Inventor - save drawing view options to include surface and mesh bodies

Issue:

When creating drawing views in Inventor you always want to include surfaces and/or meshes but the option is not on by default in the Drawing View dialog box on the Recovery Options tab:

Causes:

These view preference settings are saved in the Windows registry for each drawing view file type.  These options are not saved when you edit existing drawing views and save the drawing file.  They're only saved when you place a new drawing view.

Once you place an assembly(.iam), part(.ipt) or presentation(.ipn) file view and choose to include surface or mesh bodies,  these options are saved in the Windows registry when you close the program.

Solution:

Place a view of each of the file types you use and would always like to include surface and/or mesh bodies in.

In a drawing create a new Base View:

• Choose to open a part, assembly and/or presentation file.
• Repeat the create view process for each file type you generally use.

• Select the ‘Include Surface Bodies’ and ‘Include Mesh Bodies’ option on the Recovery Options tab:

• Once those views are placed and you close Inventor and these preferences are saved in the Windows registry.

For example, Inventor 2023 stores these preference values in this location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Inventor\RegistryVersion27.0\Applets\DrawingLayout\Preferences\DrawingFormat

• BaseViewDefIAM=Assembly drawing view
• BaseViewDefIPT=Part drawing view
• BaseViewDefIPN=Presentation drawing view
• BaseViewDVOptions=View Representation options(Camera View and 3D Annotations)

See this Autodesk reference entry in the Help files for the list of the values and their associated status meaning: Save Default Base View Options

When you close Inventor, the settings are saved and you can export these settings and import them on another machine.

Create a backup of the Windows Registry before editing.

Right-click on this folder to export:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Inventor\RegistryVersion27.0\Applets\DrawingLayout\Preferences\DrawingFormat

Choose Export to export these settings to a .reg file that you can import on another system.

To Import the settings on another system go the File menu and choose Import:

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer/operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.  Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.  Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.

About the Author

Manufacturing Technical Support Specialist<br><br>Joanna has over eight years of experience working with Autodesk products. She started supporting core AutoCAD and network installations of all Autodesk products. She now has five years of experience with Inventor. <br> She graduated from Mechanical Engineering and has been providing solutions to clients and dedicating her knowledge to the Solution Center since then.

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