SE vs SW - any informed opinions? 3

[andymel]

I recently designed & modelled a gearbox in AutoCad 2002. It was a horiffic experience - one that I will never attempt again. Granted, 2002 is not a 3D design program but I hear that Inventor has now been made virtually obselete by SW. Anyway, the one silver lining to come out from this is that I have now been given the budget to purchase either SW or SE. I've had the reps come out & show me how much better each of them is than Autocad (& I'm inclined to agree) but which of the two would anybody out there recommend. We generally design rotating machines (alternators, generators, welders etc), the majority of which is manufactured in house.

 

[AJUK]

Sorry, no experience of either but you could also take a look at TurboCAD or TurboCADCAM.
Do you need CNC links?

 

[swertel]

It is a matter of taste.

Both are very competent and feature rich CAD packages. Based on their level of release, one will have more functionality in areas over another. Have you installed the trial versions and created your typical parts on it, from initial concept to release? Give yourself plenty of time to work through all your issues and make sure you have access to someone who can answer any of your questions.

Have you asked your rep about customer support?

My previous company used SW. I am now with a company that uses SE. I do manufacturing tooling at both companies, so my "products" are the same. Both work just fine for each. Personally, I prefer SE. The workflow fits better with the way I think and I feel I get better response from their customer support. SE newsgroups are also moderated; you get less trash talk, more helpful posts without having to waste time weeding through garbage, but they don't sensor, at least not in my experience and I've had some pretty choice words about SE. Of course, Eng-tips has forums for both.

I can't speak enough about gaging their customer support. Both products are still maturing. There are going to be defects, bugs, and inabilities. The trick is to develop suitable work-arounds. All CAD companies I know, when you call customer support about a bug, will say that it is fixed in the next service pack or release. That's great, but I need to release a design now! SE support sticks with you on the phone, over the net, or through email (your choice) until you are satisfied with the result. They will help you develop work-arounds in order to get the job out the door.

Good luck with your choice. It is not an easy one.

 

[knobhead]

I wouldn't write off Inventor, I use it and it's great.

Don't be putoff by your Autocad experience, Inventor is a whole different puppy and works nothing like it. Even the mouse wheel zoom button works the opposite way to Acad.

And you then retain the option to get your old acad drawings into Inventor with minimal hassle.



Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.

 

[andymel]

Thanks knobhead (I laugh every time I type that).....

You've got a point, especially with regard to backwards compatability and I've got about 6000 Autocad drawings. My mindset came about after checking out the SW website - they have about 100 reasons why you should use their product instead of AI. The same came from the SE reps, although you'd expect that sort of thing.

In your experience, is AI in the same league? (I don't know if you've used SE or SW). Obviously I'd like to stick with Autodesk but I've also been told that in a few years Autodesk will be moving away from the mechanical scene altogether and concentrating on the architectural side. I definetly don't want to be stuck with another lemon.

Cheers

 

[swertel]

I heard that Inventor isn't selling as well as Autodesk would like, but I haven't heard that they are going to ditch it. Do you have an online reference to where you heard that?

I haven't used Inventor, so my opinion is based solely on what I hear from others...

Inventor came on the scene a long time after SE and SW (in CAD years, that is). Autodesk has been able to bring Inventor up to the level of SE and SW in 5-6 releases compared to what SE and SW did in 12-14 releases. If they keep up that level of improvement, then they will continue to be a contendor. But features are nice, but they are worth dooty if the program is not stable, have an efficient UI, and excellent customer support for when those features are so stable.

 

[knobhead]

I've not used Solid Edge. I had a quick play with Solid Works, but without a manual and couldn't work out how to even draw a rectangle on my own.

Like I said Inventor was VERY easy to pick up, and it's quite forgiving. It will cope with things like disjoint bodies, which some modellers kick up about, and you don't need to know the difference between a surface and a solid to use it. Inventor flips between the two as you need it without your intervention.

Looking at the blurb that comes with the Solidworks promotional stuff, I'd say Inventor is probably not so flexible. You've no option for FEA of CFD for example, and although you can get very nice shaded views, there is no ray-tracing for those ultra photo-real images.

It's stable if you're careful in your choice of graphic card, (ATI is asking for crashes) and I'm very impressed with it, I would definintly take a look at it if I were you.

Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.

 

[knobhead]

I've not used Solid Edge. I had a quick play with Solid Works, but without a manual and couldn't work out how to even draw a rectangle on my own.

Like I said Inventor was VERY easy to pick up, and it's quite forgiving. It will cope with things like disjoint bodies, which some modellers kick up about, and you don't need to know the difference between a surface and a solid to use it. Inventor flips between the two as you need it without your intervention.

Looking at the blurb that comes with the Solidworks promotional stuff, I'd say Inventor is probably not so flexible. You've no option for FEA of CFD for example, and although you can get very nice shaded views, there is no ray-tracing for those ultra photo-real images.

It's stable if you're careful in your choice of graphic card, (ATI is asking for crashes), the UI is simple (right clicking nearly always has what you want as you go along) and I'm very impressed with it, I would definintly take a look at it if I were you.

Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.

 

[andymel]

Swertel - I heard this from one of the reps trying to flog me another package - you know the expansive kinds of crap that these guys will throw at you to sell their software. I'm taking it at face value at the moment. In his defense, he was also talking about problems with the politics regarding ProEng and I've picked up on this in various threads around the forum. He is in the business and has his ear to the ground so who knows? I'll try & weedle some more info about this & let you know.

 

[Standing]

Put this question in the Solid Edge site and also the SolidWorks site. Also ask about a good PDM if you need one. Look at both forms and see what users are asking questions about. Are their questions getting answered?

Bradley

 

[Binary]

I used older SE and new Inventor. I've touched SW just a bit but very little compared to the others. Frankly, I don't think you can go wrong with any of 'em. One thing I really liked about SE was its rotation options. I liked being able to rotate around a work axis or around the edge of a part. Minor stuff to be sure but I missed it in the other two.

Inventor's a nice program and I don't see ADSK getting away from it. Perhaps the confusion is due to MDT which they are dumping.

The one issue to consider is whether you work with outside groups. If so, you should consider what they're using or choose SW which does seem to have the dominant position.

 

[Mandrake22]

Solidworks does allow rotation about the linear edge of models, edge vertexes and the axis of cylindrical faces. You have to select the edge, vertex or axis either before or after clicking the rotate button. The default middle mouse button rotate mode rotates about the center of the model.

 

[Binary]

Mandrake22 - That must be a newer version than 2001. I just tried it and I can select the linear edge but it doesn't rotate about it.

 

[Mandrake22]

I'm using 2003. It seems like this worked in previous versions but I can't prove it. I don't use it very much but it does work well for minor position tweaking of large models. One of my fellow workers, who is the only one here using a Spaceball, says to forget all this and use one of them.

 

[Binary]

Yeah, I've heard great things about Spaceballs but I've never had a chance to try one.

 

[johnparr]

I'm a few months late on this but I have used IDEAS, SE, SW and am just picking up Inventor. I tend to agree with Binary about SE, SW and Inventor all having good capability. Algor offers an FEA package now that links directly to Inventor for about $4000 - a lot less than the integrated packages the CAD outfits offer.

I think IDEAS is much more complex than most Engineering groups need. They try to support it but the complexity of their built-in PDM makes it a huge task.