You can retrieve a previous version of the file in the OldVersions folder (the one in the directory which your part file is in). I don’t remember how many versions back it keeps, but it’s worth a try to go back to a version before you cut the part.
The Old Versions Folder seems to keep, not previous versions of you model, but your model as formats old versions can open (eg. STEP). These might be old versions of your model, I haven’t opened them, but there is only one STEP file (and one other file that apparently goes with the STEP file) for each item for me.
Actually, I believe it opens the last version previous to the currently saved version. So, if you have a file pSprocket.ipt, in the OldVersions folder you might find a part file pSprocket.0016. When you open the old part file, you will be presented with a dialog giving you choices of Open old version, Restore old version to current or Open current version.
I haven’t found any setting for the number of previous versions it keeps, so it appears you can only go back to before you last saved.
Now that build season is over I am expected to make a detailed 3D model of our completed bot. I already have a model of our bot when it was about 1/2 finished and it slows down even the Dell XPS that we have. Does anyone know of anyway that would make the best use of RAM (without comprimising too much detail) or making the process go faster.
I don’t know how you will get an accurate model of the robot when it’s in the box in storage. I wish you luck and email me at jdiwnab at gmail dot com if I can get you some part.
Reguarding you computer issue, I don’t know what is in that computer. I have a 1.9GHz AMD with 768MB RAM at it olnly really slows up when I try to get a complex array (like when I was doing the tread last night (190 instances:mad:)) or if I am trying to import a CD in iTunes in the background. There might be some settings to lower the level of detail the Inventor displays (like the shiny reflections on chrome) but their isn’t much you can do. Inventor just takes up a lot of power. If there is another computer available to you, try to move to it.
This is a chronic problem when building an Inventor model with a lot of multi-featured parts. Here are some things which may help:
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You can never have too much RAM or too good a graphics card. 1 GB is the practical minimum for large assembly modelling. You will need an OpenGL compliant graphics card with as much on-board video RAM as you can afford. The latter is especially important when you do constraint-driven animations of large assemblies. Another factor here: whenever possible, run just the CAD application; log out of IM, kill your Internet browser, etc. Every little bit helps.
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Divide and conquer: Divide the robot into sub-assemblies, such as chassis, gripper, arm, etc. and complete them separately as much as possible before putting them together for the full robot assembly.
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The devil is in the details: Use simplified models of things like gears, chains and other commercial components which have a zillion features and surfaces. For gears, make a model which has all of the gear’s features except the teeth. For chains, make a solid “belt” which shows the path and space occupied by the chain. Add fine details like screws, nuts, etc. only after you have all your parts finished.
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Stay with a plain background in your modeling display. To reduce the load on your graphics card, avoid putting a pretty picture in as your background until you are ready to do your screenshots.
Lastly, Be Patient. When you work with the whole robot assembly model, expect the file to take several minutes to open, and take the time save your work frequently.
Thanks for the help, I will give these methods a go. I checked up on the hardware on our computer and i found out that it had 2G of RAM. That is more than I knew could be put on.
I havn’t even started with gears and chains yet and I’m not looking forward to it. I have to mess with the cable/harness feature. If anybody has any tips regarding cables please help me.
All that I know is what I have taught myself through the tutorials (nobody at my school had ever heard of Inventor).
Thanks a million.
I am struggling with both chain and wires. I had XP SP2 and had to unstall it even to get any wiring to work. I think Inventor 8 pro is built of NT or somthing, beucase it donesn’t work well with XP.
As far as chain goes, I found a thread about it that had a link to download real chain. But you must constrain it link by link and then find some way of putting it on you bot. I think that some shiny and bumpy band will do it. See How much more complicated yet better looking the real chain is?
On wires, I couldn’t get real wires to route so I used segments to trace out the path then adjusted how they looked to take the place of wires.
I used the same painstaking method to make the rope we used on things
How would you constrain them so that they would actually turn when you moved the arm, or is there a way to do that at all?
The chain was for are drive system. I haven’t gotton the realish chain to fit on the sprockets right, but the fakish chain is just a static band. We didn’t use chain for are arm. If the chain you plan on using is a straight loop (like in drive and simple arms, not the expanding arms that seem to work so great), then just make a loop with the bumps like I did.