by Chris Turner
Many people don’t realise the power of this tool available directly in 2012 and more often than not, don’t know it even exists! The great thing about this tool is that it’s already installed and can be used right-away, with no configuration necessary. If you are not using Vault (which is definitely a better tool), this command may save you a lot of time.
iLogic Copy Design does not have to have any associated iLogic rules in it and it can work simply to copy designs. If you have iLogic routines, then this will handle these as well. So how does it work…
In my example, I have a small assembly with associated parts and drawings.
You will find iLogic Copy Design from the tools menu, but be careful as this will only be available when you have no files open.
Next you will have a dialog box where you can select the required files. I recommend you start with the drawings and select those first, then assemblies etc etc.
By doing this, the tool automatically will select all the associated ‘children’ for you :-)
Make sure you have selected all the Inventor Drawings for the Inventor parts/assemblies that you are copying!
Any other optional files can then be added as needed, which could be non-Inventor based such as Microsoft office documents, Jpegs or PDF’s etc.
After you have picked what you need and selected next, you now can browse for a target location, add a Prefix/Suffix to the filenames and update the Part Numbers inside the Inventor files.
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: If you are using a single Inventor Project File in your environment (recommended), make sure you select ‘Use Source Project’ and ensure you put the copies of your files in a target location which is in your Workspace. This will ensure correct paths and also handle re-use of any Library components which then won’t be copied.
Hit Start and away you go!
Should the resulting files require any additional renaming afterwards, I recommend using the Inventor Design Assistant.
iLogic Copy Design is an effective tool indeed!