Inventor sketch method

hi im quite new to inventor but something i am struggling with is when i am drawing a line or offsetting for example, how can a set the length of this line without drawing it and then using dimension??

i have used sketchup before and you simply drew the line then typed in the length you wished to make it.

please can somebody help because my frustration is building, i cant find a tutorial for this anywhere. if you know wot to do or know a tutorial that could then please reply.

thanks in advance

The way you model with Inventor is not the same as something like Sketchup. Your drawings are "roughed" in then you define them. This is how parametric modeling works. If you model correctly you can go back later and alter say the length of your line and have the rest of your model update with it. You will just need to be come acquainted with this type of modeling.

...you simply drew the line then typed in the length you wished to make it.

 

i cant find a tutorial for this anywhere.

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/MA105-1L%20Mather.pdf

You do it exactly the same except you hit d on the keyboard for dimension to type in the length you wish to make it. Nothing to get frustrated about.

Read JD's tutorial and I suggest ypu also take a course.

I also changed the title of the thread, having HELP! as the title won't help people find answers to questions.

Thanks