Vault

Vault 2023.1 includes some significant updates and the general bug fixes applied with each update. These updates mainly focus on the Job Processor, Thin Client, Markup functionality, and Copy Design. For each new update, go to Vault 2023 Help | What's New in Vault 2023 | Autodesk

Job Processor

Errors and failures when sending files to the Job Processor can be time consuming to repair, especially if resending the jobs through the Job Processor clears this. In 2023.1, Autodesk has looked to counteract this issue by enabling an option in the Global settings to enable automatic retries of a job. The number of retries can be set up to a maximum of 10 attempts.

Thin Client

The Vault Thin Client saw an overhaul in design and layout within the 2022 release. In the 2023.1 release, Autodesk provided further tools to help view and filter through files.

Firstly, you can hide unreleased files within Items from an account with administrator permissions. This will prevent non-CAD users from accessing released data in the files tab. Viewing options have also been improved for Items, as you are now able to view in the Item workspace rather than being redirected to the ‘Files’ area.

The ability to customise the view within the ‘Change Order’ area is now included. This will allow users to only view specific states that they are interested in, so for example, if you are a checker, you can filter the view to only view files within the ‘Check’ state.

Smaller tweaks to the Thin Client include a new location for the ‘Update Visualisation’ file and the ability to print data to an Excel file.

Markup

The Markup tool in the Autodesk Viewer was added at the 2022.1 release and had some improvements, including a sub menu in the 2023 release. This will be a key tool within vault but has no link or reference back to any properties within Vault. In the 2023.1 release, two new system properties have been added; ‘Has Markup’ and ‘Has Markup (Historical)’. This allows you to search for files with these properties and customise your view so you can always see if the file or historic versions have markups associated with them. Alongside this, when you preview the file using the Autodesk viewer, it now gives an indicator to show how many markups are associated with this current version. This is making the tool clearer and a lot more user friendly.

Copy Design

Regular users of the copy design tool will be pleased to know that it is now possible to copy and paste multiple values from the excel spreadsheet back to the editable values in the ‘Numbering’ area. Previously this was an individual process that would be very time consuming if editing a large number of values.

Also added to the Copy Design tool is a warning box to show if there are any file restrictions. For example, if a duplicate file name is shown, it will prompt a new row with that error which can be exported into a spreadsheet to save and record this data.

Inventor

Inventor 2023.1 includes lots of small tweaks to the software to improve workflows and help to improve the user experience. To see a breakdown of all the features, please follow the link. Inventor 2023 Help | What's New in Inventor 2023 | Autodesk

Home

Inventor 2023 introduced a new home experience; this layout created a cleaner workflow that can be improved in future releases, which Autodesk have looked at doing straight away. Firstly, iProperties can now be directly accessed from the shortcuts of files. This varies slightly if the file isn’t open as it will utilise the Windows explorer iProperties which doesn’t include the physical tab. Further updates to the shortcuts also have the ability to filter between files using variables such as when the file was last modified and file types. This also narrows down to if you are utilising vault with Inventor; you can now filter by the Vault Status icons. Essential use for this will allow users to ensure everything is checked back in when shutting the software down.

Sketch

During the placement of horizontal/vertical constraints, confusion can occur due to the wrong orientation of your viewport. To resolve this, the command will need to be cancelled, and the other horizontal or vertical constraint depending on the first selection, will need to be started. In 2023.1, a shortcut has been added to help adapt this feature; after choosing either the horizontal or vertical constraint, it may give the wrong outcome; by holding the shift key, this will now quickly switch to the other constraint without having to cancel the command and restart with the correct one.

Parts

Another new tool added in 2023 was the ‘Mark’ command. To improve this tool in 2023.1, Autodesk has amended the workflow; if there is no unconsumed sketch, then it will activate the sketch command; also, you can now flick between the 3D feature and 2D sketch in the property panel.

Assembly

A few small tweaks have been included in the Assembly environment. Joints can now be suppressed during the initial placement, and Content Center files will list sequentially during placement.

Within Bolted Connections, the ability to exclude selected holes during placement is also a new option. Previously, during the placement of a Bolted Connection, it would automatically put the hole in place; in many instances, this may not be the desired outcome, for example, if you are putting in test/dummy holes.

Drawings

View feature enhancements is one of the key areas looked at in this point release. Firstly, breakout views. A sketch would have to be active on a different view when placing a Breakout view. In this release, it will automatically start the sketch function if no active sketch is available. A new option will also appear, asking you whether to include components within the section cut. This is going to be helpful to include components that overlap the sketch line.

The relationships between Cropped and Broken Views have improved; the two commands can now interlink with cropped views being created from broken views and broken views being created from cropped views.

Fusion Interoperability

During the 2023 release, the Link to Fusion was enhanced by giving the option to open and utilise specific environments within Fusion 360. This has been improved by adding two further environments to the simulation area of the toolbar. These two new areas are Dynamic Event Simulation and Quasi-Static event simulation. These extra tools give the two products, which are included in the Product Design and Manufacturing collection, and more dynamic link. It provides a greater array of tools to Inventor users.

The final area within the Fusion link enhanced in this release is the ‘Update and Open’ option. This will allow users to make changes once a simulation has been run to the file within Inventor and reuploaded to Fusion.

If you are interested in hearing more information regarding this point release or are looking for some help during the installation, please get in touch.

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Author

Jason Kelly

Jason has been an Applications Engineer for over 2+ years with his expertise lying in the Manufacturing industry. He graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a First class honours in Sports Engineering (BEng), which included CAD and design modules. Jason's knowledge broadens to products such as Inventor Professional, Vault, AutoCAD and also has experience with installations, upgrades, and licensing. He has also given talks and run training courses on Inventor add-ins such as Factory Design Utilities and Rendering & Animation.