Which CAD Package???

[aristox]

Hi everyone,
I just finished my Bachelors in mechanical and want to master in Aerospace. But before that, i would like to take a short course on 2 CAD packages that would help me in the future, and relevant to aerospace.

But im having trouble over which package to choose from - Pro/E, Unigraphics,I-DEAS, Nastran, Patran, Catia, Ansys, Abaqus, Solidworks, Mech. Desktop, Inventor, SolidEDGE, etc. etc.

Since I have heard that Unigraphics and I-Deas is merging into one package, I have decided to refrain from both for the time being. Also, I want to do one HI end package and one mid range package. So I have zeroed-in on Pro-E and Solidworks.

What do you'll think? Is my choice wise? I would like to know what are the specialities of these packages with respect to Design, Solid Modelling, Structural Analysis, Thermal Analysis, CFD, FEA, CAM.

All suggestions are more than welcome.
Thanx.
Aristo.

 

[TheTick]

Stay away from Pro/E if you want to be serious about automotive or aerospace. UG and CATIA are de rigeur for the industries.

Good and evil: wrap them up and disguise it as people.

 

[cowski]

I wouldn't get too caught up in 'which package to learn'. Learn the principles of modeling with your package of choice, remember CAD is a just a tool and not an end unto itself. If you learn the basics, your knowledge should transfer into any package, you will just have to get up to speed on a different interface.

 

[jbknudsen]

Algor or Cosmos are great packages for fea but are not really integrated into software packages.

I agree with MadMango, Catia is going to be your best bet for high end software, Boeing uses Catia and it is a very powerful package. SolidWorks is very powerful as well yet will not have the price tag as Catia. SolidWorks also uses Cosmos express in is package so you can get some fea on components. SolidWorks also has an assistace program right now. You can attend a free training class and you will recieve the software free. I think the software key is for 90 days but I am not certain. More info at

http://www.solidworks.com/

Good luck on your decision.


-Jay

 

[pablo02]

We have 4 or 5 major plane manufacturers here and the CAD of choice is CATIA -- some of the small mfg's who supply parts use Pro/E -- but CATIA is the way to go here... the local university provides specialized courses in CATIA just to service the local needs...

 

[arnie333]

If your future is Aerospace, CATIA is definitely the way to go. And by the way, Solidworks, is also owned by 'Dassault Systems", the guys who bring u CATIA.
If u really got ur mind set on another CAD app, go for Solid Edge, from EDS, a major force in CAD/CAM/CAE. They are a huge company with many CAE apps out there.

For your FEA stuff, look into the MSC products like Patran and Nastran, these are probably the "standard" in aerospace fea analysis because of their experience and history with NASA going back to the initial design of the software in the 60's.
However, Abaqus is a strong player in Non Linear analysis which might come in useful.

As far as CAD integrated (plugins) beginner apps like Cosmos and others - stay away. They are more for draughtsman/designers wanting only the very basic in solid analysis and very limited in their capabilities.

I hope this helps.

Cheers
arnie333

 

[kenradke]

I believe that you would want a 3D CAD system for various applications. (design, fea, and manufacturing) therefore I would suggest EDS/Unigraphics and Solid Edge as we have found Solid Edge and Unigraphics to be very powerful, and both are directly compatible and uses the same Kernel=Perisolid and operating system.
You mentioned about Unigraphics and Ideas merging, well this has been in process for the past couple of years and more features and functions are being added every 6 months with upgrades. Also GM and Ford uses the Unigraphics packages, as well as several Aerospace companies. Both Solid Edge and Unigraphics packages have training modules included in their software packages.

 

[niceville]

I am now using Solidworks and would recommend it highly. I was able to sit down and do simple models w/o ANY training! (although I have had training with other packages).

I have used Pro-E and have found the menu/command structure very difficult to understand. The learning curve is steep and long. For a drafter this is one thing but an engineer has so many tasks to do that having to deal with a modeling package that is non-intuitive is asking a lot.

I think Solid Works is replacing Pro-E as the "standard", its sales are growing. In fact, it appears that the new Pro-E wildfire version is copying the SW interface.

It has a good link to Cosmos FEA but it does have its limitations (non-linear dynamics for example).

The link from models to 2-D drawings really works well.
Hope this helps.

 

[cadsman]

I would have to agree with EDS/SolidEdge.
SolidEdge can do what SW & Pro-e but easier.
SE is easy to learn and use. Pro-E is to cumbersome
and to many menu picks.