SolidEdge vs. SolidWorks

[mechengr1313]

Anyone here have any experience with SE and SW? I would like to hear some pro's and con's of each.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The SE forum had a similar thread running recently. Check thread562-113849 for a quick review.

& all the best.

 

[Heckler]

my advice is to get demo copies of both and test drive it yourself. Also, use the resources in both the SWx and SE forums for intermediate or advanced questions

Best Regards,

Heckler

"Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups" John Kenneth Galbraith

 

[joshposh]

I am an experienced user of both systems. With over 3 years on each.
If I was to be honest would say that Solid Edge is the better.

It handles detailing better, has a BOM control in the Assembly environment ( dont underestimate this function ). The assembly display configurations are so usefull that they quickly become esential. In the part environment mirroring is simpler and intuitive.

BUT. SWX is getting better. It is still lagging and refuses to address the differences mentioned above but it is getting there.

When I talk to others about the difference I tell them that SWX is the pretty one of a set of twins that looks good but that Solid Edge is the one that you stick with because looks arn't everything.

 

[ctopher]

To be honest, when we had our demos, SolidWorks vs SolidEdge, I liked SolidEdge better. The salesmen were more knowlegable and overall performance SEEMED better. A couple managers went with SolidWorks, now I'm very happy they did. SolidWorks is much more common than SE and more software is comming out to work with SW. I see SE slipping behind SW more in the future.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

 

[joshposh]

I have to agree

 

[Theophilus]

Good. It's important to have some sturdy competition to keep the products in good shape.

If you search this forum, you'll see a lot of this discussed in several threads of an identical nature. Seems like configuration and document control are stronger in SE, but modeling and surfacing perhaps better in SW. "Better" is normally used subjectively, or at least to say what is better "for my needs" and not an objective statement about the software capacity as a whole. So it's good to talk about what particularly is "better" in the software.


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I much prefer the configuration setup within SW ... all configs built into one file. The SE version is "family of parts" which creates individual files for each config, all tied back to a master file. So with SW, 100 configs uses only one file ... with SE, 100 configs means 100 files plus the master.

I prefer SEs Revision control compared to SW Explorer.

When doing sheet metal parts, I find it is easier to see the direction of extrusion (thickness) with SE. SE uses an on screen arrow, SW uses only an outline and with thin material it is often hard to see which way it is going.

This is comparing SW2004 to SE16.

& all the best.

 

[SolidsMaster]

a little kernel history...in the beginning
SWX used the Parasolids kernel for processing
SE used the ACIS kernel and they touted that as the big difference...
Now SE is using guess what...the Parasolids kernel. My experience has lead to SWX winning most of the time, even some large companies that have tons of SE data are thinking of switching to SW for some of the reasons mentioned by others.

John

 

[mechengr1313]

Thanks for the excellent feedback. We got a demo copy of SWX today. Will are getting a SE demo copy Friday. Interesting how I have used Pro/E for 6+ years and after the demos I can see why they are lossing ground.