I have several problems with Inventor 2017 & Windows 10 despite having watched the demos with both the lugubrious Irish guy and the frenetic Liverpudlian.
- The web instructions tell me to save the parts file as “clawbot” but doesn’t say where. I saved it in the same directory as the supplied projects and I can open it from inside Inventor or by double clicking in Windows Explorer so I guess it’s OK.
- When I import the first 2 parts (the 20 hole bumper and the 15 hole frame member, they get grouped so that if I rotate one, I rotate both. I searched for help on “ungroup” and got sent to a page that said “Access denied”. I have restarted the project a number of times with the same result.
- My iMates don’t do anything - if I zoom in on one and click it, absolutely nothing happens. Following the instructions about holding down the Alt key, nothng happens ther, either.
All these problems happen on all 3 machines I have tried it on so I am clearly doing something dumb - can you tell me how to do it right and how to undo the ungroup (and how to group so I can avoid doing it in future).
Many thanks!
It shouldn’t matter where you put the part files as long as it’s in the same folder as the project file or in a sub folder of that folder.
Regarding question 2, are you using the Import (or similar) command to add the parts, or are you using the Add Parts menu? You don’t want to import the parts and don’t need to if they aren’t STEP files (generic CAD type). You can tell if something is already in concept by looking for the .iam or .ipt file extensions.
iMates can be tricky. Make sure that you can see the iMates on both parts. It also helps to zoom in and get the angle of your view right.
+1. But yeah. I know you said you tried the alt button but just to make sure you’re doing it right… when you go to use an imate make sure you press and hold the alt button then click and hold the imate with your mouse. After you are holding the imate with your mouse you can let go of the alt key and from then you just drag and drop the imate over other imates and when you want to release just let go of the mouse trigger. Sorry to go through all this if you already know it but if you don’t do it right then it won’t work. Anyway, if you weren’t doing it right then i hope this cleared things up 
Hi, Evan Joseph - thanks for the answers. Good to know I can pretty much put the parts file where I like but does your reply mean the parts file must be in the same folder as my Clawbot project file?
As for the iMates, I’ve found the Face / Edge pop-up handy - I hadn’t been patient enough for it to pop up so I was not getting a join point that faced in the right direction. So progress is being made. It would really help if Microsoft hadn’t “improved” file search in Windows 10 - it never finds anything!
Yes. Or a subfolder, so you can organize the parts as needed.
I think Ctrl+A might show that pop-up you’re talking about. Ctrl-A will also show a list of other items you can select when you are hovering over part of an assembly (like if you need to select a face that’s behind another part - put your mouse over where it is, Ctrl-A, and you should be able to select it).