Solidworks uniqueness 3

[sudhakarn]

Hi folks,
I just wanted to know the uniqueness of solisworks among the other CAD tools? What is the USP of solidworks that sets it apart from other similar modelling tools available in the market? Just curious to know your answers.

 

[SBaugh]

What is USP?

I don't follow what you mean by Uniqueness?

Have you ever used Solidworks yet? If so, how long?

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Evapar

http://www.evapar.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[sudhakarn]

Hi Sbaugh,
Nice to see your reply. I have been using it only recently.I just wanted to know how it stands out among the other modeling tools?what are the unique features and advantages over other tools?

 

[TWJR]

I would say that the user interface is easier than some. That's my take, anyway. It's just more friendly.

 

[drawoh]

sudhakarn,

My take on SolidWorks is that it is the one 3D[ ]CAD package I know, except for Mechanical Desktop, which I do not want to see ever again. If I had not found the new job prior to being laid off, I would have looked into training on Creo. For the moment, I know nothing useful about it.

--
JHG

 

[swertel]

Solidworks has the most market share and is most well known. Functionally, all the mainstream MCAD packages offer the same set of features. The only difference is the UI.

--Scott
www.aerornd.com

 

[sudhakarn]

Nice to see your replies.Excellent!

 

[berkshire]

You also have to consider the end use, There are price points involved , Generally the lower the price the less user friendly the program is. Are you buying this for yourself , or is a company paying for it? I have a seat of Solidworks , but very rarely use it, I have a seat of a parametric modeling program by one of their competitors that works better for me.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I love Solidworks for all the cool things it can do.

I hate it because you have to hold your tongue just right, or it fights you.

... by which I mean that it expects to be used in a certain specific way, and the way is not always obvious.
YouTube videos can be enormously helpful in that regard.

... unless your employer, like my last, blocks YouTube on the assumption that you are wasting time watching porn, and/or that it's an attack vector. So I was stuck with running the SW tutorials, and calling our VAR, who was always polite and usually helpful.

Last time I used it, now 7 years ago, the official Dassault tutorials were seriously out of phase with the software, which considerably reduced their utility. I have seen nothing here to indicate that that situation has gotten any better.

Considering the cost of the software, I'd really like to see SW keep the tutorials up to date with every release. ... and to provide a compatible laptop and a compatible video card with every seat. You will find out about the video card issue when you are trying to figure out if the problem you are fighting is with the software, or just with its behavior with your particular video card.







Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[sudhakarn]

Thank you Mike.

 

[PatCouture]

For me it's The large user base. Which means more available free ressources, such as macro, YouTube tutorials and people on sites like Eng-Tips willing to help. More users means more people requesting enhancements, more ideas for improving the software, etc. More popular so it's easier hiring people who already know the software. SolidWorks has a lot of functionality in assembly (Advanced mates as an example).

I don't like their decision making regarding enhancements because they seem more oriented toward flashing new stuff to impress possible new users instead of making robust and useful features but in all of that it's still a good thing.

Patrick

 

[grunt58]

My 3D CAD experience has been Mechanical Desktop, SolidWorks, Inventor, Fusion 360. With 90% being SolidWorks I am a little biased but as stated the UI is easier. To me things just make sense. Fusion 360 is extremely confusing. Mech desktop was to but that was 20 years ago. The user base is much broader than high-end CAD like Creo, NX, Catia and even Inventor. Search want adds and SolidWorks is probably the most listed for CAD skills.

 

[Nxprop]

I have worked with Solidworks as well as Siemens Nx .
Actually your question is not a specific question it is very general one.
According to the application field you can see the difference.
Nx has more features and you can perform more in the analyses and modeling but it is complicated and not self explaining however it suits very large assembly.
SolidWorks for me easier with less complex requirements for this reason there is CATIA for big projects other product from DASSULT .

If you could give example for which applications do you want to use it, then I can give more details.

Rasheed

 

[sammcc]

I use NX and Solidworks.
I feel NX drawings look much more professional than those generated by solidworks.

 

[GRF]

In my experience Solidworks requires far fewer mouse clicks to do anything. I have used Pro E and watch others far more experienced at Pro E than I and it will take 5-6 mouse clicks to do to what I do in Solidworks in 3. Not a hug difference but when added up over weeks-months-years it comes out to lost time and money for the company. Or longer hours for the employee to get the same amount of work done.

 

[sudhakarn]

Hi folks,
Nice to see your replies. Happy that the thread is still active.

 

[BiPolarMoment]

I use NX and Solidworks.
I feel NX drawings look much more professional than those generated by solidworks.

I'm not sure why this should be the case, aside from some differences in defaults most everything should be adaptable to match your NX sheet formatting. The only data-point I have for a "difference" (which should also be editable) is the line weights in NX were so bold as to be useless for moderately proximate features on a B-size drawing--necessitating using C and D size sheets just to be able to tell things apart.

 

[SBaugh]

Solidworks has a lot of items that makes it unique, but I think the 3D interconnect is the most unique part about it today. I believe 3D interconnect only comes in the Premium version of SW.

(

http://help.solidworks.com/2017/english/WhatsNew/c_solidworks_3d_interconnect.htm)

They have some bugs to work out, but its the only CAD software (that I am aware of) that opens neutral and native Catia, Pro-E, Creo3.0, NX, and SolidEdge files in a single package. I have to deal with NX files all the time and though there are some issues with opening NX files, the data itself is always intact. FYI: The problem I see is when opening an NX assembly the description gets all messed up, but that's it.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Evapar

http://www.evapar.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[CWB1]

Solidworks' niche is that its a simplified 3d modeler without half the features of the top-tier packages, which in turn makes it cheap and easy for folks to learn with little formal modeling training. For job shops and other small business its great bc its easily affordable, anybody with modest computer skills can be reasonably capable in a few weeks, and it runs well on cheap laptops. Its not too commonly used in any decently staffed engineering office however as it doesnt handle large models well, the analysis tools arent great, surfacing isnt great, and its pretty clumsy/slow to use. I know many engineers like myself that have it, but its mainly bc we run Catia which is basically an expanded version of Solidworks for engineering.

As for features that are unique to Solidworks, there aren't any that I can think of and I have both formal training and experience using Catia/Solidworks, Creo, NX, and Inventor. The first four are all actually on my work machine currently thanks to a truly enabling employer, though I default to using either Catia or Creo for most things.

 

[APG63]

I've used both Unigraphics from V10.4 through NX9 and Solidworks 2014 & 2015. NX is definitely a better package, but it's also a lot more expensive. What kind of work are you doing? I haven't run into anything I couldn't model in Solidworks, although it can be a bit kludgy to get some things done. Talk to your local users groups. They can be a great resource.

Al