Are there any books/resources that show you how to work AutoCAD? Also, are there any classes that teach about AutoCAD near Jacksonville, FL?
Thanks!
-sorry for the wrong thread title. Is there a way to delete this thread or change the title?
Are you working on AutoCAD or Autodesk Inventor? Two completely different things (and I know people tend to think they are the same :p) I can dig around for a few things see what I can find but no guarantees I’ll find anything.
I have AutoCAD, is Autodesk Inventor better, or is it just preferences?
I personally use Autodesk Inventor (which the suite actually includes AutoCAD (havn’t really used it ever). Autodesk has some great tutorials for Inventor within the program. Also here is the VEX curriculum for Autodesk Inventor. (It’s free, you just have to scroll down to the PDF’s)
I like Autodesk Inventor because its mainly aimed at 3d modeling (a lot easier than AutoCAD’s) But I guess it will just be preferences. If you want to download Inventor make an account here if you haven’t already done so
You can download Inventor and it will take about 3 hours to download and install (depending on internet speed)
The downside to Inventor is you need to have somewhat powerful hardware in your computer to handel the 3D Space.
Other than that you should be good!
- Andrew
They only let you preview certain topics, though. Here’s what’s not free:
It comes with the classroom kit, though…
Andrew
I think I might switch to Autodesk Inventor. I believe my computer has the ability to download Autodesk Inventor, it is a top quality one, and if it downloaded AutoCAD fine, then it should download Autodesk Inventor…right?
You should be able to download it fine I am making a CAD library of all the parts soon so if you are interested I can send you the parts!
- Andrew
I’m about halfway through the same process. I have the whole library. but half are still step files (I’m converting to IPT files for simplicity).
That would be awesome!!!
I got you beat on that one I just have to assign materials otherwise I’m done! 
Cool, That makes my life easier. (which is good for me since finals are coming up)
Isn’t the vex materials that you are making available to the public, or is it just for you and whoever you send it to?
is there a batch converter to IPTs or is that only from opening them in inventor?
suppose a bit of googlefu is necessary here…
no, a batch converter does not exist to my knowledge. Just hang tight and a full library will be posted soon. (see above posts)
I will try to make it public, however if I can’t it will be on a who ever asks basis. The database is ready now just you wont get very accurate weight calculations if you use what I currently have…
Also You don’t realize how many parts there are until you start categorizing them like i do…
I can recommend sharing it on ge.tt, it is a free service, for large file hosting without all of the intrusive ads.
You could post them on the VEX wiki, too.
I did this with most of the common parts a couple of weeks ago also. I ran into a bit of an issue as I had done this in Inventor 2012 but these are then incompatible with Inventor 2011. Not everything exists and I also found that the dimensions on the Aluminum seem wrong, wall thickness is 0.046 rather than 0.064 (although I was going from the product description, I didn’t actually measure it) so weights will be off anyway.
I noticed that So Maybe I should just upload it as is and let the VEX community enjoy it for what it is?
Anyone up for that?