solidworks or inventor?

[BlindChickenRacing]

I have been using Solidworks for about a year now and find it does most of what I want. I was given a copy of Autodesk Inventor to look at and wanted opinions on what was easier to deal with. I am new to the whole CAD stuff and would like to find a program that is easy to learn and use designing off-road tubular chassis and their components. I have been told by a couple people that the inventer is easier but they had never used Solidworks.

Any input from those that have seen both?

-Mark


__________________________
Mark Johnson

http://www.blindchickenracing.com

 

[MadMango]

You've been using SW for "about a year"... sounds like you are the best judge to determine what works best for you. I've been using SW for ~7 years, and have never touched IV, so I am not the best to help you with this. But my point is, that no one is going to be able to help you with this.

You should have the basics down of solid modeling if you've been using any 3D CAD system for a year. It's just a matter of determining what you want the tool to do, and knowing what icons to select to get the desired output.

If there were tools lacking in SW and they exist in IV, then that should be enough justification to switch 3D CAD systems... regardless of ease of use. Only you can determine what tools you need to perform your work.

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[ctopher]

FYI..There are also several other threads in this forum on this subject. Do a search and read other users inputs.
good luck

 

[JNR]

Just make sure you compare apples to apples. Ie. the latest revisions of each product.

As CAD systems become more capable and complex in achieving tasks for you in a more automated or intelligent fashion it is difficult to make them "easy to learn and use". The general consensus appears to be that SW is about as easy to learn and use as you are going to get.

John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics

A hobbit's lifestyle sounds rather pleasant...... it's the hairy feet that turn me off.

 

[pdybeck]

I agree with JNR. Make sure to compare apples to apples. Go over to the Inventor Forums at AutoDesk.com and see what users there are griping about right now. I saw a wish list in which the most common gripes were ... not having configurations, not having a photo render package, not having an eDrawings type communication tool, not having a macro recorder, not having a built in FEA wizard, and of course stability and performance issues (universal to all 3D CAD programs). I probably missed some other big ones in there, but my point is that Inventor is a couple of years behind SolidWorks in what it offers in alot of areas. The lack of configurations alone would shift the balance to SolidWorks IMHO. There may be a few areas where Inventor is ahead, but for the most part it seems they are as a whole just behind and probably will continue to be given SolidWorks rapid pace of development. It would hard for them to develop at a faster rate than what SolidWorks has. I have not used Inventor, but looked at it closely when determining what package was best for my company to migrate from ACAD. I have since followed pretty closely and read quite a bit on the subject. Al Dean just wrote a peice on SolidWorks 2004 and in his conclusion he mentions Inventor as a comparison, pretty intersting.

http://www.cadserver.co.uk/common/viewer/archive/2004/Jan/23/feature13.phtm

Good luck in your decision.

 

[MechEng13]

pdybeck,

I glanced over the link you provided. The only thing I see about it is that he is talking about IV 7...which was a crap release... however 8 is out now, and while it is still behind SWks by a couple years it is much better than 7. And yes the biggest gripe on the forum is for Configurations.

I spent 4 years running Swks and have now been on IV for 4 months. After the same time period on SW I was significantly more comfortable than I am now. Of course it may be in part due to my underpowered workstation.

BlindChickenRacing
I will agree with what the others have said you need to test drive both products side by side modelling your own parts to see which one is the best for you. We cannot tell you which one will be better only you can decide that.



Alan M. Etzkorn
Product Engineer
Nixon Tool Co.

http://www.nixontool.com