Mastering Autodesk® Inventor® 2012 and Autodesk® Inventor LT™ 2012

Understanding the “Feel” of Inventor

To the new user, Inventor's ever-changing interface may seem a bit disorienting. Taking a few minutes to understand why menus and tools change from one context to another will go a long way in getting comfortable with the “feel” of Inventor and anticipating the way it works.

Understanding the Intuitive Interface

The overall interface of Inventor might be called context intuitive, meaning that menus change depending on the task and the environment. Inventor is organized by tools grouped onto tabs, offering only the tools needed for the appropriate task at hand. If you are sketching a base feature, the tools you see are sketch tools. In Figure 1.8, the Sketch tab is active, and the displayed tools are the ones ...