Make Inventor sketching like drawing in AutoCAD

[Wish List System]

Summary: Provide Inventor with sketching tools like those in AutoCAD; Ortho, Osnaps, Stretch, etc.

Description: Though a powerful modelling program, Inventor sketching (especially 3D sketching) could be improved by working more like AutoCAD. For example; there should be an Ortho option to lock lines parallel with X,Y&Z axes, with parallel constraints added automatically. Picking a point and entering the lines opposite end X,Y,Z point is a pretty primative way to sketch. Why is Inventor so limited in its options? Running Osnaps, Ortho, Point Filters, etc. make creating 2D and 3D linework in AutoCAD easy and intuitive. Inventor sketching should be as full-featured.

Product and Feature: Inventor - Sketching

Submitted By: Michael O'Flaherty on 08/27/2012

[FProcp]

I've seen several video tutorials saying draw your 2D profile in AutoCAD and then copy it into Inventor.

This is ridiculous. Inventor should be able to draw 2D sketches just as well as AutoCAD can. We should have running Osnaps, Ortho, etc, etc...

We should also be able to draw a line at an exact angle and an exact distance just like in AutoCAD without the padlock appearing on dimensions you enter locking it down.
Draw a circle at an exact diameter without locking its size with a dimension.

[JD Mather]

I recommend learning how to sketch in Inventor.

[Cadapult]

I can sketch in Inventor, JD, I just don't think it's quite as fast or flexible as sketching in AutoCAD, especially 3D sketching. Is there some advantage to it *not* having the same feature set as AutoCAD? Is a request to add features to Inventor out of line somehow? I thought that was what the Wish List was for...

A number of years ago I worked at a company that was starting to transition from designing in a 1980's version of Palette (a mainframe-based CAD program) to designing in AutoCAD. Palette had commands like "GAEDP" (="Move") that you had to type in. The guys running Palette mocked AutoCAD because "it's so easy it's 'loser friendly'!" Somehow they felt the non-intuitive complexity of Palette was a positive attribute of the software. As for me, I'll take software that's "loser friendly", with as many time-saving features as can be packed into it. But hey, that's me.

[FProcp]

There is so much more freedom to sketch properly first up in AutoCAD.

I think this is a big reason why new users don't like Inventor when they first use it.

[Wish List System]

Make Inventor sketching like drawing in AutoCAD

Summary: Provide Inventor with sketching tools like those in AutoCAD; Ortho, Osnaps, Stretch, etc.

Description: Though a powerful modelling program, Inventor sketching (especially 3D sketching) could be improved by working more like AutoCAD. For example; there should be an Ortho option to lock lines parallel with X,Y&Z axes, with parallel constraints added automatically. Picking a point and entering the lines opposite end X,Y,Z point is a pretty primative way to sketch. Why is Inventor so limited in its options? Running Osnaps, Ortho, Point Filters, etc. make creating 2D and 3D linework in AutoCAD easy and intuitive. Inventor sketching should be as full-featured.

Product and Feature: Inventor - Sketching

Submitted By: Michael O'Flaherty on 08/27/2012

[Wish List System]

Make Inventor sketching like drawing in AutoCAD

Summary: Provide Inventor with sketching tools like those in AutoCAD; Ortho, Osnaps, Stretch, etc.

Description: Though a powerful modelling program, Inventor sketching (especially 3D sketching) could be improved by working more like AutoCAD. For example; there should be an Ortho option to lock lines parallel with X,Y&Z axes, with parallel constraints added automatically. Picking a point and entering the lines opposite end X,Y,Z point is a pretty primative way to sketch. Why is Inventor so limited in its options? Running Osnaps, Ortho, Point Filters, etc. make creating 2D and 3D linework in AutoCAD easy and intuitive. Inventor sketching should be as full-featured.

Product and Feature: Inventor - Sketching

Submitted By: Michael O'Flaherty on 08/27/2012

[Wish List System]

Make Inventor sketching like drawing in AutoCAD

Summary: Provide Inventor with sketching tools like those in AutoCAD; Ortho, Osnaps, Stretch, etc.

Description: Though a powerful modelling program, Inventor sketching (especially 3D sketching) could be improved by working more like AutoCAD. For example; there should be an Ortho option in 3D sketching to lock lines parallel with X,Y or Z axes, with parallel constraints added automatically. Picking a point and entering the line's opposite-end X,Y,Z point is a pretty primitive way to sketch. Why is Inventor so limited in its options? Having running Osnaps, Ortho, Point Filters, etc. makes creating 2D and 3D linework in AutoCAD easy and intuitive. Inventor sketching should be as full-featured as its little brother.

Product and Feature: Inventor - Sketching

Submitted By: Cadapult on 08/27/2012