Favorite Tool

[Ian Mackenzie]

iMates are great if used properly (identifying things by name instead of some obscure internal ID is a wonderful thing). I must say that work planes do have their dark side; ever noticed what happens if you use "Extrude To" in the context of an assembly? Inventor creates a hidden work plane as the real extrusion limit, and if the original part moves, the work plane doesn't. Inventor is pretty good, but in my experience it simply isn't as fully parametric as SolidWorks or (especially) Pro/ENGINEER - although I'm quite willing to be proved wrong on this one if somebody knows how to avoid the problem I just described (and a similar one that often happens if you project geometry between parts).