SolidWorks or Inventor

I am in the process of selecting IV or SW for use in machine design.
We will need about 8 seats of software. Most or our designs use simple
rectangular and cylinder shapes parts. We will use very few sweeps
loft and even less surfaces. Most of our assemblies will be less than
500 parts. We do not show fasteners in our assemblies. Many of our
design will be modified and reused to make a new design
..
I have used IV starting with an evaluation version of R1 and purchase
of R2-R7.

I have spent about one week (40 hours) working and studying SW2003,
and about two weeks working with SW2004. I have also read Inside
Solidworks 2003 and Solidworks for Designers 2004.

I am not looking for anyone to bash either program. I have used both
enough to enough to know the each has its strong and week points. What
I need is help form people who use both IV and SW in evaluating these
points. I would consider my self to be a strong IV user and a new SW
user. So in my evaluations I may be doing something the hard way in SW
and the easy way in IV. The following is my evaluations please comment
on it.

IV seams to have the best user interface. IV shows the correct tool
bars with the commands that can be used at that time and does not show
unusable commands. SW2004 command managers a step in the right
direction but one must often select the correct tool bar. The workflow
in IV seams to be more intuitive and requires fewer mouse clicks.

IV and SW both have equations. IV equations are easer to use. In IV
one can type the equation in the dimension box.

SW has many more commands and command options than IV. These
additional commands and options make some things much simpler and
faster to do. I have not found a part that I needed to make in IV that
I could not make.

IV has multiple named dimensions styles making it very easy to change
to a different dimension style with two clicks of the mouse pick. In
SW I think you must change the individual properties to use a
dimension that is not the document style. This may also be true for
text.

SW has configurations. Assembly configurations are a big plus. In IV
if one needs to show a subassembly with parts in two different
positions it takes two different sub assemblies. Part configurations
and I-parts are similar. Part configurations require only one file.
This saves a lot of files. I have not worked enough with
configurations to know. But I think it is easer to make unplanned
changes to configurations than to I-parts.

Design Assistant seams to work better than SW Explorer when reusing an
old design to create a new design. When one selects a part to copy
and rename DA highlights all uses of the part and the subassemblies
that contain the part. This makes it easy to find the subassemblies
that need to be copied and renamed. The bottom half of DA can be used
to find the drawings of the renamed parts and sub assemblies.

The big question in 5 years will IV, SW or someone else be the
dominating player. I think SW is now but IV may be gaining.

Can someone comment on performance of IV and SW?

If you could work in IV or SW, which one would you work in and why?

 

I have used both Cad systems, and to some extent they both suck. IV
has a larger backing with autodesk, however autodesk has been known to
drop or quickly change there plan of action with mcad (i.e. Mech.
Desktop) I got burnt by this one. and had to buy IV and now deal with
alot of legacy data.

SW has alot of add-in software which could be great as long as they
work . Also SW has a nice drafting package

I think the biggest thing to consider is speed and "editablity"



(ArtC) wrote in message

 

Thank you for your comment chill. What is your opinion of the speed
and ability edit each?

 

I'm doing much the same thing that you are doing... as an MDT user, I've had
IV for quite a while to 'play with.' I recently got a copy of SW2003, then
SW2004 to evaluate as I did IV. I felt that IV and SW2003 were close in
terms of functionality and ease-of-use, but SW2004 added so much that it is
now my clear choice. It's the small details... for example, when detailing
holes in a drawing, SW recognizes the number of holes and allows you to
include that in your note. IV does not. SW's hardware library is more
extensive and much easier to use. Sketching is easier and more intuitive.
All small details, but these to me are the things that set it apart. SW
seems to do a better job of listening to its customers and adding
functionality that they want/need. Believe me, I wish I was choosing IV
over SW, as I already own IV as part of the Inventor Series. With SW, it's
another investment, but I think it'll pay for itself.

SolidWorks is the leader, and there's no reason to think that they won't
continue to be. Inventor's playing catch-up, and there's no reason to think
that they won't continue to.

Brian

 

if you are drawing simple shapes. id look at solidworks api. i bet
most of the work your drafters do can be replaced by a program.

 

I think you already have a fair assesment of the programs. Both are
very good programs with their own quirks and advantages. Solidworks
is a more mature product and a larger user base. The biggest thing
Inventor users want from Solidworks would be configurations and
e-drawings.

Inventor has an easier to use interface and is better at detail
drawings. With the new AutoCAD Mechanical DX the link between
Inventor and AutoCAD has become very strong. You may not need to
produce AutoCAD drawings, but there are a lot of people who need a DWG
deliverable.

It sounds like you have a good grasp on the situation. Try out both
products and make your own assesment. Be wary of people bashing a
product or relying on specualtion. You'll always hear rumors like
"Solidworks will be dumped for CATIA", or "Autodesk will discontinue
Inventor". These are just FUD being thrown around and should be
ignored.

Get yourself a good VAR as well. Most of the stories you'll hear about
ADESK or Solidworks giving bad support is due to a bad VAR, not the
software companies. A good VAR will be available, give good training
and support, and help out with pricing.

Good Luck