SolidWorks vs Inventor

[bckemp]

Just viewed demos of SolidWorks and Inventor and was impressed with both. I have 6+ years of Autocad and MDT legacy data to work with so that is an issue.

What puts SolidWorks ahead?

eDrawings is impressive?
Relative ease of use, but Inventor seemed close.
General code robustness?
Is assemblies a differentiator?

 

[MadMango]

What puts SolidWorks ahead?

It's a more mature product.
There is a larger user base.
It has a wider range of import/export options.
There is a built-in (though limited) FEA.
Larger base of 3rd-party programs (solution partners).


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?

 

[Theophilus]

Also, look at the available plug-ins. Depending on your area of work, these can be crucial.

For example, we do industrial design. A big part of industrial design is pretty pictures. PhotoWorks (comes with SolidWorks) is an amazing rendering package that allows me to create photorealistic images of things that do not yet exist, and certainly help me to sell the concepts to people who otherwise have difficulty visualizing abstract design concepts.

There are many others. Also, I have found that the growing user base for SolidWorks is very important. My manufacturers can now read native SolidWorks files, eliminating many headaches.




Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[rockguy]

We use SolidWorks and did demo Inventor 6 a while back before buying SolidWorks. I had AutoCAD files I could not open with Inventor. Crashed the system every time. SolidWorks opens these files no problem. We also had issues with the 2D aspect of inventor. It just wasn't as robust as SolidWorks. Joe Greco has a great article on Inventor 8 at Catalyst.com. See what he has to say.

 

[murugansubham]

hi bckemp,
i was working 4 years in autocad. then i change into solidworks world.last 1.5years i'm using only solidworks.it's very very user friendly. easy to learn.
u can add lot of addins according to ur working field.

u have 6+ years exp in autocad and MDT also. u can use autocad commands in solidworks also.
for this, there is one builtin addins available in Solidworks.
it is Solidworks 2DEmulator. it is giving autocad command prompt in soliworks window.here u can use autocad commands.
for this select TOOLS-ADDINS-SOLIDWORKS 2D EMULATOR.
now u can find autocad command prompt in bottom side of the solidworks graphics area.
before entering commands , u have to select sketch plane - sketch tool also.
but u can't use all autocad commands in this . there are some limitations.for this pls check solidworks 2d emulator help files.
thanks,

regards,
Murugan. S
Design Engineer,
GlobalSoft Pvt Ltd,
New Delhi - INDIA
murugan_subham@yahoo.com

 

[JNR]

Great responses, people. Note the very practical comments on user base size, maturity, 3rd party options. Having been in the 3D CAD business one way or another since 1979, I can tell you those things spell longevity for the company and product, integration and compatibility with the rest of the world. These are VERY important to you - usually much more so than the odd technical capability here or there.

Also PLEASE note that the AutoCAD look-alike interface is a CRUTCH - its solely a marketing tool to ease the fears of long time AutoCAD users thinking of making the change. When you get ANY new CAD tool forget your old legacy one and learn the new one the way its creators intended it to be used. You may experience a little pain at first but you will learn the tool and its true capabilities much faster, better and more completely without built-in restrictions of someone else's interface.

Be naughty - save Santa a trip.

 

[HomeMadeSin]

I agree with rockguy - I fell for Inventor because of my experience with AutoCAD - bad move! I had much better results going to and from AutoCAD and MDT with SolidWorks and SolidEdge than Inventor. Do NOT make the same mistake! I'm not saying which to choose, but I gave up on Inventor and switched to SolidWorks this past month and couldn't be happier, even though the budget was tighter than a drum.

 

[JNR]

I just re-read my previous post and wanted to add two things.

1. I was not being rude about long time AutoCAD users. When you have use any system for a long time it is not unsusal to have some trepidations about switching interfaces for many reasons.

2. Hope you are all ignoring the SW2003 look-alike feature in SW2004. You might as well get up to speed now, because it will go away eventually. Only excuse I can see for using it is to get a jump on the real new features of SW2004 first. Danger in that is it often becomes harder to switch later.

Be naughty - save Santa a trip.

 

[cadcoke5]

I chose Inventor over Solidworks largely because of my extensive AutoCAD experience. However, after working with it off and on for a year, there was absolutely no benefit in staying with Autodesk. I've abandoned Inventor and plan on getting Solidworks in the new year.

Joe Dunfee

 

[bckemp]

I have seen demos of Inventor 7 and have played with Inventor 8 and see a good product that fits its billing, especially in the area of reading legacy information. I read in a MDT V6 assembly and was 100% successfull on all parts. The main housing came through with the complete feature tree and can be modified.

Am I missing something? Some of the modeling is behind SolidWorks but not drastically and it is areas that are not an issue. The wiring worked great, etc.....

If I had no legacy data I would consider SolidWorks but regardless, that is not the case.

BrianCK

 

[Arlin]

This is like comparing Ford vs Chevy.
Some like Ford, others like Chevy.
In order to remain competetive, both are forced to BE competetive.
Neither is really better than the other.
They both have their share of field issues.
Both have strengths and weaknesses.
Niether is going to disappear anytime soon.

 

[HomeMadeSin]

bckemp:

what version did you try IV (regarding legacy imports)? I've only had experience with up to ver 6.3, and decided to dump it in favor of SW. In 6.3, IV seemed to dislike applying fillets and rounds more than most other programs and lofting was too simple. I tried to import my Iv files into MDT for addtional modification, but the parts came in with multiple artifacts that are too difficult to remove. I had no problem with doing the same in SW and SE.

 

[SBaugh]

I have found this Article to be interesting

http://www.cadwire.net/commentary/?29569

I find the last part of this commentary to be interesting:

In this press release, Autodesk is patting itself on the back for reaching the quarter-million user mark in four years, versus the seven years it took SolidWorks to reach that same mark earlier this summer [

http://go.cadwire.net/?26574,1,1

]
Yes, it is impressive that any company could come so far so fast.

But it’s not a valid comparison to say that Inventor took about half the time SolidWorks did. SolidWorks started with nothing; they came out of nowhere. SolidWorks built its user base from scratch. It took a while to get the message out to the market and build market momentum.

Autodesk, on the other hand, had the luxury of a user base 2+ million users to draw upon. Let’s assume that only a quarter of them are MCAD users. That’s 500,000 users. So it would not be unfair to say that in four years, Autodesk has been able to convert only half its MCAD users to its MCAD product. H’mmm…

Inventor and SolidWorks are both great products, from great companies. The fact that both companies have sold that many products is impressive. But we could do without the marketing hype.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

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