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book. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
5. Dear Reader, Thank you for choosing Mastering Autodesk
Inventor 2015 and Autodesk Inventor LT 2015. This book is part of a
family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by
outstand- ing authors who combine practical experience with a gift
for teaching. Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later,
were still committed to producing consis- tently exceptional books.
With each of our titles, were working hard to set a new standard
for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we
work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available. I
hope you see all that reflected in these pages. Id be very
interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how were
doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any
other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If
you think youve found a technical error in this book, please visit
http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our
efforts at Sybex. Best regards, Chris Webb Associate Publisher
Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley
6. To Jennifer for all of the love, support, and
encouragement.
7. Acknowledgments This book is a collaborative effort
involving many more people than those listed on the cover.
Personally, I would like to thank my family, whose patience and
understanding made this, and all other pursuits, possible.
Professionally, I would like to thank the co-workers, clients,
custom- ers, and friends whose input and ideas have helped build
the knowledge and experience that I draw from in applying concept
to practice. I would like to thank Lucas Larue for the outstanding
work he performed as technical editor as well as the many tips and
tricks hes contributed to this book as well as my overall knowledge
of Autodesk Inventor software. A special thank-you goes out to
those who have contributed content to the Mastering Inventor series
in the past: Thom Tremblay, Sean Dotson, Bill Bogan, Andrew Faix,
Seth Hindman, Loren Jahraus, Shekar Subrahmanyam, Bob Van der
Donck, and the late Dennis Jeffrey, all of whom are true masters of
Autodesk Inventor. Thank you to the team at Wiley Alexa Murphy,
Dassi Zeidel, Kim Wimpsett, Connor OBrien, and Pete Gaughanfor
their patience, focus, and professionalism, without which there
would be no book. Your hard work and support always ease the effort
of turning ideas into pages.
8. About the Author Curtis Waguespack is an Autodesk Expert
Elite member and an Autodesk Certified Instructor. He has served as
lead author on six previous Autodesk Inventor books, covering
Autodesk Inventor 2009 through 2014. He has taught Inventor in the
classroom and has consulted with and supported manufacturing and
design firms in a wide range of industries, including aero- space,
consumer products, and industrial machinery. Currently, Curtis uses
Inventor daily in a real-world design environment to design and
document various product types, starting from the prototype stage
and following through to the fully documented project completion.
In the past, he has used Inventor to design a wide range of
manufactured products, large and small.
24. Introduction The Autodesk Inventor program was introduced
in 1999 as an ambitious 3D parametric mod- eler based not on the
familiar Autodesk AutoCAD software programming architecture but
instead on a separate foundation that would provide the room needed
to grow into the fully featured modeler it is now, more than a
decade later. Autodesk Inventor 2015 continues the development of
Autodesk Inventor with improved modeling, drawing, assembly, and
visual- ization tools. Autodesk has set out to improve this release
of Autodesk Inventor by devoting as much time and energy to
improving existing tools and features as it has to adding new ones.
With this book, the sixth edition of Mastering Autodesk Inventor
2015 and Autodesk Inventor LT 2015, I have set out to update the
existing pages and add new content and exercises. In these pages,
you will find detailed information on the specifics of the tools
and the principles of sound parametric design techniques. Some
readers will find this book works best for them as a desktop
reference, whereas others will use it primarily for the
step-by-step tutorials. With this in mind, Ive worked to shape the
pages of this book with a mix of reference material, instructional
steps, and tips and hints from the real world. Who Should Read This
Book This book is written with a wide range of Autodesk Inventor
users in mind, varying from begin- ner to advanced users and
Autodesk Inventor instructors: Beginner Autodesk Inventor users who
are making the move from traditional 2D CAD design to Autodesk
Inventor 2015. These readers might have experience with AutoCAD and
will possess an understanding of basic design and engineering
concepts as well as a desire to improve their skill set and stay
competitive in the marketplace. Intermediate Autodesk Inventor
users who are self-taught or have gone through formal Autodesk
Inventor training during their companys initial implementation of
Autodesk Inventor and who are looking for more information on a
specific module within Autodesk Inventor. This book also targets
users looking for a desktop reference to turn to when they come
upon an area of Autodesk Inventor they do not encounter on a
day-to-day basis. Advanced Autodesk Inventor users who have
mastered the Autodesk Inventor tools used over and over daily but
want to conquer the parts of the program they do not utilize during
their normal design tasks. This book also targets advanced users
who want to add to their skill set to move up the ranks within
their current company or want to expand their knowl- edge in
pursuit of a new position with another employer.
25. XXVIII |INTRODUCTION Autodesk Inventor users of any skill
and experience level who are preparing for the Autodesk Inventor
Associate or Professional exam. CAD and engineering instructors
looking for a text to use in instructor-led classroom training.
Attempting to learn all the tools in Autodesk Inventor can be an
intimidating experience because of the wide range of task-specific
modules available. It is the goal of this book to sepa- rate these
modules into easy-to-tackle chapters relating to real-world
situations for which the tools were designed while also including
chapters on general Autodesk Inventor tools, tech- niques, and
design principles. What You Will Learn The following pages will
explain the Autodesk Inventor settings while teaching you how each
tool functions. Just as importantly, though, these pages are filled
with the tips and techniques learned by the experts who spent years
using, researching, and discussing the tools in Autodesk Inventor.
You should come away from reading this book with a solid
understanding of the capa- bilities of Autodesk Inventor and a
strong idea of how to tackle your design challenges in the future,
as well as an abundance of time-saving tips and tricks. What You
Will Need The files needed to complete the tutorial projects in
this book can be downloaded from the Sybex website at the following
location: www.sybex.com/go/masteringinventor2015 Download the
collection of zip files and extract all the files to a folder on
your computer, such as My DocumentsMastering Inventor 2015. In this
folder you will have a subdirec- tory for each of the 20 chapters,
plus a couple of other folders, as well as a file called Mastering
Inventor 2015.ipj, as shown here: Once the files are