Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in

inventor vs. solidworks 9

Status
Not open for further replies.
romanp

romanp

Mechanical
Sep 10, 2005
5
0
0
US
I have been reading quite a few messages on here and everyone seems to be quite defensive about solidworks. I need to make a decision on which system to go with. I have been an autocad user for 15 years and would like to go 3-d. I have heard all of the rhetoric from both of the sales sides. But I would like your opinion from those of you who know both systems. I have used solidworks before but not really inventor. Everything I output will be in the form of detailed drawings for my plant. We design and build machinery. It seems solidworks is not stable, or as stable as inventor? Your insight and knowledge would be helpful. Thanks alot in advance.
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Sort by date Sort by votes
Chester, as a guy who logs in daily, there is very little autodesk bashing going on here. I think the last time we all really talked about it when some stupid movie that that autodesk execs put out bashing on SW during SW world 06. Talk about looking fanatical and behind. I think we all know which software you use more, based on your two, and let me count them, two posts here....and everyone knows SW was started by Pro/E guys.

The bottom line is that asking which software is better on a forum partial to a particular software is just not objective and I think you will find that the initial answers in the post clearly indicated that free trials are available for both. It is just fun to nock coke if you drink pepsi, but I would have to say inventor is more like tab or rc cola. It is something that many of us have used and evaluated and choosen not to put in our quiver. If Autocad Inventor was truely better, then I think many of us would switch over to this tool, because we all want the best tool at the right price for the job. Maybe someday it will be better, or significantly cheaper. All I know is that its nice to have companies competing against each other, because that in itself creates product advancement. What really intrests me is the Autodesk aquisition of Maya and 3ds Max. I will be following the future of this company closely. There are some fairly advanced NURBS surface modeling and rendering tools which Inventor could benefit from.

RFUS
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rfus, you clearly didn't read my posts thoroughly. I expressed NO preference, simply objected to gross misinformation about Inventor, which I use in addition to SW and Pro/E. I have examined a similar thread over on the Inventor forum, and found that there were some SW users who were quick to spread derogatory claims about IV there, and to try to discredit published reports from apparently reliable sources, with opinion and speculation. this helps no one.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I was a Hard acad user and found the 3d transition into inventor a little harder than solidworks.

at this point i am comfortable with both and i can exploit each one to its full potential but if youre going to primarily output drawing files I would recommend you go with Inventor as the drawing tools are more powerful and intuitive than the SW toolset.

Cliffs: Do Inventor.

Hope that helps.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

If I was looking to purchase a 2D CAD tool for AEC I would look into AutoDesk and Microstation products. I would not look into SolidWorks, PTC, Dassault and UGS prodcuts.

Likewise, if I am looking to purchase a 3D MCAD tool I would look into SolidWorks, PTC, Dassault and UGS prodcuts. I would not look into AutoDesk and Microstation.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

You are absolutely right Chris, my previous post was a general statement. My point is that the strength of AutoDesk is really AEC (2D and 3D). I hear good things about Revit. Likewise, the strength of SolidWorks, Dassault, PTC and UGS is 3D MCAD. That might not matter to some users, but I would take that into consideration when purchasing a CAD package.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

FYI... Revit was like the "SolidWorks" of AEC (a 3D parametric CAD package for architecture). AutoDesk bought them out a few years back. Good move for AutoDesk.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think that it is going to take MUCH persuading to get those guys (civil/arch) to take advantage of Revit and even entertain the thought of complete building documentation in 3D. In that sense, many compare to modern day luddites.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Heck there was a program called CADMAX that had a feature tree and hybrid (solid/surface modeling in the same environment). Our company used it for many years over the other programs till they caught up.It was way ahead of Solidworks, solidedge, Mech desktop ect...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

drawoh
  • Locked
  • Question
SolidWorks Flexible Parts
2
Replies
20
Views
45
SBaugh
SBaugh
CAD2015
  • Locked
  • Question
SolidWorks Feature Recognition 2
Replies
8
Views
25
ctopher
ctopher
CAD2015
  • Locked
  • Question
SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional 1
Replies
4
Views
15
CAD2015
CAD2015
Jawed62
  • Locked
  • Question
Solidworks VBA with custom property 1
Replies
2
Views
19
Jawed62
Jawed62
RobWard
  • Question
Solidworks 2024 minimising on opening files
Replies
2
Views
15
RobWard
RobWard
Back
Top