SolidWorks or Inventor??

[cpfmarvin]

I want to pose this question on a non-bias forum:

What is the better choice for a ME Designer, SolidWorks or Inventor?

 

[Waterjetz]

I'm a huge SolidWorks fan, and know nothing of Inventor, so my opinion is obviously biased. I can tell you that SW is extremely versatile, logical, well supported, and carries a very fast learning curve. It is a way of thinking that I believe should be taught very early in design/engineering curricula. As a seasoned veteran of the Mechanical Design CAD Wars, I've seen plenty of 2-D guys struggle with the change to solid modeling. But once they're over the hump, they never go back. Good luck!

 

[ecampos]

Solidworks by far, I am a veteran of Mechanical Desktop, the predecessor of Inventor. I played with Inventor for a while and I still prefer Solidworks over SDRC Ideas, Pro-E, Mechanical Desktop, Inventor. It is a great program.

 

[BandH]

I am another SolidWorks fan, and i have some experience of Pro/E and Mechanical Desktop as well as MicroStation (which I would stay well clear of!). For mechanical engineering, I find SW the best by a long shot - and there is a good selection of add-on programs e.g. FEA, PDM etc. It is also the easiest to use of the lot - very Windows orientated.

Hope this has been of use.

Regards,

Brian Hurley

 

[fiber]

I am currently using Inventor and find that there are too many short comings. It doesn't have any surfacing capability. You can not import iges files and exporting is not very consistant. Drafting can be a challenge if you try to draft parts after the features are created (you need to draft each part as you create it). You will loose dimensions and notes when exporting drawings in dxf format. There are other little things that don't work right but I don't want to write a novel. I think you get the point.
Some good things about Inventor are its animation features and its easy to learn. It is great for simple box designs.

I've used ProE for many years and find Inventor a big step back in solid modelling. Maybe Autodesk will get there some day, but not at release 2.

I don't have much input on Solid Works, but the people I know who have used it like it.

Teng

 

[nedu]

Well,. I am currently using all of them Mech Desktop , Solid Works and Inventor , but honestly I believe that the real breakthrough in solid modeling is Ironcad. I would recommend to have a look on their site at

http://www.ironcad.com

and to run a demo or tutorial.

 

[jdsewell]

does sw have electrical applications? i would like to have cad software that can do it all. i'm currently working with pro/e and have extensive mech desktop (which is bad) experience. [sig][/sig]

 

[NicSacco]

I am currently using Mechanical Desktop and would like to state that I Hate It. I just came to this job after two years of working with Solid Works and would like everyone to know that I feel solid Works is a better program. [sig][/sig]

 

[SoledWorker]

Our design group just completed an evaluation of both, using weighted categories such as "Productivity", "Standard Features", "Ease of use/learning curve", "Step Compatibility", etc...

We reviewed SW and Inventor r5 (just released). The hands down winner was Inventor, although many categories were "ties". Some of the strengths of Inventor were:

-More intuitive user interface, with fewer dialog boxes and fewer mouse clicks. Gesture based sketching, glass box, "expert" and "learning" modes, more consistent interface with (far) less clutter.
-Better STEP file import: the colors and part names of the imported component were preserved, and the geometry was immediately useable. SW required the use of "FeatureWorks" to "repair" the same model.
-Adaptivity: the SW guys had a contrived example showing how they could do the same things that Inventor does: this is true only to a very limited extent, explore this carefully in your own eval...

Everyone should do their own evaluation, as each product has particular strengths. Don't let past experience with Mechanical Desktop cloud you judgement, Inventor is a completely different product, not a derivative.