00:03
THOM TREMBLAY: Welcome to an introduction
00:05
to Autodesk Inventor Studio.
00:07
Inventor studio has been a part of Inventor for many years
00:10
and is a tremendous tool for sharing visualizations
00:15
Let's pause for 30 seconds so that you can review
00:18
the safe harbor statement.
00:45
My name is Tom Tremblay, I'm a client Success Team Manager
00:50
I've been using CAD tools, including Autodesk
00:52
and for many, many years.
00:54
And in that time, I've worked with not
00:56
only commercial customers that use these tools as an advisor,
00:60
consultant, and trainer.
01:02
But I've also worked with education institutions as well.
01:05
And I've seen the positive benefit
01:08
that understanding these tools at a great depth can have.
01:12
Autodesk accelerators are designed
01:14
to help your team stay ahead of the curve with the latest
01:18
They include courses, videos, and live coaching, which
01:22
is what we're doing today.
01:24
You can see a full list of topics on the Customer Success
01:29
In this course, we will look at the fundamental tools
01:32
and workflows of Autodesk Inventor studio.
01:35
Before starting Inventor studio, we
01:37
will look at some of the standard View Options
01:39
for managing the appearance of a model.
01:41
We will then activate the Inventor studio environment
01:45
and review its tools.
01:47
After starting Inventor studio, we
01:49
will choose a different appearance
01:50
for the model in the studio scene to see the effect it has.
01:54
We will then do a rendering to see
01:56
how this basic change affects the appearance of the model.
01:60
Next, we will explore the built in lights,
02:03
modifying those lights, and creating
02:05
a new light in the scene.
02:07
Cameras allow you to build one or more alternative points
02:11
of view into the model that can be recalled.
02:14
All of these options come together in renderings.
02:17
And making modifications to any of them
02:19
can dramatically change the appearance
02:22
of the final product.
02:24
Finally, we will set up an animation
02:26
by relocating the camera.
02:29
Let's begin by reviewing some of the ways
02:31
to change the appearance of a model
02:33
in Inventor, before even entering the Inventor studio
02:38
The View tab in Inventor offers several options
02:40
to quickly change the appearance of a model in the design
02:44
This can be very useful if you just
02:46
need to generate a quick image to share
02:48
an idea with a colleague.
02:51
The visual styles pull down gives you
02:53
options that will display your model
02:55
from technical illustration, to wire-frame,
02:57
to a realistic mode, which can sometimes replace
03:00
the needs for rendering.
03:03
Graphics presets can change multiple options
03:05
at once quickly switching between preset styles
03:08
for displaying the model.
03:11
Ground model and ambient shadows can
03:13
be used to add another level of realism
03:15
to the display of the model.
03:18
Ground reflections can be turned off and on
03:20
for an artistic touch.
03:23
Inventor has many built in lighting styles that
03:25
can leverage one or more preset lights or hemispherical image
03:30
files that will generate highlights
03:32
and shadows on the model.
03:35
Some appearance overrides can apply not only a color
03:38
or a reflectivity level.
03:40
They can also appear to apply a physical texture
03:43
on the faces of the components.
03:46
Ray tracing is a rendering technology
03:48
that will use the lighting environment to reflect or cast
03:52
shadows on the model and allow one face to reflect off
03:57
Combining different options in the View tab
03:59
can give you dramatic results before you ever
04:02
enter Inventor studio.
04:04
But do not offer the level of image control and refinement
04:07
that Inventor studio does.
04:11
To activate the Inventor studio tools,
04:13
you will need to navigate to the environments tab
04:16
and select the Inventor studio tool in the begin panel.
04:20
The Inventor studio tools will then
04:22
be displayed on a temporary toolbar named render.
04:26
The tools are divided into three primary panels render, scene,
04:32
To leave Inventor studio, you can select Finnish Inventor
04:36
studio from this tab.
04:39
One of the easiest ways to affect how a model looks
04:42
is to change the appearance override applied
04:47
All physical materials applied to a model including
04:50
the default material have an appearance
04:52
associated with them.
04:54
These appearances can be edited or changed any time
04:59
It's not only possible to change the appearance of a component,
05:02
you can also change the appearance
05:04
of an individual face.
05:06
By selecting a component, or the face of a component
05:10
you can use the appearance pull down in the Quick Access
05:13
toolbar to change which appearance is being
05:15
applied to the selected entity.
05:18
Inventor comes with free standard appearance libraries
05:22
The Autodesk appearance library, the Autodesk material library,
05:27
and the Inventor material library.
05:30
If you make modifications to an appearance overwrite
05:33
in the model, that modified appearance
05:35
will also be stored in the model.
05:39
The appearance editor will take you
05:41
to a list of all of these appearance overrides currently
05:44
or previously used in the model.
05:47
Below that will be a list of the appearances
05:49
included in the active library.
05:52
Selecting one of these appearance overrides
05:54
and choosing Edit, will give you the ability
05:57
to modify individual elements of that appearance.
06:01
The options that are available for edit
06:03
are based on the type of material that was selected.
06:06
Types of metals offer different options
06:09
than plastics, glass, or wood.
06:12
A shortcut pull down can be found
06:14
in the lower left of the editing dialog that
06:17
will allow you to change the class of material you're
06:19
working with or duplicate the selected material
06:22
as a template for a new one.
06:25
Starting the render image tool, will open the render image
06:29
This dialogue has three tabs.
06:31
The General tab allows you to establish a custom
06:34
width their height for the image as well as
06:36
override the active camera or lighting
06:39
style if you choose to do so.
06:41
This saves you from having to change the active style
06:44
in the model to explore different options
06:46
for generating a rendered image.
06:49
The Output tab gives you the option
06:51
to preselect the file name, type, and location
06:54
for a saved image if you're sure that you
06:56
want to generate a file.
06:58
It's important to know that you can still save an image
07:01
file after previewing if you choose not to predefine a file.
07:06
The renderer tab will allow you to set a render duration based
07:10
on the time, number of iterations,
07:13
or use until satisfactory preview
07:16
to generate more iterations until you manually stop it.
07:20
You can also set the lighting and material accuracy and image
07:27
It's possible to create compelling visualizations using
07:30
just the tools on the View toolbar and Inventor.
07:34
Changing the visual style will immediately
07:36
give me noticeable results.
07:38
The options near the bottom of the list
07:40
are the more dramatic and artistic.
07:43
The options near the top will give you
07:45
more realistic results.
07:48
By choosing different shadow options,
07:50
I can also enhance the realism of the model
07:52
if that is what you're trying to accomplish.
07:56
Turning on ground reflections, can give my display
08:00
There are many lighting styles built into Inventor as well.
08:04
Most of them use image based lighting,
08:07
where a hemispherical image with light and dark portions
08:10
is reflected off or casts shadows on the model.
08:15
Switching between lighting styles
08:17
can showcase how dramatic the effect is.
08:20
If I have the realistic visual style active,
08:23
I can also engage ray tracing.
08:27
Ray tracing allows portions of the model to reflect off
08:30
other portions of the model.
08:33
Ray tracing will refine the image in iterations.
08:37
How many times it refines the image
08:39
will be based on the quality setting that's used.
08:42
At any time Inventor can export what is displayed in the design
08:46
window as an image file.
08:48
This is a quick way to generate what
08:51
some might view as a rendering.
08:53
To create more advanced and more highly refined images,
08:56
I will need to use the Inventor studio tools.
08:60
To activate Inventor studio, I switched
09:03
to the environment's tab and select Inventor
09:05
studio from the tools.
09:08
Immediately the model will update its visualization
09:11
and I see the render tab added to the toolbar.
09:15
On the render tab are the various tools
09:17
for Inventor studio.
09:19
These tools will give me great control
09:21
over how the model will appear and what options I
09:24
can use to generate renderings.
09:27
As a quick start, I will create a rendering of the current view
09:30
to see how it differs from what is currently displayed.
09:35
When I click the Render image tool,
09:37
I am presented with a dialog box where I can set the resolution.
09:41
I can also set whether the Active View or a camera is used
09:44
and what visual style is used to create an image.
09:49
On the Output tab, I can choose to automatically generate
09:52
an image file or I can wait to do this
09:54
after I preview the rendering.
09:58
The Render tab is used to figure out
09:59
how many times the image will be refined.
10:04
One option is to allow the image to update
10:06
until I stop it manually.
10:08
I can also change the quality level of the image created.
10:13
If I set the duration to a render time, of 1/2 second,
10:17
the image will refine itself as many times as possible
10:24
How many times that is will depend
10:25
on the complexity of the rendering
10:27
scene and the computer hardware that I'm using.
10:31
At the end of the process, I can use continue rendering
10:34
to run the cycle again.
10:36
When the image is good enough, I can select the file format
10:42
Closing the Preview window I can quickly
10:44
make any changes such as setting the rendering
10:47
to refine until I manually stop it.
10:50
Rendering until I get what I want.
10:55
After you're satisfied with the appearance of the model itself,
10:59
you can apply any stock lighting style
11:01
or add custom lights to enhance the rendering scene.
11:05
Global lighting styles are built into Autodesk Inventor
11:08
and are the same lighting styles that you
11:10
will find in the normal modeling environment.
11:13
You can create a rendering using the lighting style that
11:16
was active when you entered Inventor studio
11:19
or you can activate a different lighting style
11:21
while in Inventor studio.
11:24
Activating a different lighting style
11:26
will automatically create a local lighting style
11:30
You can then edit that local lighting style
11:33
to change how it affects the appearance of the model.
11:36
And for image based lighting styles,
11:38
choose whether the scene image is visible.
11:41
Any edits you make to a local lighting style
11:44
can be exported for use in other files.
11:47
Local lights can also be added to the scene as spotlights
11:52
These lights can have their positions set and edited
11:55
for complete control.
11:57
The color, intensity, and fall off can also be edited.
12:02
These lights can be activated or deactivated at any time
12:05
and can be included in a scene with a local lighting style.
12:10
Cameras can also be used to quickly capture or restore
12:13
a point of view of the model.
12:16
Cameras can be added in Inventor studio at any time.
12:20
You can also create any number of cameras
12:22
to switch between or restore their view position.
12:26
Cameras can also be copied to create multiple similar cameras
12:31
A camera can easily be created from any current point of view
12:36
Once created, you can edit the properties of that camera.
12:40
A camera can also be created from scratch
12:42
by selecting a target on the model
12:44
and then establishing the position of the camera.
12:48
Camera options also include projection type, role angle,
12:52
and Zoom which will set the field of view
12:56
Depth of field can be used to set focus limits
12:58
to add a blur effect.
13:01
For many users, completing the selection of materials,
13:04
lighting, and cameras is just the beginning of the rendering
13:08
Once you've created a rendering with your initial settings,
13:11
you can begin the experimentation
13:14
to refine the image that you are creating.
13:17
Making even small changes to the various elements
13:20
of the rendering scene, can have a huge impact on the quality
13:24
and visual appeal of the rendered image.
13:27
Many of these changes can be made directly from the render
13:32
Changes made to the appearance override
13:34
will affect the model outside of the Inventor studio
13:39
Cameras and lighting styles are often
13:41
edited together to get the maximum effect
13:44
for the active camera position.
13:47
The addition of local lights can also
13:49
have a dramatic effect on the rendered image.
13:54
To set up the primary lighting in a scene,
13:56
I will use Studio lighting style.
13:60
After selecting a couple of options,
14:02
I will use dry salt bed.
14:04
By activating this global lighting style,
14:07
its image for lighting and its settings
14:09
will be copied to a local lighting style.
14:12
Now it's possible to edit the values for exposure,
14:16
rotation of the image around the model,
14:19
and the scale of the environment.
14:21
It's also an option to display the scene image.
14:29
When I'm done editing, I will save the changes
14:35
To test the settings, I will render the image
14:38
and set the lighting style to dry salt bed.
14:41
I will also limit the number of iterations
14:43
by setting the rendered time to one minute.
14:49
The image looks pretty good, but I want to add a little color.
14:56
I will create a local light, in this case
14:58
a point light normal to the main cylindrical surface
15:06
After setting the color to yellow
15:08
and trying some intensity options.
15:13
I'll run another test rendering to see what it looks like.
15:18
It looks better, but now I want to be
15:20
able to better frame the image.
15:26
To do this, I will create a camera in the scene.
15:30
Since I already like the point of view I have in the model,
15:34
I will create a camera based on the current view.
15:38
To do this, I can right click anywhere in the design window
15:41
and select Create camera from view on the context menu.
15:49
I can also do this on the camera icon in the browser.
15:53
This will immediately capture a new camera
15:55
and place the icon on the center of the screen.
15:59
Rotating the model, I will see the icon is really
16:02
the back of the camera.
16:04
A target is also created on the model.
16:11
With the right click on the camera,
16:13
or target in the design window, or the camera in the browser,
16:17
I can edit the placement of these objects.
16:21
Clicking and dragging on the frame that is displayed
16:23
will change the zoom factor.
16:26
The frame that is displayed is the edge
16:28
of the image that will be generated by the rendering.
16:32
If I want to restore the view on the screen
16:34
to that of the camera, I can right
16:36
click on the active camera in the browse
16:38
and select Setup view to camera.
16:43
After making some final adjustments,
16:45
I will rerun a rendering to test the view taking care
16:48
to set the camera from the current view to camera 1.
16:54
After reviewing the results, I'm happy with the placement
16:57
of camera 1 and want to create another camera
16:60
to be able to develop an optional point of view
17:02
for another rendering.
17:05
A camera can be created by selecting
17:06
a target and the position and then modifying them
17:09
from scratch rather than setting them based on a point of view.
17:14
All of the same options apply.
17:16
And when I'm done creating a second camera,
17:18
I'll run a rendering using this new camera
17:21
to see how it appears.
17:26
I can further refine the rendering
17:27
by making changes to the appearance of the model
17:30
to give it a little bit more realistic presentation.
17:36
I'll change the model to steal cast,
17:38
but not all of the critical features
17:40
are left in a cast state.
17:42
For those, I'll select the individual faces
17:45
to make them appear as though they've
17:47
been machined or polished using the steel polished override.
17:53
Any of these appearance overwrites
17:55
can be edited in the model as well.
17:57
I can edit the steel cast appearance
17:59
to reduce the glossiness somewhat,
18:01
to create even more contrast between the main body
18:04
of the part and the machined surfaces.
18:08
Now I can experiment with a few of the lighting styles
18:11
and see if any of them give me a finished rendering that is
18:14
closer to what I'm looking for.
18:19
The preview makes it easy to compare different lighting
18:22
styles on the current setup of the model with my cameras.
18:28
I'll try a few different styles with the ability
18:32
to stop the rendering at any point
18:34
and change the option I'm using.
18:38
When I refine when I like, I can edit it to refine it further.
18:52
Many of the elements of the rendering scene
18:54
can be animated over time.
18:56
These changes can be captured in a video file.
19:01
Many of the key elements of a scene
19:02
can be modified during an animation.
19:05
Components can move or be made to fade or appear over time.
19:09
Assembly constraints can be modified
19:11
to separate components.
19:13
Critical parameters of components
19:15
can be modified to show apart changing size
19:18
or to show features changing size.
19:21
An easy way to show a mechanism functioning in an assembly
19:25
is to transition the assembly between two
19:27
positional representations over time.
19:30
Cameras can change position or focus
19:33
and lights can be turned off and on
19:35
to highlight areas or provide special effects
19:38
such as illuminated components.
19:41
Every action in the animation is displayed
19:44
as a bar in the timeline.
19:46
The length and position of the bar
19:48
displays the timing and duration of the event.
19:52
Moving the play-head or using the animation controls
19:55
in the upper left of the timeline,
19:57
will give a preview of the events in the animation.
20:00
Sliding the bar to a new location on the timeline
20:03
will change the timing of the event.
20:05
And clicking and dragging on the end of the bar
20:08
will change the duration.
20:10
Double clicking on an event will reopen the editing dialog.
20:15
Rendering an animation is essentially
20:17
rendering a series of images that
20:19
will create the individual image files or the individual frames
20:24
To generate an animation, you will
20:26
need to select the output type that you want.
20:29
The resolution for the video can also
20:31
be set to a specific width and height,
20:33
or use presets of standard resolutions.
20:37
The animation output duration can be started or ended
20:41
independently of the time frame set in the animation setup.
20:44
But the overall duration cannot exceed what was defined
20:48
in the animation setup.
20:50
The frame rate value divides each second of the duration
20:54
into that many individual renderings.
20:56
When rendering, iteration values can
20:59
be set to define the level of quality for each frame.
21:03
Many elements can be animated inside of Inventor studio.
21:07
There are more options available when
21:09
you're working with multiple components
21:11
or in the context of an assembly.
21:14
Events can be created for relocating cameras, components,
21:18
changing the offset values of assembly constraints,
21:21
and even changing the visibility or intensity of lights.
21:25
Every event in an animation is captured in the timeline
21:29
where you can get a good visual of when the event will occur
21:32
and how long it will occur.
21:35
To begin creating an animation, I
21:37
can select any of the animate actions
21:40
or simply select the animation Timeline tool
21:43
from the animation panel.
21:46
The timeline will appear at the bottom of the design window.
21:49
The length of the planned animation can be changed
21:52
and any acceleration of events at the beginning or the end
21:55
can be set in the dialogue.
21:60
To animate a camera, I will need to choose
22:02
which camera I am animating and specify the time
22:06
span that the animation will occur across.
22:10
Then I will need to refine what will happen
22:13
with the camera in that event.
22:17
To do this, I can relocate a target or the camera position.
22:23
I can also change the Zoom factor and camera rotation.
22:30
A simple option that I could use would
22:32
be to create a turntable for the camera
22:34
to move all the way around the model.
22:37
I can also set acceleration for starting or completing
22:43
After I click OK, a band will appear in the timeline
22:46
where camera 1 has been added.
22:49
This band will reflect when the animation of the camera
22:55
To be able to play the animation and see the results,
22:58
I will need to make sure that the appropriate camera is
23:00
selected on the timeline so that the animation comes
23:04
from a rendered point of view.
23:08
Playing the animation on screen will show me
23:10
what my camera movements look like.
23:15
The animation controls on the timeline
23:17
will allow me to rewind or even play the animation backward.
23:26
If I click or drag on either end of the event,
23:28
it will allow me to shorten or lengthen it.
23:33
Clicking and dragging in the middle of the event
23:35
will allow me to relocate when the event occurs
23:41
Once I have the event set up I can then render the animation.
23:48
The render animation tool has the same fundamental functions
23:51
as the render image tool.
23:53
It does still have the feature of setting the amount of time
23:56
that I want animating or reversing the animation.
24:00
This time must be equal to or less
24:03
than the length that was specified in the animation.
24:06
I can choose whether the animation
24:08
will be generated as a video or a series of images.
24:12
The frame rate will dictate how many images are
24:15
rendered per second of video.
24:19
To preview what the animation would look like at a selected
24:22
resolution, I can preview it without rendering each frame.
24:28
On the renderer tab, I can set up
24:30
the same render duration options that I had in render image.
24:33
But in this case, the render duration
24:36
is defining how many iterations will be created per frame.
24:41
If I choose 15 frames per second with a duration of 32
24:45
iterations, a five second video would need 2,400 iterations
24:54
When I begin the render, Inventor
24:56
will ask me for a file name and offer me
24:58
the opportunity to select whether I want a WMV, or an AVI
25:04
In addition, I will need to select a codec or quality level
25:10
If the preview is satisfactory, I
25:12
can rerun the rendering with the frames
25:15
to be rendered and generate the final product.
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