Tips and tricks on importing Inventor files in 3ds Max.

No need for a licensed copy of Inventor on the same machine

Since 3ds Max 2011 you don't need to have a licensed copy of Inventor on the machine where you want to import Inventor models: During the 3ds Max 2011 install the Inventor Server also gets installed

Preparing the files in Inventor

If there are any problems with the Inventor model, like missing files, it will be hard (or impossible) to resolve them when you're importing the model in 3ds Max. If you encounter problems with the import you need to open the file in Inventor and fix the issues there. That's fine if you have access to a copy of Inventor, but if you don't have access to a copy of Inventor (like when someone sends you the Inventor files and you're doing the visualisation) it helps to get a clean dataset to begin with.

Creating a clean dataset in Inventor

Inventor comes with a very handy command to create a complete dataset: 'Pack and Go', open the assembly file in Inventor, do a file->Save as->Pack and Go. In the dialog select the following options and click on Search Now:

• Copy to Single Path: all files will end up in a single folder, no matter where they are in the original assembly, WARNING: this assumes you're using the 'use unique file names' option in the Inventor project file. If you don't and there are files with the same name these wil get overwritten! (thanks to magnus.damgren for pointing this out).
• Skip Libraries: standard parts like nuts and bolts are library parts in Inventor, these are stored in a single location (as they don't change there is no point to create multiple copies of the file), by not skipping the libraries these files get copied in that single folder,
• Skip Styles and Skip Templates: there is no point in including all the Inventor Style definitions or the template files.

Set the destination path and when you click Start all the files get copied to that folder, click Done to close the Pack and Go dialog. Zip the folder up and pass it on to the person doing the import.

Two object types in 3ds Max: Meshes or Body Objects

When you import the model in 3ds Max you have two options, the Meshes option means that the tesselation of the model is done during the import, you can control how many triangles will be in the imported model by adjusting the Mesh Resolution slider from -10 (fewer triangles) to 10 (more triangles) with 0 being the default.

The new option from 3ds Max 2011 is Body Objects, which means the model comes in as a solid and you can adjust the tesselation for viewport and render independantly. So you can set the viewport tesselation to low and render at a higher tesselation. It may come in handy if specific objects that are near to the camera need more triangles to make them appear smooth, you can adjust the values until it looks good without having to import the Inventor assembly multiple times.

The imported Arbor Press model (from the Inventor tutorial files) imported as a mesh on the left and a Body Object on the right.

Using Shrinkwrap in Inventor

If all you need to do in 3ds Max is render the model and you'd rather not share the inner details you may want to look into shrinkwrapping the model in Inventor. It has options to create a single solid object or keep all the individual solids. You can remove parts by size (to get rid of nuts and bolts) and use hole patching (to fill in the holes where the bolts were). By simplifiying the model you can reduce the filesize and increase the render speed or you can shrinkwrap the model and leave all the details in, the benefit being that you have one file which contains the entire assembly.

For more information see the help files:

• Autodesk 3ds Max Help > Managing Scenes and Projects > Geometry File Formats > Importing Autodesk Inventor Files
• Autodesk Inventor > Assemblies > Representations > Shrinkwrap assemblies