Inventor Design Library Template

Using the Inventor ETO Design Library Template

To get started, Launch Visual Studio and select File->New->Project from the menu. The New Project dialog is displayed and you should see an IntentV3 Section as shown below. Select the Autodesk Inventor ETO Design Library template and give the project a name. Change the location and solution name as needed.

After you are satisfied with your selections, click ok to create the project. Once created, your new Visual Studio project contains three major elements:

1. Design Files folder contains all design (iks) files specific to this project.

2. The Inventor project (ipj) file, which you will load in Inventor when working on your ETO solution, adopting components, etc.
3. The default root assembly design is created and loaded in the editor.

From this starting point you can begin building your ETO solution. Open the new project in Inventor and adopt parts and/or assemblies, which will populate the Design Files folder. To create new designs from scratch, use the new Design template.

Using the Design Template

Use the Design template to create new, empty designs in your project. Right click on the Design Files folder (#1 above) and select Add -> New Item from the context menu. You are presented with the dialog below. Select the Design template and hit Add.

Specify the New design name, Parent design, and optional system design mixin, just as you would in the Design Editor.

Press OK once you are satisfied with your entries to create the design. Once created, the new design loads in the editor, just as it would in the Design Editor.

Add more designs as necessary here. Adopted part designs and designs added from Inventor are added to the Visual Studio project automatically, as long as the iks files exist in the Design Files folder.