James Coleman
Inventor
What is Inventor?
Inventor is a computer program that lets you create and view 3D models. This page will show you how to make one of those objects and how inventor works.
This is the first step towards making your first widget. After you launch inventor select the button that says part.
Your next step would be to press the button in the top right corner of the ribbon that says start 2D sketch.
After this press the xy axis plane to get started
than you are going to make a basic outline of the shape you are going to 3D print.
Than press the button on the ribbon saying dimensions, Selecting a line and moving your cursor away will bring up a line connecting both ends of the line. clicking again will select set it in place, than press the box with numbers on the dimension line, change it to the length that line needs to be and it will change it to that length. This is what your finished shape should look like.
The final step is to click the "3D shape" tab in the top right corner. In that tab a button in there will say extrude press it.
This will turn your 2D shape into a 3D shape once you press enter. Make sure it is only going to extrude by one inch.
Pressing enter will finish your widget and will take you onto the next phase 3D printing!
Photo used under Creative Commons from verchmarco