Before we get started just a quick reminder that when you install Inventor 2018 it will install with ANSI and inches as the standard. So if you are a newbie and you would like to change it to mm let me quickly show you how.

On the start, page click on the configure default templates button.

This will open the configure default template dialog box. You can then change it to mm and iso standard.  Easy as pie.

Now onto the good stuff.  What have they put into our little bag of goodies for part creation?

Autodesk has added another extents tool, which I believe many people have been waiting for. The Distance from Face extents.

This is a very cool tool when you have created most of your sketch elements in one sketch and you do not want to have to project geometry.

In the following example, you can see that I have my 3 blocks sketched out in my initial sketch. I would like to extrude from the top of the block without having to project geometry and then have it extruded a certain distance.

Select the extrude tool and select your profile. Select distance from face and then select the top of the block. You will see a preview of the extrusion starting from the top of the block and extending the amount that you would like to extrude.  In this case, it is 25 mm.

In the following 2 examples, you can see the difference when you have the “select to terminate feature by extending the face”.