Thom Tremblay - Autodesk Inventor 2012 and Inventor LT 2012 Essentials (Autodesk Official Training Guide: Essential)

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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN 978-1-118-01680-0 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-118-10063-9 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-10065-3 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-10064-6 (ebk)

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Autodesk Inventor 2012 and Inventor LT 2012 Essentials. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, were still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, were working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. Id be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how were doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at . Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde

Vice President and Publisher

Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

To you, the men and women inventing the machines. And to the people like my dad, Tom Tremblay, and Mack Kendall, who use those machines to make our lives better. May the wheels keep turning for us all.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank the tremendous team at Sybex for their patience and professionalism, specifically, Willem Knibbe, Pete Gaughan, Jim Compton, Liz Britten, Kim Wimpsett, and everyone else who worked hard behind the scenes who I didnt get a chance to communicate with directly. Special thanks once again to Dan Hunsucker for being the technical editor. If youre in the Kansas City area and want to learn Inventor from a real expert, youll be in great hands with Dan. Thanks to Joe Astroth and Nancy Clark-Brown of Autodesk for their support. Of course, many thanks to my family for putting up with my absence on the weekends and nights.

Thom Tremblay

About the Author

Thom Tremblay is a subject-matter expert on the Autodesk Strategic Universities team and has worked with hundreds of companies to help them understand how Inventor can help them with their designs. He is an Inventor Certified Professional and has been working with Inventor for more than 10 years and with other Autodesk products for more than 25 years. He has used Autodesk software to design everything from cabinets and castings to ships and video monitors. He has close ties to the Inventor community; is a frequent speaker at colleges, universities, and training centers; and presents at Autodesk University annually.

Introduction

Welcome to Autodesk Inventor and Inventor LT Essentials . This book is intended to be a direct, hands-on guide to learning Inventor by using Inventor. The book includes lessons for absolute beginners, but experienced users can also find exercises to show them how tools theyre not familiar with work.

Nearly all of the 200 exercises can be started from an existing file, so you need to do only those exercises that will help you most.

Who Should Read This Book

Autodesk Inventor and Inventor LT Essentials is designed to meet the needs of the following groups of users:

• Professionals who use 2D or 3D design systems and want to learn Autodesk Inventor at their own pace
• Professionals attending instructor-led Inventor training at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center
• Engineering and design students who need to learn Inventor to support their education and career

What You Will Learn

Inventor Essentials covers the most common uses of the tools in Autodesk Inventor and Inventor LT. Not every option is covered, but as you will learn, you will easily understand the options once you learn to use the primary tool.