It Takes Two Flints to Make a Fire: AutoCAD Toolsets and Inventor

DHEEN AZEEZ: Good morning, good evening, everyone. Welcome to AutoCAD Toolsets and Inventor class, It Takes Two Flints to Make a File, AutoCAD Toolsets and Inventor. So in this class, we will have a brief about how we can make use of AutoCAD toolsets, various AutoCAD toolsets and Inventor to make our workflow fast and efficient.

So before we begin, a few things to note here about our safe harbor statement. This presentation is based on today's current expectation. Things can change, and the purchasing and investment decision should not be based on upon reliance on these statements.

So about the speaker, myself, Dheen Azeez, I am basically a tech support specialist from Autodesk. I support various AutoCAD products from customer success organization. I primarily assist customers who come up with issues in AutoCAD products, and with my expertise, I actually solve crucial showstopper issues for the customers.

In my background, I'm basically a mechanical engineer, and I completed my post-graduates in tool design. And last year, I have presented for Autodesk University as well, virtually. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, and it was about same AutoCAD and Inventor, so we will talk about in the coming slides.

So this is the summary, so a quick summary about today's class. Basically, it's about the complete classes about interoperability. So we know that interoperability is crucial in today's digital world, so especially in industries like health care, manufacturing, and construction, et cetera. So basically, this class, what you can get out of what these products will give you, it improves efficiency. It cut the cost and drives innovation as well.

Products like, as I mentioned in the starting, AutoCAD Toolsets and Inventor software, it's a very powerful [INAUDIBLE] of all the softwares. Basically, when it comes to [INAUDIBLE] product design and manufacturing collection, AutoCAD Toolset and Inventor, it's a powerful tool, which can enhance your CAD capabilities for seamless 2D and 3D workflows.

This class basically will tell you how we can leverage these two tools so that we can work faster, and we can create more efficient design, and we can save time on manual tasks and enabling seamless collaboration as well. So without any further ado, we'll go to the learning objectives.

So these are our four learning objectives for today, so I will give a setting expectation for this class. So we are going to basically see about how we are going to make Inventor and AutoCAD Toolsets together as a brief, and what we can do with both of these software to achieve whatever I have explained in the previous slide.

So first learning objective, so basically, I segregated all these four learning objectives, different products, but it ends up with Inventor which is collaborated with Inventor, Autodesk Inventor. So first is about, we will be learning about how to create the DWG documentation and drawings by keeping the association by AutoCAD and Inventor.

Second, we will use Inventor link specifically, just an advanced feature in AutoCAD Mechanical. So second learning objective, we're going to see how we can use AutoCAD Mechanical and Autodesk Inventor so that we can use Inventor link to create a link between Inventor and AutoCAD Mechanical.

Third learning objective, we're going to use the product called AutoCAD Electrical and same Inventor, and we're going to see how well we can use both of these software to design electrical and mechanical systems side by side between AutoCAD Electrical and Inventor.

The fourth and final objective is we're going to see how we can use the feature, or the tool called Factory Design Utility, simply called as FDU, with AutoCAD and Inventor, how well we can use both of these tools. Basically, we're going to see that, yeah. So we will go to the first learning objective, which is you're going to see how we can create a native DWG documentation and drawings by keeping the association between AutoCAD and Inventor.

So how we can make this DWG documentation? Basically, there is a feature in AutoCAD Toolsets, so we're going to see with vanilla AutoCAD, which is a plain AutoCAD, so we're going to see how well we can use this feature called model documentation. Model documentation is nothing but it's a feature that generates associated 2D drawings from AutoCAD, either from AutoCAD or Inventor 3D models.

So we're going to see here, only AutoCAD Inventor, how are we going to make 2D features from a 3D model created in AutoCAD and Inventor. And also we can create non-associative 2D drawings from the 3D models, which are produced by other third party or non Autodesk products such as, let's say, SolidWorks and other top softwares like MXCAD and MXCam.

So we're going to see how well we can use this model documentation to create those, and there is a limitation here. The limitation in model documentation, the drawing views or whatever we're going to create, it will be worked in the same version. Let's say, for example, if I'm creating this drawing views in a newer version of AutoCAD, and I'm trying to use the same views or trying to edit or update the view, update the same view in a previous version, let's say, 24 to 23, it won't work.

So it can be-- let's say, if I'm doing an AutoCAD 2024, it can be edited only in AutoCAD 2024 as well. So it's the basic building block of this model documentation is creating a 2D drawing in the drawing view object. Like I said, we can create the basic base view from both softwares, which is from AutoCAD, either from AutoCAD and Inventor.

So we're going to see both of these in our demo, so basically, we will be, like I said, the basic building block of creating or using this model documentation feature is creating a base view. We're going to do that for model space, so basically, from model space, we're going to create a 2D view, and we're going to place in the layout.

Secondly, we're going to create an Inventor 3D model, or any 3D model or either part in Assembly we have in Inventor. And we're going to bring that 3D model intelligence from Inventor to AutoCAD, and we're going to create a basic view-- base view from those 3D models as well.

So this is the workflow for creating a drawing views from AutoCAD 3D models, so we will slowly see what is the workflow for both of the case, either from AutoCAD 3D models or from Inventor 3D models. So the first workflow would be, like I said in the previous slide, creating a base view and projected view from the 3D model.

So it's very pretty simple. As I have shown in the previous slide, there will be two options when you're going to create a view, either from model space in AutoCAD or from the Inventor 3D models. The first is from, AutoCAD 3D models, you're going to create a base view, orthogonal view, and the isometric projected views from the 3D solutes within AutoCAD.

The second would be annotations. You're going to add dimensions. Nodes are all the annotation, whatever relevant annotations you want to add. You're going to add everything, including multi [INAUDIBLE] text, et cetera, et cetera.

Then third, this is the important final part of the uses of this model documentation is to, when it is going to save you a lot of manual tasks, the reason is whatever you're going to do in 3D model-- let's say, I'm going to add a whole feature. I'm going to add a [INAUDIBLE]. I'm going to add a chamfer. I'm going to thicken this 3D model.

Whatever changes you make, it's going to update directly in the drawing, which is in the Layout tab in the drawing along with the annotation as well that I will come in-- that I will be showing in the demo.

So you can see, I have included one point, auto update. There is a feature in model documentation that-- there are two features, one feature with two options, one is auto update, second manual update, that I will show in the demo.

So the next would be creating drawings from the inventory models, so same workflow, same method, but we're going to bring the Inventor 3D models, either part or assembly. Same, we're going to create a base, orthogonal, and isometric projected views from the Inventor model. Second, you're going to annotate whatever dimensions, whatever multi data text, whatever styles we want, [INAUDIBLE], everything. We're going to add all the relevant annotations to the particular drawing views.

And third, same, which is the important and vital part of this feature is that the model-- whatever model we're going to modify the source, here the source is Inventor, and it's going to update automatically without any manual intervention, without necessarily changing the same thing. Let's say, if I have made a hole, made any feature change in Inventor, there is no need to do the same feature change in AutoCAD as well. Whatever you do there, the same will be updated in AutoCAD as well.

So here, there is one catch when it comes to using the Inventor model. Auto update, of course, it controls whether you have to change or update the view automatically or not, but in here, you have to close the drawing. Whatever changes you have made, finally all the changes you have made in Inventor, while coming back to AutoCAD, you have to close the drawing and reopen the drawing to see the changes.

So without any further ado, we will go to the demo. So what I'm going to do, I will just quickly open AutoCAD, and I'm going to create a new drawing here. And let me switch to 3D modeling workspace.

So I'm going to quickly create a box, so this is to a different view. So I have created a box.

So now, I'm going to switch to a layout, switch to the layout. So before, I will just add quickly another feature from here. Let's say I'm going to add a-- Just add another, just a prediction.

So I'm going to go to the layout, so I will go switch the Layout tab in the ribbon. So now, you can see-- let me remove this. So now, there are two options. One is-- so I will just explain you the [INAUDIBLE].

So we have to switch the layout, and there will be an option to create viewports. You can set up the page what size you want, whatever shape paper you want. Second, we're going to-- this is where the model documentation starts.

You're going to create a view. We can create project view, section view, detail view, and we can edit the view. I'll be showing that. We can edit the components as well.

And these are the styles and standards for using the model documentation where you will be seeing what angle of projection type you want, either first angle or third angle. What kind of [INAUDIBLE] style you want what? If we have created the view, how much-- depends if you want such good quality, you can change the DP as well, the [INAUDIBLE] quality DP as well.

And what type of preview type you want, you want to share it out of bounding box, et cetera, et cetera. So I will just quickly create the view from the model space, so this is-- by default, if you can see, it is asking me in the command prompt that what type of-- if I go for type, it is asking only base view or the projected view. Let's say, if I go for only base view, after creating the base view, every operation will be entered. We have to create the project manually, so I will go for base view and projected.

Second is the orientation. What orientation by default, it is taking the front view, so you can actually select Switch to a Different View from here. So let's say I will go with-- and the third one, actually, of course, [INAUDIBLE] lines.

So how do you want your style should be? You want only the visible lines. Let's say if you have created a whole feature or a third feature, you want to see all the hidden lines, everything, you can choose that as well.

So scale, you can, of course, change the scale of how much scale you want. So I'll just quickly place this here, and I'll go exit. So as we have selected both base and project area, unless of course, automatically, it is creating the base view, so I have created isometric top, and the right side view.

If I click Enter, so these are the views which I have created from AutoCAD by using the option called From Model Space. So From Model Space, it will take whichever drawing which is available in the model space, and you can create a drawing view out of it.

So now I just quickly just briefly, I'm going to create a couple of dimensions. So let's say I'm going to create a vertical dimension, one horizontal dimension, just to show you how the auto update works, so like I said, there are two options. One is auto update, so let's say I will show you both the cases how does it work. What happens if I remove the auto update? What happens if I enable the auto update?

So first, I will enable the auto update, and just, I will quickly go here to the model space, and I will just modify a feature. Let's say I'm just thickening this, just thickening this, and I'm going to Enter. So when I go to the layout, you can see it is automatically updated. The views are automatically changed, and you can see-- you can ask me what is this annotation monitor? So it's nothing, but whenever the views are changed, the annotation, which will be still there, so we have to just adjust the annotation.

There are two options. So for example, if I click-- you can directly delete this associated annotation if you want, but in case if you want to associate the dimension back, all you have to do is just click it, re-associate, click here, and do the changes. So re-associated movement.

Now, we can see it was 4 inch before. Now, after I re-associate the dimension, it becomes 13.9150. So similarly, you can-- let's say if I want to change-- So this is how the auto update works actually. So let's say, for example, I will just go for Control-Z. I'll just undo the operation, which I have done. I'll go switch back to the layout.

So let's see, I'm going to remove the auto update, so I'm going to do the same now. I'm going to thicken it. I'm going to press [INAUDIBLE], click Enter, and if I go to the layout one, you can see the change-- you can see there is nothing updated in the drawing views because we have removed the auto update. So we have to manually update it.

So there is two option. One, you can just click here, Update View, and select the view to update. Second, there will be a quick popup which will be showing the model has changed because someone-- the user has changed the 3D drawing features or added some features in it, so you need to update the drawing, which is no longer up to date.

So if I just go ahead and click this, you can see it has been updated at the left side. So this is how auto update and normal update works, manually doing that and doing the auto update. So this is basically creating a base view and projected view and other views from the 3D model, which are available within AutoCAD. And you can see the reason most of the users who are modeling.

So basically, I can say a lot of users are not doing the modeling in 3D because we have various 3D modeling software available. So if in case, some users are still using AutoCAD to create 3D model, this is something which will be very useful for documentation purpose because it will, like I said in the previous slides, it will save you a tons of time when it comes to updating the model manually, and it will completely avoid user intervention to make changes to the model as well.

So second, I'll just quickly create a new drawing, so now, what we're going to do, we're going to bring a 3D model from-- not from the model space, which is in AutoCAD. We're going to bring something from Inventor. For that, I'm going to click create a new part file from here.

So I will create same. I'm going to extrude-- I'm going to create a box here. So now, I'm going to create a box. Let's say I'm going to put a small feature here, just a hole. I'm going to create a hole. I will save this. I'm going to save this.

So I will go to AutoCAD, so all you have to do is to bring the Inventor part or Inventor assembly into AutoCAD to create drawing view. It's to use the second option, which is from Inventor. Once you click From Inventor, it will show the dialog box, which is open dialog box to select the part file.

So we have created the part. Let's filter out the part, and the name is Part1. I think I have saved somewhere in the public documents. Let me open that.

Notes and documents, yeah, here it is. So I'm going to open this, so it will automatically ask to place the base and the projected views, but before we jump into that, we're going to see a couple of options, which are different from what we saw in-- while placing the AutoCAD view.

So here, there is an option called type, same, base only, you want a base only, or along with the base view, you want to create a projected view. I'm going to go with the second one. [INAUDIBLE] representation, which is there are a lot of representation within Inventor. If you are an Inventor user, you might create weldment, either sheet metal, or you might create different design view as well.

So if you want to bring those Design View which are created in Inventor, so you can bring that actually into AutoCAD. So whatever view you have created, whatever positional view you have you, can actually bring into AutoCAD the same view what you created in Inventor. So if you have created a weldment-- so basically, how this works, so let's say if I go and create sheet metal, it will say this representation type is not supported model. The reason, because I have created a normal [INAUDIBLE] normal standard [INAUDIBLE] part file.

If I have created weldment, if I have created a sheet metal part while creating in Inventor, it will ask me to create a base view, create a representation based on what kind of feature I want, what type of feature I want. Let's say sheet metal weldment, et cetera, et cetera.

So I will go exit here, and the orientation, same what we saw while placing the AutoCAD solid, current top view, bottom view. By default it is taking the front view, so I'll go with the front view. So hidden lines, like the last time, you want the visible lines. You want both the visible and hidden lines, so we would want this visible and hidden lines because we created a hole feature, and we want to see that drawing view.

So I'm going to go with the second one. I'm going to go ahead and create it, so exit, so it will ask me to create the top view isometric and the [INAUDIBLE] view. Right click, Enter. So you can see the drawing view, the one-- so usually, the user-- so basically, I can say, when it comes to AutoCAD specifically, we use it for all 2D documentation for annotation, for creating drawing views, and et cetera.

Compared to Inventor, what the capability of doing in Inventor [INAUDIBLE] the 3D platform. The 2D features, we prefer AutoCAD to do that, so we are bringing the-- we are fetching the capability of what a 3D model we have created in either IPTR or assembly file. We have created in Inventor.

You're going to fetch those information, 3D information, and we are going to convert into a 2D views. And we're going to play around with all the features that are available, which is creating a section view out of creating a detailed view. We can change the styles of styles and standard. Whatever 2D drafting platform are capable of doing, you're going to use that using AutoCAD model documentation.

Like I said in the beginning, we can also bring the non Autodesk parts, such as any other 3D parts, 3D files from SolidWorks or any other software, but it will be non-associated. Non-associated in the sense, you cannot-- if you make a change in that SolidWorks, it cannot be updated automatically in AutoCAD. So without any further ado, we will just quickly go to Inventor.

Let's see, I'm going to do the thicken again. Let's say I'm going to-- OK. Before that, I will just quickly do a couple of dimension here, so I will go ahead and create, annotate this diameter, and I'm going to [INAUDIBLE] this one.

So I'm going to go to , Inventor and I'm going to do the thicken here, a little bit of 1.1in, and I'm going to change the hole to-- let's say, by default is 0.2. I'm going to go with 0.5.

[INAUDIBLE]

So before that, I will just go ahead and save this [INAUDIBLE] to see the update in AutoCAD. So like I said, we need to-- the update, which is not directly reflected in AutoCAD model documentation, the drawing views, so we need to close this drawing. Before that, we'll save the drawing. I will save this. Quickly save this drawing, and I'm going to close this as well. [INAUDIBLE] need that, and we're going to open this drawing.

Now, if you can see, the one which I have said, it is automatically thickened to a different-- just because I have given the height, it was not able to recognize. I should have created another view from here, or maybe I would have dimensioned this vertical other top view.

But you can see the diameter, which we have changed from 0.2 to 0.3, which is automatically updated here, automatically updated here. So like I said, it's an auto update. If you remove the auto update, it will again ask you-- it will prompt you to do the update as well.

So similarly, this is just an example. I'm giving you an overview of what model documentation is capable of doing this. So in the handout, which I have uploaded below the presentation, you will get to know the complete workflow of how it right from creating the view and annotating and every feature, every tool available in this particular feature, I'll be explaining in the handout, so you can have a reference for that.

So this is how model documentation feature works between AutoCAD or any other AutoCAD verticals and Inventor. It is very simple. You're going to fetch the intelligence, 3D intelligence from Inventor, and you're going to push those information out of that. We're going to create drawing views, and we're going to annotate them, and we're going to make a perfect DWG documentation.

And with an added advantage, we're going to avoid all the human user intervention by doing a manual task instead we're going to update it side by side at the real time. So this is about the second the first learning objective. I will switch back to the slide.

So the second learning objective, which is how to use Inventor link to enable a link between Inventor assembly autopart file and AutoCAD Mechanical. So the second version, the second learning objective, is an improved version of the first learning objective, and you will get to know why I said improved version of first learning objective, which is collaborating AutoCAD and Inventor. Same principle.

We want to create views and everything, but it's an improved version, and I'm going to show you how it is an improved version. So the first and foremost thing when it comes to Inventor link, the one point, which I want to include here. Inventor link is available only in AutoCAD Mechanical. It's not available in other AutoCAD toolsets such as Electrical or Roster Design, something like that. It is available only in AutoCAD Mechanical.

So first thing first, we're going to create a link, so when we want to link our two product, or two things, we need a link. We need a medium to connect these two products, so the similar way, we have a feature called Inventor Link, as you can see in the screenshot here. It's called an Inventor Link feature, so we're going to-- the first and foremost step is to create a link between Inventor assembly or part file and AutoCAD.

Second, we're going to link the ipt iam file using the template, and we're going to bring those ipt and iam file into AutoCAD Mechanical. The third, which is about-- we're going to see about AM browser, which is AutoCAD Mechanical browser. This is something which is a vital part.

Here is where we're going to control everything by using AutoCAD Inventor link using AM browser. I'm going to show you in the demo how it is going to be done. So by default, the Mechanical browser won't be there. If it is not there while opening the drawing, you want to use the command called ambrowser, which will show you the AM browser as well.

So how first learning objective inside this first objective inside this learning objective is to create [INAUDIBLE] Inventor link drawings, and [INAUDIBLE] want to annotate them. So the first and foremost thing I'm going to show you-- I'm going to theoretically explain here in the slide, and I'm going to-- I have created a demo of a 10 minute video that will show you how exactly this Inventor link is done from top to bottom. And you're going to see how it is the improved version of model documentation feature.

So the first one is about generating drawing views from the Inventor link part or assemblies, so the command, of course, we're going to use is AMDWGVIEW, and there is another option to do that, I'm going to show you as well. So we're going to create a new view, same from the base view. I'm going to start from the base view of any inventory part or assembly.

Second, we're going to modify the Inventor link drawing views. We're going to do some modifications, such as-- like you can see in this screenshot, you can change the scale of the drawing view. You can toggle between showing the hidden lines, removing the hidden lines, showing the [INAUDIBLE] edges, removing the [INAUDIBLE] edges, and other functions as well.

Third, we're going to add dimensions all the annotations as possible to those Inventor linked drawings, and we're going to annotate them, basically. And there are two dimensions within, when you're going to create a Inventor Link drawing view, you're going to get two type of dimension. One is reference dimension, which you're going to create. Second is the parametric dimension, which is fetched when the Inventor Part or Assembly is created. We're going to create a parametric dimension in there, and it's going to fetch the parametric dimension as well. You can look at the power of Inventor link feature in AutoCAD.

So second objective we're going to do in this demo is how we can update the Inventor link model, and how it's going to change in real time not by closing anything, but in a real time. Once you save, the same will be updated in AutoCAD Mechanical within a matter of seconds.

So first of all, modifying the ipt and iam file at the source. At the source, in the sense, you're going to change the-- add or change any feature for that particular ipt and iam file in Autodesk Inventor. Second, we're going to see how these changes, I have done to the Inventor Part or Assembly is being reflected to AutoCAD Mechanical in real time. You're going to see the changes as well.

Third you're going to see some system variables AM [INAUDIBLE] Edit View, IV Update, Reuse Dimensions. These are all some of the important system variables which are available only for Inventor link, where you can use all these. We will be using these four system variable frequently for right from the top to bottom while creating-- or while working with Inventor link.

So third, what we're going to see how annotation data is exchanged between Inventor and AutoCAD Mechanical, or what are all the information which are exchanged between AutoCAD Mechanical and Inventor, we're going to see in this demo as well. The first is the parametric dimension. You can see the full fledged power of AutoCAD Mechanical, that it actually fetched the parametric dimension, which we have created in AutoCAD-- sorry, Autodesk Inventor Part or Assembly. It's going to fetch it and show it in the drawing view.

Second, it's going to import or fetch the I properties as well. I properties is something, if you're an Inventor user, you know what is the I properties. You're going to use some property to the part or assembly, which are available-- which will be available for creating bill of materials. So the I properties, which you have created for a part or assembly in Inventor, you're going to fetch those information into AutoCAD mechanical, and we're going to use those information and create a table list. Let's say, you're going to create a [INAUDIBLE] out of it.

Third, whatever thread or whole information we have created, thread or whole created in AutoCAD Part or Assembly, we're going to AutoCAD in Mechanical Inventor link. It's going to fetch all those information, all those information, and it's going to annotate in the drawing views, which we're going to create in the demo.

So I will show the demo. It's a short video because this second learning objective, which I have done in the last Autodesk University, I'm going to-- I actually made a very brief idea about how this Inventor link works. So I have created a short, 10 minutes video where I'm going to show you right from top to the bottom, how this Inventor link works. So let me play the video.

So you can see, we are selecting the Inventor link first, right from the start, from the application menu, and we're going to see, we're going to select the template. We're going to select the ipt file, and we're going to place here.

So after placing, I'm going to open the AM browser, which is Mechanical browser, where you can see the part file hierarchy replicated in here. So whatever the part name, which you have created in Inventor, the same it's going to appear in this model browser in the Model tab. So smallburner.ipt is what we have created.

So second, I'm going to import this time an assembly file, and important advantage of importing an assembly file, linking an assembly file in AutoCAD Mechanical, is that it's going to import all the hierarchy. Let's say, for example, this is a vessel assembly. Whatever the support, the valve, the vessel I have created an Inventor Assembly, the same hierarchy has been replicated over in the Mechanical browser as well. So in here, if you can see, it's called an angle support per dot am. That's what we created. So whatever parts embedded within this assembly, whatever the hierarchy in Mechanical, it is actually replicated in the assembly as well, if you can see here.

So from here, you can use the part. You can edit the part separately. You can create a view for only this particular part out of this whole assembly, so this is something which I personally like about Inventor link, is that it is actually bringing the whole hierarchy of the particular assembly file.

So the next will be how we're going to create the drawing view out of either ipt or the am file, so first, we're going to create a drawing view from this ipt file. We're going to switch to the Drawing tab, and from Drawing tab, there's an option called Layout. You're going to click the-- right click the Layout, and we're going to create a new view.

It will show an option, what view you're going to create, what layout-- sorry, what orientation you want, how much scale? Do you want to display the hidden lines? Do you want to see the [INAUDIBLE] edges or not?

Everything you're going to create, everything is going to show while you are creating a new base view. So you can ask me, what is this local dimension, which is represented in this particular part file, which is the parametric dimension, which is fetched from Autodesk Inventor.

So we're going to create a new multiple view-- we have created right hand side view, and same in the right side view, you can see there are around three to four parametric dimension has been fetched from Autodesk Inventor. And now, what we're going to do, we're going to create a new view again. We're going to create an isometric view.

So this is something you can see. Like I said, you can play around with editing the view, like you want to show the threading, thread lines, and you can ask, me what if I don't want the parametric dimension? You can actually edit the view and disable this checkbox, which is parametric dimension, and if you remove that, the parametric dimension, which are fetched from Inventor, will be removed.

You can ask if there is any other option, we can make it easily for the user to play around with the parametric and reference dimension. So the thing is, so before that, we will just create a dimension for this. Let's say we'll create some reference dimension with-- reference dimension is something which is we're going to create in AutoCAD Mechanical itself.

So we're going to create the reference dimension. Reference dimension is here. It's mentioned as [INAUDIBLE] blue color, and parametric dimension is mentioned as a green color for your reference. So now, what we can do, I'm going to right click that particular view, and if you can see, yeah, so if I right click the view, it is asking-- there is an option called Dimension where you can see there is four options.

There are four options, Hide All, Hide Reference Dimension, Hide Parametric Dimension, Unhide All. So you can toggle around these dimensions. The reason I'm specifically explaining about showing and not showing the reference and parametric dimension, so let's say, for example, you have created so many number of views, and the dimensions are cluttered.

Let's say you have created so many reference dimension, you have imported so many parametric dimensions, and it's so much cluttered in your drawing, you want to hide or unhide something. You can actually use this options to play around with the dimensions as well, reference dimensions, parametric dimensions.

So the next objective for us would be the important part, which is updating the Inventor model, and the same update which you're going to see replicated in real time in AutoCAD Mechanical. Let's say, I'm going to create some-- extrude this particular part, and what I'm going to do, I actually saved that, so let me play it again.

So after doing this changes, I have saved this part file, and once I come back to-- switch back to AutoCAD Mechanical-- sorry. So once I come back to AutoCAD Mechanical, it is showing it is highlighted, so it will be highlighted as a yellow color showing that there is an update.

And you can also see at the right side bottom corner, a new version of the part is now available, which means that you have made some-- some user have made some changes in this particular part file, let's say an Inventor user is there, and AutoCAD Mechanical users here both are working together in a project, and an Inventor user have made some changes to that particular part, and the user who is working in AutoCAD Mechanical is getting to know that there is a change, which is highlighted by yellow color.

All you have to do is just right click that particular part file and click Update. Once you click Update, everything will be updated. Even the 3D model will get updated. There is no need to close the drawing.

It is in the real time, and I can say there is another option to update, which is AM IV Update. The system variable will do the same job by updating the model. So here, there is another-- an important thing, which is not only it will update the 3D view, 3D model, which is available in AutoCAD from the Inventor, but also the drawing view along with the dimension where I can show you how it is done.

So I am going back to Inventor, so let's say I'm going to change this three to a different-- three inch to a different dimension. So I'm going to extrude that particular burner from Inventor. Let's say I have thickened that again. I have made some changes to the sketch made from three to five inches. And same I have changed the-- I have saved the drawing part file in Inventor, and the update has been made in real time when we are switching to AutoCAD Mechanical. All we have to do is right click and click Update. Along with the dimension, the part, and the representation, everything will be saved in the real time.

But important thing to note is, whatever changes you have done in Inventor, you must have to save the drawing, save the part file, before you want to see the update in AutoCAD Mechanical. So the next would be-- OK, just quickly opening another same drawing.

So I'm going to create another link quickly in this demo. So here, what I'm going to show how this I properties and this whole feature works. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to add a couple of custom I properties and default I properties where all you have to do is just right click the part file, and you can see the I properties dialog box.

I'm going to add some custom I properties and some default I properties, and I'm going to bring those for values and the property into AutoCAD Mechanical available for creating a [INAUDIBLE] out of it. So I'm going to create a-- quickly create a new property called coating, which is galvanized, and second one, which is the default one, destination, Autodesk India.

And I'm going to go to the project details. Let's say I'm going to bring some features like the vendor, the designer, et cetera, so you can bring any number of I properties into AutoCAD Mechanical. So once I have made all the changes, I'm going to apply close. So before switching back to Mechanical, I'm going to save this drawing-- switching back to the next slide here.

So after creating, I'm just saving this drawing, so now, you can see there is some changes made in this particular drawing. So you will not be able to see that. The reason is, you haven't changed anything when it comes to the physical model, but you have made some changes to the I properties. So you will not be able to see until you place the part list [INAUDIBLE] using those I properties. I'm going to show you how we can do that.

So all we have to do is just go to the [INAUDIBLE]. You can see-- so I'm going to go to the [INAUDIBLE]. So after opening the [INAUDIBLE], I'm going to open the [INAUDIBLE] settings.

So from here, let's say I have created a couple of custom properties, which is destination, and second is the coating. So all I'm going to do is I'm going to click-- there is an option to click to add, so I'm going to add the whatever the-- not the value actually, which is the destination is Autodesk India, and the coating is [INAUDIBLE]. I'm not going to add the value, but I'm going to add the I property which I have created or selected, which is coating, and second is destination.

So important thing to note here, it's case sensitive. You have to make sure everything in caps. So once I have added the same coating and destination, it will be added here as well in real time. After I apply, click OK, you can see the coating. I haven't manually created the value, manually updated the value in Mechanical, but I just created the coating or destination. It's like a coating, you're going to create a variable, and we're going to fetch those variable. While fetching the variable, this Inventor link feature, it is actually fetching the value what I have made-- created in Autodesk Inventor, which is here. For coating, it is galvanized. Destination, it is Autodesk India.

So from here, it is not limited to changing only the I properties, but also the physical properties. Let's say the material-- the material, it is generic, so I'm going to change it to the gold. I'm going to change this. It looks like gold, so I'm going to change this material to gold.

All I'm going to do is do the same. Go to I Properties, change the value to gold, save the [INAUDIBLE] file. Come back to AutoCAD Mechanical. Same process.

It's going to show you that someone has made changes in Autodesk Inventor. Just go ahead, right click, and update. Once you update, you will not be able to see, of course, because we have made changes to the I properties. So now, you can see the material, which I have changed, the value in Inventor, which is updated in Mechanical in real time.

So by using this, let's say if you are having an assembly, a huge assembly, you're going to-- there is no need to manually enter all the [INAUDIBLE] values to-- for creating a documentation. Instead, you're just going to do everything in every I properties in Autodesk Inventor. All you got to do is use this Inventor link to fetch all those properties and create [INAUDIBLE] out of it.

So I'm going to create a part list from here, so after that, it will look like this. So this is about fetching I properties. the data exchange I have explained. It is also bringing I properties from the part or assembly file from [INAUDIBLE] as well. The last and final exchange things-- exchange happening between AutoCAD Mechanical and Inventor is thread and a hole feature.

So now, we have created a hole [INAUDIBLE] feature, and we are saving this drawing, this part file. We're going to create the same procedure. We're going to create a link. We're going to create a part file.

Now, you can see the same part file I have created, so now what I'm going to do, I'm going to create a new view. So when I create a new view, you can see I'm going to create a top view. You can see there is a top view created, so now, I want to bring the thread feature, which I have created there. I want to see what is the thread feature, and I want to see what is this hole, and I want to see what size it is. Let's say, 15m, 14m, 13, whatever it is, I want to see, but not necessarily manually entering in AutoCAD.

Usually, what we do, we create a drawing view, and if you want to add a thread feature, if we have thread feature, we're going to manually add the [INAUDIBLE]. But here, we're going to use the command called amnode. When I use the amnode, what it will do, I will select the thread feature and call feature. It will automatically give me the hole, how much-- it's a through hole. How much distance it is, and what is the diameter of it?