PRO-E OR SW??
PRO-E OR SW??
(OP)
OUR COMPANY IS TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR OUR SYSTEM. WE ARE A SHEET METAL FABRICATOR COMPANY AND IT WILL VERY HELPFUL IS USER CAN GIVE US THEIR OPINIONS. ALSO IF IT IS TRUE THAT THE SAME GUY WHO CREATED PRO-E IS THE CREATOR OF SW? ... THAT IS WHAT THE SW SELLER IS TELLING ME..
THANKS IN ADVANCE,
MARTIN.
THANKS IN ADVANCE,
MARTIN.





RE: PRO-E OR SW??
As far as the software is concerned, I am afraid that I haven't had too much experience with Solidworks. But from what I recall, if you are modelling sheetmetal within SW you pretty much have to model everything outright, and keep sure of thicknesses and bend radii and the like.
Pro/E on the other hand, does have a specific module to speed up the sheetmetal design process, and some of the new features added can make sheetmetal design a lot faster. Also, Pro/Sheetmetal has the ability to create flat patterns of sheetmetal parts very quickly.
It is obvious that I am a little biased to pro/e, but one thing that I can suggest is that you have a "bakeoff" with the SW and Pro/E guys. By which you give each software reseller a drawing of one or more of your previously existing sheetmetal parts to remodel within the respective software, and then each can demonstrate the power of the power of their software as it would be applied to your specific application.
A colleague of mine who used to work for a Pro/E reseller used to participate in these all the time.
Hope this helps (longwinded as it may be)
RE: PRO-E OR SW??
They do however differ in the way that they work but I find that Solidworks is OK and very simple and intuitive to use.
For instance if you were to make an L shaped part.
Solid Works: You would draw the base and then extrude a 'flange' that would be the same thickness as the base (this is automaic) and you can enter an angle as you do it.
Pro/E: Draw the profile of the L shape and then give it a depth and enter a thickness of material.
Both methods get you the same results. There are a lot of other functions that both programs offer such as forming tools and various other handy things like that.
I do still prefer Pro/E though as other functions like the sketcher and assemblies have better functionality.
All the best.
RE: PRO-E OR SW??
Solidworks has some nice sheet metal features in its latest version that I would have like to had when I used pro/e sheet metal package. Are you going to want a sheet metal manufacturing package as well? If you want to use the software to do the manufacturing I would get a comparison of those pieces as well.
I used Pro/E for seven years and I have been using SolidWorks for the past six months. If I had to make a purchase decision today I would choose Pro/E. SolidWorks is geared to the 2-d CAD user and it is easy for a person to use. They allow tremendous freedom when creating models. But freedom is a double edge sword. The freedom prohibits the user from learing the real concepts of 3d parametric modeling. New users need structure and discipline not freedom. I use my current place of employment as a reference. I recieve many models ahere all of the feature sketches are completely undimensioned. We have users that have been using SolidWorks for four years and know very little about the basics of 3d parametric modeling.
The bottom line is that neither package is the best at everything and they each have their advantages. But SolidWorks is just not there yet and unless they change some basic philosophies I don't know that they will ever get there.
RE: PRO-E OR SW??
Cheers Steven