New to design and using Inventor

I am new to drafting and design and am using Inventory 2010 (30 day version to see if i like it). My question is, what book(s), or what should I be reading to understand the basic concepts and terms and such. I am reading through the Mastering Autodesk 2010 and do not understand some of the terms like "bossing" or some of the lines/angles they are talking about. Just to give you a brief background I am a software engineer. (and no I am not looking to create a new system, I am simply expanding my boundaries!!)

Thanks in advance!!

D

Inventor is a professional program and deserves professional led training for the most efficient scaling of the learning curve. Having said that, you might want to start here

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2006/MA13-3%20Mather.pdf

and here

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/MA105-1L%20Mather.pdf

(do both slight differences and for earlier releases but you should be able to figure it out.

Then do the built in Help>Learning Tools> Tutorials and Skill Builders.

BTW Displaced workers and students can download free 13-month license from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity

I tried to use that signup and it requires me to be a student, which I am not at present. I saw nothing about displaced workers either. Ehh well, I will be working through the links and you tube and such. If anybody else has any good reference items (not counting what is already in the sticky's at the top of the forum - ALWAYS appreciated and good choices ) then please post them as people like me find them extremely useful!!

Thanks again!

D

I saw nothing about displaced workers

http://tinyurl.com/ydp7omm

Cute....and thank you, I had already found it before you posted that (had not had a chance to post here though ), but it still brought a smile to my face.

Happy Holidays, I am sure you will hear back from me soon!

D

Mr JD Mather, is it ok if I contact you directly via PM or email about a situation I am in need of regarding inventor??

Thanks,

D

Have you worked through the tutorials that are in the Help file? they are pretty helpful.

I have a few tutorials and blog posts on my site...there are also some tip videos i just put up.

I got on well with an instruction book that I bought from cadcim technologies, they have a helpful website too. The book I bought was Inventor 2008 for Designers, but much of the technique covered is still valid for later versions. Keep JDM's advice about instructor led training in mind. I did courses first and read books after, and it was invaluable. Then again, so is this forum!