About Sketches in Drawings

A drawing sketch can contain text and 2D geometry such as lines and arcs.

Once you create a sketch, you can create custom borders and title blocks, or to develop your own set of sketch symbols.

You can create views of parts that contain only 2D or 3D sketches, but no solid bodies. 2D sketches are visible only in base views and must be parallel to the view. The sketch must be parallel to the drawing view.

If you create a sketch in the drawing, it is not possible to make more views from this sketch.

If you translate AutoCAD data to a drawing, the geometry is placed on sketches in the drawing. AutoCAD line styles are maintained. If you open an AutoCAD DWG or an Autodesk Inventor Drawing File (DWG), the geometry is placed on sketches in the drawing. AutoCAD line styles are maintained.

Copying Sketches in Sheets and Drawings

If you copy a sheet or a drawing view, the associated sketches move with it. You cannot copy or move a sketch independently of its associated sheet or view.

A sketch cannot be copied, but you can copy the geometry in a sketch, and paste it in another drawing.
Note: When you use dimensions to set the size of elements in a title block or border, the dimensions are hidden when you finish editing.

Using Sketch Symbols

The drawing templates contain a Sketch Symbols heading in the Drawing Resources section of the browser so that you can create and save sketches for sharing and reuse. Sketch symbols can contain 2D geometry, bitmap images, static text, prompted text boxes, or properties fields that update automatically, but can have only one insert point.

Sketch symbols added to the template that you use to create drawings are available to all new drawings. Sketch symbols added to the Symbol Libraries are available in an external location for sharing and later use.

Creating Title Blocks and Custom Borders

The templates provided with Autodesk Inventor contain one or more standard title block formats and a default border that you can modify and save as drawing resources. They can contain 2D geometry, bitmap images, static text, prompted text boxes, or properties fields that update automatically.

You can also sketch custom title blocks, and save them as drawing resources. To use a custom border in new drawings, save it in a template that you use to create drawings.

All drawing borders have four points at the sheet corners that cannot be deleted. These points move when the sheet is resized. If you constrain the custom border geometry to these points, it adapts to any sheet size.

Translating DWG Data

When you translate 2D data from a DWG file to an Autodesk Inventor drawing, the geometry is placed on one or more sketches in the drawing. Dimensions are placed on the drawing sheet.

To place dimensions attached to the geometry on the sketches, select Promote Dimensions to Sketch in the Import Destination dialog box when opening an AutoCAD file. AutoCAD line styles are maintained.

Blocks in the DWG file are translated to sketch symbols. You can also translate selected data in a DWG file to Autodesk Inventor title blocks and borders.
Note: When using the Drawing Resource Transfer Wizard to copy drawing resources such as borders and title blocks from a source to one or more target drawings, prompted entries may not transfer correctly if they do not match exactly in the source and target files.