[Madison]

Originally Posted by Molten

1. What makes you a professional?(how long you have used it, awards, jobs, etc...)

I've been working as a freelance technical designer outside of FIRST for a bit more than two years. I work with clients on nearly anything they'll pay me to do and my responsibilities include developing new products as well as "red-lining" existing models and drawings. I create drawings for production as well.

2. What is the greatest advantage Inventor has over other drafting softwares?

Inventor, like all parametric solid modeling programs, allows for intuitive creation of adaptive parts and assemblies. While it may sometimes take a bit longer to create parts initially, building them with the appropriate adaptivity means that making changes to parts, assemblies and drawings later happens much faster and that those changes can automatically propogate across multiple parts, ensuring that tab A continues to fit into slot B, even if you forget to move slot B. Parametric design also allows you to design using relationships and ratios in place of finite values -- so scaling parts or creating a series of parts that are similar can be achieved with minimal extra work.

3. How would you describe the thought process used with CAD?

I frequently begin with a rough hand-drawn sketch of an assembly and work from that -- creating and grouping parts in ways that seem intuitive. I consider the importance of different features in a part and build them up based on those assumptions so that editing them later is as easy as possible.

4. What is your favorite tool and why?

Save.

5. How do you teach this software to someone new?

Working through a series of simple tutorials that introduce basic concept of solid modeling seems to be the preferred method. I've never actually sat down to teach anyone to use parametric modeling software in a comprehensive fashion; I just try to answer questions as they come up.

6. What companies do you know that use this software? (if any)

I don't have first-hand experience with any company that uses Inventor, though I've seen a few job listings for it now and again and have heard rumors of some folks I know getting hired to do design work using Inventor. Solidworks is more common among small- and medium-sized businesses.

7. Please list the tools that you would show in a 5-7 minute demonstration?(for them to understand, not to be able to use)

Sketch, Extrude, Cut, Fillet, Pattern, Assemblies, Adaptivity

8. Is there anything else you can think of that is of importance?

Knowledge of CAD is not helpful without a supporting knowledge of design. Being able to use Inventor means you can draw a gearbox, but it doesn't mean you can design one, if that makes sense.

9. What is your primary CAD software?

Solidworks, primarily, with a little bit of AutoCAD thrown in when I need to communicate with the old folks.