Inventor - Making Z Your Up Axis (Rather Than Y)
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Software : Autodesk Inventor
Level : Beginner
Description : By default Inventor sets the Y axis as UP. For architectural modeling this is a real in pain. If you import/export models they will come in sideways. In this quick video we will cover how to change that setting with the view cube. (Thanks to Josh Emig for teaching me this trick, and pretty much anything I know about inventor)
Topics Covered
- Flipping Z to Up Axis
- Resting Home View
Creative Commons
DesignReform.net by David Fano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at designreform.net.
David, In working with 3D modeling software (mechanical) for the past 19 years, I have never seen a system that treats the Y-axis as “Up” with the exception of Inventor, so I don’t think it is a “Mechanical vs. Architectural” discussion so much as a “Inventor just did it wrong” discussion.
well…. It may not be a Mechanical thing but a few apps use Y as up. The first ones that come to mind are Alias Studio and Maya. From what I have been told this originated from the way designers first interacted with design models. I’ll try to make this clear. I just spent 2 hours googleing this and couldn’t find much (Might be telling me something
) so here goes…. plan based design processes (loosely defined) were worked on mainly looking at object from the top or plan view which in turn resulted in a horizontal XY plane. Other fields (i’m thinking automotive) and Industrial Design work mainly in Elevation so the XY plane became vertical and the view out (towards the user) became Z. So the short version. Design fields that design in plan have Z up fields that design in elevation have Y up. I am going to keep looking for data to back this up but i have been running on this assumption for a while. Please let me know if you know different or if I am just plain WRONG. 
Thanks,
Dave
I was using Inventor 08 and I found the same trick (it might be the only way) to kind of “fix” this annoying orientation. I had talked to an Autodesk sale engineer about this issue and shown him how SolidWorks does in this matter. He totally agreed with me and had no clue why Inventor did it differently. Anyway, when you make a 2D drawing out of a solid model that is created in the “fixed” coordinates system (Z-up), the views of the model you are expecting will be oriented 90° in different ways. You might have to use Projected View couple times to get what you want.
Thanks to David Fano for showing the video.
I couldn’t agree more that Inventor did this WRONG. I find this very annoying and worst of all this fix has to be done per part/assembly. I strongly WISH & HOPE for some sort of “permanent” options fix.
This is a great tip to anyone not in the field of automotive field (i.e. everyone else, hehe)
Dave,
Thanks for the tip. I also suggest that after setting the view do a “Save As” and create a template from the view. I called mine something like “ArchStandard_Template.ipt” It makes it so you don’t have to do it again. You can also project the centerpoint and save that with your template so you can always have a reference to the part’s origin.
Dave,
Is there a way to redefine the front view in Inventor 2008?
Thanks,
Randy
David,
I am totally new to this and was wondering if you could take a minute and explain how I get the model to show in the upper right comer of your design space.
Thank you for your time, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU.
David,
Thanks for the video!
Everyone,
Zach’s suggestion to create a template is right on target. Creating a “company” tab with only your approved templates will ease the burden of setting up options in new parts/assemblies and help with the selection of desired styles for standards enforcement. From the pulldowns… Tools>> Application Options>> Part tab… “Sketch on New Part Creation”>> set to “Sketch on x-y plane”. Now, in the Sketch tab… “Autoproject part origin on sketch create”. Despite the quick example David shows, always, always, always relate your sketches to the origin and origin planes and axes! (google “BORN Technique”)
Tamas,
The ViewCube is only available in 2009?
Randy,
To redefine an isometric view
Click the 3D Rotate button on the Standard toolbar or press F4.
Press the spacebar to display the Common View tool.
Click a green direction arrow (turns red when selected) to reorient the view.
Right-click and select Redefine Isometric.
The Isometric view is similar to “Home View” in 2009 and is quickly restored with F6 or by rt-clicking an open area and selecting “Isometric view”.
Good luck and happy modeling,
JD
David,
Great info, thanks! I have written a link from a CAD/CAM system to Inventor using VBA and the API. Would you know how to do what you have demonstrated in your video via the Inventor API?
Regs,
Andrew.
Yes!!!! Don’t forget to do this “fix” in your template so you (nor your other users) will never have to fight this battle again.