How can I get auto explode to assembly pulled apart components to remain in the line of disassembly, rather then showing the part off to the side?
Unfortunately, the auto-explode command does not give you this kind of control -- it is quite limited. You may have better success with the "manual explode" command. This lets you select a set of components and "pull" them along an axis.
Maybe this is an issue that can be addressed in the next release? If there is no software solution for a correct auto exploded view and I would need to manually pull apart each component, why would a customer spend $2400 on Inventor Publisher to manually explode an image when your Design Review software does the same for 0 dollars? I would think that's the reason for spending the $2400...to get the automation needed to auto explode to reduce the cost of equipment manual production.