It is Alive in the Lab

JT Translator Add-in for Autodesk Inventor Now Available

When it rains, it pours. It's raining useful technologies and utilities. I recently added XVL Translator Add-in for Inventor and AliasStudio Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor to the site. Inventor Product Manager, Ravi Akella, supplied me with a JT Translator for Autodesk Inventor. I also added it to the Autodesk Labs site:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/jt_translator/

JT is a 3D data format developed by UGS [now part of Siemens] for product visualization and data exchange. If you are working with others who need to see your designs using JT, please give this technology preview a whirl and let us know what you think: labs.iv.trans@autodesk.com. The utility is available in English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

Helping share designs in a variety of formats is alive in the lab.

AliasStudio Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor Now Available

Wire files are the compressed proprietary file format used by Autodesk DesignStudio, Autodesk Studio, Autodesk AutoStudio, and Autodesk SurfaceStudio. Inventor Product Manager, Ravi Akella, provided me with another translation utility, and I was thrilled to place it on the Autodesk Labs site for download:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/alias_iv_trans/

The AliasStudio Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor lets you effectively communicate between industrial design and engineering by directly reading a native AliasStudio wire file into Autodesk® Inventor®. This eliminates the need for translations of geometry into intermediate formats such as STEP or IGES.

So give this a try and let us know what you think: labs.alias-iv-trans@autodesk.com.

Helping teams communicate without intermediate file translation is alive in the lab.

Updated Translator Add-ins for Autodesk Inventor Now Available

Yesterday we released an updated version of the Translator Add-ins for Autodesk Inventor. These new installers are compatible with SP2 of Autodesk Inventor. This means the Translator Add-ins are compatible with Inventor 2008, Inventor 2008 SP1, and Inventor 2008 SP2. The add-ins continue to be packaged with the download of the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview.

Translator Add-ins for Inventor and Inventor LT

The update is applicable to all languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. The supported file versions include:

• Parasolid: Versions 9-18
• UG: Versions 3 and 4
• SolidWorks: Versions 2003 to 2007
• Pro/E: All versions up to Wildfire V3 for parts and Release 14 and later for assemblies
• GRANITE: All versions up to 4.0

For the supported file types, the Translator Add-ins allow Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview users to read and write the following:

Keeping experimental technologies compatible with the latest in Autodesk product offerings is alive in the lab.

Translator Add-ins/Project Freewheel are keys to customer success

Autodesk Labs is about feedback. Sometimes this feedback is in a form that helps us to improve. Other times users just wish to express their gratitude for what Autodesk offers. Here's an example of an email I received today.

Thanks for your work in the "lab." We just started a new business back in January. At that time, since we were starting from scratch, we evaluated [another CAD package]. We took a test drive, but didn't see any advantages over Inventor that were enough to overcome our speed, proficiency, and library in Inventor. So, we stuck with Autodesk. In the 9 months we've been open, we have come across [some] prospects/clients that use Inventor... [Other clients use other CAD packages.] The Translator Add-ins and Project Freewheel have given us the ability to open files from clients without having to beg for STEP files and also perform design reviews without forcing them to download any software.

So, until all CAD packages come together on the same file formats, we really appreciate tools like this.

Communicating with customers, taking the bad and, in this case, the good, is alive in the lab.

Updated Inventor Translator Add-ins for Inventor SP1 Configurations

We received some feedback from a few folks that the translators were not working with Inventor Service Pack 1 on some machines. As a result, we have posted updated versions of the translators.

Translator Add-ins for Inventor and Inventor LT

Uninstalling the July 16th download and installing the current one will address this issue. When you first run the installer, you will be prompted to install or repair. You should select uninstall, allow that to complete, and then re-run the installer for a fresh install. The update is applicable to all languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

Thanks for the feedback which the Inventor Team was able to act upon quickly. This is exactly how the Autodesk Labs process is supposed to work!

Inventor Translators: Corrected ZIP file for German Installer

The translator add-ins for Autodesk Inventor 2008 SP1 and the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview are available in the following languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Japanese
• Russian
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese

Feedback from our users in Germany indicated that we had a corrupted zip file for the German language installer. An uncorrupted file has been posted in its place. Thanks for the feedback.

AltaVista translates my English to German as:
Rückgespräch von unseren Benutzern in Deutschland zeigte an, daß wir eine verdorbene Zip Datei für den deutschen Spracheninstallateur hatten. Uncorrupted Akte ist bekanntgegeben worden in seinem Platz. Dank für das Rückgespräch.

When AltaVista translates that German back to English:
Rueckgespraech of our users in Germany indicated that we had a spoiled Zip file for the German Spracheninstallateur. Uncorrupted document was communicated in its place. Owing to for the rueckgespraech.

I think the essence of the message has been conveyed. I am sorry for the inconvenience for those who downloaded the corrupted zip file.

Updated Inventor Translator Add-ins: support for SolidWorks added

We have released Technology Preview III of the Autodesk Inventor Translator Add-ins. These can be downloaded from the Autodesk Labs site:

Translator Add-ins for Inventor and Inventor LT

Using this chart from the FAQ, you can see that you can now exchange data between Autodesk Inventor, UGS, SolidWorks®, and Pro/ENGINEER® by importing and exporting Parasolid®, importing UG-NX™, importing SolidWorks, importing and exporting GRANITE, and importing Pro/E directly with Inventor. Support for SolidWorks was added in this technology preview update.

The add-ins are applicable to Autodesk Inventor Professional 2008, Autodesk Inventor Suite 2008, and the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview. Adding capabilities to our Autodesk Inventor family is alive in the lab. Check it out.

Installing the Autodesk Inventor Translator Add-ins

A Ms. Richelle Feder from Fort Lee New Jersey writes:

Do the Translator Add-ins work for either Autodesk Inventor or the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview? How do I download the Translator Add-ins for Autodesk Inventor and the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview?

Although the translators were originally released for the Autodesk Inventor 2008 family, there were updated to include the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview when the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview was released. Here's a step by step process to downloading and installing a technology preview of the translator add-ins.

1. It all starts with the link on the Autodesk Labs home page.
   

2. Clicking the link takes you to the Translator Add-ins for Autodesk Inventor and the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview page.
   

3. Clicking on download takes you to a form where you provide a little bit of information:
   

4. Supplying the information and clicking submit initiates a download. Normally you specify that this file should be saved to a location on your local hard drive, e.g., C:\My Documents.
   

5. A dialog displays when the download is complete.
   

6. Optional: You can check the size of the downloaded file. The English ZIP file is 41.2MB.
   

7. Double-clicking on the downloaded ZIP file shows you its contents. It contains one EXE file.
   
   Select Extract to extract the EXE from the ZIP file.

8. Selecting Extract allows you to specify a location on your local hard drive, e.g., C:\temp.
   

9. Once extracted from the ZIP file, you should see the installer EXE.
   

10. Optional: You can check the size of the extracted file. The English EXE is 41.6MB.
    

11. Double-clicking on the extracted EXE file initiates an install.
    

12. You can scroll through, read, and accept the terms of use.
    

13. Clicking Next after accepting the terms of use prepares for the install.
    
    Clicking Next initiates the install.

14. A dialog appears when the install is complete.
    
    Click Finish.

Thanks for the question. With this technology preview, you can streamline projects that require opening files from vendors or customers in native formats. You can easily exchange data between Autodesk Inventor, UGS, and Pro/ENGINEER by importing and exporting Parasolid, import UG-NX, import and export GRANITE, and import Pro/E directly with Inventor. Adding capabilities to our Autodesk Inventor family of products is alive in the lab.

Technology Preview: Autodesk Inventor 2008 Parasolids and UG-NX Translators Now Available

At Autodesk we recognize that our customers sometimes work in mixed environments. With this in mind, we have posted a technology preview of Autodesk Inventor 2008 translators for Parasolids parts (Versions 9-18 of .x_t or .x_b files) and UG-NX™ parts /assemblies (Versions 3 and 4 of .prt files). These can be downloaded from the utilities area of Autodesk Labs:

http://labs.autodesk.com/download_labs.html

Autodesk Inventor users will find these translators similar to working with STEP or IGES files. Support for manufacturing data, regardless of format, is alive in the lab.