SMDC(Sheet Metal Drawing Creator)

Inventor SMDC

Introduction

Inventor SMDC empowers you to master sheet metal tasks with ease, transforming the drawing creation process into a seamless journey.
Inventor SMDC (Sheet Metal Drawing Creator) is an app designed to assist Autodesk® Inventor® users in creating 2D drawings for sheet metals.

With SMDC, you can quickly and efficiently generate accurate and professional-looking drawings for your sheet metal designs. This can save you time and effort, as well as streamline your workflow.

Background:

Spending countless hours on 2D drawings and exporting neutral formats for sheet metal parts in Autodesk Inventor?
2D drawings are crucial for documentation and conveying important information to engineers and manufacturers involved in the production process.
Creating 2D drawings in Inventor® can take up a lot of time, but it’s necessary.
Inventor SMDC streamlines this process, allowing users to create accurate and professional-looking drawings quickly.
Giving users more time to focus on other projects or improve current designs.

General Usage Instructions:

Inventor SMDC simplifies everything. It checks all sheet metal parts, exports the STP of the main assembly, and generates a comprehensive parts list in Excel.
– SMDC allows users to choose between a standard drawing template or a specified one from the settings.
This customizable feature saves time and ensures that users can generate drawings that meet their specific needs and preferences.
– Inventor SMDC automatically generates four standard drawing views of the main Assembly: Front, Top, Side, and ISO view.
– If a sheet metal part has a flat pattern, SMDC adds an extra flat pattern view to the drawing sheet.
This feature ensures that users have all the necessary views for their sheet metal designs, making the drawing creation process quicker and more efficient.

How it works 

SMDC can be accessed from both Assembly and Part documents in Inventor®.
Overview: https://youtu.be/N0ytZB-0-e8

• Inventor SMDC checks all sheet metal parts from your BOM, streamlining the drawing creation process and saving users’ time. This feature ensures that all sheet metal parts are included in the drawing generation process.

1. It exports STEP files of the Main Assembly and individual Sheet Metal parts, allowing for easy sharing of designs.
2. It exports DXF files of the Sheet Metal Flat Patterns, ready for manufacturing.
3. The Property Composer is a dynamic naming engine that automates the generation of filenames for manufacturing exports (DXF and STP) by mapping them directly to CAD metadata. Instead of generic or manual naming, it allows you to build a “naming template” using a combination of static text and dynamic variables pulled from the part’s iProperties or the assembly’s BOM structure. Ex. “10042_ALU_3mm_RevA.dxf”
4. Generates a comprehensive parts list in Excel. To help you quickly locate and identify parts, SMDC adds sheet metal comments directly to each part.
   And for precise material ordering, it also exports the flat pattern size to your Excel parts list, ensuring you get the right dimensions every time.
5. Complete 2D drawings of all your sheet metal parts. Also, SMDC uses your existing drawing templates for seamless integration.
   
6. Your Output, Your Choice:
   Consolidate: Use the “Combine all drawing sheets” option to merge all sheets into a single multi-sheet document.
   Distribute: Generate individual drawing files for every sheet for modular tracking.
7. Scale Anything. SMDC supports the complete range of ISO, ANSI, and ARCH sheet sizes. Whatever the standard, whatever the scale, we’ve got you covered.
8. Flat Pattern Scale Delta: Sync or offset your Flat Pattern scale effortlessly. Set the Delta to 0 to perfectly sync your Flat Pattern with the Front View, or choose a custom value to automatically offset the scale—ensuring every inch of your sheet is used efficiently.
9. Flat Pattern Rotation Control: Take full command of your layout with precise Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise rotation. Easily align your Flat Pattern to optimize sheet space or match specific grain directions with a single click.
10. Automated Centerlines: Clean up your drawings in seconds. Toggle Automated Centerlines on to instantly apply standard markings, or keep it off for a cleaner, manual finish.
11. Adding a Parts list and Balloons simplifies parts management and makes it easy to identify and track all the parts within an Assembly.
12. You can choose from the Settings whether to Retrieve Dimensions or to Add Overall Dimensions.
13. PDF and DXF exports of your 2D Drawings for easy sharing and further processing.

Installation/Uninstallation

Installation guide: https://youtu.be/8Sb7y-XD9qI?si=v8kJ8u1E4Jyfm5Ca

The Add-in works for Autodesk® Inventor® releases since 2020.
The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in will start installing the app/plug-in. OR double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin.

You can unload the plugin without uninstalling it by unchecking the “Loaded/Unloaded” checkbox associated with the plugin in the Inventor Add-In Manager. You may have to restart Inventor to unload the application completely.

To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Add-in if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the “Uninstall” button. OR you can uninstall it from ‘Control Panel/Programs and Features’ (Windows 7/8.1/10/11), just as you would uninstall any other application from your system.

**License Types**

License Type	Validity	Scope	Key Feature
Single App/Yearly	One year	One Add-in (e.g., SMDC only)	Free updates
All Apps/Yearly	One year	All Add-ins (ADC, SMDC, etc.)	Free updates
Single App/Lifetime	Lifetime	One Add-in (e.g., SMDC only)	Includes 1 year of free updates
All Apps/Lifetime	Lifetime	All Add-ins (ADC, SMDC, etc.)	Includes 1 year of free updates

Each app offers a 15-day annual trial.
Licenses are floating, allowing users to sign in and out as needed.
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• BM Licenser: Updated Features & How-To Guide

Downloads

• Download SMDC (latest version)
• Autodesk Store

Version 26.0.7

• First and Third drawing Projection methods
• Property Composer -> Automate naming with dynamic iProperty/BOM templates.
• Option: Export Name
• Option: Combine all drawing sheets
• More Sheet sizes: ISO, ANSI, ARCH
• Option: Sheet Name
• Option: Flat pattern Label
• Option: Flat Pattern Name
• Option: Flat Pattern scale delta
• Option: Flat Pattern drawing view rotation (CW, CCW)
• Option: Automated Centerlines

Version 26.0.1

• Update for Inventor 2026
• New Export options
• More control over the process