Thoughts on this book? Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2016

[Anonymous]

Anyone got this yet?  I'm wondering if it will truly turn me into an Inventor master.  I worry about books like this spending 12 pages on extruding a rectangle. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119059801?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_mini_detail&smid=ATVPDKIK...

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I don't have the book, but you can ask the author @PaulMunford . He frequents here...

[mdavis22569]

@PaulMunford one of the authors is on here ... I think he's a very knowledgeable guy who shared some key stuff for you to get the most out of Inventor.

it's a good book ... you can only master something you actually want to master though ...   I've been using it for almost 2 decades (15 years)  

you'll always be learning ...but is this something that can help you ...that's up to you to answer, and depending on how you use Inventor ..

[Anonymous]

I'm a quick learner and have close to 15 years CAD experience, just a few months into Inventor.  Whenever I switch paltforms, I self teach for the most part.  I'm cruising with Inventor right now.  That said, I'm looking for insights into advanced stuff and improving overall work habits.  I just don't want a beginner's book.  It says "Mastering", just looking for thoughts before I fork out the dough.  Thanks!

[Curtis_Waguespack · Accepted solution]

Hi CosmosK,

Here's a good review:

https://designandmotion.net/autodesk/inventor/a-review-of-mastering-autodesk-inventor-2016/

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[Anonymous]

far better than the Amazon review, thanks!   I think I'm sold.  I appreciate the help

[salariua]

The book is very good and I think you will be learning from it time and again.

Even though the book CAN'T cover everything, there is no way you will remember it all and you need to re-scan it every once in a while.

The one thing I wanted to say is: Get the PDF as well, because it's got color images for better understanding and smoother reading.

[PaulMunford]

Thanks for the mention. @Curtis_Waguespack has to take some credit here! He curated the book for eight years before he handed it over to me 🙂

It is a very comprehensive book that runs from the basic basics to the more complex and theoretical.

I hope you give it a go 🙂

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

I realize this has been "solved" but just wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

The company I work for used AutoCAD exclusively when I started working here in 2011.  I had been formally trained in Pro/E in school, but also dabbled with Inventor on various projects in school, so i had a little experience with it.  When we finally convinced upper management that a move to 3D modeling was a good idea, it made sense to start with Inventor.  I used Inventor for about 6 months and was able to get done what i needed to by using the basic functions that are fairly common to all 3D modeling software i.e Extrusions, Constraints, etc.  As I completed more and more projects, I found myself returning to previous projects to either reuse the files for a new project or to make revisions.  Our group is very small (at the time we had 3 engineers, now it is just me) and we are asked to wear many hats.  As you can imagine, i ended up spending more and more time fixing models that broke when i tried to make revisions or modify them for a new project and my productivity fell.  I knew that Inventor had other features that could help speed up productivity but the Help function inn Inventor is very dry, vague and difficult to pick up quickly for me.

The best takeaway from this book for me was the general understanding of how to model something with robust techniques.   This book starts with the assumption that you have no experience with Inventor, which i appreciate, because while i was gong through the chapters that i considered "review" material, i was able to break some of the bad habits i had acquired from learning the software on my own.   The book also covered project files (which helped us figure out how to get rid of the ever annoying "location lies outside the project workspace" warning) and iLogic which has been one of the best productivity boosters i have discovered so far.

I read the book cover to cover in about a month and i was not in a hurry (a chapter here and section there), so it would not take a a determined person very long at all to read.  i would absolutely recommend this book to anyone that wants to become a power user of Inventor.

[Anonymous]

@PaulMunford

Hi Paul, will there be a 2017 release soon?

[salariua]

2016 was the last release ever.

Sybex, Wiley has shifted gears and went completely different way. 

They might just change to online courses like Udemy or Coursera, Pluralsight, Udacity, etc.