Modelling Piping with Inventor

[spittle]

I'm wondering, does Inventor have limitations on drawing 3D paths say for a circle to be extruded along?

In AutoCAD, you can't Fillet a 3D polyline, and a normal Polyline can only be drawn in 2D. This can be a pain if you want to model pipe route that bends in all directions. Currently I have to draw cetain bends in AutoCAD that just end up lying next to each other to look like they're connected. Also because the paths were drawn on different Planes, you're unable to union the two solids together after.

I'm wondering if you have the same issues with Inventor? And if you've experience with doing the same in Solidworks too?

Also, can you do the Union, Subtract, Interfere etc Boolean functions with Inventor (and Solidworks?). And also Slice?

[Benson]

I am currently looking at the piping abilities of Inventor Professional (needs to be the pro version to use the Routing module). I really don't know much at the moment but will be sure to post my findings in a couple of weeks. I currently use AutoCAD. I can do the following with AutoCAD pipe routes:

- tooltips to identify parts buy merely hovering cursor over them (also identifies pipe drops / gradients and lengths)
- automatic BOM / table of parts that reflects the parts in my drawing model (i.e. delete or add an elbow and the tables update themselves)

I am hoping that inventor will add quick pipe routes following predefined rules (i.e. valve positioning etc with minimum effort). Also ability to drive the size of pipe runs through formulas.

Hopefully somebody with some Inventor experience will comment....

[JD Mather]

I am a little busy at this time but will try to work up an example in the next couple of days, but in short -

In Inventor you never need to fool around with polylines - there isn't such an entity. Just create your 3D sketch (you can set it up to automatially create the bends) with your arcs and it will automatically follow all of the arcs, lines, splines whatever.

Going one step beyond that you can puchase and advanced tool Inventory Routed Systems that if you say change a pipe diameter all of the fittings and valves will automatically be resized.

If you only occasionally do piping you might stick with the standard version of Inventor. If you do it for a living I would get Routed Systems or Inventor Pro (adds FEA and Dynamic Simulation ie gravity and forces).

Have your reseller come in and do a demonstration.

[JD Mather]

Replace the Inventor with SolidWorks.

One thing you should be aware of is that Inventor includes AutoCAD for free on the disk in order to help during the transition phase where you need to get something out the door but don't know how to use the new software yet.

And of course they both do booleans and slice (look through my tutorials in my signature.

[spittle]

I'm making enquiries for work. We do a lot of pipe networks, lots of different fittings. The supplier the company uses doesn't have a catalogue of 3D parts so I'm wondering if anywhere else might? Or would I have to draw everything first?

[JD Mather]

... The supplier the company uses doesn't have a catalogue of 3D parts so I'm wondering if anywhere else might? Or would I have to draw everything first?

Typically the software comes with a library of parts. Some might be specific to manufacturer (Parker) but most are generic. You can add your own tag information (source, catalog number, cost and other) to a generic to create a specific in the library for future use.

If a modified generic or the specific doesn't happen to be included you will have to model and add to the library. Just because one particular site doesn't have 3D models of their products doesn't mean that someone somewhere hasn't modeled the part.

Don't make a purchasing decision without a demonstration from your reseller.

[Lazer]

Also, can you do the Union, Subtract, Interfere etc Boolean functions with Inventor (and Solidworks?). And also Slice?

Yes, Inventor can perform Boolean functions and you can slice, and SolidWorks can also do these commands, you can perform all your fav autocad 3d commands and more in Inventor and Solidworks.

[spittle]

Thanks for the replies, we do deal mostly with Flange pipes.

Does anyone know the process of importing from Inventor (or solidworks) into 3DS Max?

[Benson]

You need to export into a DWG first, then do a file link into Max (you can bind the file afterwards if you don't want it to be linked).

I have a question though - Max will take on the materials of the AutoCAD model - do the materials transfer from Inventor to AutoCAD to Max???
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[spittle]

I seem to recall having problems of not being able to edit my ACAD model when I imported it using file link manager. Surely if you can convert it to a DWG then you could just import the DWG into Max like normal?

[JD Mather]

Inventor has a very capable renderer and animation built in (Inventor Studio), you might not need a second software for rendering and animation.

[Benson]

It is a good idea to file link the DWG because if you change the DWG then your Max model will update. If you need to edit some of the DWG objects within your animation then I normally save the objects to be edited in a separate DWG, then import/bind them into Max.

It can be important to use Max for animation for things like water, using RPC trees/people/cars (literally just drag and drop them from a library into your scene then watch them sway/walk/drive etc) and a whole host of other animation types.

[JD Mather]

Does anyone know the process of importing from Inventor (or solidworks) into 3DS Max?

Install the 3DSM add-in from the Inventor installation disk.
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