Any CAD users out there?

[whteglve]

I'm trying to determine if we (the company I work for) should stay with AutoDesk Inventor or jump ship and go to SoidWorks. This question comes from the need to do cables and our current version of Inventor is 2009 which doesn't do cable routing. Any thoughts? I'm trying to keep personal likes out of the question either way.

[oldskoolcaprice]

I would say SolidWorks is more user friendly, easier to create 3D shape and sizes, but not as accurate (down to inches accurate as AutoCad would be).

Though, I haven't worked with AutoDesk Inventor directly. I have worked with other Cad programs that are capable of creating 3D drawings, such as: SolidWorks 2005-2009, 3D StudioMax, AutoCAD Land Desktop 2002, 2005 & 2007, Architectural Desktop/VIS 2004-2005, Mechanical Desktop 2005, AutoCAD 2000i, 2002, 2004, & 2006-2012, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2006-2007 & 2011, and little bit of Caita 2005.

It really depends on your company's needs. If they just need a program to depict a visual representation of said drawing/diagram with basic dimensioning. Then I would say, solidworks is probably a better choice. But, if your company needs a program that is precision accurate, I would stick with Inventor. Of coarse, I can understand where cost is an issue in all of this. Since, AutoDesk is a much more expensive choice to maintain.

[juniorwatson]

Originally Posted by oldskoolcaprice

I would say SolidWorks is more user friendly, easier to create 3D shape and sizes, but not as accurate (down to inches accurate as AutoCad would be).

WHAT?? Are 8 place decimals not accurate enough for you?

I use SolidWorks everyday, and have since 2001. I started with AutoCAD R11 in college, and then the company I was with switched to SW.

Are the designs you do in 3D?

A factor involved would be training, and also the creation of an entirely new database of models and assemblies from Inventor.

I love SolidWorks, and PDMWorks (The vault/document control portion) as well.

[ThatChrisGuy]

http://www.ptc.com/

Pro/E shop here.

Haven't used SolidWorks enough to form an opinion. Have a 2006 seat on my home laptop. Still rock V14 AutoCAD at home for 2D stuff. Just dwgs.

[whteglve]

Training isn't an issue. There are only two engineers and I'm one. I've used both and can see the benefits from both. I LOVE SolidWorks. It's my decision but also my butt on the line too. Tough decision for me. >

[HAZZARDJOHN]

Pro/E is where the money is. I have done all three and a little Catia. Pro/E is the best IMO for complex modeling.

[oldskoolcaprice]

Originally Posted by juniorwatson

WHAT?? Are 8 place decimals not accurate enough for you?

I use SolidWorks everyday, and have since 2001. I started with AutoCAD R11 in college, and then the company I was with switched to SW.

Are the designs you do in 3D?

A factor involved would be training, and also the creation of an entirely new database of models and assemblies from Inventor.

I love SolidWorks, and PDMWorks (The vault/document control portion) as well.

To each their own. I've worked with alot programs, but Autodesk is just more intuitive in my honest opinion. Of coarse, it always depends on a multitude of factors, and how your using it and what your using it for.

I've had problems in the past with SW, one of the biggest, was not being able to save it down as an older version to use it on a later SW program. The file sizes are huge in comparison and take forever to load a large assembly...Too often just shutting down if it doesn't want to make a proper surface..Opening a part that was working fine and suddenly it's over constrained..Changing a previous features that destroy features below that shouldn't be affected...

In my opinion Autodesk has debugged most of their programs and their mostly smooth and crisp with little to no weird-ass glitches to deal with.