Tips for generating frames

Frame members

• Frame Generator supports assemblies and weldments.
• Frame members cannot be inserted on closed curves (like circle, ellipse). If closed curves are involved, use the standard sweep feature in Autodesk Inventor to complete the insertion.
• Frame Generator does not consider bending practices or bend deformation according to established manufacturing standards. As a result, you can create sharp bends that cannot actually be manufactured due to material or manufacturing process limitations.
• Frame Generator support of Positional representations is limited to changes in the frame only. Individual frame members do not move relative to one another, although they can move or rotate together.

  Setting transformation to a frame member occurrence does not affect the parent assembly when the frame document is in Positional representation.

• You can promote and demote frame members in the browser using the context menu. Ensure that the subassemblies that contain the frame members are grounded after demoting. The drag function is not available for promoting or demoting frame members in the browser.
• Frames must be encapsulated in an assembly to apply kinematics. A frame can be placed in a deep-level subassembly. In that case, perform an in-place edit on its parent assembly before you use any Frame Generator commands. Only entities inside a parent assembly can be selected for Frame Generator commands.
• Frames are automatically updated while you edit the skeleton model. To ensure best performance of Frame update, put only skeleton lines for locating frame members into a skeleton model.
• Keep the reference skeleton model in sync with the Frame assembly. Each frame member must have a corresponding line in the reference skeleton part. Consistency between the frame assembly and the reference skeleton model can be broken if you:

  Replace the reference skeleton components

  Replace the reference skeleton file on disk

  Check out inconsistent skeleton files from the Vault.

• Use a frame assembly to organize structural members under an assembly. A single assembly can have only one frame assembly.

End treatments

• Frame end treatments of a rail on a spline are not directly supported in Frame Generator. If splines or arc segments are involved, you can add a straight segment at the end and use the automated functionality for end treatments. You can also use the standard editing commands in Autodesk Inventorto complete end treatments.
• If you create frame members using multiple edges and the Merge feature, you cannot apply automatic end treatments to them with Frame Generator commands. Instead, you can apply cuts and trims using standard modeling commands within Autodesk Inventor to edit the part directly.
• Frame Generator does not have multiple end treatment commands. You can complete multiple end treatments by accumulating basic end treatments.
• You can specify a notch profile during the authoring of a structural shape, and then apply it to cut another frame during the Notch process.

Drawing manager, parts lists, and BOMs

• With Frame Generator, you can extract end treatments on individual structural members in bills of material (BOMs) and parts lists.
• Frame members are based on the same standard, family, and size as Metal Shapes in the Content Center. Frame members created with Frame Generator have identical Stock Numbers to the numbers found in Content Center.
• Frame Generator leaves the Part Number blank when the frame member is created.
  Note: If the Part Number is left blank, Autodesk Inventor populates the file name for a part number upon creation. You can change this part number.
• The part name follows standard Autodesk Inventor behavior by defaulting to the file name for each frame member. Once you save file names that include length, use Design Assistant, Vault, or other manual methods to update them.
• Frame Generator provides a mechanism for automatically organizing, naming, and saving under a file name.
• Skeletal frame models default to a Reference state in BOM structure.