Rotating Object in Inventor Studio??

[Nitro13]

Hello everyone!
I am new to the forums here, I have been looking around them lately but i can't seem to find what i am looking for :(
I've been working with Autodesk inventor for about 3 years now. Im a student about to graduate highschool and we never got to rendering or producing movements.

So im here trying to teach myself how to do it, and i can't seem to figure out how to rotate a couple object around an axis.

The creation is similar to a Rubik's cube. Think of it as im trying to rotate one of the layers of the puzzle.

Can anyone help me out?

Thank you

[JD Mather]

There are a couple of good tuturials on using Inventor Studio in the Help menu. Have you gone through those?

What release of Inventor are you using?

Can you zip and attach your assembly here?

[Nitro13]

yeah um you live in Williamsport PA...I DO TOO! crazy crazy world im going to penn tech in about an hour for CAD!!

here are my files for Autodesk inventor pro 2009

It will not let me upload the last file its at like 270kb -_-

The Too many file is the assembly

[shift1313]

jd happens to teach at penn tech i do believe:)

i only have 07 at work so i cant open your file.

are you trying to free rotate components or animate constraints?

[Nitro13]

whoa, i might be meeting him today, im scared now. He's going to be like "you are really dumb with inventor"

But hopefully i can get this thing moving by friday, presentation then

[stevsmith]

JD is like, the master of Inventor.

[stevsmith]

Matt's a close 2nd :D

[JD Mather]

yeah um you live in Williamsport PA...I DO TOO! crazy crazy world im going to penn tech in about an hour for CAD!!

Check out that Help>Learning Tools>Tutorials in Inventor. When you open the Arbor Press sample file you will see that it was created by Penn College student Austin Upright.

Also, check out the tutorials in my signature.



It will not let me upload the last file its at like 270kb -_-

Drag the red End of Part marker in ipt files all the way to the top of the browser before saving and zipping - all of the geometry will disappear from the graphics window - but don't worry, all the information is still there but the file size will be greatly reduced.

I will be meeting with new students at 2PM today.

[shift1313]

im flattered and overwhelmed.

Well ill try to give some general advice i suppose. When trying to move a component in an animation file you click the position triad(once youve selected move component). You should be able to input specific values or manually grab the triad. If you grab the arrow had on the end of an axis you will move the component in only that directioni. if you grab the base sphere its a "free" rotate. if you grab the line that goes from the base sphere to the arrow had that should be rotate around that axis(if i remember correctly). Im sure JD will get back to you before i do but i have 09 at home so i can open your files there.


edit, see JD got back to you while i was writing my reply ;)

[Nitro13]

Ok if you add this file to the rest you can open up the assembly
I do not know much about constraints but i have things in place i just don't know what is right and what is wrong

In my class i pretty much just teach the room, because my teacher does not know much about the program and i think i know a little bit more than him

My name is Rick Mazzante i should be seeing you today =)

i am now seeing i spelled corner wrong in the file name haha

[Nitro13]

im flattered and overwhelmed.

Well ill try to give some general advice i suppose. When trying to move a component in an animation file you click the position triad(once youve selected move component). You should be able to input specific values or manually grab the triad. If you grab the arrow had on the end of an axis you will move the component in only that directioni. if you grab the base sphere its a "free" rotate. if you grab the line that goes from the base sphere to the arrow had that should be rotate around that axis(if i remember correctly). Im sure JD will get back to you before i do but i have 09 at home so i can open your files there.


edit, see JD got back to you while i was writing my reply ;)


When im in Inventor Studio this is what i have gone through at the moment
I go and click animate components, i select the components i want to move around the axis, then i get the triad sphere thing i click on the appropriate axis and spin it, when i get a rotation down (360.00) and click ok, i set in a time around 3.0 secs and i hit ok.

Then i go to the animation timeline and click play either nothing happens or the pieces go into the object which looks horrible and crazy

[shift1313]

Im home for lunch so i was able to play for a minute. its missing file Big_Cap so there are issues in the file. Best i can tell, things go a bit crazy because of your constraints. I rotated a few of the blocks in an animation fine but other objects that werent selected also move to try and satisfy some constraints. Ive uploaded a zip file of a 5 second animation so you can see whats going on. You have a lot of flush and coincident constraints in the file. If you upload the other part today maybe i can play with it a bit more tonight.

[Nitro13]

Ok i uploaded the last file there, ugh I need to look at things more before i hit submit =)

Well i just got done with meeting him...pretty cool guy, one of the top in inventor...awesome.

he gave me a few pointers and ill see where i can go from there, I can't wait to start the class.

Ill be on tonight and get back to work on this thing

[Nitro13]

Ok well im back on and learning some new techniques. im using the pattern component to place my pieces now ( mega time saver ). im about to try to just move this layer that i have set up hopefully i can get it to work.

I have one question when patterning a component i now do not have the option to select that component anymore and can't click it to pattern in a different axis which i need to do. Any way i could do that? or do i have to set in another part?

[Nitro13]

ok if you use the files scattered on this topic :oops: you can view my new assembly. Still no movement. all constraints are I think correct but you guys can check if you wish.

I have to say this now but if you know what you are looking at you can tell that the grove in the layers is actually for another layer of pieces, oh yeah for crazy custom mechanism in a puzzle!

But im still trying to use the animate components to spin the objects around an axis and nothing moves now

[Nitro13]

Lots of post sorry guys

So i got frustrated and i deleted all constraints on the object and i made it move. :?

one problem, one set of pieces go the right way, the other go in a vertical motion which i do not get

here's a video to show you whats going on.

Ok well i got it!!!! the whole top layer is moving.

does anyone know how to make the triad the same way for all objects?

[shift1313]

ill have to look when im at my home computer. You say you deleted all the old constraints?

Ive only looked at it without the big cap but im assuming thats what fit in the groove and these pieces rotate around that?

Think about your constraints in a way that this thing would actually be assembled. You cant setup a flush constraint with your block out in mid air with another piece. I would try to constrain all your pieces to the screw mechanism in the middle because this is how they will rotate. Its going to be complicated im affraid. Ill take a look later when i get a chance.

[MarkFlayler]

Well if your intent is to rotate about an axis with your parts then you might want to use Animate Constraint. Think of this as the Studio version of Drive Constraint. Put Angle Constraints of 0 on your components and then "drive" that offset with Animate Constraints. I have not had time to fully look at your model but that seems to be a great way to go IMOP. You can see some of the videos I made using IV studio on YouTube under the user name "Imaginittech" if you want some examples.

[Nitro13]

I've been looking at the angle constraints but i really do not see how to use it correctly to drive a constraint

I've checked out the arbor press tutorial and the become an autodesk inventor professor in 90 minutes thing, i still can't really see how to work with it

[Nitro13]

Ok so im bored in school and put the thing all together...probably totally wrong but here it is.

[shift1313]

In your assembly, what physically holds your puzzle together? Im assuming the small shafts in the middle go up to the big cap. and i know your other pieces have a slot for the cap but what holds them on there?

[MarkFlayler]

Rule #1 of sending assemblies... Send all files; an Assembly does not copy parts in. This is missing like 3 parts not in the threads.

[Nitro13]

sorry, i forgot i didnt include the other parts.

what holds it together is the screw file, i was doing the core, cap and screw files fast so i did not use a real screw file and just created a cylinder.

[shift1313]

Cap_Big file was empty for me. I get all kinds of errors with your pattern components.

If you have things properly constrained and one of your parts is grounded, you should be able to rotate things in model space.

[shift1313]

here is a very simple model i just drew. Each end was constrained with an insert constraint by selecting the circle at the edge of each hole/shaft. That kept the ends aligned and allowed my part to rotate about the shaft. In the Inventor Studio i choose animate component. Select my component and then click the position button. From there a Triad will appear on the screen. In my case i select the Zaxis shaft on the triad to indicate rotating about this axis. The dialog box will then change to say "rotate around Z axis". enter an angle and voila. Back on the animate components dialog box you need to make sure your time stamps are what you intend. For instance if you rotate one component from 0-1s and the next from 0-1s they will rotate and possibly interfere. ive added a short video and a screen shot.


maybe you should try a simple model like this to get down the concept of constraints and using the inventor studio. The angle constraint i could see presenting a problem in this case because everything can rotate in relation to everything else so im not sure how you would pick your parts. Ive got another short animation im going to make for you to show animate constraint as well.

[shift1313]

okay in this example i went back and changed my insert constraint and gave two of the parts an offset value of .25". In the animation at the beginning and end of these parts "turn" i used animate constraint and gave them an instant movement by changing that .25" offset to 0" then at the end of its turn i did the same thing and brought it back to .25". The only reason i did an instant movement is because i already had the rest of the animation setup but i could have easily altered the numbers to the pieces slid out for a certain duration.

[Nitro13]

I just don't get what you guys mean by using constraints right, like i know im suppose to think of it as being real life. i like want to center a piece so what i do is just put constraints in so it looks right...I'm guessing that is so not right.

what constraints should i be using most of the time for fitting these types of pieces in and what should i stay away from?


and when sometimes i want to move some objects with the animate components, the triad is not centered. Is there anyway to fix this problem? the move triad only check box never wants to appear =\

[shift1313]

well with your constraints you just need to be careful not to over constrain something. Going through the help section in the program is probably going to be the best explanation. For instances if you were going to bolt two plates together you could do this with two constraints or you could do this with more. Also your selection during the constraint process will produce different things. for instance if you select a face or a plane as opposed to a line.

I would try a few simple exercises to get the hang of animations and constraints. The part you have is complicated. I know you need to have it done by friday but i think a simple example will save you plenty of time in the long run.

[Nitro13]

Well i do not want to start up a new topic so ill just go off of this one.

I have the thing looking awesome and with one layer moving right.

The only problem is where it is picking where to rotate the component at in the animate component tab. for all the other selections i have made its centered it every time, but not with this one

heres what i mean

LOL dual screens fail

[Robamobabob]

Bump!!!!!!!!

[Robamobabob]

I really need help with the moving of the triad in studio. I want to center it in the middle of a gear, so I can make it rotate, but the check box I need to click to be able to move it is gray. It's really frustrating, as one of the times I made a gear, the triad went to the middle, so I could rotate it, but now it won't get off the side of the gear.

Is there an easier way to rotate objects, or do I need the triad in the center? This is the only thing holding me back at the moment, and it's holding me back from so much fun with this program.

[JD Mather]

I really need help with the moving of the triad in studio. I want to center it in the middle of a gear.


Is this a new question? I don't see any assembly with a gear?

[Robamobabob]

Well, it's more of an extension to the last one, as I'm wondering the same thing Shift1313 asked on his last post. I just can't move the triad, because the check box is gray. What I want to center it on is irrelevant, as centering it on the midpoint of a gear should be as easy as centering it on the midpoint of a cylinder or circle.

I'm just wondering if there is any way to get that check box usable, or if I have to do it some other way. If it's some other way, I'll need idiot instructions, because I'm more of a visual learner, and it's harder for me to learn by reading or listening...

[Robamobabob]

Well, it's more of an extension to the last one, as I'm wondering the same thing Shift1313 asked on his last post. I just can't move the triad, because the check box is gray. What I want to center it on is irrelevant, as centering it on the midpoint of a gear should be as easy as centering it on the midpoint of a cylinder or circle.

I'm just wondering if there is any way to get that check box usable, or if I have to do it some other way. If it's some other way, I'll need idiot instructions, because I'm more of a visual learner, and it's harder for me to learn by reading or listening...

Figured it out...

I realized that in order to rotate a gear around its center, rather than some other random spot in the middle of space, I have to create it in the center of the graph... Stupid me...

[JD Mather]

Figured it out...

I realized that in order to rotate a gear around its center, rather than some other random spot in the middle of space, I have to create it in the center of the graph... Stupid me...

Huh? I think you still have some work to do. It has nothing (or should have nothing) to do with where it is created. Assembly constraints - just like the real world.

You should have started a new thread on this problem and posted a dataset. The usual method is to drag the red End of Part marker to the top of the browser before zipping to make the file size as small as possible.

[Robamobabob]

I don't know what's up with it.. I made constraints on some of the objects I built before, but it didn't help...

Can you link me or tell me where to find a good tutorial that could help me with constraints? Our CAD program in our high school just got cut, so I'm trying to learn by myself at my house, with only a week's class time in Inventor.

[JD Mather]

I'm convinced that the best way to learn is in a classroom with a competent instructor so that you don't develop bad habits.
But since you are on your own -
have you done ALL of the tutorials in my signature, especially the Inventor Professor papers (don't really address your constraint question)
have you done the Help>Learning Tools Tutorials and Skill Builders
have you done the free curriculum at http://engineersrule.org
have you joined http://www.augi.com and looked up past AU papers
have you done all of the tutorials at http://www.mcadforums.com
what book are you using, many available at http://www.amazon.com
and more at http://store.autodesk.com

or

simply start a new thread. Zip and attach what you have completed so far.

[Robamobabob]

I'll create a new thread...

[shift1313]

Well i do not want to start up a new topic so ill just go off of this one.

I have the thing looking awesome and with one layer moving right.

The only problem is where it is picking where to rotate the component at in the animate component tab. for all the other selections i have made its centered it every time, but not with this one

heres what i mean

LOL dual screens fail



Did you try simple parts like i suggested? Try to replicate the model i made or something similar to work with. I dont know that you answer my question about how your model was held together and how things will actually work. Knowing how this thing is to be made and assembled is important to setting up constraints and animations. the simple model i drew is at home and i dont have time to draw anything right now but ill try to come back to this later.