Find and correct design errors

The Design Doctor in Autodesk Inventorhelps to correct design errors as you work.

When there are unresolved errors in a model, a red cross is selectable on the Quick Access toolbar. You can click the red cross to open Design Doctor and work on any of the errors in the model. If you are working in an assembly, the errors in all components are available.

The Design Doctor is aware of the environment, and displays only errors appropriate in the current context.

For example, if you delete a component that contains a dependent assembly feature, the assembly feature goes sick and the dependent assembly sketches remain in the browser. Use the Design Doctor to replace the deleted component with a new component using the Redefine command.

Sketches form the basis of most model features. For example: a closed sketch region can be used to create a solid extrusion (or cut) in your model. Unclosed sketch geometry is often used to extrude a surface. Finding an error in a sketch requires that you understand how each piece of sketch geometry relates to each other piece, and how you will use it to create subsequent model features.

If your sketch includes imported geometry that another designer created, it is often more challenging to identify design errors. Unexpected behavior can result while using imported sketches, due to the way the geometry was created in the exporting system. Common issues include:

• Imported geometry that appears to define a closed region can have small gaps between lines and arcs. These gaps prevent the region from behaving as expected during the creation of a solid feature.
• Lines that appear to be perpendicular are not actually measure 90 degrees. This type of issue often does not become apparent until you attempt to assemble the part, while assuming that the created feature has perpendicular faces.
• Autodesk Inventor adjusts the value of any exported dimension to reflect the size of the actual geometry. This type of issue can be problematic in cases where the original designer changed one or more dimensions rather than adjusting the size and position of the geometry.

The Sketch Doctor can help you find problems with open regions. Issues involving incorrect angles or dimensions require closer scrutiny.

If your changes to a model interfere with or are inconsistent with other features, the command message dialog box displays when you attempt to apply the changes. The dialog box lists the problems with the operation.

If the error is simple (a fillet radius is larger than the edge to which it is applied), the list displays a single set of nested failure messages. There is one message for each step in the failed operation. If there are several errors in the attempted operation, a set of nested failure messages appears for each error.

A red cross icon and a light bulb icon mark the root cause for each error that is displayed in red underlined text. You can click the red text to highlight the error location in the graphics window. Click the red cross to open Design Doctor, which can assist you in fixing the problem.

If you know how to fix the problem, you can bypass Design Doctor and edit the entries that caused the error. If you choose to disregard the error temporarily and continue with your design, the operation is added to the browser and marked with an error or warning symbol. When you pause the cursor over the browser node, the feature displays in the graphics window in its last successful state.

The error tracking system and Design Doctor make it easy to correct design errors as you work. However, you can also accept design errors and correct them later. You can edit other features to resolve the error, try other design options, or work with the errors at another time.

Features with errors are also marked in the browser. You can right-click an error and select Recover to correct a single error. When fixing several errors, it is a good practice to work from the top of the list or browser to the bottom. Features with dependencies appear below the features on which they depend.