Drafting Software

[HMI1953]

We currently use Inventor and were possibly looking at switching over to solidworks What are the pros/ cons between the two?

 

[Guest]

We currently use Inventor and were possibly looking at switching over to solidworks What are the pros/ cons between the two?

 

That is such a wide open question.....

I mean, AutoCad is drafting software.....Inventor & Solidworks are full blown 3D design systems

 

My flippant answer is because Solidworks is great and Inventor sux.......

 

 

THat however, does not begin to address your company's needs and current desire to change....

 

I don't think anyone can really answer your question cogently without knowing, the how's what's & why's

[Mick]

I wouldn't say Inventor sucks. I've used Inventor, and I think it is actually very good modelling software. Like CAM systems, they all have their pros and cons.

 

I've used both, and ultimately prefer using Inventor.

 

As John intimated though, you need to dig a little deeper for reasons to change etc.

[guitar]

I prefer Inventor over SW. I prefer NX over Inventor and anything else.

[#Rekd™]

Siemens NX is awesome but it is an engineering software not a drafting software. Yes it has excellent drafting capabilities.

[Greg Williams]

I'll go with NX over both, just my 2 cents worth

[Oppiz]

I will say this about Inventor, I bring into Mastercam inventor files everyday never have an issue.

[CAM-mando]

I will say this about Inventor, I bring into Mastercam inventor files everyday never have an issue.

 

We have both. And I will say inventor seems to do a little better with importing step files.

 

As a modeler I think swx is probably better.

 

Personally I miss my direct modeler (key Creator) for model prep and layout work.

[Mick]

I'll go with NX over both, just my 2 cents worth

 

Different level of product though.

 

That's like saying, "what should I buy, a Ford or a Holden" then something suggesting a Porsche

[Thad]

We have Inventor and SW. I don't use either myself, but those are mainly the file types that I bring into MC.

 

Files from Inventor always have wireframe where there shouldn't be, like at the midpoint of a fillet radius. Holes, for example, always have lines running the length of them. This is all just clutter that I don't need polluting my file. No *real* problems importing the files though from either system.

[BenK]

While I prefer Solidworks myself, I honestly don't see many advantages for you to switch. Inventor is very capable as well. The few advantages to Solidworks is it uses the Parasolid kernel which is the same as Mastercam, no translation needed. Plus Mastercam for Solidworks is now included. Depending on what your reasons are for switching you might want to look into Spaceclaim. It adds some functionality the other two don't have. I have been using it for all my design work and model prep and I don't see myself going back to anything else.

[jlw™]

Inventor is good software. If you already have it with current maintenance I can't see changing. I can do anything in inventor that I can sw or solid edge.

 

In my opinion sw and inventor are practically interchangeable. The 2d side of inventor is a little better but they have decades of AutoCAD lessons learned applied to it.

 

Both really good but it wouldn't be worth the change if every one is using inventor now.

 

I've never had trouble in either with step files. Inventor has handled iges better but I'd rather have leprosy than an iges file.

[Mike@Lustre]

what if one is starting from scratch , what cad program should one look into , both my son and myself are looking to learn , I have no CAD experience just old school drafting from 30yrs back in HS and trade school . 

[guitar]

what if one is starting from scratch , what cad program should one look into , both my son and myself are looking to learn , I have no CAD experience just old school drafting from 30yrs back in HS and trade school . 

 

Ashlar Vellum

[Machineguy]

I learned with a pencil, paper ,large eraser, and a big drafting board.

Those were the days !

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

I learned with a pencil, paper ,large eraser, and a big drafting board.

 

Those were the days !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Same for me.

For all my needs Mastercam design is enough .

And I am very fast with it too .

[jlw™]

what if one is starting from scratch , what cad program should one look into , both my son and myself are looking to learn , I have no CAD experience just old school drafting from 30yrs back in HS and trade school . 

If you're starting from scratch go with what the majority of your customers use to increase chances of native part files.

 

And take a class or at least run thru the included tutorials.

[jlw™]

I learned with a pencil, paper ,large eraser, and a big drafting board.Those were the days !~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Same for me.For all my needs Mastercam design is enough .And I am very fast with it too .

 

I used solid edge all the time when I used esprit. Since going to mcam I may have opened it twice.

 

The only thing that frustrates me is the geo having to go with the solid if you want to move it. I'm used to sketches in sw/se.

[guitar]

I used solid edge all the time when I used esprit. Since going to mcam I may have opened it twice.

 

The only thing that frustrates me is the geo having to go with the solid if you want to move it. I'm used to sketches in sw/se.

 

Geometry no longer has to go with the solid. After using the geometry to create the solid I remove the solid history. From there on I just use the new geometry manipulation tools. Then I usually delete the geometry I used to create the solid. 

[jlw™]

Booyah! Why didn't I think of that?

[BenK]

I have found only a few things that Mastercam design cant do. or at least cant do well. Defeaturing a complex solid is difficult and making drawings is a nightmare. For these reasons I ended up with Spaceclaim. I'm still learning it but I've already speed up my design process and model prep time. 

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

I keep all my entities of solid creation on the separate level .

After the end of solid creation I blank all the entities of solid creation

That keeps my solid safe of changing them by mistake and keeps my solid safe

preserved with the history for futher changes

 

HTH

[jlw™]

I've come to manage fairly well with the "drafting" features of mcam. I use solid layout but forget about having it fit a page size. I'm usually making reference dimension drawings for machinists and I don't need title block and what not.

 

One thing mcam does that I have wanted in sw, se and acad since 2002ish is the point dimension. Where has that been all my life? Why acad still won't make a point is beyond me.

[JoshC]

I cant speak much about inventor because i am not a user, but one thing Inventor does not have that solidworks does have, is Mastercam For solidworks! and its a FREE add in if you already have a mastercam license on maintenance so in my opinion go with Solidworks over inventor, you then get the best of both worlds all in one simple file! Powerful CAD from Solidworks and Powerful CAM from Mastercam.

As a Solidworks and also a Mastercam user I absolutely love that I can do both in just one file, and the toolpath associativity is Killer, meaning you change the model, the toolpaths change as well.

That's my 2 cents, hope it helps

[jlw™]

You gotta be careful with toolpath associativity. Edgecam has that and "most" of the time it came out good. "Most" of the time.

 

If memory serves, drilled holes really mucked it up. It's probably come a long way since I last used it.