I'm looking for a parametric modeler for some 3D work.

From what I read Inventor and Solidworks are pretty heavy, although they have alot of features.

If it can do animations like a Mech CAD application similar to Solidworks & Inventor, that would be a nice bonus.

What about Wings3d?

http://www.wings3d.com/index.php

(no animation)

jaclaz

No, that's a subdivision modeler.

I'm looking for a parametric modeler so I can change the aspects of a solid. Say for example I have a pipe with a hole in it that pipe 2 connects to. If pipe 2 needs to be larger, I can adjust the hole instead of redrawing everything.

The model is built on parameters. Length, width, diameter... etc. That can be modified after.

Within some limits, you can also use Sketchup, which provides for animation:

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/

the professional version should have the ability of parametric changing sizes

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/product/gsup.html

I guess that this is what "Dynamic Components are about:

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/product/dcspro.html

jaclaz