This thread is to talk about everyone favorite part of Inventor. Also, feel free to mention your least favorite part.
To start this off, I agree that the most important is probably extrude. That is not the question though. However, the favorite tool is often not the most important.
My favorite is the work plane function. I have done things with it that have saved me many other tools and a load of time.
My least favorite tool is the work point command. I just do not see the use of it.
I love the design accelerator. I’ve used the pressfit calculator to great success several times. Also, the ANSYS stress analysis feature has helped us to save a ton of weight while having a strong design in the past.
I don’t really understand the iMate function, but if I did i’m sure I’d like it.
Really don’t enjoy that inventor doesn’t deal with absolute coordinates much… UNTIL you try to render something with a ground plane. Then, moving your model around to get it on the ground plane is rather hard.
-q
3 points make a plane…if you make 3 work points you can make a work plane that may have been very difficult to do otherwise
my favourite tool is the work plane tool, like stated above. i like it because it makes certain shapes/objects much easier to attach to a part.
I got to say my favorite, or at least one of them is the circular pattern tool. It saves so much time in making parts that have many repeating features.
Brandon, I guess that makes sense. I have yet to come across such a problem but I am grateful to know the solution in case I ever do.
Pnakovich, I agree that the circular pattern is very handy. I once drew up the AndyMark traction wheels on Inventor with this command. I could not imagine trying without it. FYI: I would not try making this part again, I crashed our computer twice trying to get it to pattern properly. I just about gave up after an hour and a half of processing but it got done after three so I guess it was worth it.
As for the tools, I would have to say the thread tool is my favorite. Anyone who has used ProDesktop I think will agree with me. Back in Engineering Drafting, a kid and I were working on threading. In the end, we ran out of time, but we ended up crashing about five brand new computers in the classroom before we gave up. Also the dynamic simulator is usefull for showing people how something will work.
I’m a huge fan of the Inventor Studio. Basically, anything you CADD never looks good without a sick render/animation.
I love work planes and mirror feature in parts…
In assemblies, I love the mirror component because it can save a great deal of time in conceptual design, or even final products.
My favorite tool is the angled needle-nosed pliers that can reach really obscure places!
Oh wait…
Bah, I’m still on the first tutorial for inventor. Between vex prototyping, sports after work, and doing wonderfully abstract mathematical models in Matlab, I haven’t had the time 
It’s all about reppin that Design Accelerator. Seriously, that has got to be the best thing since the AM 2 speed. I use it soooo much, otherwise all my gearbox designs wouldn’t look nearly as pretty.
Inventor Studio is very nice too.
And don’t forget loft! I used that a lot when designing a propeller system for a wind powered car…
work planes are a necessity so im not really going to call them my favorite tool
in parts id have to say my favorite tool is shell or coil…coil is especially useful and makes coils a lot easier to make than in say solidworks.
in sheetmetal id have to say my favorite tool is flange just because it really simplifies the creation of sheetmetal parts…flat pattern is also quite cool.
design accelerator and inventor studio also rule the school
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).
I like thee constrain tool, (which is many in one). Without that all the pieces wouldn’t come together. The fillet tool is also very good.
Im going to have to say that the rotation tool is by far the best.
-Gee
I agree 100%…at my job i HAVE to use solidworks, Pro/ENGINEER and inventor, based on what clients we work for want…inventor is the most difficult to work with i feel…
overall i feel solidworks is the best balance of ease of use/Power
I’ll back you up on that too. Right now I use inventor because I have a license. I used to have a solidworks license and liked that a lot, I’ve used CATIA a lot (and hopefully getting a license soon. My brother’s business partner is a distributer) and that is by far my favorite.
Ian M: I noticed that same problem. Anything referencing a work plane in an assembly never seems to be entirely parametric. Mirroring components, then moving the plane leaves the components unchanged.
I personally like the rectangular and circular pattern tools because they save a ton of time.
Favorite tool - Copy and Paste
There is no least favorite for me.