SolidWorks 2008 vs. Autodesk Inventor 2008 11

[dimachorny]

People please help.

I've got a very attractive suggestion from Inventor. Currently I'm working with SW2007 (basic edition) and I must do my decision to continue to SW2008 (professional) or to switch to Inventor 2008 (professional). I'm starting a new project anyway, so i don't care about the parts, I've built in SW. In my design I have to perform a lot of static and dynamic simulations, my assembly has about 600-800 unique parts and many parts are from standard libraries (fasteners, bearings etc.)
Please help me with decision

 

[tygerdawg]

Suggest you ask this question on the SolidWorks and the Inventor Internet News Groups. And watch the fur fly.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[StefanHamminga]

enjoy

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[dimachorny]

StefanHamminga, thank you. I did this search, but the comparisons I've founded were for older versions or for other kind of requirements to the program. I started a trial period (30 days) of Inventor and it seems that this program have much greater possibilities in analysis field and designer assistance (design accelerator, parts libraries and so on). Am I right?

 

[dimachorny]

What is "SolidWorks and the Inventor Internet News Groups"? do you have a link to it?

 

[JMirisola]

DimaC1974,
I suggest you talk to your SolidWorks VAR. The improvements that SolidWorks has done in '08 are numerous. There's also 3DContent Central, which has thousands of parts, there's DimXpert, which will auto dimension your parts to ASME Y14 standards. There's a ton of designer assistance in '08, not the least of which is Instant 3D.
As for analysis, again talk to your VAR. I think you'll be duly impressed with all the COSMOS has to offer.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

Dell M90, Core2 Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 3500M

 

[StefanHamminga]

Actually, SW2008 is pretty new, most comparisons of non-beta users are more comparisons between learning curves than actual optimal program usage...

As a beta user, I found one important area of improvement: flexible subassemblies... they are faster and better working in 2008. But I have not compared to inventor...

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[ctopher]

Dima,
If you have been using SW and have parts already created, there will be a learning curve and possible problems with parts importing into Inv. A switch like that may hurt your company, or not. Also depends on how many users you have. Personally, I would stay with SW in your case.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 4.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)
ctopher's blog

 

[tygerdawg]

DimaC, that would be:

comp.cad.solidworks on a newsgroup reader

http://discussion.autodesk.com/index2.jspa?categoryID=21

on the web

can probably find them on Yahoo Groups, too

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[ctopher]

Stefan's first post here also had the link.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 4.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)
ctopher's blog

 

[Azum]

My experiance on this subject is as follows. I used SW2000 up to SW2007. It has problems but I got on with it OK. Moved Jobs and started on Inventor 2008. The programs come from totally differant starting blocks and this shows in the fundamental approach to working with it. It has been much more difficult to get to grips with than I thought it would. There are a lot of issues that I have with Inventor where Autodesk try to dictate to me the way I work. SW I found much more flexible in approach to working practises.
I feel that SW despite its problems is further along than Inventor and that Inventor will need to do some radical reorganisation if it wants to move forward.
Generally then just be sure you can live with the way it works and organises your work

 

[Heckler]

I think the best way to make this decision is to do a demo of both software packages. I'd like to see some fur fly on this boring Monday morning.....

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

This post contains no political overtones or undertones for that matter and in no way represents the poster's political agenda.

 

[josephv]

"I've got a very attractive suggestion from Inventor."

What does this mean? Did you get a good offer to switch software?

Are you considering the cost to actually make this switch (i.e. lost time, training, and implementation)?

Is Inventor really going to make you more productive?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You also have to consider why the Inventor people are making such "a very attractive suggestion". Is it because nobody really wants it? Weren't they giving it away with an ACAD upgrade a while ago?

 

[J-C]

I've heard of them giving it away free or nearly free.

Jason

SolidWorks 2007 SP4.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2008 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[ShaggyPE]

I've heard of them giving it away free or nearly free.

you get what you pay for.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

DimaC1974 ... If you ask this question at forum790 I'm guessing you will get a completely different set of answers ... but nowhere nearly as quickly as here. They are quite a slow bunch over there.

That's probably because they are too busy trying to get the job done, whereas with SW we've got it done and are looking for something else to keep us amused and looking busy.

Seriously though, the only one who can fully answer your question is you and whoever else is testing the softwares with your company's products and admin systems. All the main modelling packages are able to model almost anything that's needed. All use different approaches and methods. You have to determine which one best suits your company's products and way of working?

 

[dimachorny]

You are absolutely right, I've posted this question on both forums at the same time, but there people are sleeping, zero answers.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Are you sure you posted in forum790? I don't see it.

 

[J-C]

He posted it in the Mechanical Destop forums.....its definitely dead there.

Jason

SolidWorks 2007 SP4.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2008 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2