It would be great is Appearances were recorded to the keyframes when setting up an animation.
I'm currently using the Animation space to setup and stage images used for the assembly instructions of our products.
I have 3 colors (RGB) that I use to setup the focus parts vs other parts that will be gray out. (we print B&W and I use a Script in PS to batch these images out to get the desired results.) This workflow is working, however, occasionally I need to go back and change the perspective of a shot, zoom in, or change things slightly. When I go back in that keyframe in the time line, the appearances I've set are not being recorded.
To go one step further, I think an entire workspace dedicated to creating assembly steps would be great. (something of a mix between what's available in Inventor, the animation workspace here, and Creo Illustrate.)