PRO/E vs Inventor 2

[hpat]

WE currently use Autocad.

We would like to change to 3D to improve our designs and do changes more easily. We make structures, from small garages to very larges buildings. We have around 5000 different parts in stocks and many assemblies will have 1000 & more parts. Lot of sheet metal and tubes. Our designs change continuously. We would like to do some parametric things and been able to generate different structure width, height, lenght etc...

Which one would be the best...

 

[onlyadrafter]

Hello,

There have been a number of threads on this subject, the consensus is that Pro-E is good at large assemblies.

We use Pro-E for parametrics, running indirectly from Excel, it is very good if produced correctly.

As others say, try and get an evaluation period for both packages, at the end of the day, you are the ones using it, having to pay for it.

There are other packages as well. Solid Edge, Mechanical Desktop to name but two.





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Hope this helps.
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maybe only a drafter
but the best user at this company!

 

[jdt020471]

Mechanical Desktop, don't go there! It's based on old Autocad 3D and it's very slow. I have used Inventor too, that is good, though not as good a Pro. In my humble opinion ProE is by far the best in it's class.

That's my opinion for what it's worth.

Jeff

 

[Heckler]

I have used SolidWorks 2003<5yrs>, Inventor<6mos>, SolidEdge<demo copy>, SDRC<3yrs>, and currently use Pro/E 2001<2yrs>.

I favor SolidWorks because the ease of use and functionality is built in without needing to buy extensions. But like most software packages they do have limitations. For Example, If I were doing complex surfacing I would go with Pro/E 2001 or CATIA. Although, SolidWorks has come along way since the early days and has become a key player in the highend CAD market.

But after spending two solid years with Pro/E 14, 2000^2 and 2001 I really like it's functionality. Although, I refuse to upgrade to Wildfire, like Ben said "Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic." PTC, needs to rethink Wildfire's direction in industry because from what I see and read it looks like a version of SolidWorks.

I personally would stay away from Inventor. I stumbled across Inventor because I was helping a friend complete a project and his customer wanted it modeled in Inventor. That was six months of hell, Inventor, in my humble CAD opinion is two years behind the curve.

I guess the bottom line is ask the reps hard questions and stay away from those cook-book demos. Trust me I use to be a Pro/E demo Jockey....canned demos will not give you a feel. Do a thirty day evaluation from each software company. But also remember their is a learning curve and a change in thought process that has to be overcome so keep that in mind. Best of Luck

Vince

 

[hpat]

Thank you for your answers...

May you tell me what's the problem with PRO/E Wildfire..

PAT

 

[albresco]

If your design work is mainly structures, you may wish to give Revit from Autodesk a try.

 

[Heckler]

Pat - go to this wedsite

http://www.synthx.com/articles/articles.html

Synthesis Engineering are gurus with Pro/E Eldon has written some articles regarding Wildfire. Based on his opinion and others I have kept Wildfire on the shelf for now. But do some research and formulate your own opinion. Best of luck

Vince

 

[fitch42044]

I have used both Inventor and Pro-E Wildfire, and everything these guys are saying here is true. For bigger assemblies that change alot Wildfire is the best to use. Although I have run into quite a few bugs concerning graphics cards, it is still by far the best for large assemblies. Also the added factor of a group of people working on one project and using Intralink, or Windchill is great. Allowing parts to be updated by others.

Inventor is great of less complex parts, if you are new to parametric modeling, or switching from Autocad to parametric modeling. I would lean towards Inventor, because the learning curve for Wildfire is a lot higher.

My decision would be to go with Wildfire though, 2.0 not 1.0. 1.0 has had 3 or 4 revisions so far and still not fixed all of the bugs out. While 2.0 has some added features that help out a lot, as well as bug fixes.

Aaron Banik

 

[Qube]

Don't go for inventor!!!! We did it a couple of years ago. Now we're looking for new USEFULL software. IV is just good when you handling max 100 parts. You can't compare a piece of junk like autodesks IV(big marketing machine) with Pro-e. Just invest a ll bit more and you have everything you need.

 

[hpat]

Thank you again for all these answers...

According to your experience what size of assembly can manage PRO/E Wildfire

10000 parts , 20000 or more...

I talk about very simple parts (tubes, sheet metal) around 750 different parts but repeating many times...

simple design but very large scale...

Regards

PAT

 

[ProEpro]

I have talked to many users of inventor that thought it would be the most compatable with autocadd and easiest to learn. They all said they were wrong.

If you want parametrics and family tables pro/e is king. If your designs change alot don't skip a pdm system like intralink.


ProEpro

http://www.whitelightdesign.com

Pro/E FAQ

http://www.whitelightdesign.com/servicestips.htm

 

[stefanba]

hello hpat,

if you do a lot of tubes etc. in your assemblies you should look at Pro/Es Expert Framework Extension EFX.
This is a special extension for structural design.
There are customers who made assmeblies >10000 parts with EFX.
You can get some opinion on this module at the following links

http://www.proecentral.com/portal/forum/msgDetail.asp?msg_id=2937&for_id=15

If you like to test it send me an E-mail to stefan@buw-soft.de, I can give you a trial version as I am from the company who develops EFX for PTC.

Stefan