I have to create assembly manuals for our products and amlooking for a better way of accomplishing this time consuming task.It is not critical that the manuals look realistic, it is moreimportant that they get the point across.

I've only done some research on this subject but haven't come upwith much on software packages used to create assembly manuals anddesign documentation.

I understand 3DVia Composer can do a lot of this but I'm not surethat it has page layout functionality for print publications andthe price tag is way too high (10-12k, depending on who you ask) soits out of the question (unless someone can convince me otherwisewith hard cost-savings data).

I've seen QuadriSpace and I've personally used combinations of theAdobe packages to create assembly manuals, using either renderingsor line drawings in combination with Illustrator, Photoshop andInDesign.

Can anyone else share their experience with creating various typesof documentation (assembly manuals, manufacturing instructions, webads, print ads, catalogs, interactive dvd's, animations,renderings, etc. etc. etc.)

Ideally a solution capable of using the direct SolidWorks datawould be ideal so that it could update with design changes and workcould be reused.

Software Packages I've explored to this point:
Adobe: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign
QuadriSpace
Bunkspeed
3DVia (Used to be Seemage when I last evaluated it)
PhotoWorks
SolidWorks Animator.

Does anyone have any examples they can share?

Thank You!SolidworksDocumentation, Certification, And Training