Recall that in last weeks discussion, as mechanical engineering consultants we introduced our plan to to model a motorcycle frame in three different 3d cad software packages. Autodesk releases inventor fusion on mac app store. This brings creo in line with solidworks on the software development front. The table below provides an overview of computeraided design cad software. Im a certified a solidworks designer and currently learning inventor. While its true in raw featurecount solidworks and inventor are very similar, think about it this way. Compare freecad vs solidworks premium 2020 financesonline. Communicates with toolbars, contextsensitive shortcut menus, dialog boxes and a command line. Nov 22, 2017 as with autocad and solidworks, inventor comes with a handy command line and keyboard shortcuts which speed up your entire design process. Two of the most popular 3d modeling software applications that are used in the industry today are proe and solidworks.
Can i learn proengineer and be employed in a solidworks job. There are various considerations to decide which is the right one for your needs. Comparison between proengineer and solidworks youtube. It does not judge power, ease of use, or other userexperience aspects. Mechanical engineering consultants use 3d cad software. Comparison of computeraided design software wikipedia. Sep 21, 2009 while its true in raw featurecount solidworks and inventor are very similar, think about it this way. There are cosmetic differences and ui stuff, but youll get the same functionality from either. Mar 11, 2010 however, instead of a persons name, well enter the names of a few popular cad companies solidworks, solid edge, alibre, proe, and inventor to see who has more character and then poke and laugh at the results. As noted eariler, the industry really dictates the package, you want find inventor at an aircraft manufacturers engineering office, as you want see catia and general sheet metal fabrication. However, what i like about inventor is that besides being a program where you can make designs cad, you can also manufacture them cam and do not need an interface like solidworks to recognize it in a cnc. Mar 22, 2017 autodesk subscription vs solidworks license.
Oct 28, 2003 so before comparing the surfacebuilding capabilities of pro engineer and solidworks, its worth looking at their ability to generate curves in threed space. Question asked by brocade gainz on mar 9, 2011 latest reply on jul 10. Catia, like pro e, is not nearly as userfriendly as solidworks inventor, and some rudimentary actions require. With the news of a compulsory subscription model being enforced by autodesk and a 38% price increase over the next 3 years, is it time for you to start thinking about a switch to solidworks. The list below the toolbar shows which files are currently loaded in autodesk inventor. Pro engineer excels at creating curves on surfaces, known as the spline on surface function in solidworks. First of all every software has its own pros an cons. With an edrawings executable file from the solidworks website, rightclick the executable file and extract the contents including the edrawings. Both proe and solidworks can construct 2d sketch profiles using splines and analytic geometry such as lines, arcs, and conic sections. To help you evaluate this, weve compared autodesk inventor vs.
Jan 18, 2017 mac versus pc for autodesk inventor boot speed test what happens when a 2014 mac goes head to head with a 2016 pc to run microsoft windows and autodesks inv. Sketchup pro based on some of the most important and required computer aided design features. It was one of the first major solid modelers to enter the cad market and greatly impacted the industry. Solidworks 3d cad vs autodesk inventor product comparison. Solidworks offers complete 3d software tools that are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better. Catia, like proe, is not nearly as userfriendly as solidworksinventor, and some rudimentary actions require.
Lets quickly compare polygonal modeling vs cad modeling. Inventor is a good option 2016 just came out, and they recently bought a cam software company which incorporates cam directly inside the part youre modeling, or solidworks, which will have the same cam software incorporat. Autodesk provides many native mac products for 3d modeling, cad, rendering, animation, vfx, and digital imagery. Mar 01, 2011 can the new macbook pro low end inch run autocad, matlab and solidworks. The one thing i noticed is that i feel i am always clicking on edit definition to edit any of my features, but instead of it being the first thing the mouse encounters, i.
At the time, pro engineer did cost significantly more and it was significantly harder to learn. If the project is small may be inventor works the same as pro engineer but as the projects gets bulky you will really feel the difference. I feel like i need to vent a little, so i was hoping to get a discussion started as to why creo has any advantage over the other popular 3d cad. The most popular mac alternative is freecad, which is both free and open source. Its safe to say, these features were revolutionary to the engineering workflow. Solidworks has huge advantage in weldments, multibody parts 2. Smaller shops tend to use the cheaper programs like solidworks and inventor. We gave a brief history of the three cad software packages that glew engineering employs. Proengineer excels at creating curves on surfaces, known as the spline on surface function in solidworks. Creo is a computeraided design cad program that was initially released in 1987 as pro engineer by the company parametric technology corporation ptc.
Most of us defaulted to solidworks when there wasnt a client requirement to use the other software. I hear solidworks is great but it does have some weaknesses compared to proe. Oct 12, 2018 if youre a cad enthusiast and havent heard of solidworks, you must have been living under a rock. Get a full solidworks vs autodesk inventor comparison here at scan2cad. It was created by solidworks corporation, who had been working on it since 1993, and was finally released as the first significant 3d modeler for windows in 1995. You can choose to import individual features of objects or import objects as single solid bodies. So before comparing the surfacebuilding capabilities of proengineer and solidworks, its worth looking at their ability to generate curves in threed space.
Pro engineer is ten times faster than inventor and much more flexible than inventor. Solidworks uses bezier and might be a bit harder to control, compared to the pro engineer cos curve on surface function, which is a nurbs curve in the interactive module in proe called isdx. Autodesk inventor based on some of the most important and required architecture and cad features. Solidworks claimed that solidworks was easier to use and could do 80% of what pro engineer could for 20% of the price. Devote time to examine your best choices and see which one is best for your company. The edrawings viewer is intended primarily for users who need to consume and understand 3d product data, but not use cad, create, or publish edrawings files themselves. My wife is a design engineer and has had experience with both professionally and also strongly prefers solidworks. Having used both of these, there really is not a clear winner in which software is better. However solidworks and proe leave inventor for dead on surfacing and complex geometry, e. Fusion files are not compatible with inventor, or vault even, with users.
Solidworks vs inventor inventor is a better software for fea if that is what you are interested in. Jul 14, 2016 first of all every software has its own pros an cons. Our company is thinking about changing our cad software after years from using proe wildfire to solidworks. Only autocad for mac os x, no for disciplinespecific vertical products, e. For instance in the attempt of making some objects concentric there is much hunting and searching involved. Inventor fusion is software that enables advanced 3d mechanical design. Can the new macbook pro low end inch run autocad, matlab and solidworks. Time for an inaccurate characterization of cad corporations. To help you evaluate this, weve compared turbocad pro platinum vs. Solidworks and inventor are basically the same program, no matter how many new features dss or autodesk patch in to eachs latest versions.
Moving beyond parametric and assembly modeling capabilities, inventor also comes with a shape generator, enabling users to create highperforming design options in mere minutes. The table does not include software that is still in development beta software. Both have very similar tools and use the same tools in slightly different manors on how to create a 3d model. Actually it is the size of the project that matters.
Data importexport, basic reports, online customer support. Solidworks vs autodesk inventor cad software compared. When solidworks first hit the scene, it was brilliantly positioned to compete with pro engineer now known as creo. Fusion 360 will run natively on both mac os and windows and the experience is identical from what i have seen. When people look at cad packages for cad purposes only. Mac versus pc for autodesk inventor boot speed test what happens when a 2014 mac goes head to head with a 2016 pc to run microsoft windows and autodesks inv. Boeing uses catia and lockheed used proe which is now creo as i recall. If you re a general engineering company that works on parts and needs to cost them, the. When viewed with the edrawings viewer, these files provide intelligent interpretation tools 3d pointer, virtual. First of all, the comparison you suggest isnt really valid since solidworks is really a parametric solid modeling software package, while the autodesk suite encompasses several different software packages, one of which, inventor, is roughly the functional equivalent to solidworks. Some are great at doing something while others are good at doing something else. Autodesk subscription vs solidworks license innova systems. Rightclick files in the file list and select a solidworks pdm item from the shortcut menu.
Cad refers to a specific type of drawing and modeling software application that is used. We are currently pursuing a time and process study using the three software choices. Also, it would be in your best interest to learn both programs and not become too dependent on one program because they constantly change with each update. Is it better to learn solidworks or inventor for 3d.
Windows only, windows and mac on a windows partition. If that doesnt suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to autodesk inventor and many of them are available for mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. You can also pro rate new subscriptions to align with existing licences expiry dates and are always. If an assembly or drawing is loaded, referenced parts and subassemblies appear with branches that show how the files are related. The autodesk inventor file type iv can also be imported, but dwg file support has been an issue due. It guesses your design intent more clever, and after using creo for a while, the inventor sketcher feels really slow and dumb. Solidworks 3d cad is more popular than autodesk inventor with the smallest companies 150 employees and startups. Solidworks uses bezier and might be a bit harder to control, compared to the proengineer cos curve on surface function, which is a nurbs curve in the interactive module in proe called isdx. Inventor has the engineers handbook built into the software and the geometry is created for the user automatically, as a result of the loads, forces, and function presented to it. Solidworks and inventor are almost a ford and chevy comparison. As with autocad and solidworks, inventor comes with a handy command line and keyboard shortcuts which speed up your entire design process. The electronic data format of edrawings files is highly compressed to enable easy transmission via email. Data importexport, basic reports, online customer support, sketchup pro list of features include the following.
Known as the flagship product of dassault systemes, solidworks creation actually started life outside of dassault. For the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. If youre a cad enthusiast and havent heard of solidworks, you must have been living under a rock. Dear all, i checked job numbers on indeed canada, and when using proengineer and solidworks as search words, i got 74 and 338 respectively, which means 4. Macbook pro inch 2011 autocad, matlab, solidworks. Solidworks in popular in the automotive industry due to its excellent surfacing capabilities and the ability of the program to digitise real size surfaces. Inventor i think the major flaw i noticed is exactly what you brought up there are way too many actions involved to complete a simple feature. To compete with the solidworks juggernaut, autodesk first tried.
Inventor has the engineer s handbook built into the software and the geometry is created for the user automatically, as a result of the loads, forces, and function presented to it. It does not go into mechanical detail like other cad programs such as siemens nx, inventor, catia, proengineer and solidworks, but has a much more. Stl, obj, ply, 3ds, wrl, inventor, proe, solidedge, catia, parasolid, solidworks. The guys over at solidworks know what theyre talking about and have been doing it for over nearly 15 years. I would like to start with ansys as its not a cad software but an fea software. But some of my friends recommends solidworks is good for 3d design. With medium sized companies 51 employees solidworks 3d cad is more popular. Are there more or fewer tools on offer than solidworks. Solidworks recognizes chamfer, draft, extrude, cut extrude, extruderevolve with contour selection, fillet, holes, linear and circular patterns, mirror, reference geometry, revolve, cut revolve, shell, sketch, sketch dimensions, sweep, cut sweep, threads. In addition, we provide full support for a number of products when used on the mac in virtualized environments including parallels desktop and vmware fusion. Hi, i am currently using inventor pro 2018 and it is great software for mechanical engineering design. For allpurpose 3d programs, see comparison of 3d computer graphics software. For instance, inventor has a strong drafting and mechanical feel which is lacking with solidworks, although solidworks is good, the drafting package is subrate in my opinion, this was the reason why i shelved solidworks for inventor.
Creo is a family of cad apps that aids in product design for all types of. Autodesk inventor is not available for mac but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on macos with similar functionality. Autodesk inventor vs sketchup pro comparison itqlick. Likewise, you can also assess which vendor is more reliable by sending an email request to the two companies and see which vendor replies sooner. It has many tools that are very useful not only in the mechanical area, but also in the design of circuits, in the design of pipelines, etc. However, instead of a persons name, well enter the names of a few popular cad companies solidworks, solid edge, alibre, proe, and inventor to see who has more character and then poke and laugh at the results. Turbocad pro platinum vs autodesk inventor comparison. The tool should support the processes, workflows, reports and needs that matter to your team.
26 787 254 1274 268 576 698 1173 1032 1035 125 625 1010 1272 845 1481 1354 1174 570 693 1281 481 72 1416 1469 1124 1456 961 208 945 1191 1254 1160 449 1037 1394 974 960 383 1135 837 486 491 701