Requirements for Autodesk Inventor project

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Working with Autodesk Vault requires a Vault type project from Autodesk Inventor. Woodwork for Inventor also supports this type of project, but there are a few nuances that need to be taken into account in order to organise the smooth running of the system.

 

The Woodwork for Inventor extension works/interacts with user-created material libraries in Autodesk Inventor. These libraries and their supporting texture image files are hosted in the designated location during installation of Woodwork for Inventor. You can read more about it here.

 

When working with Autodesk Vault, it is important that the texture image files are moved to the Autodesk Vault working directory. Failure to do so results in various glitches as the component writes down texture paths that are outside the working directory during the Check In to Autodesk Vault system.

 

Moving the texture files to a new location disrupts the work of the component database and the material link command of the Woodwork for Inventor extension, because the paths of the images at the specified items will still lead to the old location. To overcome this problem, the image wizard has to be run. You can read about it here – Asset Wizard.

 

hmtoggle_plus1Autodesk Inventor projects settings

 

The installation of the Woodwork for Inventor extension involves the creation of catalogues which are filled with relevant content. These catalogs contain the Woodwork for Inventor material and color database, furniture component library, furniture prototypes and several item samples which may be used to explore the extension features. In addition, the extension provides a Woodwork for Inventor project which needs to be turned on in order to use the above-mentioned data. The location of this project is specified during installation. It is recommended that this project be activated before starting to use the extension.

 

The project has the following default spaces:

<Location specified during installation>\W4INV 2025 (or 2024, or 2023) Design\

PROJECTS\ - work space where all designed wooden products are placed.

Samples - samples of pre-designed items.

LIBRARY\ - initial database of library components used for item construction.

_LIBRARY\ - copies of library components used in models.

 

Public Documents\

Woodwork for Inventor\ - contains additional files supporting the extension.

\BOM templates - contains specification templates.

\2025 (or 2024, or 2023) - indicates version of Autodesk Inventor software.

W4INV Material Library.adsklib - Autodesk Inventor material library created by the user to ensure smooth operation of the extension.

\V14 - indicates version of Woodwork for Inventor software.

\Auto Plot Templates - contains drawing templates.

\Units Settings - units setting files.

\Postprocessors settings - contains setting files of Post-processors.

\Woodwork.db - materials DB.

Textures - sub-catalogue contains images required for defining materials and colors

 

 

 

1.Run Autodesk Inventor software.

2.Open Autodesk Inventor project dialog window.

AI_pasiruosimas_1_7

 

 

3.Click "Browse" in the project dialog window.

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4.By double mouse click choose W4INV 2025 (or 2024, or 2023) Projects.

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5.Click "Done" in the project dialog window.

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If you want to work with the data from your previous projects and use Woodwork for Inventor features, make the following changes in your project:

 

1.In the Appearance Libraries and Material Libraries sections of your project add the Autodesk Inventor material library used by the add-on which is located at:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Woodwork for Inventor\2025 (or 2024, or 2023) \W4INV Material Library.adsklib

 

2.Specify the following paths in the Libraries section:

Library - C:\W4INV 2025 (or 2024, or 2023) Design\LIBRARY - the path to the Woodwork for Inventor components data base.

_Library - C:\W4INV 2025 (or 2024, or 2023) Design\_LIBRARY - the path to the Woodwork for Inventor proxy components data base.

Textures - C:\Users\Public\Documents\Woodwork for Inventor\Textures - the path to the pictures used in the W4INV Material  Library.adsklib

 

 
hmtoggle_plus1Asset Wizard

 

Sometimes, users have to change the location of data used in the design procedures. This usually happens when several designers in the organization want to use the library of standard components in a centralized manner and keep one joint material database. This is also the case, when the user starts working with Autodesk Vault. Autodesk Vault document check in procedure strictly requires that all documents related to links and components are taken from locations in the project spaces of Autodesk Vault. If the existing work has been stored in the specific locations, this requirement may not be met and such transfer of data to a designated network location may cause the following problems:

 

1.When moving component libraries, the components fail to detect images used inside the component to describe materials and appearance.

2.Component drawings may contain links to texture images. Upon moving them to a new location or relocating the texture image library, the link to the image may stop functioning.

3.Various links to other files within the component may become incorrect, because they refer to files outside the Autodesk Vault project.

4.When moving material and appearance assets database, descriptions of materials and colours fail to detect images which constitute a critical part of the descriptive information for certain materials.

5.Woodwork for Inventor extension material database Woodwork.db contains old links to texture images.

 

Eliminating these problems requires extensive manual effort. To facilitate the migration, Asset Wizard should be used.

The wizard will automatically eliminate inconsistencies; the following three steps are available here:

 

1.Material and Appearance Assets Library Update - old paths of texture images are replaced by paths to new storage location for the selected Autodesk Inventor material and appearance assets library.

2.Components for Material and Appearance Assets Update – links to different files for the components stored in the active project directories selected by the user are updated.

3.Woodwork for Inventor Materials Database Update – links to texture images for Woodwork for Inventor database are updated.

 

Asset Wizard works with the active Autodesk Inventor project. To access the necessary components, it is necessary to make sure that the active Autodesk Inventor project has Woodwork for Inventor or other material and appearance assets libraries created by the user. It is also important that the Workspace of the project includes directories, in which the updated components (including library components) are stored. Each of the above steps of Asset Wizard may be skipped by selecting "Skip this step" in the menu.

 

Important!

Once you open Autodesk Inventor project, for which new locations of Autodesk Inventor materials libraries and textures have been specified, it is recommended to close and re-open the Autodesk Inventor software. Otherwise, the step, in which component links to texture images are updated, slows down significantly.

 

Asset Wizard is only opened when no documents are opened in Autodesk Inventor.

 

Asset Wizard