Inventor ipt vs iam files

[Kyle Waters]

Good Morning all, is there an advantage in Mastercam to using a part file(ipt) versus an assembly(iam) file? I tried Google search as well as here, with no relevant results. The assembly file is roughly 10 percent the file size and has all of the components. Did I miss something?

Thanks in Advance

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Kyle,

To read in an IAM file, you have to have it and all the component IPT files in the same folder. The IAM file basically acts as a director as to how the components are reassembled during import. In other words, you can't read in an IAM by itself. HTH

[rdshear]

Normally to simplify things here for assembly type models, our engineering department turns the iam assemblies into a "derived component" ipt. That way it imports as a single model instead of several small models. It also makes things easier with just one solid model ipt vs. several ipt's and the iam as Todd said.

[Kyle Waters]

Cool, thanks guys. I was only looking at it from a file size standpoint.