Inventor 2013 or 2014?

[Orion.DeYoe]

Originally Posted by LedLover96

I just got yself a new computer for CAD, and am downloading Inventor (it is the program I know how to use.) I know that Inventor Pro 2014 is available, but I do not know if I should get it, as opposed to the 2013 version that I know how to use.

Is is similar enough to 2013 that I could learn it in the next week and a half leading up to kickoff, or should I just wait a familiarize myself with it after the season? Is it more powerful/easier to use than the 2013 counterpart, making the learning curve worth it, or would I just be wasting my time?

Thanks for the help!
-Walter Deitzler

Changing versions of inventor has almost no learning time. 2014 is no different. Autodesk is very good at making intuitive changes to their software. They are also very good at only making changes that make the software better and more well-organized.
Off the top of my head the biggest change you need to know about is that they merged "constraints" and "inserts" (or whatever they call the "smart constraints") in the assembly tools, they are now calling them all "relationships". You can still constrain just like you did before, it's mostly an internal processing and terminology change.
The one thing that will be really useful for you is that you can now access a list of all of the relationships in the assembly (regardless of which components they use) at the top of the browser list in the folder called "Relationships".
Everything else I know about changed stuff in the higher-level features which you probably won't ever need in a robotics season.
As a rule I update to the new version of Inventor as soon as I can, it always makes my job easier.
Hope this helps !