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SW vs Inventor

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biomak

Mechanical
Jan 2, 2001
11
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AU
I'm in a dilemma of whether to choose SW2001 Plus or Autodesk Inventor R5. Can anyone help???

Thanks,
Simon :(
 
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Dear Simon,

SolidWorks is the best CAD (except CATIA, PRO-E, UG). You cannot make the option for Inventor R5. If you choose Inventor, you will buy SW soon or later in the future. Of course Inventor R5 have some qualities, but not compare with SW.

Choose the right thing, choose SW!
 
Simon,

Check out this thread This has be discussed quite recently

thread559-15674

Thank dsi for pointing out these links as while

Thread404-1461
Thread724-8159

Hardware required to run SW. Thread559-14191
Hope that helps, Scott Baugh, CSWP :)
George Koch Sons,LLC
Evansville, IN 47714
sjb@kochllc.com
 
You need to do your own comparison, but I can guarantee that the idea that if you buy Inventor, you'll eventually switch to SWX is nonsense. Quite the opposite, SWX is losing customers to INV. (Wright Industries gave up on SWX after using it for 3 years, they had 40 seats!)

Inventor is rapidly gaining on SWX in terms of customer base, and in some features, was ahead of SWX from INV r1. (One example is what SWX calls "culling", which is simplifying the display during rotates/pans of a large model, INV always did that. Smoothed vs Sudden redisplays when rotating a model were always in INV, SWX got that feature in 2000). This is an interesting review of SWX, scroll to the bottom to see my point:
In my company's evaluation, the most outstanding feature of Inventor was its intuitiveness and lack of clutter (plus fewer mouse clicks and dialog boxes to get something done). A review of INV r5 that addresses "ease of use":
Inventor "technology" papers:
 
Just make sure those comparisons are comparing apples and apples, and not apples and oranges. In my quest to find unbiased comparisions I found that both companies would compare their latest version to an older version of the competitions.

The best thing to do is get a IV demo and a SW demo on different days, then get 30-day trail use of each software and run them through the exact same exercises. Then you can draw your own conclusions. "Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
 
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In my company's evaluation, the most outstanding feature of Inventor was its intuitiveness and lack of clutter (plus fewer mouse clicks and dialog boxes to get something done). A review of INV r5 that addresses &quot;ease of use&quot;:
That was with SW01. SW01+ Doesn't have any dialog boxes. Those have been removed. Even though for the most part I like the dialog boxes personally.

Check out these Reviews:

This is an older review

Here is a search I did:

Otherwise I agree with MadMango, Scott Baugh, CSWP :)
George Koch Sons,LLC
Evansville, IN 47714
sjb@kochllc.com
 
The bottom line is test it yourself. If the functionality is the same buy the cheaper one. With how technology changes there is a good chance that we will all be switching in another three to five years. Each package seems to do something better than the other. Find the one that does what you need for the price you want to pay. Any good demo jock can make their package look like the cutting edge technology. I beleave SolidWorks is a better buy but I am a little bias. I Demoed, trained, and supported SolidWorks for 2 years. It sounds like engrmech_vis has or is sold or selling IV.
I now work for a large company supporting SolidWorks for a large amount of users nation wide. I still keep an eye on all the modeling packages to see what they are doing and where they are going. I beleave most of them, excluding MDT, will do what you need it to do.

Again try it yourself, do not take the sales persons word for it. A good demo jock can make any package look like the bleeding edge of technology. Anybody can make a comparison or benchmark lean in their direction. If you are going to be working over the network make sure you test that also.

One last thing. If you are looking at SW and IV or who ever, give them a list of criteria that meets your needs when they walk in the door. Check them of as they go through the demo. Ask for a more in depth presentation involving your product in the areas that seemed kind of fuzzy in the demo. What you will probably will find is that none of the packages by themselves will not meet all the criteria. Pick the one the meets the most. At least this way you will have a list that makes you feel more at ease with your decision. Good Luck. :) BBJT CSWP
 
Madmango is right. What you have to do, is get a 30-day trail use to know each software. The choice will depends of your real need for this moment.
 
I think the most import thing to look at Simon is, What are you going to do with the software that you buy. Make your decisions based upon functionality in the areas that you intend to use it for. What is important to one company may be entirely useless to another.

Take a test drive of Solidworks, and one on invetor. have the Sales Reps do a benchmark of their product with you.

Questions you should ask yourself:

Are you design responsible?
Do you deal with imported data, if how much, and what types.
What do you do with that imported data?
what is you company's niche?
what would the ideal software be able to do for you r company?

I have my favorite, but i'll not try and push my opionions on you, I feel that if you do a side by side comparision, I know you'll find one that stands out.

Call a VAR and arrange some demos.
Regards,
Jon Benavides
Fisher Unitech
Troy MI
 
APPENG,
I am suprised and impressed [medal] with your answer, considering the line of work that you are in. I can tell that you really understand and beleave in what you do.

I agree with you as I stated in my above post. Try the software and be the judge for yourself. I would like to take one thing back though. If the functionality is the same buy the cheaper one. Remember cheaper is not always better. You should also take a look at the track records of each company.

Good Luck![smile] BBJT CSWP
 
Not only should you compare the software, but you should also compare the support you will get. If both packages will meet your needs, this may push you in the final direction.

Find out what types of training do they have and how expensive is it to get your workforce up to speed. If you submit a problem, how long will it take for the VAR to respond?

Unfortunately, this is not always software dependant since there seems to be more competition in the reseller market. Some resellers (at least mine) has a FREE night school once a month and provides an excellent turn-around time for problems we submit.

Good luck... DimensionalSolutions@Core.com
While I welcome e-mail messages, please post all thread activity in these forums for the benefit of all members.
 
Your missing the boat, Look at Solid Edge. Our Company dismissed inventor right off the bat, Solid Edge and SolidWorks are the two main MCAD packages to look at just remember that SolidWorks run off of a kenal owned by EDS witch owns Solid Edge.
 
CADv11,
Did I miss something? Does SolidEdge own the kernal? No!
Even if they did, which they don't, they would not limit SolidWorks in any way because of the revenue that SolidWorks brings in. I think EDS has done the math.[pc3]

DSI,
You make an excellent point about support. Ask for a couple of existing customers that you can contact to asked the questions that DSI posed.

I am not seeing any more questions or responses from, biomac, the person who origanlly started this thread. Are you still out there? If so it has been three months. Have you made any decisions? BBJT CSWP
 
Were did it say Solid Edge owns the kernal, I belive it said EDS owns the kernal and they own Solid Edge. You people are a joke. Solid Edge has just as much to offer if not more than the other company. Is a joke to think that EDS is going to wipout Solid Edge and make you go to UG. If thats the case the i will be able to get into UG at discount. Go for me.
 
midrangewebmaster:
I assume that is what you meant by &quot;Here we go again!&quot; [lol] DimensionalSolutions@Core.com
While I welcome e-mail messages, please post all thread activity in these forums for the benefit of all members.
 
Yes the debate continues.... Inventor is using image of his elderly brother AutoCAD and trying to catch on with SolidWorks. Well I think choose one of them. Stick on with them. Get maximum benefit and value.
 
We are looking at a replacement to MDT and are evaluating both SWX and INV. Both CO's seem to have limited documentation available on their software API, does any one have a comparison or know of one ?
 
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