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Software development for the calculation of geometric development via three-dimensional modeling

Maragkoudakis Antonios-Emmanouil

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Summary

In computer science, an Application Programming Interface (API) allows an application to extract information from one piece of software and use it in another. Often the purpose is not only to extract this information but also to perform actions such as calling routines within an application.In this thesis an Inventor API which calls routines within the 3D modeling application Autodesk Inventor was created. During operation, routines are called, which generate Mechanical Drawing of the 2D development for five cases of cylindrical intersection. In short, the API builds a 3D model based on the user input, develops it in 2D space and outputs intersection specifications as well as the original 3D model within the mechanical drawing generated. Overall, the principal aim of this thesis was to develop the aforementioned application, this was implemented in two main parts using the Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Microsoft Visual Studio. The first of these was, a user interface. The second was the routines that actually produce the desired objects within Inventor. The interface was developed using the Windows Forms platform, while the Inventor API was developed using the Dynamic Link Library (DLL) autodesk.inventor.interop.dll. The language used to develop the application is Visual Basic and therefore this application can be considered as an Inventor VBA (Visual Basic Application).The interface created is essentially a Graphical User Interface (GUI). A GUI is defined as an interface which facilitates the user through the use of graphical elements such as icons, menus, check boxes, and others. In this thesis the GUI acts as a user-friendly mask. It does this by hiding the actual process executed in Inventor from the user and only presenting him with the finished product of the calculation and modeling. This thesis will expand upon how each case of cylindrical intersection is handled by the application. In doing so it will explain—theoretically and practically—how the GUI interacts with the API, how the API exchanges information with Inventor, as well as how the relevant routines are called within Inventor. Additionally, the purpose, function, and troubleshooting that went into the development of each routine will be analyzed. Finally, the conclusions, the scope for improvement in future work and the general possibilities of Inventor APIs will be mentioned.

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