Here are my thoughts on Autodesk Inventor 2013.
I've tried to answer the following questions:
I would be interested to know your thoughts...
-Paul-
@PaulMunford wrote:Here are my thoughts on Autodesk Inventor 2013.
Sorry Paul, still on 2011 here - but going by the title I was hoping to read about it!
edit: found your link in another post;
http://cadsetterout.com/reviews/an-introduction-to-autodesk-inventor-2013/
maybe
maybe
maybe
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maybe
The ability to dimension an arc length in a sketch is going to make writing formulas for length of swept profiles much easier, and some of the other sketch enhancements will make life easier. Other than that there's things in there that look ok, but would I have paid for them if not on subscription, probably not. Will I renew subscription for 2014, no but I will pay the late fee if there's something good in there. (Will save my money just in case the new catia based SW is worth the switch)
Will it change the way I work - no
Will it make me more productive - not significantly.
Have the bugs I found in 2011 been fixed - probably not (tickets are still open)
Will I install 2013 before SP1, definately not. (still too scared to move to 2012)
Have they caught up to SW - no. eg Choice of mates is still very poor. Will we ever get a symetry mate???
In general for me, 2013 looks ok but nothing to get excited about.
I agree. I don't think I'd put my hand inmy pocket for this release, but as we are on subscription there are quite a few welcome improvements.
I will be waiting for SP1 however!
P.S. I'm working with 2012 and really enjoying it - come on in, he water's lovely!
When my VAR came out to check my model the other day he installed a custom macro to run for assemblies with derived parts. He said in 2012 that derived parts sometimes dont update and that the macro should be run before printing drawings to make sure all parts have updated. That frightens me, hence still on 2011.
Well, I can only say that everything I build is done using a master model and derived parts/assemblies, and I haven't noticed a problem.
aybe you should test this one for yourself...
-I use mouse gestures a lot, and now there're two sets of mouse gestures for each environment, regular right click gestures and now ctrl+RMB gestures. In sketches, the default for the second set of mouse gestures contains your constraints. Simple enough but I really love it.
-I'm honestly having an idiot moment and haven't figured out how to measure arc lengths yet, but I imagine it will (eventually) be useful.
-Also makes back ups of your macros. Mine were under whatever the default is, and were written over when I Installed 2013. I rewrote them, but I'm still having problems with the hot keys/getting macros to show up at all.
-The switch between 2012 and 2013 was pretty painless. I am not noticing any (extra) frustrations. I did notice that the initial bootup was rather lengthy, but I went through and turned off several add ins and the next time I opened inventor, the time was greatly reduced.
Hope this helps!
One thing to note for anyone on subscription is the suites are a little different from last year.
This year basic gets Inventor
Premium gets Inventor Routed Systems
Ultimate gets Ultimate Inventor
Because I know I am an Engineer and can't always get my point across with words take a look at the following page:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=16491076