NXTdim Inventor Tools Options

INDEX

• NXTdim Inventor Tools Options
  • Administrator Guide
  • NXTdim Inventor Tools
  • Tools Options
    • General
    • Part
    • Sheet Metal
    • Assembly
    • Presentation
    • Drawing
  • XML Settings
  • NXTdim Shortcut commands
  • Foldline Settings

NXTdim Inventor Tools Options

Administrator Guide

This section provides a complete overview of all the configuration 'Tools Options' for NXTdim Inventor. 

'Tools Options' allows to configure various personal and public settings for the different Inventor document types.

NXTdim Inventor Tools

Configuration 'Options' for NXTdim Inventor Tools

Topics in this section

• Tools Options
• XML Settings
• NXTdim Shortcut commands
• Foldline Settings

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Tools Options

The ‘Tools Options’ dialog can be started from the ‘Options Panel’ on the 'NXTdim Tools' ribbon.

Next to that, a shortcut can be found in several NXTdim dialogs.

The dialog has the following tabs:

• General
• Part
• Sheet Metal
• Assembly
• Presentation
• Drawing

The settings are stored in a set of separate XML files. Per XML file it can be set whether the settings are public or private. If the XML is made public, all users can share the same settings specified in a certain XML file. Click here for more information on XML files.

General

• Auto Show On Initial Save

With this option enabled, the ‘Property Editor’ is automatically displayed on first save of the Inventor Document.

• Clear MRU (Most Recent Used)

The most recent input in the ‘Property Editor’ is remembered, such that it can be quickly re-entered. Click this button once to clear the recent input list.

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Part

• Document Thumbnail

‘Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save’ enables you to automatically replace the thumbnail of an Inventor Part document. By default, Inventor saves a thumbnail within the document. This thumbnail represents the state of the document at the moment of saving. Settings, such as background color, work features, orientation etc. hence determine the appearance of the thumbnail. It may be desired that in Windows Explorer or Autodesk Vault a representative image is shown with for example a standardized background color, all work features hidden and a full isometric view of the part.

• Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save

With this option enabled, the document's thumbnail will be replaced on document save. The remaining options will then become available.

• Hide Work Features

Hide Work Features in the thumbnail.

• View

• Background

• Style

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Sheet Metal

• Sheet Metal Extends

Sheet Metal Extends to Custom Property On Save

With this option enabled, on save the length and width of the flat pattern of the Sheet Metal part are stored in two separate Custom iProperties.

Precision

Specifies the number of decimals shown for the length and width.

Show Trailing Zeros

Trailing zeros are shown behind the comma.

Units

Enter the unit in which the length and width are noted.

Show Unit String

By enabling this option, the unit will be displayed behind the length and width.

• Flat Pattern Export Location

• Output String

Specifies how the flat patterns will be exported. By enabling the checkmark, the 'Output String' can be manually changed. It is recommended to first copy the existing string, using CTRL-C, to a text file. In which you can modify the string. After performing the changes, you can copy the new string back into the 'Output String' text field.

The ‘Output String’ consists of a number of arguments stitched together using '&' (ampersand). The table below shows the possible options.

Values for ***LineType:
	37644	kChainLineType
	37633	kContinuousLineType
	37638	kDashDottedLineType
	37645	kDashedDoubleDottedLineType
	37641	kDashedHiddenLineType
	37634	kDashedLineType
	37647	kDashedTripleDottedLineType
	37636	kDottedLineType
	37639	kDoubleDashDoubleDottedLineType
	37637	kDoubleDashedChainLineType
	37646	kDoubleDashedDottedLineType
	37640	kDoubleDashedTripleDottedLineType
	37642	kLongDashDottedLineType
	37635	kLongDashedDoubleDottedLineType
	37643	kLongDashTripleDottedLineType

Many arguments may be specified in the 'Output String', as can be seen in the table above. For some arguments also the default value is shown. Whenever the argument is not explicitly specified, the default value will be used.

Multiple arguments can be specified by stitching the arguments together using an ‘&’

Examples:

To generate a DXF file in AutoCAD format version 12, using a layer name 'Outer' in which the curves of the outer-contour will be placed:

FLAT PATTERN DXF?AcadVersion=R12&OuterProfileLayer=Outer

To generate a DXF file in AutoCAD format version 12, using a layer name 'Outer' in which the curves of the outer-contour will be placed. Setting the layer color to Red (RBG 255;0;0):

FLAT PATTERN DXF?AcadVersion=R12&OuterProfileLayer=Outer&OuterProfileLayer Color=255;0;0

To generate a DXF file in AutoCAD format version 12, using a layer name 'Outer' in which the curves of the outer-contour will be placed. Setting the layer color to Red (RBG 255;0;0) and the line type to Chain (37644):

FLAT PATTERN DXF?AcadVersion=R12&OuterProfileLayer=Outer&OuterProfileLayer Color=255;0;0&OuterProfileLayerLineType=37644

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Assembly

• Document Thumbnail

‘Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save’ enables you to automatically replace the thumbnail of an Inventor Assembly document. By default, Inventor saves a thumbnail within the document. This thumbnail represents the state of the document at the moment of saving. Settings, such as background color, work features, orientation etc. hence determine the appearance of the thumbnail. It may be desired that in Windows Explorer or Autodesk Vault a representative image is shown with for example a standardized background color, all work features hidden and a full isometric view of the assembly.

• Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save

With this option enabled, the document's thumbnail will be replaced on document save. The remaining options will then become available.

• Hide Work Features

Hide Work Features in the thumbnail

• View

• Background

• Style

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Presentation

• Document Thumbnail

‘Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save’ enables you to automatically replace the thumbnail of an Inventor Presentation document. By default, Inventor saves a thumbnail within the document. This thumbnail represents the state of the document at the moment of saving. Settings, such as background color, work features, orientation etc. hence determine the appearance of the thumbnail. It may be desired that in Windows Explorer or Autodesk Vault a representative image is shown with for example a standardized background color, all work features hidden and a full isometric view of the presentation.

• Replace Active Document Thumbnail On Save

With this option enabled, the document's thumbnail will be replaced on document save. The remaining options will then become available.

• Hide Work Features

Hide Work Features in the thumbnail

• View

• Background

• Style

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Drawing

• Scale

'Drawing View Scale to Custom Property On Save'. If this option is enabled, the scale of the first view (Base View) in the 2D drawing is saved to a custom iProperty 'Scale', when saving the document. The titleblock can now automatically be filled with the scale . This requires the adaptation of the titleblock in the Inventor Drawing templates, in which the iProperty 'Scale' needs to be referenced.

• Parts List Report Defaults

Sets the settings for the ‘Parts List Report’ command. 

• Renumber Balloons

Set preferences for the ‘Renumber Balloons’ command.

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XML Settings

The settings in the ‘Tools Options ‘, are stored in a set of XML files. These settings are read from the location below on launch of Inventor.

Because the settings may apply to more users in the organization, it can be determined for each setting whether it should be ‘Public’ or ‘Private’.

After installation of NXTdim Inventor Tools and after launching Inventor, the following files are located in in the folder above.

NXTdim Inventor Tools will always read the settings from the local drive (location specified above). In addition, a 'NXTdim' folder is added to the 'Style Library', hence the 'Design Data' folder as set in Inventor's 'Application Options'.

By copying one or more XML files to the 'Design Data' folder, they will become 'Public'. On start of Inventor, the NXTdim XML files found in 'Design Data' will be copied to the local drive. In this procedure, any locally existing files are overwritten. The public settings are not mandatory: the NXTdim folder in 'Design Data' may be empty.

This methodology has a number of advantages:

• It can be set which settings will hold for everyone in the organization and should hence be public.
• The settings can be optimized for the workflow on a local workstation. The file can then be moved or copied to the 'Design Data' folder. When (re)starting Inventor, all users will have the new settings.
• You can always continue to work even if you temporarily don't have access to the server's 'Design Data' folder, for example when working from home. In this case Inventor will use the local XML settings files.
• A user can locally deviate from the public settings. When restarting Inventor however, the settings will be overwritten again, and changes will hence be undone.

• Design Data location

The location of the ‘Design Data’ folder can be configured within Inventor in two ways: Typically, the folder is set in Inventor's 'Application Options'. However, it is possible to override this location within an Inventor Project file (*.ipj). When a difference exists between these two locations, NXTdim Inventor will use the public settings as specified in the Project file.

1. NXTdim copies the public settings from the ‘Design Data’ folder specified in the 'Application Option
2. NXTdim copies the public settings from the ‘Design Data’ folder specified in the Inventor Project

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NXTdim Shortcut commands

The NXTdim Shortcut Commands accelerates repetitive tasks in Inventor by assigning a key or key combination to a command. Depending on the mouse and/or 3D CAD-mouse that you use, these shortcuts may also be assigned to a mouse button.

To assign a shortcut to an Inventor command, in the Ribbon go to the 'Tools' tab and choose 'Customize...'. In the dialog that appears go to the 'Keyboard' tab and browse through the list of available commands, to the command of your choice. In case the key or key combination is already in use, you will be prompted that you need to use another shortcut. 

Below an overview is given of the commands for which a shortcut was already assigned.

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Foldline Settings

The settings for Foldlines can be adjusted in FoldLineOptions.xml, which can be found under:

The XML file can be changed using your favorite plain-text editor such as Notepad, Notepad++ or Microsoft XML Notepad.

Changing XML files using a dedicated XML editor is generally easier because the structure of the file is more clearly displayed.

The XML file is build-up as follows: 

<FoldLineOptions xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

<MarginLeft>2</MarginLeft>

<MarginTopBottomRight>1</MarginTopBottomRight>

<FoldLineLength>1</FoldLineLength>

<FoldLineWeight>0.018</FoldLineWeight>

</FoldLineOptions>

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