how long did it take you to transition to inventor from autocad?

[NextPerception]

I am having a really hard time transitioning from autocad (i have been using it for 6 years) to inventor any suggestions? how hard was your transition?

[Henry Anthony]

I am a graphic designer who has experience with 3d animation programs. Learning Inventor to a level of expertise to design a competition robot took me about 40 hours and was a relatively easy transition. Basically, I just did the tutorials. One of our engineering mentors, a long time AutoCad user, suggested the team learn AutoCad. The kids were having a rough time of it. After a demo of Inventor, our long time AutoCad user said, "just use Inventor". Adaptivity and the fact that you could place a part in an idw that was fully dimensioned impressed him. So, not an exact answer to your question but having used neither product, I find Inventor to be far more user friendly. You might try the AutoDesk Inventor forums. This topic has been discussed there at length. I read the forums everyday - a very good way to learn. I almost never post a question as I feel the purpose of the forum is to support the professional user and I respect that.

[ajlapp]

transitioning into Inventor, at least from a user-interface point of view, is quite easy.

learning to design in a 3-d space without some of the most useful AutoCad tools, like construction lines, arrays, or the ability to mirror can be frustrating.

although my sub-group eventually places our ideas into Inventor....the design happens on paper or in the friendly realm of AutoCad.

[Stu Bloom]

Originally Posted by ajlapp

transitioning into Inventor, at least from a user-interface point of view, is quite easy.

learning to design in a 3-d space without some of the most useful AutoCad tools, like construction lines, arrays, or the ability to mirror can be frustrating.

although my sub-group eventually places our ideas into Inventor....the design happens on paper or in the friendly realm of AutoCad.

But in Inventor you DO have "construction" lines, points, and planes. You also have arrays and the ability to mirror 2-D and 3-D geometry/features (and even complete parts/assemblies). AND you have the power of a parametric model - VERY easy to make changes and study design options/iterations.

ENDURE THE PAIN of learning something new ... you'll be GLAD you did. I guarantee it!

See some of the recommended links/tutorials and tips in this thread.

[sanddrag]

It took me about a year to convince myself I needed to learn Inventor. To actually learn it, it took me as long as it took to go through the included tutorials. Inventor is the easiest, most intuitive CAD software there is, period.

As a side note, it took me <5 minutes to decide I would never be able to figure out AutoCAD.

[Firehands]

I used Autocad for about 10 years, and in t. he last 2 years began doing everything 3-d.

I admit, that during all the previous years I never could figure out how to model or draw 3-d until one day I thought, "Okay, one more shot at this!" well it worked.. and I realized how easy it was.

I then began to render, and light, then add differnt rendering materials by scanning in real world objects and scaling and applying them to my 3-d drawings/models

I had tremendous results, then a freind introduced me to Inventor Version 5 I think it was. I went through a few of the tutorials he had in a huge binder his company used in a classroom environment for thier designers to learn from. (yes, this was borrowed, including the program)
After trying some of the tutorials I found that it wasn't so hard using the program, although, I believe that it would take years of trial and error and reading and asking to get REALLY proficient at it. But that too depends on what you are designing.

I estimate it took me about a week to make the transition. and quite frankly, I seldom use autocad anymore, except to run a few LIPS I have for making chain, Sprockets and pulleys. I then export them to Inventor and carry on from there.

The autodesk inventor newsgroup is also a HUGE resource for learning from other users. (Discussion.autodesk.com) then subscribe to "Inventor"

Hope you are doing well.
I now own Inventor 10 and I am quite impressed with the ease of using it. (although aligned diagonal dimensions don't seem to exist in the drawings) Unless there is a way and I just don;t know it yet.

Have fun

Dave Bellis

Originally Posted by NextPerception

I am having a really hard time transitioning from autocad (i have been using it for 6 years) to inventor any suggestions? how hard was your transition?

[Squirrelrock]

the aligned dimensions from diagonal lines require you to click on the angled line twice and it should dimension the length of the line and not the height or width, i think.


once i started to really use inventor, it took all of 5 sec to decide to use inv only, and maybe a couple of days to learn it...