Inventor 2015 – Generate Christmas Presents…

By Luke Davenport

So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged – just a quick one I’m afraid, and a little frivolous! While racking my brains for Christmas gifts to buy for my niece and nephew, I thought to myself ‘Why not use my expensive Inventor software to generate some technical art for the kids’. Man hours required = 2. Financial Cost (for printing some small posters) = £1. Kudos with the niece and nephew? Priceless.

Steps:

• Decide on a suitable hobby/passion to immortalise for your loved one (talking to them may make this easier). In my case it was easy – My Niece Tam is into drums, and my nephew Jabez is into guitars.
• Download some models from GrabCAD to avoid having to model up an entire fighter jet for instance!
• Customize the models. Perhaps emblazon a logo with your loved one’s name on the model, or use their initials. Or in my case – personalise a well-known drum company’s logo to form my niece’s name. Classy.
• Get a decent perspective view and a white background in Inventor.
• Switch the view type (I like ‘Wireframe with Hidden Edges’ with shadows switched on for an interesting look.
• Export the image or take a screenshot.
• Print and frame.
• Enjoy either rapturous acclaim for your technical prowess, or stunned silence because they were really after the latest Call of Duty game.

Here’s my finished results.