Unlike SprutCam, it doesn't understand what's already been machined away. InventorCam doesn't really understand Inventor solids or faces. It just lets you extract edges from Inventor models. For the basic 2 1/2D operations, it doesn't really understand Inventor geometry. InventorCam's approach to CAM is much dumber than the promotional material would indicate.

This is just inept programming and design. If you're using different computers, as we have to do at TechShop, you lose the CAM files frequently. Nor does file save seem to be integrated with Inventor Pack and Go. Most of the time, even with what seem to be all the correct options set, CAM files are saved in some default place, not with the project.

But after doing that, not all the files seem to go there. It seems to be necessary to reset preferences for the program to indicate where the files for a project should go. It's not clear where it saves its CAM files, what they do, or when they get saved. The 'contextual help' just throws you to the beginning of a big HTML document. There's no reference manual that I can find that lists all the things it can do and what all the menu options do. The documentation (at Documentation - InventorCAM CAM software) consists of endless tutorials and fuzzy videos of screenshots.

Switching back and forth from the Inventor model to the CAM environment (Crashes sometimes, and sometimes just loses the CAM environment.).

(Crashes every time, by bringing up a dialog box with one greyed out 'Resume' button from which there is no escape.)

Trying to define stock with a 3D model without having deselected automatic definition of stock back in the preferences before starting.

Inventor then 'phones home' to Autodesk to report the crash, I fill oujt the crash form, and get a useless response back from Autodesk. When it crashes, it takes Autodesk Inventor down with it. I'm a programmer who does some machining.) I've used Inventor extensively, and SolidWorks a little. I've used Aspire's Cut2D and VCarve, and Sprutcam in the past. (Background: I'm using InventorCam 2012 with Autodesk Inventor 2013, at TechShop.

Inventorcam