the right of the tab headers is a gray icon with an arrow pointing upward. Clicking this arrow will cycle the various ways of displaying the Ribbon. 2. Click the icon once to change the Ribbon from displaying all the panels within a tab to showing only the first icon with the title of the panel below it, as in Figure 1.5. FiguRE 1.5 ​The Assemble tab showing Panel Buttons mode By hovering over or clicking the icons that represent a panel (or the panel or tab titles of the next steps), you will cause the full view of the panel to appear under the Ribbon. 3. Click the same icon a second time, and you will reduce the tab to showing only the title of the panel, as in Figure 1.6. FiguRE 1.6 ​Another cycling of the Ribbon viewing options shows the Panel Title mode. 4. Now pick again to reduce the menu even further, as you can see in Figure 1.7. FiguRE 1.7 ​The Ribbon can be reduced to showing only the titles of the tabs in Tab view. 5. Click the icon one last time to restore the Ribbon to its original size with the default panels displayed. Depending on your needs and personal preferences, you can use these various modes full-time or just temporarily. Clicking the down arrow to the right of the icon displays a menu that allows you to jump directly to the mode you want. Exploring Inventor’s Graphical User Interface 7 Rearranging the Panels Let’s do one more exercise displaying the Ribbon tools: 1. Keep using or reopen the BaseMount.iam file used in the previous exercise. 2.