Inventor 2017 R2 - What's New

By Clint Brown

Autodesk have launched Inventor 2017 R2 for subscription customers. Yes, that’s right, there’s a subscription release version of Inventor out now, just 3 months after Inventor 2017 was launched!  This R2 release is packed full of user requested enhancements.

This release has a focus on user requested enhancements. The individual enhancement areas are shown below in bold.

Model Tree enhancements - Better visibility of nested parts in assemblies (see the image below)
 

Mini Toolbar - This can now be turned off for certain modelling functions. I have to say that I wish it was the other way around, and that you could keep the mini-toolbar and switch off the "classic" interface

Undo/Redo - Shows a list of recent commands, allowing users to undo/redo multiple commands at once

Measure Command - Remembers your last settings

New Tangent Selection option - makes selecting tangent edges and faces much easier

AnyCAD - Has been made even better! You can now map properties directly between your 3rd party file and Inventor during import or through a stand-alone app

Make Part/Component- has been enhanced too. In Inventor 2017 R2, you can now select sketch blocks and solid bodies in layouts sketches and choose to create assemblies (based on Make Component option), check out the video below for more info.

Drawing environment - Drawings have 3 nice new features, the first is the ability to align a set of centre marks to an edge

There is also a new Solid Hatch option, and you can even specify the colour! And last but not least, there is a neat little option that allows you to sort a balloon stack by the balloon numbers.

Presentation environment - This new (in 2017) incarnation of the .IPN environment has also had some much needed general usability enhancements (detailed in the video below). One of the new features is the ability to export out images with transparent backgrounds.

Overall this is a really nice release of Inventor, which has really focused on customer feedback, keep sharing your ideas on the Inventor idea Station, together we can really influence the future development of Inventor.