Rate these modeling softwares for ease of use and pricing 1

[boltonza]

Hi,
I am looking into transferring all our 2-d CAD drawings to 3-d models. These models will be used to show the customers better views of our products and maybe incorporating our CNC machining into this all at once. We are looking into a new solid modeling program to use for this, but we need to be able to create 2-d dimensional drawings quickly and easily from the 3-d models. I have been checking around and 15 programs have come up as "The right one to use". I was wondering if I could get some feedback from all of you on which one's work best for different features. SolidWorks & SolidEdge, Rhino3D, Alibre, Mechanical Desktop, Open Cascade, Inventor, Wildfire, IronCAD, UniGraphics, TurboCAD Pro, DesignCAD 3D, IntelliCAD and ProE Desktop are the one's that I have heard a little about. I am not real sure of pricing on UniGraphics and SoidEdge...does anyone have an estimate there for one seat?
Thanks
Zack

 

[looslib]

Well lets start with asking for more information from you.

What types of parts do you design and manufacture? Heavily machined components, injection molds, sheet metal fab house, etc. with the programs you have listed some are better than others in certain cases.

Do you create large assemblies? By large , I mean more than 750 components with 2000+ parts.

Do you manufacture what you design in-house? Do you need to create your own machining post-processors and have the software produce setup sheets, etc?

From what you said, throw out Rhino3D, Mechanical Desktop and Pro/E Desktop.
I am not sure of the CAM capabilites of IronCAD, Alibre, Open Cascade, TurboCAD Pro, IntelliCAD or DesignCAD 3D.

From your list I can think of 2 you haven't mentioned: CATIA and ProCAMCAD.

I will wait for your answers before giving any more information.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[boltonza]

Dear Ben,
Thanks for your swift response. We manufacture enclosures. These boxes have a lid, a couple hinges, 4 threaded inserts, a couple latches, maybe a few cover screws and a base. That's it.
We manufacture these in-hous--yes. But we already have a sufficient prgm. for our CNC machine. I was just wondering if any of those listed could do this as well. They would simply be used to locate and cut-out holes that were put into our boxes as a customer modification.
CATIA was not mentioned, because of our lower budget and there is no real need for something that powerful for such a small operation...is there?
These models will be used to show customers our boxes in 3-d. I was hoping for a software that can rotate the lid at the hinge to simulate the opening and closing of the box. We still need to have 2-d dimensional drawings available to our customers, so that they can decide if the box will be large enough for whatever they decide to place in it.
I know it probably sounds like a simple task to create these models for this purpose, but I am so confused as to what modeling software to use. Also, will the models created be easy to post on our website for viewing and rotating, etc. as well? Thanks for your input and keep the helpful info coming.
Signed,
Zack

 

[looslib]

From the various discussions I have been following, I would say Solid Edge has the most powerful sheet metal package. I haven't seen it for a while, like 3-4 years, but the version I saw was better than Pro/E or UG are today.



"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[Mandrake22]

We don't build boxes, but sometimes we do enough work on imported models from the box manufacturers that it seems like we do! We download solid models from Hoffman (or create our own models from those vendors that don't offer cad files) and then put a bunch of holes into them. The finished result allows us to rotate the cover like you described since we have fun doing so but for more practical reasons, we need to have assembly drawings that show both sides of the cover as well as the guts inside the box.
We use Solidworks for this and it suits our needs perfectly.

 

[jhardy1]

As others have said, the "best" package depends on numerous factors, including:

> What do you want to do with it?

> What sort of parts are you going to create? (solids, thin shells, folded sheet metal, piping, cabling, etc)

> What sort of surfaces and geometry do you deal with? (eg free-form "organic surfaces, or simpler shapes such as graphic primitives and "machined" shapes)

> Do you need to use your models for analysis purposes? What analysis packages do you work with, and do they need to be "embedded" systems or can you export your CAD models to the analysis package? (eg finite element analysis, fluid dynamics, pipe stress analysis, structural design code checking, pressure vessel certification, etc)

> What output do you need? (simple 3D graphics, photo-realistic models for publicity purposes, 2D drawings, databases of parts and components, wiring schedules, piping schedules, etc)

> What file formats do you need to be able to import and export? (3D CAD model formats for import and export, 2D drawing formats, database formats, etc)

> How much money have you got?

It is much too big a question to answer quickly, but one tip - find out what your customers and others in your industry are using. There is probably a good reason they are using a particular package. It might be because it is the "best" for the application, or it might simply be "inertia" that it is what they have always used. But if nothing else, file compatibility with your customers and suppliers will be an important consideration.

I suggest you start by considering these (and other) questions. Make a table of your "must haves" and "would likes", then survey the various packages to see how well they fit all of your requirements. Then start considering costs. As a very general rule, the more you pay, the more power and capability you will get. (Although some of the low to mid range packages offer astonishing capabilities at a budget price these days). You can then decide which packages best fit your requirements and budget.

Forget TurboCAD / DesignCAD / IntelliCAD / AutoCAD / Mechanical desktop, if you want to get into intelligent design and manufacturing. These are fine for general 2D and basic 3D drafting, but don't have the feature-based, parametric, data-base driven modelling capabilities, which you will need for intelligent design.

 

[boltonza]

Dear ManDrake22 & Julian,

ManDrake - You say you've worked with Hoffman enclosures. Are their 3-d models able to be edited in a variety of programs or must a company have SolidWorks to modify these products? Do you know what sort of software package those companies are using?

Julian -
1: Our parts created will be thin shells for the most part, because we manufacture non-metal boxes.
2: I would consider our geometry to be that of simpler shapes, we are not really in the design portion of the company, but more in the manufacturing. Dimensions and customer viewability are our two major priorities.
We do not need this software for structural analysis or anything like that.
3: We need to be able to output these files into a format that is viewable with an AutoCAD seat, and also easy to upload to our website. We don't really need photo-realistic capabilities, but we would like the customer to be able to rotate the boxes, open the lids, zoom-in/out, section...etc. We also need 2-d dimensional drawing capability to better show the space of the interior of our enclosures.

I hope this will help you guys put me on the right track for a capable software package. Thanks for all your help thus far.
Signed,
Zack

 

[Mandrake22]

Boltonza,
Since I am writing this from home, I can't be 100% sure, but I believe that the Hoffman files are not in Solidworks format. It seems that they were in Iges or Parasolid or Step, all of which are fairly universally read.
I don't know what software Hoffman uses.

 

[Standing]

Look into SolidWorks, cost is low and learning is fast. SolidWorks does a very nice job with sheet metal. SolidWorks makes nice sheet metal flat patterns. A lot of companies out there are using SolidWorks.

Bradley

 

[boltonza]

Bradley,
You say the cost of SolidWorks is low. Approximately how much can our business expect to pay for one SolidWorks workstation? I'm assuming this can be installed on one of our already existing PC's. (Pretty sure it meets the requirements of most modeling softwares) There is also a yearly license that must be renewed correct?
Thanks,
Zack

 

[MadMango]

Affordability is relative to the size of your company and the possible benefits your company may achieve. SolidWorks is a tiered product, meaning there are different levels of functionality offered, at increased prices. The basic program will run about $5,000 USD. You are not forced to purchase the annual subscription, but it is a good idea if you want to stay current.

It doesn’t require a “workstation” per se, but you should have a decent, modern (within 1-2 years old) PC, running XP Pro, Pentium or Athlon processor, with at least 256mb of memory and an approved 64mb video card.

Video Cards-

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCardTesting.html

Hardware Requirements-

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/SystemRequirements.html

Ray Reynolds
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[ajack4]

Boltonza, we have recently moved over from a predominantly 2D design to 3D. The company manufactures tooling and special purpose machinery mostly for the automotive industry. One of the big “problems” we had was the transfer of data between departments which all run different systems and keeping models and drawing up to date was a real nightmare, after looking at many systems we went for Visi Vero.

For what you seem to want it would seem ideal and so far we are very happy with the results and the help desk and technical back up are first class in the UK, I cannot speak for world wide. As with anything new I would get them in for a demo and then give them a “real life” project to tackle, very different in many cases to a slick no problems presentation.

Like I say we have been very impressed with the system, price and back up and it has certainly integrated our design, 2D machining, 2 ½ D, 3D, 5 axis and wire erosion.

Not one of the better-known brands, but certainly returning some impressive sales figures and very much worth a look IMO.

 

[PSE]

When you are evaluating different software products, make sure to throw things at it that are outside of the typical canned demo. Also look at support capabilities. You can burn a lot of $ waiting on support when something tanks.

See if the software can generate files usable by your production equipment. Sometimes running through translations creates geometry errors.

Regards,

 

[GregLocock]

Once upon a time I was in the evaluation team for a new software suite.

Each vendor came in and gave us a one day demo. We then sucked our teeth for a couple of weeks, and then came up with a list of standard, reasonable, tasks, and the outputs we'd expect.

We asked the finalists back, and gave them, in our opinion, two hours of analysis, to do in a day.

From this exercise I learnt two things

1) what a sales engineer is
2) two hours of work with a known system is an awful lot of work on an unknown system

In retrospect it might have been fairer, in the long term, to have given the vendors the input data and expected outputs in advance. I don't think this would have changed the relative rankings, the guys who knew their system were the ones who did best anyway.



Cheers

Greg Locock