From the XML export from Autodesk Inventor Professional (AIP) into AutoCAD Electrical, you can select from a list of connectors defined in the export, and then place the connectors onto a 2D drawing file. After the connectors are inserted onto the drawing, click Wire on the Connector Selection dialog box to place all wire connections to all components on the drawing file. AutoCAD Electrical parses the file data to determine all wire From and To connections. Once the wiring information is determined, the wires are routed making sure to miss existing geometry on the drawing. The wire insertion tool finds the best possible route with the fewest amount of wire loops in between the connection reducing the requirement on gap pointers. The wires are connected in the appropriate position on the connector representation.
As the wires are inserted, the wire types in the XML file are applied to the Wire Layer in the AutoCAD Electrical drawing. Additionally, wire numbers and cable marker symbols are inserted onto the drawing. The wire numbers are inserted following the drawing's wire number setting (above wire, in-line with wire, or below wire). The first cable marker listed in the XML file is inserted as the parent and the subsequent markers of the same reference designator (Cable Tag) are inserted as children.
Certain Autodesk Inventor Professional wire property names need to be maintained inside of AutoCAD Electrical. You must make sure that your column header names (set in the Rename User Columns dialog box) match the property names coming out of the Autodesk Inventor Professional XML export (set in the Autodesk Inventor Custom Properties dialog box). For example, the property CORE SIZE maps to a user column of the Create/Edit Wire Type dialog box if there is a column header defined as "CORE SIZE." If mapping does not exist then the data is not maintained inside of your AutoCAD Electrical drawing file.
Autodesk Inventor Professional properties mapped to AutoCAD Electrical attributes
There are four Autodesk Inventor Professional assembly entity types that get general and custom properties: component occurrences, Wire (From/To) occurrences, cable occurrences, and splice occurrences.
|
Property Name |
AIP Property Type |
Description |
|
Component Properties |
||
|
Connector REF DES |
Occurrence |
Component RefDes - TAG1 attribute in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
PART NUMBER |
Definition |
Autodesk Inventor part number - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
VENDOR |
Definition |
Manufacturer - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
STRIP LENGTH |
Definition, Custom |
Save on component - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Definition, Custom |
Defined in the component library definition (part editing) - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Occurrence, Custom |
Defined in the harness occurrence level - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Wire Properties |
||
|
Wire ID |
Occurrence |
Unique wire number ID (occurrence name) - AutoCAD Electrical wire number; WIRENO attribute in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Wire Definition |
Definition |
Wire library definition data saved in Cable & Harness library XML - wire layer name in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Definition, Custom |
Defined in the wire library definition (part editing) - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Occurrence, Custom |
Defined in the harness occurrence level - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Cable Properties |
||
|
Cable ID |
Occurrence |
Unique cable ID - TAG 1 attribute in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Cable Definition |
Definition |
Cable library definition data saved in Cable & Harness library XML - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Cable Wire Name |
Definition |
Cable conductor ID - RATING1 attribute in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Definition, Custom |
Defined in the cable library definition (part editing) - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Occurrence, Custom |
Defined in the harness occurrence level - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Splice Properties |
||
|
Splice ID |
Occurrence |
Unique splice ID - TAG1 attribute in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Splice Definition |
Definition |
Splice library definition data saved in Cable & Harness Library XML - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Definition, Custom |
Defined in the splice library definition (part editing) - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
|
Various user-defined * |
Occurrence, Custom |
Defined in the harness occurrence level - Xdata in AutoCAD Electrical |
* Properties that are not defined in Autodesk Inventor Professional but are still usable in AutoCAD Electrical.