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We’ve all been there. Maybe your dog ate your instruction manual. Perhaps you’re lying on the floor in the middle of the night coming to terms with the fact that your significant other just might be right – having ‘leftover’ parts is not intentional. Or maybe you want to see exactly where those weird shaped screws (parts #114334) go or what the bottom of that MALM bed looks like during assembly. Now you can.

Autodesk brings you 3-dimensional IKEA instructions that you can tap through step-by-step, play or zip through like a video, zoom in, out and underneath, pan around, rewind, rotate and more.

Click through to download the app and read a complete review with lots of iCandy…

FREE 3D App for IKEA Instructions

Get the app! Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer is what you need to install on your Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (search the app store for ‘Autodesk,’). In order to view the 3D IKEA Instructions that Autodesk has created for you, you can either tap here on your mobile device or click on Gallery in the app and select the folder: IkeaFans.com.

You’ll find the first set of IKEA 3D assembly instructions for the MALM bed are included. Open the 3D interactive instructions and get started building! You can thank us later.

Autodesk’s Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer Review

Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer Features

Zoom, pan, & rotate in 3D using Multi-Touch
Play or scrub through animated sequences of step-by-step instructions
Double tap on individual components for detailed part information.
View text descriptions and annotations that can help augment 3D graphics
Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer App – Pros and Cons

Pros:

Fully featured, this free application has been designed for both the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.
Easy to play, stop, rewind and step-by-step through assembly instructions.
Intuitive and easy to use, the app also contains extensive help screens just in case.
Click to Increase Size

Double tap a component to see article (part) numbers and detailed information about the part in question.
Zoom in to see details of a particular step in the assembly process, plus take a look at it from multiple angles by panning and rotating the assembly.
Did I mention it’s FREE?
Plus, because it’s not just an IKEA application, you can get other instruction sets on the mobile app. Want to do some DIY Bicycle Repair? Check out the sample 3D instructions created for BicycleTutor.com.

Cons:

To make 3D instructions for the app, you have to purchase a license for the Autodesk Inventor desktop software. Licenses start at $2495. Ugh. For more information, check out Inventor on the AutoDesk website.
On some screens, I was unable to ‘pinch’ to reduce the size of the screen and make all the components visible – this is perhaps only a problem in this particular model and could be overcome easily – I suspect it may have to do with difference in aspect between the iPhone and the iPad, but I could be wrong.
Overall:

All in all, we think this is an awesome free app with tons of potential for making IKEA instructions easier to understand, simple to follow and practically fool-proof. Wouldn’t it be awesome if IKEA adopted this and put out their entire catalog of instructions in 3D video on the Inventor platform?

Download the app and tell us what YOU think in the comments!