Hagerman & Company Services for Autodesk Inventor iLogic

Autodesk recently began including iLogic with Autodesk Inventor for its subscription customers. iLogic enables Rules Driven Design (RDD), giving manufacturers a simple way to capture and reuse their engineering knowledge to standardize and automate design processes and/or configure their virtual products. Beginners with little or no programming experience can learn the basics of iLogic quickly while designers and engineers with programming experience will realize that iLogics only limitation is the range of their own imaginations. iLogic is designed to be much easier to learn and use than other programming tools such as AutoLisp, Visual Basic, Autodesk Intent and the Inventor API which are not suitable for use by the typical CAD end user.

iLogic embeds rules as objects directly into Inventor Part and Assembly documents. iLogic enables the creation and inclusion of custom parameter types; string, boolean (true / false), and multi-value (combo box lists of valid sizes or equations) that are stored within and can be used to drive Inventor part and assembly models. iLogic includes a rules editor that allows engineers to construct rules using standard If-Then-Else, While and Select Case type logic.

A few of iLogics automation function capabilities are:

• A standard set of math and string manipulation functions similar to what is included in most computer programming languages
• Support Message Boxes for providing feedback, options and information to the designer as rules are running
• Allow for simple Input Box functions to gather design inputs
• Read and write to Excel spreadsheet document(s)
• Reading from and writing to Inventor iProperties
• Perform measurement functions including distance, angle, area and perimeter
• Automatically search for and change iPart, iFeature or iAssembly configurations based on conditional statements defined in assembly level rules
• Drive the activation of parts and assembly features, or the components and constraints of assemblies, from rules using conditional arguments
• Interactively place existing parts or sub-assemblies using Place iLogic Component
• Automatically update and drive thread specifications when a hole or rod size changes
• Read, write and/or react to the material or color properties of the design document, mass or volume of a part and design parameters
• Keep Bill of Materials information up to date when rules change a model into a new configuration
• Restrict or auto-correct user input values to ensure resulting configurations are valid and comply with design specifications/standards
• Make calls to the Inventor API or other VB.NET applications in order to perform additional functions or link to other systems

While iLogic is a powerful tool for rule-based design automation, it does not do everything and is not a fit for all customers. For example, some customers may want only a 2D solution based around AutoCAD or other customers may need a solution that is to be used by salespeople or other individuals who dont have access to a copy of Inventor. For these and other situations, Hagerman & Company also offers other design automation tools and platforms including Visual Basic and Autodesk Intent.

Design automation is nothing new to Hagerman & Company. Over the last ten years, we have implemented solutions for a large number of customers in a variety of industries. With iLogic, we are offering quick start assistance which includes basic training on iLogic along with optional iLogic implementation assistance. For customers desiring only iLogic training, the typical engagement is two (2) days in length. For customers also purchasing the optional iLogic implementation assistance, typical engagements run from four to five (4-5) days. The exact number of days recommended for each customer will be based upon discussions between the customer and Hagerman technical staff. As part of Hagermans iLogic implementation assistance, the following services are typically included:

• Assisting the customer in determining how to structure Inventor parts and assemblies including the use of project files, parameters, linked spreadsheets, iParts/iAssemblies, etc.
• Reviewing existing customer Inventor data for its suitability for use with iLogic and suggesting where changes need to be made
• Assisting the customer in documenting their design rules in plain English
• Providing further instruction to the customer in the use of iLogic rules and syntax
• Assisting the customer in beginning to build prototype Inventor models and iLogic rules that can be expanded upon and completed by customer personnel
• Determining the need for any additional code utilizing VB.NET, the Inventor API or connections to outside databases

For customers needing more project assistance, we are also offering:

• Full or partial project implementation including Inventor modeling and/or iLogic coding
• Development of advanced VB.NET or Inventor API applications and database connections to be called from within iLogic

We believe that iLogic will prove to be of huge productivity benefit to a large number of our Inventor customers. By using our experience, we believe that users will be able to ensure that iLogic and their associated Inventor models are set up in the optimum manner resulting in the highest level of productivity.

 

 

This page last edited on Thursday, June 03, 2010