About Adding Dimensions to Inventor Link Drawing Views (AutoCAD Mechanical Toolset)

Note: Inventor Link is available only on 64-bit systems, and it is not installed by default.

Inventor Link exposes you to two types of dimensions; parametric dimensions and reference dimensions. A parametric dimension controls a parametric part feature. If you change the dimension, you change the part. You place a reference dimension on a part in Drawing mode. Unlike parametric dimensions, reference dimensions do not control parts but follow modifications to the part. Inventor Link gives you the ability to display parametric dimensions defined in Inventor and add reference dimensions in AutoCAD Mechanical toolset.

Although Inventor Link can read parametric dimensions from the part/assembly file, it is unable to display parametric dimensions on a drawing view unless you transfer the parametric dimension information from the model to the drawing views. In the Options dialog box, you can configure AutoCAD Mechanical toolset to transfer parametric dimension information automatically when you generate the base view. However, in some cases (for example a drawing view of an assembly that looks cluttered when all parametric dimensions appear), transferring parametric dimensions is not desirable. In such cases, you can opt not to transfer parametric dimensions automatically, but to transfer parametric dimensions manually after you create the view.

Once parametric dimensions appear, you can use the AMPOWERDIM or AMAUTODIM command to add more dimensions as required. Such dimensions act as reference dimensions.

AutoCAD Mechanical toolset also provides the capability to hide dimensions by type.

Although it is possible to double-click and override parametric dimensions (for example, add tolerances) we do not recommend it. Whenever you update the layout or drawing view, the program discards all overrides. Instead of overriding parametric dimensions, you can delete the parametric dimension and replace it with a reference dimension created with the AMPOWERDIM command.