I have been using Inventor & Solidworks for about 12 years, and AutoCAD maybe twice that.I have taught AutoCAD, Architecture & Inventor in a classroom setting and one-on-one. Most of my customers use some form of Autodesk software, so my main platform is Inventor. This is my 2 cents.Cons:1. The learning curve will be steep.
Es posible ganar dinero con AutoCAD? Empleo / Emprendimiento. Inventor, catia, etc Quiero decir hay trabajillos extra? Tengo cierta soltura con el AutoCAD y quisiera aprovecharlo.
Solidworks is a different animal, and you will be teaching yourself new skills. Expect to spend many off-hours with the software. The standard 2 or 3-day classes will not suffice. They never do. If you are under the usual time crunch to learn Solidworks and still be productive, you may experience the need to throttle those individuals who decided on the switch. I have seen many people leave their positions solely because they did not get the necessary support from management during similar transitions.
Management must step up here. This is crucial. Depending on how long you have used Inventor, much will not be automatic in Solidworks. The theory will be similar, in that extrusions, lofts, sweeps, etc. Are the same, but the process will be different.2.
Many, if not all of your Inventor projects will have to be re-built in Solidworks. When you import Inventor geometry into Soidworks, you will be getting dumb solids. Solidworks may have a tool similar to Inventor's Feature Recognition.
If so, it will help to rebuild your feature tree. (I don't know if the tool exists, nor how well it works.) If there are any linked part/part or part/assembly parameters, these will not transfer during the import. Inventor's step import is very robust, and is my format of choice when importing non-Inventor geometry. That being said, you still get dumb geometry.
I began one contract in which Solidworks was switched out for Inventor. The main reason for this was to take advantage of the interoperability between Inventor, Revit & AutoCAD. The company used all Autodesk software.
I was told that this would be a 4-6 month contract. That was 5 years ago. The contract would not have lasted the full 6 months, if the conversion was all that needed to be done, but all of the subsequent new projects could not be put on hold because of the conversion. (They had contracted out the Solidworks modeling, and noone in the CAD department was available for training, nor did they want to pay for the training, so the contract was modified.) You will experience this as well.
If you do not have the manpower to absorb the increased workload, you will not be a happy camper. Again, this is a management support issue.Pros:1. Solidworks has the lion's share of installed seats. This is similar to the Microsoft/Apple user base. Dassault ascribed to Bill Gates' philosophy. Students who use it in school tend to stick with it in their professional careers, given a choice. Many years ago, the student price for a seat of Inventor was @500.00.
The price for a similar seat of Solidworks was $75.00. Not much of a choice there, when you are wondering how you're going to pay for that next box of mac-n-cheese. And, of course, the schools followed suit, offering more classes in Solidworks, and removing those in Inventor. Autodesk was slow to catch on to this, but finally came around, and many of the software packages are now free for students. Your chances of getting outside files, such as industry CAD downloads, in native format is greater.
Most download sites provide the data in Solidworks format.2. You will be acquiring new, marketable skills.Personally, I prefer Inventor over Solidworks. During the first years going through both platforms, I found many things easier to do in Inventor. It just seemed more intuitive, and has continued to be that way. They are both very capable, mid-range solid modelers. And they tend to leapfrog each other with each release.
Neither platform is 'better' than the other. They just behave differently.Again, my own opinion, and everybody has one.Good luck!
Everything you design still has to be changed to a dxf or dwg in most cases to work with machining software. I have done the reverse borrowing from SolidWorks to work in Inventor and the solid you get is dumb.I have taken the full semeser class in Inventor and the 4 day up and running in SOlidworks. No comparision, the longer course was better. Even the Instructor who taught Inventor and Solidworks said Inventor was easier to learn.
I have worked In both Solid WOrks and Inventor in the past year. Inventor is definitely easier to use. I wish I could say that It wont be better or worse one way or the other. I have seen and used both, only minorly with solid works, the user interface looks different as far as where the tools are at but the idea and concept for both are the same. As far as how it works is the same. I find that Inventor has a more user friendly, not entirely sure about the new 2013 look though, where as solidworks is much more capable with the clash detection, strength analysis and technical aspects.
My shortened version of what i just said lol Inventor draws easier, solidworks is better at the analysis aspect. Just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt if you want good luck whichever way your company goes. If your whole company is using Inventor it will take a lot of time to transition to solidworks as the user interfaces are much different as are some of the nomenclature of the tools. I work in aerospace engineering: started with Inventor, then went to Inventor Pro- I use AutoCAD for simple moments of inertia calculations of profile shapes, it's quite easy and reliable.
For modeling, Inventor is an easy transition from AutoCAD imo. I use the analysis and interference tools within Inventor and find them to be quite good, easy to use and reliable.I don't see how you can possibly claim solidworks is 'much more capable with clash detection, strength analysis and technical aspects' - simply not true, nor can that statement be supported.
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