New to inventor

[jamied2000]

I was wondering if you create the parts then assemble them.  Or can you create and assembly then break out the parts?  I am just testing inventor out to see if it would be good for my company.

[swhite]

Just be forewarned, once you start using Inventor and get the hang of it, having to work in any other program (including autocad) may lead to mental health issues, as graemev and L.T.Rusty can attest 🙂

Seriously though, the only ones I know who don't like it are those that don't WANT to have learn anything new, and are comfy the way things are and resist change. Yah, you could continue to use SW and do it all faster, until you learn Inventor, then it begins to shine above the others.

[LT.Rusty]

Oh sweet jesus, yes. I can't stand AutoCAD. I've had to mess with it a few times of late, and it makes my brain hurt.

[autocad.phil]

Hmm... yeah... it's a strange war! 

I sat thru an Adobe seminar/presentation last year and they (armed with lots of user data) proudly proclaimed.... 

Old people = Photoshop

Young people = Lightroom

Therefore they have both markets covered!  lol.

Now i'm wondering...

Old people = Autocad

Young people = Inventor

The middle aged people like me... darn confused... not sure what to use sometimes.  I'm pretty sure the Inventor crowd that's getting older won't switch to Autocad after some years later.

(I started on Autocad before Y2K.... you can guess what i prefer to use:) There are some sculpt/solid things that we can't do with Autocad but it can be done in Inventor.)

[swhite]

True, am 52 and used photoshop when I was a graphic designer, never even considered another. Then started with autocad, thought it was the bomb. Then started using Inventor one day and have never looked back. It's not that I hate Autocad, its just that I can do most things twice as fast in inventor, and since its a 3D model I know if it works in my program, it will work in the real world (as long as the shop can build it right). Why should one manually have to draw 3 different views, then manually update them each time a change is made, when I can do it in Inventor and all my views are made for me, and any changes update those views automatically? Sure, I can draw it in 3D in autocad, then do a soldraw to get my view, but then if I make changes and do another solview, I loose half my dimensions. Parts have to be completely redone. SW is a little better, but am not fond of its shall we dare call it a constraint system? So if you need a good 3D program my advice is to get inventor and spend the time to learn it, unless of course your boss is willing to spend $20,000 per seat to purchase dedicated steel structure programs like Tekla Structures.

[JDMather]

---

@SWhite wrote:

Sure, I can draw it in 3D in autocad, then do a soldraw to get my view, but then if I make changes and do another solview,....

---

AutoCAD now creates associative 2D from 3D with the viewbase command... .... not as functional as Inventor, but they seem to be adding a bit each year (well it is only 2 yrs old).

[tsreagan]

Maybe we are looking at this battle from the wrong perspective.

Could it be that some platforms are better for right brained people and others are better for left brainers.

That being said,  maybe they should come out with an interface and work flow for each of the brain types, and give the user the option of which to use.

I am very right brained, and have spent time in numerous platforms,  I prefer Inventor Hands Down!

I used to teach Autodesk products with Imaginit (Revit and AutoCad), and I would, as stated somewhere above, inform my students that they will hate the change the first week, dislike it the second, admit to a growing fondness by the thrid, and that they would begin wearing "I love Revit" shirts by the fourth week.

In turn, after you spend 4 weeks in Inventor, it's hard to look back.

T.S.

[graemev]

I think mostly in the corpus callosum.  

Initially, I started in school (post-secondary) on Acad 10.  Acad for Windows appeared just as I was graduating.  For modelling in 3D, it seemed far handier than what I had used previously: PovRay - a ray tracing program using hand coded text files for scene description that were handed to the program, with corresponding input and output parameters, from the DOS command line on a '386 IBM clone.  (20Mb storage, 640Kb memory, SVGA colour monitor, Compuserve account - via long distance phone call to the nearest node.  Known now as "The Dark Ages.")

I have passed through several other CAD, CAM, and FEA programs along the way.  Each has its merits and flaws.  Inventor is no different, nor is Solidworks.  (I use both, though primarily and predominantly Inventor)  Parametric modelling on modern hardware knocks all others into a cocked hat, IMHO.  "Instant" raytracing, interference checking, in-house FEA, parametric models AND assemblies, etc., etc., etc.  What's not to like?

Anyone found to be complaining will be handed a set of technical pens, set squares, a T-square, a stack of D-size 20lb bond, and (if I feel generous) some sheets of Letraset, and then be directed to the drafting table in the corner.  You've been warned.