College setting: how much faster to learn & use is SW v. ProE? 10

[dmalicky]

We are re-evaluating which package to teach and use with undergraduate mechanical engineering students. We currenly have ProE/M though we are not heavily vested in it. I know historically SW has been faster to learn and use, compared to ProE. But ProE has improved in recent years and I don't know where they stand today. It would be great to know some rough estimates (e.g., %s, weeks, hours, mouse clicks) of the current differences.

Speed of learning and using is one of our considerations. I'd value your perspectives on these other factors:
1. Acceptance in industry: ProE is probably a little better because a ProE user can more easily learn SW than v.v.
2. Integration with a good FEA program: ProMechanica is probably enough for most undergrads although non-linear capabilities would be desirable. We're considering Ansys, Abaqus, Marc, __Nastran... to augment ProM. NEiWorks/Nastran looks like a logical and good choice for SW, since Cosmosworks is probably not enough.
3. Integration with a good CFD program: still working on this one.
4. Integration with a good CAM program: ProE has ProNC modules in the education edition, although I haven't heard much about them in industry. We have and would like to keep using SurfCam, so SW is better here.
5. Academic pricing: getting these quotes now.

Thanks,
David Malicky
University of San Diego

http://www.sandiego.edu/engineering

 

[yanceman]

Heckler,

First I'd have to find out what a variable section sweep is.

Yanceman

 

[ParaCAD]

thats funny...its similiar to a loft in SW. I considered that more simple of an operation in SW also.

Adam
Solidworks 2005 SP01.1
Windows 2000

 

[Heckler]

ParaCAD - The variable section sweep in Pro/E can be driven by more options then can a loft in SWx. Although, SWx is getting very close to matching those advanced commands that Pro/e has enjoyed exclusively for many years. I use both daily. One other thing I like about Pro/e 2001 is the ability to create reference geometry within the feature thus not cluttering up the feature history tree. But all this is just my opinion as a user of both programs.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 5.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
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_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.

 

[yanceman]

Heckler,

There you have the advantage. I've used SW for 5 years, but my info on Pro-E is all second hand.
Also, by combining features into folders in the feature manager keeps my complex models looking clean. It is not until you open the folders within the feature manager that you see all the steps of the model.

Yanceman

 

[ParaCAD]

I agree Heckler. Thats why i consider it more simple in SW than Pro/E. I've used Variable section sweep plenty when I was a regular Pro/E user. There is more of a learning curve Pro/E atleast pre-wildfire. I've told friends in the same field that if you've learned pro/e well you'll be able to pick up SW very easily. Even not knowing Pro/e, i think any student could learn to model much faster in SW than Pro/e.

my $0.02

Adam
Solidworks 2005 SP01.1
Windows 2000

 

[dmalicky]

Thanks everyone for the great replies—very helpful! I tried posting in the Pro/E forum but no response... I’ll try again.

For ease of use there doesn’t seem to be much controversy. For completeness, the academic Pro/E package is actually pretty good—includes ISDX, sheetmetal, machining, animation, for example. Of course there are about a hundred other factors to the decision.

Local industry is split... small companies prefer SWx, larger ones Pro/E or a higher-end package.

Yes, our learning objectives include visualization, some hand drafting, parametric modeling, 2D drawings, and more. I wish I could write the learning objectives and choose directly from those, but the MCAD package affects so many other courses, people, and software that there's a complex list of pros and cons. Not to mention politics! We’d like to have both packages available to everyone but we probably won’t have the $ for that.

Importance of machining experience... I could not agree more. In fact we have an entire semester of lab devoted to manual machining, sheetmetal, hand tools, and woodworking so that they can make what they design. In my experience the best design engineers are usually the ones who can make what they design, within reason. (We also have another lab course on mass production processes—CNC, molding, etc., and another on production systems).

Thanks again, David

 

[keepinitcool]

If you can only choose one, then I would highly suggest allowing some means of the students to do self study on the other package, or perhaps incorporate it into part of one course. That way the students could get the software and learn it on their own. Once you get into the job market you will only be able to use the software the business has and will have difficulty gettings hands-on in the other software.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

dmalicky ... you are probably aware of the educational programs/packages that SolidWorks & PTC offer, but just in case ...

http://solidworks.com/pages/products/edu/index.html

http://solidworks.com/pages/products/edu/educationeditionsoftware.html?pid=106

http://www.ptc.com/for/education/index.htm

http://www.ptc.com/WCMS/files/33577en_file1.pdf

Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[ctopher]

preference?
I do not believe preference has any place in this conversation. Preferences develope from years of doing the same thing.

FYI, You are the one that mentioned "preference".

How could you could post a recomendation in the solid works forum. I think the people hear might have a preference.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[ferdo]

Hi,

Wow, what a long thread!

First of all, I have to say that I'm a CATIA user but I used before SW. I saw also how Pro-E is working.

In my opinion, SW is most easily to learn vs any other parametric CAD software.

I wasn't curious of how SW and Pro-E shares the market, but I can see on this site that SW has almost double number of members than CATIA or Pro-E.

That means something, isn't it?


Regards
Fernando

 

[J-C]

Being mostly a UG now, I find that Solidworks must seem to attract the type of people who are on the web. There are tons of sites out there with Solidworks content. You'll find very little regarding Catia and UG. Pro/E, you'll find a bit more.

It's hard to go by the members here....there are many CAD forums on the web, in most cases, the majority of a particular CAD programs users may hang out at one or two places.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP3.3 on WinXP SP2