I must admit, I often ignore updates to Autodesk software. I am always reluctant to make changes to the computers in our CAD lab if everything is running smoothly.
However, after learning of a new feature in Autodesk Inventor 2023, I had to download and install the latest update immediately! This update actually happened in Inventor 2023.1, but you can simply install the most recent update, 2023.2, which includes the previous updates as well.
The scenario: I am in the sketch mode, and I have some geometry that I would like to add the horizontal or vertical constraint to. In the example below, I want to make this line horizontal.
I select the Horizontal constraint:
I hover over the line, but it appears to be trying to make it vertical. Hopefully I catch this before I click. Unfortunately I often click first before I realize the issue.
Why is this happening? More often than not, it is because the view has been rotated. Take a closer look at the ViewCube:
The view has been rotated. Rarely this is because I changed it myself. Instead, I started a sketch on a surface, and that is the way it was oriented.
The old solution: click the Vertical constraint instead, since that is technically the correct constraint.
The new solution: With Inventor 2023.1, you can now hold the [Shift] key at the keyboard, and the horizontal constraint will change to the vertical constraint! Of course, this works the opposite way (hold [Shift] while in the vertical constraint to switch to horizontal).
This is such a great time saver! It works really well when placing multiple constraints. I can hold [Shift] to cycle back and forth. The workflow reminds me a lot of Trim/Extend in AutoCAD.
Check out the short video to see it in action!
Where do you get the update? Just run the Autodesk Desktop App from your desktop, then look for the Inventor update!
Between CAD Classes 