The ADN Plugin of the Month program provides would-be developers with source code that they can examine to learn how easy it is to extend Autodesk design application functionality.
ADN Plugin of the Month on Autodesk Labs
In addition to providing the source code, the ADN team often updates the plugins in response to customer feedback so that these plugins are not only educational, but useful to customers who might not have aspirations of ever programming. Such is the case with this month's thread modeler for Autodesk Inventor.
Chris Hutchinson from Charlotte, North Carolina wrote in. Chris is the Design Tech. at a machine shop and uses Inventor 2012 for creation of parts and metal fabrication drawings. So he noticed immediately that the plugin was not creating the proper coil rotation for the threads it created, so he inquired:
After trying ThreaderModeler 1.1, I noted that it cuts Left Hand threads from Inventor 2012 as Right Hand threads and Right Hand threads from Inventor 2012 as Left Hand threads. When I edited the coil to change the rotation, Inventor 2012 crashed to the desktop. I am using Win7 64-bit OS.
Developer Consultant, Philippe Leefsma, sprang into action and updated the plugin. On Friday I placed in on the Labs site for download. Please take it for a turn and let us know what you think at [email protected].
Ensuring the left hand knows what the right hand is doing is alive in the lab.