Add-in to Autodesk Inventor which provides a suite of symmetrical rectangle sketching tools.
INVENTOR PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
Author: QUBE-IT DESIGN, INC Brian Hall 8/22/2010
DESCRIPTION
V3(Current)
This tool set has four distinct rectangle drawing tools that are used inside the sketch environment for part files, assembly files, and drawing files. They are located on a separate ribbon panel called "Rectangles" on the "Sketch" ribbon tab. They are as follows:
Center Point Rectangle (default displayed button): This rectangle tool draws a rectangle about the origin of where the user picks. It constrains the rectangle by adding a vertical and horizontal alignment constraint to one of the vertical and horizontal lines respectively as well as a coincident constraint to the geometry that the user selects. If no geometry is selected, then only the vertical and horizontal alignment constraints will be used. Diagonal Center Point Rectangle: This rectangle tool draws a rectangle about the origin of where the user picks and adds a diagonal line that goes from one corner to the opposite corner with a sketch point constrained to the mid-point of the diagonal line. By virtue of the diagonal line, the rectangle relationship to the origin is maintained, but if the user selects existing geometry then a coincident constraint is added to the origin sketch point and selected geometry. Horizontal Mid-Point Rectangle: This rectangle tool draws a rectangle that eminates from the mid-point of one of the horizontal lines of the rectangle. A sketch point is then added and constrained to that line's mid-point. If the user selects existing geometry, then the sketch point is constrained to the existing geometry accordingly. Vertical Mid-Point Rectangle: This rectangle tool draws a rectangle that eminates from the mid-point of one of the vertical lines of the rectangle. A sketch point is then added and constrained to that line's mid-point. If the user selects existing geometry, then the sketch point is constrained to the existing geometry accordingly.
There is also the ability to configure the user interface for this add-in. You may use the original drop-down control to access the commands or you may switch to a panel style layout. To configure the user interface simply go to the application menu (the big "I" in the upper left corner of Inventor) and choose the "Rectangle Tools Settings" command and it will bring up a dialog box with two radio buttons which allow you to set the desired user interface for these commands. This will require a restart of Inventor for the change to take effect.
SOURCE CODE
This is an open source project.
Source code was written in C# and is provided at https://github.com/Qube-it/Rectangle-Tools-2010-2012
SUPPORTED VERSIONS
This add-in supports Inventor 2010 forward and does not support the classic interface.
INSTALLATION
An installer wizard ("Qube-It Tools.msi") has been provided. Since this add-in was built using .NET 3.5 framework, you will need that framework to run the add-in. The installer will automatically detect this and install it if you don't have it. Follow the prompts for quick installation. You can change the location of the install folder if you like.
You may uninstall the add-in through your system's control panel. You may also simply uncheck the "Load on Startup" box if you're only looking to unload it without uninstalling it.
KNOWN ISSUES
This add-in does not support the classic interface by design.
The default rectangle button shown on the Rectangles tab is the Center point Rectangle.
When the user selects one of the other rectangle tools, they will remain displayed
and "pressed" during the life of the tool, but when the user exits the tool or starts another
tool, the displayed button will go back to being the Center Point Rectangle tool again.
This is intentional because even if the other tools are displayed (i.e. horizontal or
vertical mid-point rectangle tools) and the user clicks that displayed button, the center point rectangle tool
will be what gets activated (unless the user selects the drop down first).
There is no support for the heads up display to be utilized with these tools. It is not supported through the API yet.
BUG FIXES
R2 fixes: 1) Added support for the construction line toggle. 2) Added the Diagonal Center Point Rectangle tool to provide for a more robust rectangle so that there are no unexpected results when the corners are filleted or chamfered. 3) Changed the behavior of the tool so that it acts in a manner that is consistent with the behavior of the current Inventor rectangle tools where the command stays active until the user escapes out of the command or starts a new command.
R3 fixes: 1) Added support for a keyboard shortcut to TERMINATE a running rectangle command 2) Added the ability for a user to configure the user interface.
RELEASE HISTORY
R1 7/4/2010 R2 7/11/2010 R3 (current release) 8/22/2011
FEEDBACK
[email protected] or post online to http://www.mcadforums.com/forums/posting.php?mode=edit&f=34&p=78891
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software in object code form for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both that copyright notice and the limited warranty and restricted rights notice below appear in all supporting documentation. This add-in may be freely distributed and installed on all properly licensed installations of Autodesk Inventor.
QUBE-IT DESIGN PROVIDES THIS PROGRAM "AS IS" AND WITH ALL FAULTS. QUBE-IT DESIGN SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE. QUBE-IT DESIGN, INC. DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE.