CAD problems

[marley4070]

So I've been working on AutoCAD 2011 and I've encountered a few problems.

1. When importing/inserting new blocks to a current project the blocks come out half size.

2. I changed my units from centimeters to inches in a 3 dimensional drawing, but when dimensioning, the units still appeared as centimeters. eg. a c-channel measuring 70 centimeters still appeared as 70 centimeters after changing the units to inches.

Any information or solutions regarding these problems is greatly appreciated.

-Marley

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Marley,
Autocad gives you an incredible amount of flexibility to automate certain tasks and to set defaults for just about anything you can do.
For the insertion, you likely have the insert variable set to 0.5 for the insertion scale or the original part was drawn half scale. Just watch the prompts on the screen and see what the default is. If you just hit return, Acad will accept the default.
For dimensioning, you have to set the units within the dimension style dialog. This is where you can change the font of the dimension text, scale factors, arrows and offsets for the dimension lines, etc.

[marley4070]

Thanks! I'm not used to using 2011 just yet. I started using the 2004 version of CAD and just upgraded to 2011, the differences between the two versions are insane. I really appreciate the help. I have a manual but I haven't gone through it to much extent yet. I'm hoping to get more acquainted with the program.
Again, thank you, I really appreciate the help.

[team1512]

We have been having trouble opening the .stp, .asm and .15 files that we got from here:

http://www.catalogds.com/db/service?d=first&c=browse

We ttrie opening them in google sketchup, adn then AutoDesk Inventor PRO, but no such luck either place. Any suggestions?
-1512

[skotmorris]

You need to download the CAD files from Autodesk if you intend to use them in Inventor. These models are from PTC and will only work with Creo Elements/Pro 5.0 or Creo 1.0.

[kcd-adskmfg]

Team 1512,

You can find all of the parts for FRC 2012 for Autodesk Inventor Professional at http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=kitofparts_view

There are also parts from 2011 and 2010 formats in the parts library.

I know that you are working with AutoCAD right now but please remember that you can get Autodesk Inventor Professional 2010, 2011 or 2012 free as a FIRST team member.

We are also offering free Inventor training materials for all these versions through our partner, 4DLearning which may help get you moving on the new user interface. http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=cadlearning

Hopefully this will help you and your team moving forward.

Kim Campbell-Djuric
Autodesk, Inc.