Inventor assemblies to designstar 2008?

That is typical.. step/iges files do not retain constraints.

You could use shrinkwrap in your iam model to create a single stp or iges file (not an assembly of files) then open in designstar.

Not sure what options designstar has but can you just lock/constrain/ground all the parts into place after import?
Or save the imported assembly as a designstar model and use that.

DesignStar can keep an associative link between the native Inventor files (check the help files). However from my experience with designstar it causes the program to really lag, becomes quite slow.

With FEA you will need to defeature a model anyway, so my advice is to import it from Inventor and break the link or model it the way you want it from scratch in design star.

If you don't run solidworks then modelling features are kinda limited in designstar but the base features are there. We now use Solidworks simulation and model most things from scratch. Only complicated geometry that would take too long to reproduce is imported from Inventor.

Attempting to open Inventor 2011 assemblies shuts DS down - not good.!!
Earlier versions of Inventor allowed DS to import of *.iam files.

Shrinkwrap in Inventor seems to treat only the external geometry and not parts. Grounding Inventor parts prior to importing to DS still allows relative motion of parts -- this is the real nuisance.

I am not used to making or modifying models in DS 2007 or 2008 and it is not being supported by solidworks

Since I will have change software sooner or later , I expect to go to Algor simulation which is supported by Autodesk.

Comments and opinions appreciated.

Inventor 2011 was not released when DS was written so you can't expect it to open those native files. You never said what Inventor release you were using in the OP.

Solidworks simulation is much better than the old DS but since it runs as an add-in, not a standalone app, you must have a seat of SWx to run it and AFAIK this arrangement doesn't support associative Inventor files.

Most of the major FEA codes support live links between Inventor files, so don't limit yourself to only looking at Algor because it is now owned by Autodesk. If you are in the US or Canada you can get a fully working trial of Algor valid until the 14th of October, see link below. It will give you a good chance to evaluate the software and see if it suits your needs.


Also look into NEi Nastran with Femap, and Comsol. Some good packages, probably better than Algor, and cheaper IMO. There are also some budget codes that still work quite well if you want to have a look around. If you have the cash Abaqus or Ansys are great FEA programs.

Autodesk have also now acquired CFdesign, a very good CFD package that runs inside Inventor, will be interesting to see how they package this..