Any issues moving from Pro/E to SW?

[DaveG16]

A group I do some work for from time to time is thinking about moving from Pro/E to SolidWorks. I've only had a little tube time with SW96 and none on Pro/E, so I don't know why they're asking me (probably just asking everyone they know).

For those of you who did this, are there any big issues in making this move?

They do tooling, tool holders, etc. for metalworking and assembly station stuff, plus a little contract metalworking.

Dave G.

 

[Spinnerman]

If the ProE is an older version (older than 2000 I think) it's supposed to translate ok. We went from 2000I2 to SW and it requires additional translation software, has something to do with PTC locking out direct translation with other programs so you'd buy their stuff. Since we only had development stuff on ProE and our drawings in AutoCad, we weren't that concerned about it. In our case exporting the ProE models to Iges then opening in SW suits our purpose.

Living in my own 3D world

 

[DaveG16]

Thanks, Spinman. I'm not sure they know of the importing utilities, so I'll pass this along.

I was more asking about what design processes, thought processes, etc. they would have to go through in starting new parts/models.

IOW, is modeling in SolidWorks a whole lot different from modeling in Pro/E?

Dave G.

 

[testy]

SW is much more intuitve than Pro/E. However, SW is not as powerful of a program for surfacing. If you have experienced Pro users they should have no problems with SW.

 

[MouseTrap]

Dave,
I am new to SolidWorks after having some time on ProE - not a lot of experience on either, but enough to state that creating geometries and manipuliting drawings is somewhat easier on SolidWorks than ProE. My smattering of ProE (college course) also contributed to reducing my learning curve on SolidWorks.
Mousetrap

 

[Spinnerman]

Design process wise it was pretty easy converting over. SW is much more user friendly. I don't miss wading though lengthly menus. There are some things it doesn't do as well but it's not a high end program either. We spent some time establishing company design standards so everyone is on the same page when creating models. The basics still apply in that you want to consider the function of the end model and create it according to your customer's (internal or external)need. There was some trial-and-error to find the best ways of model creation that best suits our needs. We were mostly a 2D company before and only used 3D for some development and FEA. We are now using models for manufacturing use also so they (manufacturing programers) are bringing the models into their cam program and creating machining and inspection programs from the same model used for engineering prints.

Living in my own 3D world

 

[penguin221]

I used ProE for 12 years. I just switched to SW in May of this year. I had no problems maiking the switch. Sw is more user friendly and you can cut the number of iterations ( mouse or menu picks )in half.

It takes a little to get use too because some of the commands are used differently than ProE. But it is very easy to get up and running.

ProE may be more powerful in the surface area, but Sw is just more productive and in my opinion gives a more professional look to renderings and drawings than ProE.

Stephen Getsy
Product Development Engineer
Silgan Plastics

http://www.silganplastics.com