SOLIDWORKS & AUTOCAD

[cadshite]

Does anyone know how easy it is to use solidworks after using Autocad (R14-2004 full versions) for 5 years? I do all my 3D stuff on autocad because i know most of the 4000+ commands (well at least 50%+) but I am apprehensive of accepting a job using solidworks as I think I'll loose 5 yearsworth of experience and do not want to keep asking bone questions.
I'm hoping they are quite similar, so if you know or have been in my situation please help!
Thanks in advance.

 

[SBaugh]

When using SW coming from AutCAD you have to forget AutoCAD . because SW is NOTHING like AutoCAD. So to answer your question "Yes" you will loose those 5 years worth of AutoCAD expereince, but your knowledge of AutoCAD could be valuable if the company you start working for deals with ACAD drawings and such.

ACAD does mostly 2D drawings. In SW you build the 3D model - Part or assembly then insert that into a drawing. Building your drawings are mostly automated once you have model in place.

Anytime you switch from one CAD package to another... there is one guarantee, and that guarantee is.... that none of them are similiar to each other, and that is most definetly true between SW and AutoCAD.

Go to

http://www.solidworks.com

or talk to a VAR to see if you can get a 30-day trial or a Pesonal Edition copy of SW to try out. So you will understand that what I say above is true.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[rockguy]

cadshite,

Take the job!! I to was an AutoCAD guy and switched over to SolidWorks about 4 years ago. It takes a little while to learn everything. I had the hardest part with sketching. At first it feels like the sketching control in SolidWorks is lousy compared to how you draw in AutoCAD. It isn't just different. It took me a week or so of continous modeling to finally get the hang of it. SolidWorks is very easy to learn and use. I gaurantee in 6 months you will stop and ask yourself how the hell you ever did your job with AutoCAD! SolidWorks is that much better. No offense but forget AutoCAD. It's a dinosaur. It will become extinct. Make your life easier. TAKE THE JOB.

 

[ctopher]

I wish all AutoCAD users would switch to SolidWorks.
I used AutoCAD for a few years, and now SW. I am currently looking for a new job, but when I see they use AutoCAD, I pass them up.

 

[SBaugh]

I re-read my ppost and I wanted to point out that I not trying to detour you away from the job. Like rockguy pointed out above Take the job. You won't regret it when it comes to using SW. You just have to forget about AutoCAD.

I understand not wanting to give up on a CAD system that you are very familiar with. That's like throwing away a good hat. Looks bad, it's faded, has some stitching coming out , but hey... it keeps you dry and besides it's a lucky hat.

God only knows how I would feel if SW bellied up...I would have to change to something else and I know I wouldn't like it, but you have to do, what you have to do.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[drayflatt]

I will guarantee that after a week or so of using Solid Works you will regret that you wasted 5 years of your life learning to use the Arbitrarily Useless Totally Obsolete Crayola Assisted Doodle package, aka autocad.

 

[Panzer1970]

Take the job man (if you don't then I will!). Solidworks is easy to learn and a pleasure to use, it is nothing at all like any Autodesk product. I been using SW for 2 years now and it keeps getting better. The unfortunate thing is my company chose to go the Inventor route because of costs...


Bottom Line: Take the Job

 

[ctopher]

Thats funny, drayflatt
very good (and true)

 

[SBaugh]

ctopher,

I am currently looking for a new job, but when I see they use AutoCAD, I pass them up.

I was out of work for 10 months because I was trying to find a job that only used SW. I passed on those jobs that used ACAD myself.

Regards,


Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[sirmick]

AutoCad has its uses. Try doing a rev block in Solidworks, not a cut and paste from Excel, to see how difficult it is to 2D well.

That said, you will love SolidWorks if you have been doing AutoCad 3D. Now have you been using AutoCads wireframe, surfacing, or its solids? Way back in 97-98 I use to do 3d work in Autocad with its solids. The switch from Autocad to Solidworks took me about a week.

The time savings were incredible. Now, drawings and modeling are no longer a chore. Keeping track of them has become the chore.

 

[MadMango]

Sirmick, using blocks for revision control is fairly simple in SW, and it looks like it will get even easier in SW04. But I agree, there are some 2d actions that are easier to do in AutoCAD than in SW, like wiring diagrams and schematics.

Cadshite, the important thing to remember is to not try to force SW to behave like AutoCAD. They are entirely different programs and they should be handled accordingly. You wouldn't try to use Adobe PhotoShop in the same manner that you used MS Paint, and vice versa.

I guess I was lucky when I switched from AutoCAD to SW, as I had only been using AutoCAD for 3 years when I transitioned over. My brain wasn't hard-wired with AutoCAD thinking (at least not entirely) so it was easy for me to make the switch.

MadMango
"Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[dgiy]

Are there any AutoCAD converts out there that use the command line interface/emulator in SW??

I didn't use it when I converted but I was just curious if anyone has made use of this in transitioning.

If so cadshite might be interested.

DG

 

[cadshite]

Cheers guys, much appreciated.

 

[deek05]

We use Autocad (temporarily) and SW We are in the process of switching to SW. We've been trying to switch since Dec 2002. The hold up: trying to get long file name support over the network. We are only use SW for new designs. We are not having any difficulties switch back and forth between SW and Autocad. I have been using Autocad for 13 years and switching to SW has been fairly painless. SW is pretty easy to learn/use.

DT

 

[MrPickles]

As for the 2D Emulator (Tools | Addins) mentioned previously, I don't know if that is a good idea. I mean, I do and I don't. If you invoke it, you get the AutoCRAP feel, but there is still a lot of other stuff you have to learn. Might as well bite the bullet and learn what the 2D Emulator may emulate, IMO.

The world is moving to keyboard-less, so having a Command line is fazzing out. Heck, even AutoCRAP has many more icons to use instead of typing commands, but I still type 'em and will until I croack (years from how?) or I quit my job (any day I hope)...


-----------
Mr. Pickles

 

[TateJ]

If you were honest in your interview and told them that you're ecxperience was ACAD - and they still offered you the job - TAKE IT.
You nust've shown them something thay want during the interview.
In other words - it's their responsibility to determine yout fitness for the position - not yours.
Just represent yourself accurately - which I'm sure you did.
Besides - I'm sure you're not the first they've hired that will need to make the jump.
Just be confident in your ability to transition.
Something else that hasn't been mentioned.
You can take a liscensed copy of SolidWorks home to practice with - legally - its in the agreement.
I hope that hasn't changed - my peeps will corect me if I'm wrong.

tatej usfilter.com​

 

[ctopher]

TateJ
You are CORRECT