Autodesk Suites 2013: Deployment path can easily exceed 256 [260] characters

When creating a deployment for your Suite, please try to keep the deployment path as short as possible or you may get an Error 2350 - FDI server error.

The number of characters in the a sub-component of the Suite past the AdminImage can be quite long and you may not notice this problem until you create the deployment. Here is a sample path of a file in Autodesk

Infrastructure Modeler 2012 Premium:

\\fl1\shared\Apps\Programs\Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013\AdminImage\x64\Components\ESM\Program Files 64\Autodesk\Essential_Skills_Movies\3dsMax_Design_2013\de-DE\html\essential_skills_movies\design\resources\images\esm_design_2_create_objects_36x36.png

The number of characters starting at AdminImage is 196 characters and the Windows character limit is 260 characters. About 75% of the path is taken up by the Suite.

This is an extract from the Up and Ready, Manufacturing Community Blog

Understanding Content Center Locations

We often get calls about Content Center, where it is located and the best method for organising.

With Content Center, there are two elements, the Library and the Generated Parts. Because the Content Center contains over a million parts, it is easier to contain these in a database, which you access upon hitting Insert from Content Center. Once you select a size and place in the Assembly, it then creates the Generated Part.

Library

There are two options for hosting the Content Center libraries, Inventor Desktop Content or Autodesk Vault Server.

By default Inventor will install Desktop Content Libraries, which by default are copied to the following locations:

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Inventor 2012\Content Center\Libraries

Win7 & Vista - C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor 2012\Content Center\Libraries

These options are set during the installation and stored inside Inventor under Tools > Application Options > Content Center TAB.

If you are running Vault within the company, then it is likely that the Libraries will be hosted on the Vault Server, so to access these you will need to set the Content Center option in Application Options to Autodesk Vault Server. 

Sweep Along an Edge

Prior to the release of Inventor 2012, when creating a Sweep feature along an edge you would have had to create your 2D profile Sketch (the shape to Sweep) and a 3D Sketch, into which the edge is projected (the Path for the Sweep).

Now you can simply create your 2D profile Sketch, then start the Sweep command and select the edge as your Path. When you create the Sweep feature, the edge is automatically projected into a new 3D Sketch.

Note: Using edges as a Sweep Path is not available for Assembly Sweep features.