Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Certification
Objective
K
n o w
Y
o u r
I
c o n s
!
These are the icons for the four primary Inventor file types:
.idw
for 2D drawings
.ipt
for 3D parts
.iam
for 3D assemblies
.ipn
for 3D presentation files
The Open dialog box, templates, and even Windows Explorer use these icons
as a visual reference for the type of information they contain.
Exploring the Ribbon
You will now see that the Ribbon has more options available. These options take
the form of tools that are grouped into panels on tabs. Let's look at these in order
from the broadest to the most specific:
Certification
Objective
Tabs
The options shown as 3D Model, Inspect, Tools, and so on, are referred
to as
tabs
. The active tab always contrasts with the others that just appear as
names on the background of the Ribbon. The active tabs can change automati-
cally as you transition from one working environment to another.
There are tabs that appear temporarily when you use specialized tools or enter
a specialized environment, such as sketching (Figure 1.4) or rendering a 3D
model. These
contextual tabs
activate automatically and have a special green
highlight to help them stand out and remind you that the tools are available.
FIGURE 1.4
The Sketch tab is not normally displayed but gets special highlighting
when it is.
Panels
On each tab are special collections of tools that are sorted into
panels.
For example, in Figure 1.4, you can see Draw, Constrain, Pattern, and other
panels on the Sketch tab. Notice that the most commonly used tools appear with
larger icons so they're easier to locate. At times, not all of the tools in a panel can
fit, so some of the panels (Draw and Constrain) have down arrows next to their
names. This indicates that you can expand the panel to see more tools. It is also
possible to select tools that you don't often use and place them permanently in
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