Description
The Content Center is an invaluable Inventor tool primarily used to store standard components and drive design accelerators, such as Frame Generator, Tube and Pipe, and Bolted Connections. Due to the Content Center database structure, there are several advantages for product design and data manipulation. One advantage is to replace large iPart tables with Content Center families. Simply publishing these large families to a custom Content Center Library will greatly reduce the amount of time required to place and modify these components versus placing them via the iPart table. We’ll also explore customization techniques offered in the Family table, but particularly via the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet linking. Editing Family tables within Excel unleashes all the power the spreadsheet tools have to offer, simplifying data coordination. Finally, we’ll use iLogic to extend the data within the Family table to solve the vexing problem of automatically establishing part numbers for Tube and Pipe Conduit parts.
Key Learnings
- Learn how to replace cumbersome iPart tables and save time when placing former iPart components with Content Center families
- Learn about control component numeric values with custom column expressions
- Learn how to use external Excel spreadsheets to drive data consistency
- Learn how to automatically integrate parts numbers into tube and pipe conduit data