To add or modify a shape template

Add or modify a shape template in the Parts Editor using shape templates from the Infrastructure Modeler plugin for Autodesk Inventor.

1. Open the Parts Editor.
2. Select a parts family that you are working with.
3. Click the Shapes tab.
4. By default, all part families will use parametric shapes from the built-in part library.
5. You can add entirely new shape templates to a part family, or create a copy of an existing template and modify that.
6. To modify an existing shape template, right-click on the shape in the library.
7. Click Export for New Shape Template Editing if you want to modify a copy of an existing shape template.
8. Add a description, then click OK.
9. A dialog confirms that your shape template was successfully copied to My Documents.
10. Now, minimize the Parts Editor.
11. Open Autodesk Inventor.
12. Click File > Open.
13. Select the .IPT file for the shape template that you exported to My Documents from the Parts Editor.
14. Click Open. Your parametric shape template displays in Autodesk Inventor.
15. Click the Environments tab in the Ribbon.
16. Click Infrastructure Part Shape Utilities.
17. The shape modeling tools for parametric part shape templates display.
18. Reference points defined for the shape template are displayed on the part as circles.
19. The insertion point is shown as directional arrows above and below the origin (0,0,0).
20. When you are finished modifying a shape template, click Export Template.
21. Click Browse to review and modify the location for the exported shape template.
22. Before you export, you can also specify the visual style settings for the exported shape template.
23. Modifying the visual style will change the preview display of your parametric part in the Parts Editor.
24. When ready, click Export.
25. When the export is finished, click Close.
26. Now, minimize Autodesk Inventor and return to the Infrastructure Parts Editor.
27. Click New Shape Template in the Shapes section.
28. Click the ellipses and browse to the location of the shape template you exported from Inventor.
29. Select the .IPT file and click open.
30. A preview of the shape template displays.
31. Notice that the Parts Editor displays the number of Connection Ports and key dimensions (aka Parameters) that were exposed in the shape template.
32. Click Next.
33. You can now modify detailed properties for the new shape template.
34. You may also need to add part sizes in the Part Editing tab.
35. Once you create part size variations for your new shape, you can use the Size Validation tab to visually validate your part family.