Autodesk Inventor: How To Import STL Files

My goal is to learn how to design in 3D with software like Blender, but I am getting into the swing of 3D printing by learning the basics of Autodesk Inventor. A lot of people share their designs on Thingiverse, where you can download the designs and examine them. Autodesk Inventor can import .STL files, but you it doesn't appear you can do anything with them, let alone modify them... but there is a plugin.

With Inventor 2013-2014 installed, head on over to Autodesk's app exchange and download the STL Import add-in (you need an Autodesk ID account).

Once you run the installer, you can check that the add-in is working. Jonathan Landeros has a blog post detailing how to check, add-ins. Autodesk also has a repair utility.

I was confused what to do with this add-in. There is a video that shows how the STL Import add-in works with Autodesk 2013, but I couldn't find that in Autodesk 2014. Instead, I found the add-in under Envisage Applications on the ribbon.

After a few seconds, the model loads, with an orange-ish clear material, this is the Composite surface. If you want to turn it to the typical gray material, go the "3D Model" on the ribbon, Surface tab > Sculpt, and select the model - as Dave Whiteley says, this will "produce the volume into a solid".

Dave Whiteley reminds that large models can take a long time to import, and that things like arcs won't show up in Inventor as typical dimension-able arcs because that's the nature of .STL files.