With both vendors, the data management systems are not ready to go, meaning, the PDM systems need to be setup and configured generally by your reseller or someone who has experience with setting up data management systems and SQL databases.
Solidworks PDM standard comes with version and revision control which is a great feature over Autodesk, where Autodesk Inventor Professional has Vault Basic which gives version control. A Drive for data management Autodesk offer A Drive with your Inventor Professional subscription where you get a CAD friendly 'dropbox' type of storage where you can synchronise your files to the cloud.
Out of the box, this can be used as a version control data management system, has searching capabilities, visibility over who and when someone has edited, viewed and accessed files, secure access controls. Visualisation Having a 3D model means you can create visualisations of photo renderings and animations that can explain the design or market the product.
While nothing beats seeing and touching the real thing, having a digital prototype has multiple advantages where you can illustrate alternatives and be able to see the inner workings of the design to showcase the advantages over other options.
Solidworks Standard has an animator, while Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks Professional and Premium come with an animator and photo realistic rendering for still images.
Product Design Suite can write to MS Excel, so if you need Excel data modified or created based on say a design specification or design change or for pricing, quoting or linking labour costs it can. Autodesk Inventor Professional can also write to Microsoft Word. Typically to create technical documents with specifications and you can even take a snapshot image automatically and have it in the same document.
Both systems will allow you to export to a lightweight model and embed the 2D drawings and 3D model into an office document for viewing. Autodesk offer a wider range of collaboration tools that are cloud based or server based and functions that are free for CAD and non-CAD users to use and communicate designs and track tasks and changes.
Here's different ways of collaborating with Autodesk Inventor:. A Viewer - Live Review Solidworks use the eDrawings Viewer program in Solidworks Standard and eDrawings Professional in Solidworks Professional and Premium to share designs and the typical workflow is to create content or import content in your edition of Solidworks and export it to an eDrawings file.
Solidworks has the 3D model based definition PMI which allows you to annotate the 3D model and share that information rather than detailing a 2D drawing.
While Autodesk Inventor Professional doesn't have a module called 'costing', Autodesk's iLogic module can just as easily be setup for costing with more flexibility and unrestricted access to any feature, part, assembly or drawing file. Conclusion From a feature standpoint, if you want a Mechanical CAD system, both are pretty similar and will usually get the job done, each with their own unique advantages. For industrial design, Autodesk Inventor has both B-Rep and T-Splines surfacing, while Solidworks leverages more on B-Rep surfacing and has some nice tools within this module.
It also has a freeform tool as well but the two surfacing modules don't work together as well as the two in Inventor in my opinion. To get T-Splines integrated into Solidworks, you'll need to look at an add-on, which may not link up parametrically with the other modelling tools. Having said that, if you need to flatten your surfaces, Solidworks Premium gives you that unique feature, where Autodesk Inventor Professional requires an add-on.
If you're a general engineering company that works on parts and needs to cost them, the costing module in Solidworks Professional is a nice feature. If you do sheet metal design, the two platforms are pretty similar and which platform is better is a matter of debate, depending on who you speak to. Autodesk Inventor Professional has a unique module called Shape Generator which will produced a design that meets your criteria so you can interactively lower the weight of your designs.
If your company makes configurable or modular products, having a full featured design and detailing automation module inside of Autodesk Inventor Professional, gives you massive efficiency that can save you seconds, minutes or hours for small tasks or literally turn days into minutes on configurable, customised products that are costed and can be used for quoting.
To then be able to upload those configurable designs to the cloud, embed them into your website and then have salespeople or end-users configure these designs with pricing is real-time and download 3D or 2D files is a big differentiator to Solidworks, if that's where your company and designs are headed. From a licencing point of view, Autodesk are rapidly moving to a subscription only business too and have many cloud offerings, so they are packing in as much as possible for your dollar.
At the recent Solidworks World, I believe there was an announcement that they would too offer a subscription only offering in At this stage, the subscription price for Autodesk Inventor Professional is really hard to beat.
I tried to be as unbiased as possible and point out the advantages and disadvantages of both platforms. Then again, if you are prototyping a part that you are already designing on CAD software, then you will be happy to know that you can still print these parts, just be sure that your software can save it into STL files so that you can provide the printer with the G-codes it needs to print your object.
Lightweight, affordable and cloud-based. Fusion is more user friendly for freeform 3D modeling. Most additive manufacturing speaks AutoCAD. This software comes from a company that may be considered as a pioneer in the CAD software space, and they do have free options for students and teachers to learn their software.
They also have an excellent range of tools for 3D design. Yeah, this article is complete garbage, solid works doesn't have a bigger community of users than autodesk. Also, autodesk provides waaaay more programs to do way many more things than solid works, and so far, after using autodesk for over 4 years and solid works for the past year, solid works is definitely a downgrade.
I did 4 years inventor, then 7 in solidworks and now another years in inventor. If you are in this space and can't decide which package to go with, trust me when I say solidworks without a doubt. Solidworks has a vastly superior modelling environment. I've been fighting for a year and a half to re-learn inventor and I hate it. Solidworks modelling environment is much more stable.
You have to be so careful in inventor. Draftees in my company tell me they only work off origin planes because of this. Thats not the case in solidworks. Can't be done in inventor. Basically it just tries to copy constraints, but very poorly. Updates to the source component position won't necessarily pull through. Conceptually, mirror component is a very simple, and solidworks does it flawlessly c frame generator i.
That means lots of parts. Then when you change your section size, inventor creates all new parts that need to be saved, renamed etc. In solidworks, you can use an equivalent frame generator in the part level as a multibody part. One part, change sizes all you want and you don't loose relationships. Much better esp for small ish frames up to say components. D 3d sketch environment is poor in inventor e orbit tool seems to use centre of mass except when you actually select orbit and click on a face.
Nastran is rubbish. I could go on and on…. Hope this helps someone! Cheers, alex. Table of Contents. We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. What is CAD software? Do you need CAD software for your 3D printing? Are there any alternatives to SolidWorks and Autodesk Inventor? Yes, there are worthy alternatives to both Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks. Fusion , a cloud-based CAD program that allows you to create complex designs and collaborate with a team of designers.
You can store all the steps you made with the design, including the corrections and changes made along the way. Fusion gives you a wide range of features and design capabilities. FreeCAD is a free program that also gives you parametric 3D modeling. When it comes to being a draftsman, specialized skills earn you big bucks. That is why the highest-paid draftsmen are also those with an intuitive understanding of a particular field. I once interviewed for a position drafting irrigation designs. AutoCAD and Solidworks are not parallel software for a good apples-to-apples comparison.
The real comparison should be between Solidworks and Autodesk Inventor. Solidworks is the clear winner for developing sophisticated machinery or other 3D objects.
Consider your needs and long-term goals. He has extensive knowledge of almost all the top CAD software available on the market these days. From simple tasks to developing a professional CAD drawing, he can do everything.
He also has a Bachelor of Architecture B. He has worked at the Corporate Green Landscape Management where his duties included landscape design, irrigation design, landscape installation, CAD drafting. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Don't wait! Offer ends soon! Read this ultimate AutoCAD vs. SolidWorks comparison to get all the answers. Table Of Contents. Comparison At a Glance In-Depth considerations 1.
Deliverables 4. Price 5. Viewing Apps 6. Mobile Apps 7. Community 8. Training Final Thoughts In Summary. Visit Autodesk. Check Price. Was This Helpful? YES Chris Graham. Related Posts.
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