To Publish to 3D PDFs with Task Scheduler

Use Task Scheduler to export multiple models to 3D PDF files in a batch process.

1. To open Task Scheduler, on the Start menu, click Programs Autodesk Autodesk Inventor [version] Tools Task Scheduler.

2. In the Inventor Task Scheduler window, create or edit a Publish 3D PDF task:

   • To create a Publish 3D PDF task, on the menu, click Create Task Publish 3D PDF.

   • To display a list of Publish 3D PDF tasks, click Publish 3D PDF. Then right-click an existing task, and click Edit.

     Tip: To run an existing task immediately, right-click the task, and click Run. You may need to enable the task first.

3. In the Publish 3D PDF dialog box, specify files and folders to include in the Publish 3D PDF task:

   • Select a Project file.

   • Click Add Files, locate a file, and click Open.

     To change name of the exported file, click . Then in the Save As dialog box, edit the Filename, and click Save.

   • Click Add Folder, locate a folder, and click OK.

     All valid IAM and IPT files stored in the selected folder are included in the Publish 3D PDF task. To include only one type of models, click the Input File Name field, and select a file type from the list.

     To exclude subfolders, clear the Recursive mark.

   • To change the output folder for an input file or folder, in the Output Folder column, click , and locate and select a folder.

4. Specify the Task Properties:

   • Edit the Task Name.
   • Specify a schedule for the task. Or, select Immediately to start the task right away.
   • Specify a Time Out threshold.
   • Select a location to save a Log file, or clear the Log File checkbox to cancel Log file creation.

5. To specify settings for 3D PDF export, click Options, and then in the Publish 3D PDF Options dialog box:

   • In Properties, select model properties to include in the 3D PDF.

     To exclude all properties that are blank, click Publish Only Properties with Value.

   • To add a user property to the list of published properties, in User Defined Properties, click Add, and enter property name. The new property is added to the User Defined Properties folder in the Properties list.

     To remove a user property from the User Defined Properties folder in the Properties list, select the property, and click Remove.

   • Select design view representations to publish:

     Select Publish All Design View Representations to ignore the Publish property settings in exported model files, and always publish all Design View Representations.

     Select Publish Only Marked Design View Representations to export only Design View Representations with Publish selected.

     Tip: To change the Publish setting for a Design View Representation, open a model file. Then in the browser, right-click the Design View Representation, and click Publish.

   • Set the Visualization Quality. Visualization Quality controls quality of mesh used to display model views in the output 3D PDF files.

     • Select High to show all model details when zooming in.
     • Select Low to reduce size of the exported files, and to avoid displaying details in zoomed views.

   • Locate and select a 3D PDF file to use as a template for 3D PDF publishing.

     The 3D PDF templates are by default saved in the Templates location specified in the project. For the default project, the location is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor [version]\Templates\.

   • Select Generate and Attach STEP File to export the model to a STEP file, and attach the STEP file to the output 3D PDF file.

     Click Options, and specify the settings for the exported STEP file.

   • Click Attachments, and select files to attach to the output 3D PDF file.

   • Click OK to save the settings and close the Publish 3D PDF Options dialog box.

6. In the Publish 3D PDF dialog box, click OK to add the task to the Publish 3D PDF tasks list.

   The new task runs as scheduled.