Will AutoCAD Inventor Professional 2010 open on Autodesk Inventor Professional 2008

I want to download the new Inventor but my school is still using 2008. Am I able to downsave on the new inventor or am I better off just sticking with 2008.

We're talking a difference between 2010 and 2008 in the drawing file format. I would think you would be able to do a "save as" down to 2008. What makes you think otherwise?

We're talking a difference between 2010 and 2008 in the drawing file format. I would think you would be able to do a "save as" down to 2008. What makes you think otherwise?

No, you cannot open version 2010 files in earlier releases and there is no mechanism to save as earlier version. The best you can do is save as a neutral format file. I recommend saving as STEP. This only works for ipt and iam, not idw.

Leave to Inventor programmers to hamstring their clients. It just goes to show that those who program aren't necessarily paying attention to how people actually work. Good - bad - or indifferent.

I based my answer on the fact that most programs, be they CAD-related or other, usually provide some mechanism to do a "save as" in a file format that predates the latest realease.

From what I understand the reason is due to all the new features added every year, if you model using say the new 2010 tools then 2008 would not be able to understand the file, prob a load of rubbish as a programmer could fix this if allowed to? Solidworks is same, no down saving.

Thanks for the help. I guess I will wait until after this project to download 2010.

Leave to Inventor programmers...

Same for SolidWorks, Pro/E, Catia ...

Thread cleaned up and off topic posts removed.

Let's all try to remember why we're here. :wink:

no parametric CAD system known today can save back to older versions.

Thanks for that info. It begs the question though, why? Is there some inherent problem if it were to be attempted?

it was explained by the SolidWorks CEO once that programmers will be spending too much time working out compatibility to an older version than focusing on new features. the older product has to be retired at one point. they can't support it forever with changes in Hardware and Operating systems.

it is also a bit of a political/profit based decision. CAD companies want you to constantly upgrade to the last and greatest as they want your subscription dollar. If they allow older versions to open new version files, who's gonna upgrade?

Mark

I suspect it is mostly a profit based decision. I understand the reasoning and it is a cost/benifit analysis item. For my value I prefer that they concentrate on new functionality rather than backward compatibility, but I don't have to worry about working with various customers on earlier releases.

If enough customers demanded backward compatibility you would see it at least to some degree. New features that didn't exist in previous releases could be converted to base features. But in my experience most Inventor users are early adopters always on the leading edge and on subscription using the next release the day it is available. Not like the AutoCAD users who kick and fight each new release.

I guess it's a whole different world when it comes to using parametric CAD programs.

I use plain AutoCAD and I still get the occassional request to "save as" 2004 and / or 2000 file format. Last year I even got a request to save to a r14 file format. Why do you suppose people/companies hold on to their software for so long then? To recoup there investment?

It's got to be problematic to some degree to keep banging out production drawings while at the same time constantly upgrading software and hardware, training personnel, and finding the money to do it and still maintain a good ROI.

Add to this the inherent problems associated with any new release (i.e. - bugs) and one wonders when we have time to be productive.

guess it's apples and oranges - even though it's on some level same kind of workforce that use 2D-drawing programs and 3D parametric programs, they really should not be compared.

It's interesting though, I have mentioned it before but I look forward to crossing over to SolidWorks in the fall (actually just today got a date set when we review the offers) - so I'm reading this from that point of view.

I must wonder though, parametric programs can do save-as to DWG right? Can they (most? any?) do a save-as to different DWG-versions?

I guess it's a whole different world when it comes to using parametric CAD programs.

 

Why do you suppose people hold on?

 

It's got to be problematic...constantly upgrading software and hardware, training personnel, and finding the money to do it and still maintain a good ROI.

 

Add to this the inherent problems associated with any new release (i.e. - bugs) ....

Because of the history based features anyone can go back in history on the parts and see exactly how the part was built. Sometimes this is necessary to figure out the design intent. People make mistakes, discovering where they went wrong is much easier with a history trail. And the big bonus - makes editing those mistakes trivially easy compared to AutoCAD. Second bonus - makes resuse with edit of previous work trivially easy. But this is difficult to make backward compatible, especially as the technology advances very quickly from release to release. Inventor 2010 include an increadible amount of new technology over 2009.

Most Inventor users are on subscription, so they are learning a bit at a time in each new release. Because the technology is moving so fast the features in a new release are often heavily requested stuff that the users have been waiting years for and remove the need for complex work-arounds, so the new release is seen as essential to increase productivity. For most the cost is easily recouped on the first project or two. I don't know any user who would willingly go back to AutoCAD if they truelly lean Inventor.

But there are many who simply can't make the transition from the first CAD program they learned, whatever it is. We saw the same thing in the transition from drawing board to CAD and in the transition from 2D to 3D. (I should point out that 2D is not dead, just a different approach - the 3D model is a virtial representation of the real world equivalent - the single source of truth. The 2D is generated from the single source of truth. Sometimes or even often that requires a bit of manual editing for communication because of the inherent limitations of representing the real 3D world in 2D. This bothers some people.)

There have been some serious bugs in past years. The users tend to be early adopters and are not stopped by inherent problems. They quickly find a solution and step around the problem. 2009 was a good release and I don't recall anything serious compared to some of the earlier releases. From what I have seen of 2010 nothing significant has surfaced yet.

It should be pointed out that the parts/assemblies can be saved in neutral formats that can be read in virtually any release of any CAD program. But the history tree is lost. The solids are then referred to as Base (or dumb) solids. That is what you have in AutoCAD by default.

The new Inventor Fusion released yesterday at http://labs.autodesk.com makes the editing and conversion of base "dumb" solids easier.

I must wonder though, parametric programs can do save-as to DWG right? Can they (most? any?) do a save-as to different DWG-versions?

Yes, most can do this, but some do it better than others. Solidworks DWGs are only roughly 95% compatible with AutoCAD. It is simply their interpretation of what a DWG should be. With Inventor 2008+ you can use DWGs directly and open them up in AutoCAD without translation although the with the requirement that changes to the 3D models still has to propogate from Inventor and not AutoCAD. But an option still exists to save copy as an AutoCAD Drawing DWG down to R2000 AutoCAD for users that need old versions. IMOP, people who need r14, r2000 and older versions are simply too lazy or ignorant (I take that back, I guess I'm just used to old dogs in my area) about DWG TrueView which allows a user to save down to older versions of the DWG format. I personally beleive that you should not dumb down your drawings for anyone, that is their responsibility.

If you still need AutoCAD for your work, you might want to take a second look at Inventor. With Solidworks you would pay for the SW license AND AutoCAD license but with Inventor you get both for one price AND your subscription to the software will be less since you dont have to pay for two. Also IMOP, companies that go with SW and still need AutoCAD for some aspect of their work waste a LOT of money buying two licesnes just because they got a good demo from SW or think that it is far superior for their work when in actuality Inventor is more powerful in a lot of aspects.

The reason why we are going towards SolidWorks (and not Inventor or Revit) is because we are trying to get both our construction section and our piping section into the same program, from what we have seen, SolidWorks will work the best for the construction side while still make the Piping guys happy.

We will probably still use AutoCAD, more for a transition period and less and less as we get into the program - but from my point of view, the AutoCAD license that's a part of Inventor is more of a downside than an advantage, becuase it makes it soo much easier for my colleagues to resist the switch.

If I got it my way, I'd strip all our computers of AutoCAD when we install SolidWorks - but that would be evil

And about dumbing down drawings - I have two views about this. Since it is relatively easy to get a newer version open anyway then yes, I am against saving backwards. Then again, where I have projects with ten different drafters, it's much simpler that we all just use the same format from the start, otherwise someone will get stuck with the short end and have to convert ten different files every time we make a new revision. And with my luck, that would be me.

IMOP, people who need r14, r2000 and older versions are simply too lazy or ignorant about DWG TrueView

I would say they are just uninformed or unaware that the software exists. Not lazy or ignorant. Those are very harsh words. Most people are very happy when you tell them about TrueView.

We will probably still use AutoCAD, more for a transition period and less and less as we get into the program - but from my point of view, the AutoCAD license that's a part of Inventor is more of a downside than an advantage, becuase it makes it soo much easier for my colleagues to resist the switch.

don't froget DWGeditor. it comes free with SolidWorks and you are allowed to install it on 3 machines for every SWX license you own. So essentially you don't need maintain the AutoCAD lic.