Autodesk 2013 software is now with us!

Take a look at www.envisageuk.com for all the new 2013 information.
New software will be shipping within the next few weeks (If you have opted for shipped media). Otherwise download it from the subscription centre.

AutoCAD 2013 is nearly with us!

This is a huge & important release of the defacto standard for 2D drafting.
Take a look at the new features of AutoCAD 2013 in Lynn Allen's blog.

Inventor 2012 hangs on exit

If you run into this problem,

Go to the add-in manager, right click and select show hidden, search for Simulation: Optimization and uncheck "Automatic start"

We saw the problem with a slow internet connection

Inventor formulas and equations

I keep forgetting where these are in the help, so here they are!
The following functions are supported in parameters & dimension boxes.


Syntax Return Type Expected Types
cos(expr) unitless angle
sin(expr) unitless angle
tan(expr) unitless angle
acos(expr) angle unitless
asin(expr) angle unitless
atan(expr) angle unitless
cosh(expr) unitless angle
sinh(expr) unitless angle
tanh(expr) unitless angle
acosh(expr) angle unitless
asinh(expr) angle unitless
atanh(expr) angle unitless
sqrt(expr) unit^1/2 any
sign(expr) unitless any
Return 0 if negative, 1 if positive
exp(expr) unitless any
Return exponential power.
For example, returns 2.688E43 for 100.
floor(expr) ul ul
Next lowest whole number
ceil(expr) ul ul
Next highest whole number
round(expr) ul ul
Closest whole number
abs(expr) any any
max(expr1;expr2) any any
min(expr1;expr2) any any
ln(expr) unitless unitless
log(expr) unitless unitless
pow(expr1; expr2)                unit^expr2      any, and unitless respectively
                                                                     Can construct unit valid equation                                                                      that can go invalid "pow(3.0;d12)".
                                                                     Decimal powers rounds at eighth decimal place.
random() unitless unitless

How to disable reflection​s in Inventor Drawing shaded views

You want to disable reflections in drawing shaded views for screen printing drawings etc.

Run REGEDIT from the CMD prompt, and create a key as below:-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inventor\Regi​stryVersion16.0\Applets\DrawingLayout\Preferences\​]



Create a key with this value:



"Suppress Specular Color"=dword:00000001


If the key is not present or its value is zero or less, then reflections are enabled under drawings (Default behavior).


Remember to re-start Inventor for this change to take place.