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IDW going away???

12 REPLIES 12
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Message 1 of 13
tahdesign1
814 Views, 12 Replies

IDW going away???

I have heard a rumor that in some furture release the IDW will be replaced with the DWG.

At this point we have the IDW and the IV DWG and I do us both of them.

However, I prefer the IDW as my standard. I have put alot of time and development into all the Drawing Resources that are carried around with the IDW.

 

For the IV DWGs that I use I have just taken my IDW and saved it out as an IV DWG. That way I still have all of my developed Drawing Resources within it.

My use of the IV DWG is for detail drawings (mostly process layout and/or Equipment Arrangement) where I need the added flexibility that working in AutoCAD can offer me. We develop the necessary views in IV and then open in AutoCAD for some annotation.

 

However, for machine design we stick with the IDW and have for many years.

 

Has anyone elese heard this rumor???

 

12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13

Hello,

 

It was rumored when DWG was set as the default for Inventor 2015....I can't categorically say that idw will never go away, since never is a long time Smiley Happy

 

However, I can tell you that we're not going to stop investing in idw for the foreseeable future - idw will be around for a long time to come; so rumors are exactly that - just rumors.

 

Thanks

Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 3 of 13

Hmmm so I am confused here. The use of the IDW in IV was always much different than the use of the DWG in say MDT days.

 

In the IDW you carried around your standard drawing content (borders, title blocks, sketch symbols) where as in the templates I would use for DWG these type of things were external blocks that were inserted. The one thing the two file types shared was the developed dim styles they would carry. However, the idw style is much more in depth than the dim style in the DWG.

 

I do have IV DWG developed in my standards but that is nothing more than a save as from my developed IDW. So this IV DWG still has all of the same Drawing Resources with it that the original IDW did. It is just that it can be opened in Acad for specific annotation that is hard to do in the IDW.

 

So a large question for me would be is the DWG that is now standard in IV2015 the IV DWG type that still has all of the Drawing Resources like the IDW.

Message 4 of 13

Yes, as far as I know nothing changed with the "IV DWG" format in 2015; the only change was to make the default for new drawings DWG instead of IDW. Everything you were used to in terms of what the DWG contains & how it behaves from pre-2015 is just the same.

 

-Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 5 of 13

Thank you for clarifying these things for me. I am one of those old MDT users that had years of developed content that came kicking and screaming into the IV world many years ago so I understand some of the advantages to using the DWG. However that being said I feel the same as I did back then whereas I have had years to develop my standards using the IDW and now Autodesk is once again walking away from the path put forth and making me rework my world. It was stated back then that MDT would be around for a long time because of legacy content however where is it now? I feel the same will be the fate of the IDW if Autodesk has gone to setting the DWG as standard. So once again forcing those of us that wholly adopted the IDW to redo work on our standards that had been put to bed long ago.

 

Ok done with my rant, change is inevitable, we all will be assimilated at some point.

 

So now I have one more question about the new IV DWG standard. As I have said I do use the IV DWG now but for just specific needs in certain types of drawings. So I went back and looked at some of these files to see just how they are made up. Let me explain my use and see if you can tell me what would be different (if anything) about it in IV2015.

 

  •  If I have a layout that I intend to use AutoCAD to do some work on I first develop the views in IV and any content that can be done there (view names, balloons to main assemblies, etc)
  • I can either start this file as an IDW or an IV DWG since in my world they are the same. If it was started as an IDW it is just then Saved As the IV DWG.
  • Then I switch over to AutoCAD for the work I intend to do there. Once there you can see that it is basically a paper space document (model space appears to be empty).
  • I then develop some layers to use for the annotation I want to do there. However none of the IV content is actually selectable in AutoCAD (and vise versa for AutoCAD stuff in IV). So leaders and the like are just visibly pointed at their targets.

So is the new DWG that is standard for IV the same way? Basically just using the paper space world of AutoCAD?

There are many differences in the file content that would have to be thought out, one example would be sketch symbols vs AutoCAD developed blocks.

Message 6 of 13
mrattray
in reply to: tahdesign1

You realize, of course, that you can change the default back to idw? There's no need to rework your standards at this time nor in the foreseeable future.
Mike (not Matt) Rattray

Message 7 of 13
tahdesign1
in reply to: mrattray

Oh I fully understand that but as history would have it (MDT as an example) change like this is normally an indication of a new path in the not to distant future.

Those that do not adjust to things like this as they happen find themselves down the road with a lot more work to fall in line than if they addressed it as it happened.

I know several people that ignored the "free" seats of IV we all got back in the MDT days and were left behind as their software slowly went away.

Message 8 of 13
mrattray
in reply to: tahdesign1

OK, just making sure.
Mike (not Matt) Rattray

Message 9 of 13
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: mrattray

Sounds like you're starting to believe those rumors.... Smiley Happy

 

There is no differnce in DWG functionality in 2015 compared to 2014, so you don't need to change anything about your workflow. Just go to Tools App Options, Drawing & change the default to IDW & you're done.

 

Thanks,
Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 10 of 13


@ChrisMitchell01 wrote:

Sounds like you're starting to believe those rumors.... Smiley Happy

 

 


Well with History as my example I feel that I must.

Thanks for all your replys

Message 11 of 13
mcgyvr
in reply to: tahdesign1

July 11, 2014

This just in.. Microsoft is changing the file extensions for all its 9 Office programs to ".DWG"

 

 

 

 



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Message 12 of 13
tahdesign1
in reply to: mcgyvr

As I said earlier

 

 

You will be assimilated

 

Message 13 of 13
dgorsman
in reply to: mcgyvr

Unlikely, but not impossible either.  There's nothing to say they can't.  The only way to guarantee software will stay the same is to pay for it to be created to your own specifications.  Even then it may have to change to run on newer operating system or accomodate supporting technology changing.

 

I think the most effective path is to find the best use of the software as it is, rather than an impression of what it "should" be.

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"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


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