You may already know some of these things, but since I don't know if you do, please forgive me if I attempt to explain too much. Like all of us I'm sure, many things I just picked up over the years through trial & error, that aren't explained very well within Autodesk's help files.
There is a folder that is installed with Inventor (and likely other packages) called "Textures".
If you go into your Application Options / File Tab, the last line, shows you where Inventor is looking for this folder.
What we had to do, to ensure all users were sourcing the same set of appearances, was basically copy this folder to a network location, where we all had access to. Then make sure that all users Application Options were set to look at the same folder. Those little image files are used for tons of stuff.
The files located directly within this folder are used for workspace backgrounds and the "Reflection Environtment" on your parts (Application Options / Colors Tab).
There are two sub folders ("bumpmaps" & surfaces") which I'm sure your pretty familiar with if you've set up custom Materials & Appearances before. Basically if your new images aren't located within these two sub-folders, and aren't the right file type, it's going to cause lots of problems down the road. We found that out the hard way in years past.
Somehow some users had a few of these files that were a little different from other users versions, when sourcing them locally. Or one person's local version of one of the custom images got updated, while others didn't.
The "Associative" check box is extremely useful. It makes sure you are viewing the "live" or directly smart linked (for lack of better term) version of the part or assembly.
When this is set the following things happen:
When you insert a part or assembly into either another assembly or a drawing, it makes sure that the part or assembly's appearance as well as which sub-components (or bodies in Multi-Body Parts) within are visible (as saved within the active Design View Representation), and remains actively linked to its source file.
Then when the source part or assembly is modified it instantly also changes within that destination assembly or drawing where it is set to Associative.
When you turn the visibility of any component off within an assembly, and it is currently Associative to its source, you get a warning message that doing so will break this link. Afterwards, if you want that component's Design View Reprenentation to update, you must select it, right click, choose Representation, that ckeck Associative again, to it will have that direct link again.
Yes, this setting is often less important for simple part files than it is for assemblies, but it made a huge difference for us.
Within drawings, when you edit the view, the Component tab / Representation area is the same way. If you don't have that little check box above the View drop down checked, the View Representation of the component within the view won't update when it changes in the source file.
I believe that when you have that option checked within the application options, it automatically checks this box for you on new occurances, when appropriate.
I don't know if these things will help your situation out, but I hope it helps either you or others in the future.
Wesley Crihfield
(Not an Autodesk Employee)
