Go on, I'll jump in just once more for the sake of accuracy, although 'SWuser' has it exactly right . . . "Guys SW and IV are NOT a religon it is a tool, unless of course you are a Reseller".
inserted into the original part. This is not a mirrored body, a one step operation within one part . . . . correct, but what you are describing sounds more like mirror feature(s).
they have just added it in version 6, what has been the hold up, this is basic required functionality for a production ready piece of software. . . . . Yes, which is why I objected to your original post - it was inaccurate and ill-informed.
steps and the thing is so limited that is is easier to model it in 3d from the start. . . . . sounds like you need some training.
make a body from where these 2 bodies intersect. derived parts, derived assemblies, seems like IV is just derived itself. . . . I know what boolean operations are, thank you! And for your information you can perform all these with Inventor. 'Derived Part' is simply the description of the Inventor function - sorry if the terminology upsets you.
the "adaptive engine" (which is a bunch of macros) and dosen't work too well circular references which part is driving and which part is driven. . . . . The "adaptive engine" has nothing at all to do with macros, it just describes a facility that allows a designer to create cross part and assembly relationships in a different way - it takes a bit of undersatnding but once learned can be very effective. As for Autodesk saying that they do not have top down design I can't comment, but if you ever get the chance to use Inventor check out the 'Skeletal modelling' concept developed by some of the users - it works!
part into an assembly and have it snap into place with 3 mates without having to manually reference edges /faces etc... or apply special references to the geometry to make it intelligent. . . . . They are called by a different name, but your description is exactly that of the iMates on the fasteners in the Inventor Standard Content library.
dragging parts around and detecting collision dynamically using stop at collision and dynamic clearance. . . . Dynamic collision detection? It moves, it collides, it stops or warns! How dynamic do you want it? Granted Inventor does not have physical dynamics a la Works, but that was not what I said.
Our biggest model now has about 30,000 parts (in its stripped down version - fully populated it would be about 200,000 - obviously unworkable). I don't work at the top end model very often - just to check mating of large sub assemblies, but I do work with 10,000 plus sized models every day.........................Cheers.........Sean
does it update when you move a part? . . . . Yes - it's been then a while.
we mostly do it's about the same as Works, but then we don't do big assemblies, but remember :-
"Guys SW and IV are NOT a religon it is a tool".
I just don't like misleading information - either way.
configurations,