Reducing the disk size of Inventor part files

If you want to share an Inventor part file (.ipt) with colleagues, clients or suppliers and you want to keep the file size down, there’s a little tip that can help.

Once you have finished the design and are ready to send it out, before you save the part file move the Inventor End of Part feature from the bottom of the feature tree to the top. This will suppress all of the part features within the tree and the part model will disappear from the modelling window.



Don’t worry though, you haven’t lost any data, you have just suppressed the features in the part file ready for sending out. How does this help? Well, for one it will reduce the size of Inventor part file on disk so that you can fit more on a CD\DVD or memory stick, but more often it helps when emailing part files and you have a restriction on the size of attachments.



Even better yet, if you publish the Inventor part file as a DWF document that can be viewed using Autodesk Design Review the file size is reduced even further still!

For an example part I have just tested, these are the results I got:
• End of Part at the bottom = 355KB
• End of Part the top =180KB
• DWF file = 130KB

Welcome

Hi, Thank you for visiting my blog site, Over the next few months I will be uploading all the information on Autodesk Inventor that I have gathered over the years. This includes tip's and tricks, tutorial's, advice, support hot topics and the latest news about the up and coming Autodesk Inventor 2010 due to be released this year. Feel free to select to follow this profile and submit any questions you may have.

Kind Regards

Darren Swift

AutoCAD Blocks in Inventor

Did you know you can bring in an AutoCAD block into a sketch and keep it a block? Did you know if you had an AutoCAD nested block that it can be placed into Inventor as a nested block? Why would you do this you ask?




Let's take a look at the work flow and I think the last question will answer itself. First let's take a look at a concept layout from AutoCAD that is a block. I have three blocks (base, hinge & arm) that make up a block called assy.




Ideally I want to bring this into an Inventor part sketch and eventually turn it into a working assy. First select the AutoCAD block and RMB to select copy, then head over to Inventor to paste it. Start by RMB and select "Paste" and immediately RMB again to select "Paste Options".


Check the "AutoCAD Blocks to Inventor Blocks" so this it will keep them as a block in the Inventor sketch.

If you look in the Inventor browser you will see that it has brought over the same blocks nested together just as they were in AutoCAD.



From here you can add 2D constrains and see how this will move as an assembly before extruding anything. When it comes time to turn it into an assembly you just need to select "Make Components" from the sketch tab in the ribbon.