Ive probably asked this a dozen times, but new folk are always coming here so its worth another shot.

 Heres what we need to do, can somebody tell me how to handle it if we baught Inventor?

 Using partially surfaced wireframe data thats seriously way out in space (eg x2338.76, y4567,23 z5657.97) at crazy orientations (ie twisted away from 'normal'in all three axii simultaneously), construct a fixture/jig around the data, being able to measure to and reference features from this wireframe/surface data to aid the fixture construction.

 The data imported is sloppy, single skin surfaces of multiple disjointed pieces which are unable to be 'stitched/healed' 'promoted' or 'thickened' into a solid. Also, the imported geometry represents multiple components, so how would you re-model the parts in one file if you had to?

 If you had to remodel and use multiple files, how do you match the positions back up the way they were on the wireframe if they are braught together again in an assembly - You cant measure in Inventor 3d the same way you can in Autocad with ucs and 'dimension', nor can you pick hold of elements or patches of a surface as a guide.

 We do fixtures for exhaust sytems and presstools for car exhaust bracketry and for non automotive work too. It really grinds on me why this kind of job cant be done in Inventor or its competitors. They claim to be the future of 3d design yet in its new methods of going about a task, it cant do basic 'CAD' things you could do in a cad system 10 years ago thats essential to our preperation work.

 Unfortuanetly not everything can start off nice and square and in plane, at 0,0,0 where you then 'bolt on' other bits to make an assembly, yet NONE of these programs seem to be able to handle our complex tasks properly.

 I dream of being enlightened on how such tasks are done in these modern systems, considering the data recieved, or even if it had to be redrawn as a solid (which should be unnecessary).
 
 Its driving me slowly round the twist. We want to progress to new technology, especially one as easy and slick as Inventor, yet we cant do it cos all these modern types of program fail miserably in this regard.

 MDT is still the only viable buy from autodesk for us because of this, but why should this be the case? Some of us cant hop on the new bandwaggon, yet these older programs are being dropped right left and center. Where would we turn then?

 Thanks to anyone who can provide any answers, its really bugging me now. lol. Im determined to make a nuisence of myself on the net until I can clarify this stuff in my head. :)

 Cheerio

Sirius2.