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Solid Works or Autodesk Inventor?


ScottC

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I am sure this question has been asked many times on here, but I need some help. I work for a cabinet component manufacture doing all of the design work. This ranges from plant layouts, to new products such as custom casework, new door styles, tooling, and some small in house machines with jigs and fixtures. I am currently using standard AutoCad but I have been given the green light to update to 3D software which is required for some of the more complex products and projects. I have used solid edge in the past, but this was maybe 10 years ago. All of my current profile drawings, along with the other plants use standard AutoCad. Should I make the jump to Solid Works, which is what our local machine shop uses, and my boss likes the looks of, or should I go with Inventor, which will allow me to stay with Autodesk programs, and get me an extra license of AutoCad which my current nesting program is based off of? My boss is really wanting me to produce videos and renderings from my models that he can use as a marketing tool as well as put on the shop.

 

Any input would be helpful.

 

Thanks

 

Scott

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Personally for your application i would choose inventor.

 

SW & IV are similar although the new 2012 IV design suite comes with alot of extra programs which could help you with your marketing visualisation. Showcase was added to the package which is a strong rendering engine never the less SW's Photoview 360 is also a good piece of kit.

 

Just for the pure fact that autocad is easier to transfer between inventor is why i would choose that route.

 

I have used all of the listed programs along with quite a few other 3d applications. Currently I am using SW and Auto CAD but i think inventor is more intuitive especially if you are learning it from scratch.

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Inventor has Feature Recognition too included in the Fusion environment or as a seperate addon, and since you mentioned Factory layouts and Jig and Fixture work...you are going to want to take a look at Inventor Factory. SW doesn't even come close with this type of technology. For Jig and Fixture design, that is something Autodesk is actively developing and there is a free add on right now to look at the direction they are going...

 

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_jigs_fixtures/

 

As far as visualizations, you can't beat Showcase which comes with the Design Suites now.

 

There is also 3Ds Max included in there but you will need to get a higher end Suite and also some specific training on that if you REALLY want to use it.

 

Speaking in generalities, you might start seeing some buisness moves by SW that do really make sense, you are also dealing with the little brother of a bigger CAD system they don't want to canabalize seats from. With Inventor you have a flagship product that will only get better without having to avoid a big brother.

 

The only compelling arguement you have to use SW here is that your local machine shop uses it. If you want them to have modification control on your files then this could be a driving factor. If they are NOT contracted to modify your files and only really need 2D prints or nuetral formats then the point is moot. I have also know a lot of machine shops to carry multiple pieces of software based on different client demands. I don't think it outside the realm of possibility that if you do enough business with them that they can pick up a seat of IV too if need be.

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Thats why I came to you guys for help.

 

Thanks for all the information. I am sure I will be back needing help once I get the new computer installed and running the program.

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Now you did ask this question in the Inventor forum:)

 

I would go with solidworks personally. I havent used IV2012 but i have used rev10(2006) to 2011. For visualization SW has ePart which allows you to email an exe or web doc and let people rotate, inspect your parts etc. There is also 3dvia composer which sounds like Showcase.

 

When it comes down to it though it will depend on what you want to pay. With solidworks if you pay for everything you can get thermal-flow analysis, lots of great simulation tools etc(which it doesnt sound like you need). Solidworks has a dwg acad clone program that looks just like acad06 right down to the tool bars and most of the command line stuff. You can open your dwg/dxf files as 2d or 3d sketches or directly in drawing files. You can export as dwg/dxf as well. This dwg add in(free) is called DraftSight.

 

 

For the visualization check out 3dvia composer.

 

http://www.3ds.com/products/3dvia/overview/

 

SW2011 and 2012 have some great additions that allow you to do Walk Throughs of your models. For plant layouts this might be nice. There are also some great additions to deal with large assemblies such as plant layouts in 2012.

 

 

 

 

Really i think you should take a 30-60 day test drive and see which one works best for you. I have a lot of time using both(as well as other CAD software) and I chose SW, but not everyone feels the same.

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Draftsight is NO AutoCAD and after using both, there is no comparision IMOP. What I do not like about the Graebart acquisition is that in the end it is still a clone. The DWG is only about 95% compatable to the Autodesk DWG. Autodesk will have more code in the DWG that Graebart has NO idea what it is since it is there in the Autodesk planning for future releases. I know I am digging pretty deep in the differences here. In the end if you are trying to draw just normal simple items there, its not bad. But if you know AutoCAD really well you will hate it. Plus AutoCAD is also free with Inventor so cost is a moot point here.

 

When it comes to Plants...I hate to pull this, but I have a client that used SW for Plants. They are now suing SolidWorks for mis-representation and getting their money back for their software so they can buy Autodesk Factory Design. If you want the details I can get into it but I really would rather not bash. You will find that the Navisworks that comes with the Factory Suite to be the BEST tool to comglomerate data from different sources and do Plant fly-throughs. Something that SolidWorks AND Inventor do horribly.

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You are right, draftsight is No acad. What it is, free, and a simple clone. If you buy Solidworks to use draftsight as Acad you have to have your head checked:) There has been one maybe 2 times I have used it and honestly I see no reason to use it anyways, but its there. As i said SW can open and use dwg/dxf data so there really is no reason to have/use it that i can think of.

 

As far as plants, solidworks isnt made to design plants/buildings. It can be used but its not its function. Now Dassault released(or is releasing) something called Live Buildings and they are starting to get into this. If the function is as specific as plant layout or plant design then it only makes sense to go with a software made for that. Just as you said SW and inventor both arent made for this, they are mechanical cad programs. Just like i wouldnt buy solidworks to design a ship. I can, but NX or Catia are much better suited(and PLM based) for this application. Just like I draw cars and complex surfaces with SW but its not a class A surfacing program ;)

 

 

edit, forgot to add LiveBuildings link.

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... he couldn't do anything beyond the basics. Don't trust experts, go for the trials. ....

 

Doesn't sound like an expert to me? While I'm not trying to discourage getting the trials - I don't think many can do an adaquate evaluation during a trial period.

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As a personal experience, we were on the same task 2 years ago. We bought SW. It seemed the best thing for the job and that's something any "SW Expert" will tell you. But as time went by (just few month) it dimmed desperately hard to work on SW and AutoCAD. The person in charge of instructing us said he knew AutoCAD really well, but after suspecting he didn't we conducted a test we usually do prior to hiring drafters, he couldn't do anything beyond the basics. Don't trust experts, go for the trials. SolidWorks works great for the standard, but sucks for personalized stuff, that's what we do and it didn't work. Furthermore SW sucks for any VBA programmer perspective; documentation is all incomplete. AutoCAD & Inventor both have very complete VBA Documentation. I'm for sure no expert on CAD software, we haven't gotten the authorization to migrate to Inventor (therefore we have 4 unused SW licenses), but once we get it + some learning time i'me sure I'll be satisfied. Hey, even parametric parts, which is supposed to be the strength of SW seemed unnecessarily complicated when trying to reuse some content.

 

It sounds like you had a bad experience. In terms of functionality for parametric modeling in the background there is very little different about the two programs(from a pure cad point). Some of the features are named different things, some functionality is better in one and not the other and so on. As I stated I used Inventor for 5 years before switching to Solidworks and my personal experience was that SW was more user friendly and customizable. I used IV at home for almost 2 years while using SW at work so I often had a back to back comparison trying to model the same thing in both. There is VBA documentation(not a whole lot) but there is also a forum on the solidworks paged dedicated to API. https://forum.solidworks.com/community/solidworks/api There are some very knowledgeable people in there. On top of that design tables and excel integration in SW i felt was easier to use than with Inventor. Yes i tried both back to back. The only limit seems to be the users experience with Excel.

 

Now going form Acad to any parametric software is usually a big hurdle for some. The approach to modeling is the same for inventor and solidworks so if there are issues with how complicated that is you may also have issues with IV. IV has made some great strides in the last few releases to make things easier in regards to this but I still like SW(personal opinion).

 

If you want to send me a PM or email(solidworkssurfacer at gmail ) I am happy to try and answer any questions you guys have to make your time with SW better and more efficient. I am not trying to keep your company from switching to IV and I dont work for SW so I don't get anything to keep you using SW, I just hate to think you guys were possible given bad training and not able to use the software efficiently. I make video tutorials for SW and on several occasions I have answered questions for people by making a tutorial for them since that seems to be easier. The offer is there if you want it.

 

 

JD, i think a user can get a lot from the "feel" of a program in a short time. Not many people will become effective with the software during a trial but most VARs will offer extended trials in order to make a sale.

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Andres. it does sound a lot like you guys just had some bad info fed to you from someone who really didnt know. SW does great with creating 2d drawings from your models. There is no need for 3dvia unless you want to do complex assembly animations and visualization.

 

Simulation that is built into premium is limited to static FEA and single inlet/outlet flow for water/air. The full simulation is expensive but very comprehensive. http://www.solidworks.com/sw/docs/SW_Simulation_2012.pdf

 

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/products/10201_ENU_HTML.htm

 

I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully I can help or at least get you in contact with someone who can help you guys out.

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