Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
(OP)
Hi All,
I currently use SolidWorks 2005. I'm looking into using Unigraphics. I've never used this package before. Is it similar to SolidWorks at all? I know that SolidWorks and Solid Edge and ProE are all very similar...as in the basic modelling is the same. But i have heard nothing about Unigraphics. Is one more highly regarded than the other? Or is one more specific to a particular industry? If anyone can give me any advice it would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Danielle
I currently use SolidWorks 2005. I'm looking into using Unigraphics. I've never used this package before. Is it similar to SolidWorks at all? I know that SolidWorks and Solid Edge and ProE are all very similar...as in the basic modelling is the same. But i have heard nothing about Unigraphics. Is one more highly regarded than the other? Or is one more specific to a particular industry? If anyone can give me any advice it would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Danielle





RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
question is: why would you shift to UG?
Are there parts of your job for which SW is unadequate? If so, which ones? Do you plan to expand activity in fields where you already know that SW won't be able to accomplish the work? Are you part of a manufacturing chain where machining post-pro or other aspects are necessary? Which software(s) do your suppliers/customers use, that you may consider to "match" in order to better interoperate? etc...
As you already know and use SW, my opinion is that you should have a strong reason to change (or, it may be a simple question of "feeling": I personally can't stand SolidEdge, but it's my personal opinion and not really based on the software's capabilities).
BTW, I really don't find that SW is extremely similar to SE, even less that it is similar to Pro/E, and it won't be similar to UG or Catia. What these softwares share is the working phylosophy and the basic principles, and some common aspects of the GUI as well.
Regards
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
It would help if you specify what you're after. Are you looking at a UG job and just want to know what the growing pains will be? Are you running into limitations or other issues with Solidworks?
Ironically, Solidworks is more similar to UG than Solidedge is. I find Solidedge to be more similar to Pro/E with it's "walk you through the steps" ribbon bar. That's not really saying that UG and Solidworks are all that similar, but like all 3d modeling packages, if you can model in one, you can probably learn to do so in another after learning new names for the commands.
Let's see what you're looking for.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
If you have any further advice it would be appreciated again!
Cheers,
Danielle
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
While you may find opportunities using UG across many industry types, automotive and aerospace seem to be the major customer base. Aerospace is good for lean times thanks to defense budgets. What industry are you in currently, and are you looking for a change?
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Automotive or Aerospace would be good, but of course they are popular so competition is high. Thats why I wondered how useful Unigraphics would be long term, and if any particular package has more 'potential'. It seems like SolidWorks only seems to keep on growing in popularity around the world.
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
There's a lot of power in UG to create features but simple things like changing the extrude end condition from a blind depth to a through all or up to surface isn't editable later on, delete the feature and start over, or link expressions or something. On the other hand, UG's expressions are alot better than Solidworks equations, though the Solidworks sketch is better than UG's so I find myself using less equations than in UG.....get the idea.
I guess depends on you. If I had a choice, I would probably use Solidworks over UG any day, but the company I work for is too good to give up. Perhaps my opinion of UG will change with the next version though.
...And it doesn't hurt to have another CAD program under your belt, gives you a better perspective and you'll explore different modeling techniques.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
If you like the design side, you should not worry about a specific CAD package to further your career. CAD skills are important, but in the big picture CAD is just a tool to communicate a design. If I were in a position to hire people, I would hire a good designer with weak cad skills rather than a poor designer with great cad skills. A little training will make you proficient at cad, but who knows how much time and money it would take to make you a good designer (if ever)?
You have experience with one software system, those skills will help shorten the learning curve when moving to a different system.
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Also, a good designer that has trouble learning cad or refuses to is no good either. And I know a few engineers who have been through cad training more than once and still can't use it effectively.
All that said, for design, you're going to be able to do it fairly efficiently in all the major cad programs once you learn them (Catia, UG, Pro/E, solidworks, Solidedge, Inventor). Even some of the lesser known programs are fairly capable and some cheap (Alibre). You just miss some features you had in one while enjoying new features you never had in the other.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
The point here is that a good designer will be good no matter what package he's using. Unfortunately most companies don't hire that way. It's hard to find a company these days that will hire an experienced Catia designer to run UG...or vice-versa. Less than ideal profits don't take kindly to the additional overhead of software training. If a company's customer dictates what package they use (automotive, aerospace, etc) then those are the packages you need to familiarize yourself with. That's just the world we live in now. Take advantage of any free training you can get.
As far as being able to do things efficiently in any package....that's simply not true. I can do things in UG in half the time it takes me or others to do them in v5, Wildfire, or Ideas. We have the "old interface heritage" as you called it to thank for that. We're not locked into sketches and parameters that become more of a hinderance than a benefit on complex 3d designs. As far as Solidworks goes...you get what you pay for. It's simply not in the same league as the high end solutions.
Much of this has to do with what you're designing. If you're designing refrigerator shelves then sketches and constraints can make your life easier. If you're doing parts that involve complex surfacing you'll enjoy the freedom that a package like Alias can offer you. UG is the perfect blend of both worlds. They keep all the tools available to you...it's your decision how to use them. If your package only has 12 functions it's interface can be a lot simpler....lol. Some packages have "friendlier" ways of doing things. For example..Pro/E's tapered helix function is a lot easier to use than UG's. I've always explained the different packages to be like tool boxes. Same tools...you just need to find what drawer they're in. But UG still does the job quicker....lol. Unfortunately they don't teach you the "efficient" way to do things in the training classes and most never do figure them out.
Take care...
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
I have over 30,000 hours on UG, with some formal training, and I'm still learning how to model more efficiently. That is one of the great things about this site; you can draw on the cumulative experience of fellow members.
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Fortunately I came up before "solids" were the way to do things and I ran a "surfacing" package prior to running UG. New designers these days are usually lost when it comes to any type of freeform work so they usually miss out on all the "shortcuts" that UG has to offer if you model that way. A curve in space is just as "parametized" as a sketch but much easier and faster to edit. Learn how to use them and offset extrusions and you can greatly reduce your design time in most cases. Unfortunately those aren't the techniques they teach in class...or even show you...and most designers don't wander very far from what they've been taught. One of the biggest benefits to UG is also one of it's biggest pitfalls when it comes to working on other people's designs. All those creation options can make it a real pain to work on other people's designs. It sure makes you feel good about yourself when you see how messed up they are though...lmao.
Take care...
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
V8... mid to late 80's? I started on V8 also. I had to laugh when I read your point about understanding someone else's models. Sometimes it's easier to just redo all of it, other times it's better to just jury rig the model and move on (I don't often recommend that, but that's life). I've run into a few designers who purposely unparameterized everything because it was getting too difficult. It was like working in V8 all over again.
And for all those undo's you didn't mean to do, their actually going to give us a redo in NX4! Beats digging ditches!
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
I almost always end up redoing major portions of messed up designs. I've also found that if you can't band-aid it you might as well start fresh, it usually saves you time in the long run. If I look at that feature tree and see a bunch of features that don't have seperate unite or subtract features that I can work with I almost always start fresh...lol. (Note to newbies...never hit anything but "Create" when making a feature...do your subtract/intersect/unite seperately!). And yeah...the unparametized stuff really burns my ass. It's almost like they were taught that if they get an error message they just need to unparametize and the problem will go away...lol. I can't tell you how many times I've had to manually carve radii or features out of a unparametized complex model where "delete face" won't work.
I'd hate to know how many of those hours of mine were spent re-doing my undo's....lol. That will be a VERY welcome command and one they should have had many years ago. Always nice to meet an "old school" guy ewh....lol
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
HellBent & ewh,
Yes, there will be a 'Redo' in NX4, but it will only be within the confines of Sketches. John Baker stated that new features tend to debut in Sketches before being incorporated into the program as a whole (look at associative curves/constraints).
As a UG user since V8 (8 - 2 - EC - EC), I whole-heartedly endorse HellBent's strong suggestion to keep Unite/Subtract/Intersect SEPARATE from the create feature. You will save yourself many hours down the line when the design changes and you need to fix it.
I also have 30,000+ hours - Man, what a mind blower!
Chris Cooper
Cleveland Golf / Never Compromise
www.clevelandgolf.com
www.nevercompromise.com
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
We could go back and forth all day.
You can't unparameterize a Solidworks (Short of export /import), not sure if that's a good or bad thing, both I suppose.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Sucks about the redo though...I only use the sketcher for simple template components which doesn't happen often.
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
As far as your 3d sketch thing....why would you WANT your curves to be sketch constrained when you can simply edit their point positions, lengths, locations, etc? Why add the extra steps of constraining it with dimensions? If you use the sketcher then I'll bet you use the method of drawing 4 lines to create a box rather than doing a single line extrusion with an offset. And although I've only briefly played with it, I believe UG's 3d embedded GD&T functionality will do some of that....if you want to use it.
As far as the other Solidworks commands you mentioned I'm not familiar with them so I couldn't tell you how UG compares. Can you have multiple bodies in one part in SW yet?
That's not my point though. Some packages have functions that others don't. At the end of the day UG is the most VERSATILE of any package I've spent time in....which is most of them. While certainly not an "expert" in most other packages, I've trained long time users of every other major CAD package for their transition to UG and every single one of them has preferred it over their prior package when taught the "proper" and efficient methods of use...and I don't even show them the sketcher.
Take care...
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
lol....I was you once. I spent about 2 years fighting the trasition to solids before I came to accept their benefits. Try modelling for a week without ever going into the sketcher. Draw your curves in 3d, learn the "edit curve" menu and create some extrusions based on single profiles with offsets for your thickness. Until you learn these methods you haven't realized the full potential of designing in UG. I've reduced design times by as much as 50% by teaching designers these simple methods over the common sketcher mentality. I won't even charge this time.....I'm getting too old for this crap...lol
Take care....
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
No doubt you are probably good at what you do, and UG may be the best choice for your work. UG has excellent surfacing tools and can do things needed for automtive applications that Solidworks doesn't cater to.
Yeah, I do draw a rectangle to create the box you speak of, though both UG and swx have a rectangle command that just requires placing the corners. Just my prefer way to create that shape and see the dimensions. I do use thin extrudes from time to time though in Swx which is done by sketching a line and assigning a thickness to offset, mostly for thin parts though.
I fully constrain with dimensions because our parts must remain parametric to be sized. Multi Bodies have been in Swx for the last 4 versions or so, along with boolean functions, and other features to related to working with solid/surface bodies. Sounds like you haven't seen swx in a while.
I'm 31, pretty good at what I do, and never right as far as my wife is concerned. I started on Autocad, then spent a few years on Catia V4, went Solidworks for 5 years, and now work with UG. I've never really fought any transition and have mostly been the cause of them. Even with UG here where I work, I'm delving in deeper then most users here do, using functions they never have, and trying to learn some GRIP programming.
Non parametric modeling is not an option for us as we build familes of parts that must size correctly. The non parametric way sounds an awful lot like Catia V4 and I'm glad I left that method behind. For what you work on, it may be easier to do it that way, especially for really complex geometry. We only have a few parts that have some freeform surfacing and it's not really that difficult geometry, certainly not like a car body or something.
Solidworks is quite capable, though not always the best for every task, of course I seen people do impressive thing in Microsoft Paint, so the individual has alot to do with it.
Checkout Paul's site, excellent industrial designer and a master at getting Solidworks to do the impossible.
http://www.zxys.com/
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Thanks again,
Danielle
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
I think you just don't have to worry about loosing your skills in SW: in 6 years I shifted from Pro/E (the "old" one, not Wildfire), to ThinkDesign, to SolidWorks, to UG, with some small experience on Catia: of course, when I open a Pro/E now, I've got 10 mn of panic, but it's like bicycle riding after 6 years you don't touch a bike: everything comes back to mind in very short times.
Then, if in the meantime versions have evolved, it's just a matter of asking the employer for a short course...
Regards
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
What type of product are you modelling?
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Now if could just keep the Zoom to Fit commands straight, it's the "F" key in Solidworks, and "Control F" in UG, keep catching myself control "F"ing when I work at home, which pulls up the "Find" function...
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Don't worry so much about the particular package (even loosing skills in one... it's like riding a bike... once you know, you don't really forget). Plus remember when you get to be as old a hellbent
Wes C.
------------------------------
In this house, we OBEY the laws of thermodynamics! - Homer Simpson
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
There is a time and a place for sketcher constraints...I'll give you that. Various sizes of the same part is a good example. I'll use them when designing Mold Wizard library components, but that's about the only time they're of any benefit to me and that's just so they'll work with the component interface. Most times if I have a different version of a component to make I'll simply edit it's definition curves and save it out as a new part. I'm not typically designing a "family" of a part though. As a matter of fact I think the only time I've had to over the years was on some medical and pharmaceutical jobs and those were both in Pro/E. But when designing a specific component for a specific application the 3d curve method of creation will always be faster simply because you're not adding the additional sketch curves and constraints and the mouse-clicks that come with them. 4 lines instead of 1 to make a box is really the best example I can give.
Most people, especially those that come out of a package like SW, Pro/E, IDEAS, etc, never learn to model that way....they've always been locked into a sketcher and dimensional constraints. These guys are amazed when they learn that they don't HAVE to do it that way in UG and no matter what industry you work in, learning that functionality of UG will benefit your efficiency. Always locking yourself into the overhead of all of the constraints is often times not the best choice...nor the fastest. Having infinitely "adjustable" parts thanks to constraints and attributes is great, but in the real world it's very seldom used. For every 1 part that would benefit from it I can show you a 1,000 that won't. If all that extra "sketcher" time was put into those 1,000....that's inefficiency at it's best...and what companies have hired me to help eliminate.
I've had these same "debates" with designers many, many times. Most don't like to hear that there is a better way of doing things. It's not until they try it and see the results that they start to come around. It's a totally different method of design than most are accustomed to. Old school surfacers get it right away. The guys that took "the classes" take a bit longer...lol
Take care....
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Like I just did a fairly complex casting in swx with some curved surfaces, about 250 features total. The adjustments in size I had to make to this would have been a pain using 3d curves. How do maintain your design intent with 3d curves? Some curve functions are parametric but not all. I hear Nx3 added parametric curves so I'm eagerly awaiting when we upgrade finally, probably to Nx4.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Wes C.
------------------------------
In this house, we OBEY the laws of thermodynamics! - Homer Simpson
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Gild...as far as the curve functions....I can do anything I need to with them...shorten, lenghten, trim, offset, delta moves, move points, etc. Lines or splines...doesn't matter. With edit feature you can also substitute curves that define a feature if you ever need to and you edit the feature to control the offsets of your "single line" extrusion. For example..if I were creating an attachment boss in a plastic part...I would simply draw the circle representing the O.D. wherever it needs to be. I would then extrude it with an offset to establish the I.D. and apply the taper all at the same time (assuming the inner and outer taper are the same). If that boss ever needs to be tweaked I can either edit the definition curve directly with the edit curve menu, do whatever I want to it with the transformation commands, or edit the feature itself to adjust diameters and/or tapers. No planes to deal with or anything...just that one curve. You just draw your curves where they're supposed to be and tweak them when necessary. I would bet in most designs where I have say 500 features....I probably have less than 100 curves. I'll use the edges of those features to create additional features, etc..etc. So when I edit that one curve....everything else updates as well. It's not always that simple but you get the idea.
Take care...
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Wes C.
------------------------------
In this house, we OBEY the laws of thermodynamics! - Homer Simpson
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
I am the CAD Administrator for Goodrich hoist and Winch in Diamond Bar CA. I spend my days teaching people to use SolidWorks and NX.
Contrary to what is being said by all of the SolidWorks gurus who have replied to your posting, SolidWorks and NX are very similar; both have the ability to create sketch based solids. The difference is the sketch must be created prior to extruding the solid and the sketch remains separated in the feature tree. that is until the debut of NX 4 when the NX feature tree will behave in a similar manner to SolidWorks.
If you are going to get into NX, I would suggest finding a CAST session. You may also wan to try the NX training classes on i.get.it from CADPo (www.cadpo.com).
Bravo for learning a new software package! The more arrows in your quiver the more marketable you are.
James Rawlinson
RE: Unigraphics vs. SolidWorks??
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP1.0 on WinXP SP2