over the past 20 years ive used a multitude of 3d progs, such as solidworks, inventor and pro engineer. I used proe for over 12 years and along with others, ran the scottish proe user group for a couple of years.

however, my favourite is inventor by a country mile....

it doesnt have the power of proe, proe is the most powerful by far... however the inventor user interface is excellent. real easy for new guys or people converting to it from one package

try using inventor and go to solidworks/proe and it can be painful..

solidworks feels a little too clunky for me,,, it feels like its been fudged together and loads of features just added together with no thought of the usability of the overall package..not sure if i am describing it the best,.. it just feels wrong... i know it here as cartoon cad, some call it cornflake cad.

inventor is my prog of choice and I have all three at home. however, everyone will have their favourite, its what your used to i guess, I just try and avoid solidworks these days.

FarFromDotMatrix wrote:

I would be interested in doing the inverse : STL to IPT
I understand how the STL files are built and how the information is organized.
But using the same algorithm as a slicer, we could import the geometry, slice per slice as lofted 2D sketches.
Is there such a software somewhere ?

STL is fundamentally different than IPT, from what I understand. You're best bet is learning how to use autodesk fusion. That's designed for STL type files. It's what they recommend if you plan on editing your STL.

I similarly am kind of bummed by that. But STLs are mesh-like, and IPTs are I believe more built from the foundation of shapes.  I'm not entirely sure.

Do you master the 2D sketch concept in inventor? It represent a single 0 thickness layer of geometry. It can then be extruded along a path. Or extruded along a path toward the next layer. So it is technically possible to import an stl file, as multiple 2D sketches, using a specific slice thickness and then loft them from layer to layer. But I am wondering in there is a way to create a mesh solid in inventor, does anyone know? I know it is possible to import acad dwg geometry. Can I import a dwg mesh object and deal with it as a solid?

I would be interested in doing the inverse : STL to IPT
I understand how the STL files are built and how the information is organized.
But using the same algorithm as a slicer, we could import the geometry, slice per slice as lofted 2D sketches.
Is there such a software somewhere ?

STL is fundamentally different than IPT, from what I understand. You're best bet is learning how to use autodesk fusion. That's designed for STL type files. It's what they recommend if you plan on editing your STL.

I similarly am kind of bummed by that. But STLs are mesh-like, and IPTs are I believe more built from the foundation of shapes.  I'm not entirely sure.

Anybody have any experience with autodesk and converting or would I be better off using a different program?