Inventor and Vault or sub par programs

[Anonymous]

I can't believe how difficult it is for inventor and vault to communicate...I have called tech support on many occasions to help me check in drawings only to be told it doesnt work the way it's supposed to!

Why sell a program that doesn't work...

I really don't even want to get into the drafting side

bottom line, Mechinal Desktop was a far better program compared to inventor....and inventor is not even close to what solid works was 12 years ago...

sub-par garbage programing...reminds me of release 11 at best!

we have 14 licences here and I will push for the company to change to a better program, i will also do what i can to make sure others don't get sucked into this mess....

and I'm gonna make sure we don't waste 80K to upgrade to garbage what ever version of vault!

[Anonymous]

I've been using Inventor and Vault for 7 years and while there are some minor annoying bugs they both mostly work well together.

This is a forum to ask questions and get help. Can you list any specific problems? Or are you just in need of a rant?

[Lance127]

Spoiler

What exactly is it supposed to do that it isn't?

[Anonymous]

Agreed, have been using Inventor and vault since almost the first release, and besides a few minor hiccups, as ocurrs with every program in exsistence, everything works fine. 9 out of 10 times can model an object in 3D and produce drawings before I cld even finish a basic 2D layout in autocad. Solidworks isnt bad, and some things are easier in it, but some things harder. I would say the problem is more likely people. People that can set a network up for the storage of word documents, but don't really have a clue beyound that. I'd look at your IT department and maybe they just need to retrain.

[Anonymous]

first off, I was told not to use the buttons in the ribbon bar to check in drawings

secondly not to open drawings through vault

third, vault should not care what level of detail i check a model in under...check it in and thats it...its one file not seven different files

now you want to talk about the drafting side...please autocad is the leader, one would think that they would have stepped up the drafting side just a bit...no spell check, the bills of materials and parts lists suck....

again autodesk is the leader in drafting software, but inventor is no where near solid works, solid edge...or even mechincal desktop was....

[Lance127]

1, well if that's the case then either you didn't understand what they were saying or they didn't know what they were talking about. How much training have you had in Vault (or  Inventor), particuarly in the administration of it?

2. You shouldn't open from Vault.

3. Not sure what you are talking about here bercasue Vault certainily doesn't care what LOD I have a file set to.

As far as the drafting goes, well we'll just have to disagree, it might not work out of the box like you want but I've only run across a few things that I couldn't get to be exactly like I wanted. And the other products aren't better (I've used MDT and Solidworks) they are different, there are work arounds and comprimises made to get them "perfect" as well.

[cbenner]

My suggestion to the OP is to take a deep breath and relax. No system is perfect, but if you let us, we can help you through specific problems one at a time. For example, there is no reason you should be unable to use the Inventor ribbon to interface with Vault.

[Anonymous]

They as in the IT department that has had how many years of training using Inventor? The vault ribbon is the best way, it has open right on it which opens from the vault. Granted if you crash and have saved, but not checked in files, only then should you really open it from your hard drive as they will be newer than the vault.

If you also go to options and select keep files checked out, then you can check files in as often as you save if you want, without the hassle of rechecking them out. When you close the file, it will do a final permenent checkin. this will ensure that vault almost always matches whats on your hard drive, just get used to checking in instead of saving, as it will do both at the same time.

But, that's just a suggestion to keep things working smoother.

[karthur1]

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@Lance127 wrote:

........

2. You shouldn't open from Vault.

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Why not?  I do that all the time.

The only time I get into trouble, is if I have an iam open, then do an "open from Vault". Sometimes (pretty rare) Inventor will crash.  I think (just my theory) Vault might download one of the files that is currently in memory that Inventor is using.  Then when Inventor tries to access that file, it cant find the correct one (it was overwritten).  Inventor gets confused and crashes. 

Don't mean to add fuel to the fire, just wondering why you say to not open from vault.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why, that is what tech support told me not to do...never open from vault, and don't use the ribbon bars, use the tabs over the tree....

[Lance127]

Well, issues with multiple projects (if you have that) is the main one. Also there seems to be quite a few times where something doesn't work quite right as well, like the crash you mention. It's sort of like opening an AutoCAD file by double clicking on it, it works fine until it doesn't for some reason.

Much easier to develop a single work flow and stick with that.

*edit. I wanted to add, I really don't like having Vault open all the time, in most cases  it isn't needed and it's just additional drain on computer resources. I also see more "issues" with the users that do keep it open all the time; slower check-ins/outs mostly.

[Anonymous]

We have one project file...actually 2, but the other is not in use...

[Lance127]

So what specifically are you having trouble with or seeing that you can't get to work. Also what versions are you on and computer specs.

[Anonymous]

inventor 2013

vault server 2013 

what problems you ask...

trying to check in under levels of detail (It tries to create a whole new file)

general checking in checking out

content center causing conflicts 

asking to check in parts

bills of materails are not user freindly

Its like no one ever worked on autocad or a drafting board for that matter that had any imput to this program!

[Lance127]

>>trying to check in under levels of detail (It tries to create a whole new file)

I use LOD frequently and haven't seen this. Now in Inventor the LOD name will show after the file name in the Recent files list and it's the name that shows at top of the window i.e. "800-0000(Level 1)" but it's still the same file. And only one file ends up in Vault.

The rest of your comments are too vauge to ofer any advice.

What specifc problems checking in and out are you having? Use either the ribbon or the browser to check in and out, pick one and stick with it, for now.

Exactly how do you have the content center organized? By that I mean if you are using the Vault for it make sure that you don't have it set to use the desktop in your App Settings.

What exactly about BOM are you finding hard to do?

[Anonymous]

I have seen something similar, but usually its refusal to check in when a substitute was created as a level of detail and is set as not active. It can't find the substitute view until it is switched to the active view, then saves fine. Otherwise have had no problems with level of details.

OP: That could be a vault or program setting that is causing you difficulties. Do you have all the latest service packs for inventor and vault installed?

[Anonymous]

I believe we have all the latest service packs

I guess i don't understand the substitutes

[Anonymous]

Are you using substitutes in your level of details? if all your level of details are simply turning on or off the visibility of parts by supressing them, then this issue should not be ocurring. But when you create a LoD do you ever use the New Substitute option and derive an Assembly? This is the only time I have ever had troubles with LoD's. Using substitutes isn't a bad thing, it's quite handy when working with large files, but I am a firm believer that the option shouild never be used in this place. If one opens a blank part and derives an assembly from there, no problems are ever encountered, just if one derives it from within the assembly itself. Everytime I have done this or another in our office, it works fine for awhile, then suddenly acts up if the substitute LoD is not the active one when checking in and saving. most times you can not even save, and the error message is far from helpful. Took me a week to figure out it was the derived assembly LoD's being used.

Since I don't know if you use derived parts from the assembly, I can't say if it could be related. But if you only use LoD's to turn the visibility of parts on or off then what is happening to you should not be occuring, which suggests to me a vault or program setting is involved. being no vault expert, I leave things to those that are, but there is certainly no reason why it should be saving a complete new assembly because you are using a LoD.

I believe when they say do not open from vault, they are not talking about the vault tab in Inventor, but opening up the vault program itself, and then opening the file thru that.

I have had inventor want to save a new file when I made changes to an existing part but never checked out its parent assembly. Ususally it tells you it needs to check the file out, but once in a blue moon it has attempted to save a new file, at which point I simply check out the main assembly or subassembly and finish up. Not saying this is the issue, just a possibility to look into.

[Anonymous]

To continue my last point. Open any drawing from vault without checking it out. Make a change and save. It defaults to saving a new file, which I understand why. You have not checked it out, so apparently you are attempting to save a copy. After all, why would you want to save it to the orginal if you didn't check it out? You might look into this as a possible cause of your problem. be sure things are checked out that you made changes in. I can open a main assembly, then edit a sub-assembly within it without checking out that sub-assembly. It will try to save a brand new assembly which it should since you have not checked it out, there is no option but to save your changes as a new assembly, or to discard them totally. I expect this is in reality the issue you are having.

[Anonymous]

I think the reason you are getting contridictory statements about using the product is because it does not work right and was release before it was ready to be released.  I recommend you file a fraud complaint against autodesk.