CATIA / Solidworks Comparison

[Sparweb]

I work in Aerospace, so understandably, I should be learning CATIA. There are no CATIA courses offered in my city (I've checked), so I'm thinking of taking a Solidworks course instead.
Both are developed by 3DS Dassault Systems, therefore does some relation exist? Follow the link

http://www.3ds.com/en/home.asp

to see what I mean.

Hopefully I haven't offended any purists with the question, but can I jump from one to the other without starting from scratch?

BTW, I have 3-4000 hours on AutoCAD (2D, 3D, renderings, etc.) , so the drafting part is no sweat, it's "speaking the language" that I need to learn.

Thanks in advance.

STF

 

[kanpa]

Dear SparWeb,

Does your office use CATIA V4 or V5? If the former version is used, why don't you read "INSIDE CATIA" written by Paul Carman and Paul Tigwell? The book is very useful for beginners.

kanpa

 

[ahbugeye]

SparWeb,

Catia V5 and Solidworks are similar in capabilities, but they are still quite different. I am trained in Catia V5, but have used a little Solidworks. The icons and how different functions are activiated/used is different between the two. I can't comment on the drafting package of Solidworks since I haven't used that portion as of yet though. But, there are some things that Solidworks can do that Catia V5 cannot, i.e. radial sectioning, and the reverse is also true. I would recommend taking a Catia V5 course if that is what you will be using instead of trying to port your knowledge from Solidworks to Catia V5. There are some reference books and online courses available that you might be able to use if there are no courses available in your area.

Hope this helps.
ahbugeye

 

[Sparweb]

Thanks for the tips. My office is far from using CATIA; I'm looking to my own future employment opportunities, since I only know how to use AutoCAD. Solidworks seems to offer more possibilities, given its popularity, but CATIA is the standard in aircraft design, where I ultimately want to be. I am choosing SW because I can't get training in my city (too far from the center of the universe) in CATIA.

I should not expect to hop easily from one to the other, nor fool anyone that I can.

ahbugeye, do you know of on-line courses that you can recommend?


STF

 

[ahbugeye]

I Cadpo has online training for both Solidworks and Catia V5.

http://www.cadpo.com/home/home.asp

Some of the other VARS may be offering it too, but I'm not sure which. (MSC Software, RAND, etc.)

Jen

 

[ctb25]

I am/have been a CATIA V4 user. If you are trying to learn V4, there is a training software called Think CAD Bleu (

http://www.thinkcadbleu.com).

This is a self-paced learning course and is quite good. A couple of guys I know have gone through it and began using V4. I hope this helps!

 

[pugap]

Basic functionality is the same, but there is a huge difference in licensing. CATIA charges for each and every little thing. If you want a basic comparison, you'll have to get a P2 license with a sheetmetal license. Otherwise, you can't do sheet metal, and there are limitations on some other functions that Solidworks can do right out of the box (maybe less on surfacing, but more in other areas). You could be paying 3-4 times as much and never use CATIA fully.
I would like some advice on how to justify CATIA over Solidworks if the product being doesn't require the high end surfacing functionality, or it's more of a configurable product and not a specialized design.

 

[Sparweb]

I just finished my introductory Solidworks course on Friday. Great stuff - CAD will never be the same again for me. Thanks for the advice.

STF

 

[nickeaston]

What intro course did you finish, SparWeb?

FWIW, I asked a SW var the other day how MUCH I could pay for SW and she said "about 7 or 8 thousand"....

I have never found out how much a full (100+modules) of CATIA might cost, but of course no one could ever use all the specialized modules...

 

[jakey]

G'day Nickeaston,

The full Catia (134 modules) costs somewhere in the vicinity of $750,000 !!!!!!!!!

AS you say no company in the world would pay or use every
module available.

regards,
Jakey