Which 3D software is best today?
Which 3D software is best today?
(OP)
Solid Edge, Solid Works, Inventor, Pro-E?
Budschley
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Which 3D software is best today?
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Which 3D software is best today?Which 3D software is best today?(OP)
Solid Edge, Solid Works, Inventor, Pro-E?
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RE: Which 3D software is best today?
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
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John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Ignoring price, the software most suited to your products, mindset and company processes would be a good choice.
The four you list all have their good and bad points, and all have their own way of doing things.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Our company builds military trailers, enclosures, tool / storage boxes, etc. I have used PRO-E 3.0 Wildfire (novice user and Solid Edge (Advanced-to-expert user). I dislike Pro-E because it was difficult to learn and use. I love Solid Edge because it is user friendly and I have little-to-no issues with this despite the size of the assemblies / use. I use the welding, piping, sheetmetal, etc. modules on a regular basis along with normal extrusions and assemblies. One of our customers asked us to use Solid Works or Inventor for an upcoming project. We would need to purchase new and self-learn the new software. From the research I conducted Solid Works appears to be similar to Solid Edge in both function, performance, and price. Inventor is less expensive, but I have no expeierence with it and typically cheaper is not better. I have not used AutoCad since college 12 years ago. With that said, anyone whom has used both softwares, please give your opinion. Thank you.
Budschley
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Experience:
2 years using, 4 years as application engineer for Intergraph/EMS (anybody remember that one?) - sold to UG
4 years using Pro/E
2 years using and selling SolidEdge
7 years using SolidWorks
2 years superficial experience with Catia
I cannot address Inventor but I can tell you that one of the prime architects of SolidEdge left several years ago and started with Inventor when it was pretty "green"
Generalizations:
Here is my "generalizations" that anyone and everyone will be more than willing to debate, but are how I make judgements from my experience.
Very large projects (trains, airplanes, buses, cars) - Catia, UG/NX, or Pro/E. Each has its merits/problems.
Medium projects (manufacturing equipment design, consumer products) - SolidEdge, Pro/E, Solidworks. If cost is main consideration - SolidEdge or SolidWorks, if functionality trumps, then Pro/E or SolidWorks. All three are about the same.
Small projects (single parts or small assemblies) - SolidWorks or SolidEdge.
Complex surfacing (consumer products, mold design) - SolidWorks, Catia, or UG
But - keep in mind - there is hardly any difference between any of them. You are splitting hairs.
Particular strengths:
Some tools just do some things better than others. Again - my opinions.
All "high-end" packages load/unload/manage large assemblies well, but for the "mid-range" tools I found SolidEdge particularly good at this.
All "high-end" packages have a more complex, less "discoverable" user interface, but I have found SolidWorks to be complex due to the large feature set. The SolidEdge user interface is a different paradigm than others, but once you learn the technique it seems very efficient.
If you use part/assembly configurations - Pro/E and SolidWorks seem pretty equal, SolidEdge is deficient here as far as my last experience is concerned.
I always found SolidEdge drafting better than anybody else.
For file size, nobody wins - they are all pigs.
For hardware required - they are all the same in most regards.
For file management (not using PDM/PLM/Document management) they all have problems/quirks with maintaining links. Experience is necessary.
Things that nobody has:
Here is a list of things missing from all of them that I have wanted at some point.
1) "Featureless" patterns - Every system requires you to place a feature, then add a pattern feature to duplicate it in a rectangular, circular, or other type of pattern. Wouldn't it be nice if the feature had the pattern built in so you can turn on/off the patterning? This is a particular problem for configured parts where you can go from 0 to N features. To do this in any CAD system you have to place 1 feature, 1 pattern, then in the configuration you have to have each of those two supressed or unsupressed and the count provide to the pattern. Why not just set the count parameter to 0 to suppress the pattern and feature?
2) Mass/Volume iteration - sometimes you need to vary a dimension and iterate to a particular volume or mass. I am told you can do this in some packages (UG/Catia) but I have not used it, but have to write scripts/code in practically all others.
3) Import/Export Neutral File feature definition - this is more a problem of the file-neutral standards, but most systems do not export/import things like tolerance and surface finish if you go through a neutral file such as IGES/STEP/Parasolid. You are forced to have a drawing to understand the model.
4) Feature Level of Detail (LOD) - it would be nice to place a thread callout on a boss or in a hole then be able to toggle the display detail of seeing no thread, a "cosmetic" thread, or the full thread detail.
I could go on a lot about this, but that's all for now.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Solid Edge is very comparable to Solid Works from what I've seen (lots of time on SE, little on SW).
At least round here SW has a much bigger share of the market which has it's own advantages (and a few minor cons I suppose).
I doubt you'll fundamentally be able to do something in SW you can't do in SE, unless you really push the limits in some areas.
While they are similar enough that you should be able to pick up SW fairly quick, do not underestimate the effort to get current on SW.
Also you'll have to maintain SE that has costs associated with it, or you'll have to transfer any old stuff you still use to SW.
Switching more or less adequate 3D systems just to satisfy perceived customer requirements didn't work out well at my last place.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
IMHO, there is no best, as most have replied; each does some things "better" than others and each is "worse" than others (and everyone has different things in either camp). I think you can get a trail license from your local vendor (or online) and see how it goes.
sorry but i had to LOL at your line "self-learn" ... i have a dilbert up "there's no budget for training, so we'll be relying on guessing more than usual".
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Never the less, we constantly exchange STEP files back & forth even though we have 3 different CAD packages.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
The one I am most familiar with is Elysium, Inc:
www.elysiuminc.com
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Also I have always steered clear of the smaller programs as with inventor moving forward your gaining skills which would be useful for your whole career, alot of companies use the main two.
The only option I can see is inventor or solidworks.
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Kenneth J Hueston, PEng
Principal
Sturni-Hueston Engineering Inc
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
RE: Which 3D software is best today?
Once you really start to look at it, the effort in switching, at least for the way our products evolve, is massive. Each new product typically uses components from previous products - sometimes more than others. We've just released 3 major new platforms on SE in the last couple of years, and we'll probably be selling and developing these for 5-10 years.
Maybe the way your products are set up you can make a cleaner break.
However, you still have the hit to productivity while picking up the new system & the cost of implementing the new software, training up staff, developing best practices...
If you do have to maintain old designs, do you recreate/translate to SW, or maintain some SE (which means the licensing/maintenance, keeping users up to date...).
Plus, the future of SW is a little unclear right now between going to the 'cloud' and probably switching kernels to the Catia one from the same Parasolid one as Edge. Now, it may be that concerns over this have been exaggerated, but at the same time Catia kernel transitions in the past haven't exactly been smooth as I understand it. At least SE has already had it's big change for the decade with the introduction of synchronous - as awkward as it may have been combined with the UI change.
Now if you didn't already have 3D CAD, then SW would probably be my preference over SE just because of market share, subject to it doing everything you need it to etc.
However, if you already have a 3D CAD system doing what you need, there needs to be a big justification for incurring the costs (both direct and indirect) of switching, or even just introducing another package.
Do the cost benefit analysis as best you can, and see how much extra business you'd have to get from this customer to warrant it.
Similar threads have been had before, one of the latest thread559-302457: Autodesk Inventor/Vault v.s. Solidworks 2011/PDM
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?