Animation tutorials?

[ABuckingham]

I'm just learning inventor this quarter and we don't cover animation - anyone have some good resources that cover the basics?

[shift1313]

not that i know off besides the help built into Inventor(which is pretty good).

 

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask though.

[ABuckingham]

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask though.

 

What's a good first project to attempt as a learning exercise?

[shift1313]

anything really. what is the industry or target for your final product? or is there one?

 

If you work in an industry that requires you make geared assemblies, gear drives, etc you can play around with the gear generator and add rotational constraints. If you setup an assembly of several gears and constrain them properly , when you rotate one all of the others will rotate as well.

 

I typically work with linear actuators so i draw pneumatic/hyd cylinders and actuate assemblys in that fashion.

 

If you come up with something specific you want to try let me know and i can give it a shot so i can help you out. What version of inventor are you using? if your running acad 06 im assuming inventor 10?

[ABuckingham]

anything really. what is the industry or target for your final product? or is there one?

 

I have no industry or target for any final product in mind. I'm a full time student taking drafting and design and the job I currently have is using AutoCAD 2006 LT placing blocks into floor plans, which is trivial. I'd definitely like to transition to the mechanical field or any other industry where I'd be able to do 3D modeling of parts and assemblies since that's what I enjoy the most and where my skills are strongest.

[shift1313]

Either some sort of linkage, or a simple gear box assembly would be a good start for constraints and animation. Use the content center to create your gears and read the help on constraints. Pin constraints will locate your part so it cannot translate but will allow it to rotate about the pivot.

 

When you are selecting object pick your first object as your "child" or what you want to constrain to another object. For instance if you were "bolting" down a vice to a table, you would select the vice base first and the table second.

[ABuckingham]

Ok I'll see what I can put together tonight in class and ask if I have any snafus. Thanks for the guidance.

[shift1313]

I would love to get into an industry that allowed me to do 3d models with animations but unfortunately thats not what I do:(. I will say that one thing you should get familiar with is the Drafting views. If you are able to model in 3d, animate, perform analysis and create good annoted drawings you will have a leg up on a few of your competitors.

 

When you start a new file in Inventor you have several options for a template file. Your sheetmetal.ipt, standard.iam(assembly file), standard.idw(drafting file), standard.ipn(presentation file), .ipt(part file, Aip.idw(another drafting file) and weldment.iam(weld:)). Make sure that you are equiped to deal with all of these.

 

good luck

[BikeGuy]

After doing some looking I've found many tutorials online. Unfortunately I can't post them here. But I'll make a post of all my favorite tutorials on sdotson's forum.

In the meantime go to YouTube and look up "Autodesk Inventor Tutorial" and add animation if you like.