3D CAD Software

[1stGenBRZ86]

What's up,

I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and I use Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4.0 and Creo Parametric 2.0 at my job. I'm also fairly well versed in Autodesk Inventor. For the most part they are very similar, but I can already see limitations in Inventor (in terms of ease of manufacturing and design changes) after becoming familiar with Pro/E.

What are people using for designing components for the twins? from the screenshots it looks like mostly Solidworks. What software to to prefer and why?

Here's something I drew up in Inventor to help me mock up my upcoming turbo project:

[Mirko]

Im an engineering student in Italy, and I can tell you (from my limited experience) that the software I have seen the most is SolidWorks. I just came to know that CATIA is also common in the automotive engineering sector, and I will attend some extra classes next month to get to know it. It should be more powerful than sw but also harder to use

[Shagaliscious]

Yea, I used Inventor & solidworks in college but at my job I use Pro/E 4.0, soon to be Creo Parametric 2.0. I liked solidworks, but only 1 professor used it, the others used Inventor. Then when I got to my job they used Pro/E, so I had to learn another one. They are all kinda similar, so I didn't find the switch to be difficult. You don't happen to work in Elmira do you?

[Gunman]

I've used Siemens NX, formerly Unigraphics, aka UG, almost my entire career, which has varied from aerospace, to top level race teams. I don't have any real experience with other software packages, but I have former co-workers that have gone on to use others, and said they wished they could go back. NX is very versatile, and is on top of the CAD world with Catia. There hasn't been a part, from nose to tail on a car, that we haven't done in NX.

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by Shagaliscious

Yea, I used Inventor & solidworks in college but at my job I use Pro/E 4.0, soon to be Creo Parametric 2.0. I liked solidworks, but only 1 professor used it, the others used Inventor. Then when I got to my job they used Pro/E, so I had to learn another one. They are all kinda similar, so I didn't find the switch to be difficult. You don't happen to work in Elmira do you?

No I work in Melville, NY. I agree, everyone at my job complained about pro/e, and how its difficult to learn. I basically taught myself that program. Now we are in the process of switching to creo and everyone is afraid to make the switch, but i've fully embraced it, in fact I'm the only one using it at the moment.

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by Mirko

Im an engineering student in Italy, and I can tell you (from my limited experience) that the software I have seen the most is SolidWorks. I just came to know that CATIA is also common in the automotive engineering sector, and I will attend some extra classes next month to get to know it. It should be more powerful than sw but also harder to use

from what I understand, Catia and SW are made by the same people. From my research it seems that Catia is more for a macro scale and SW for micro scale... what I mean is SW would be used to design all the components of a car, then Catia would be used to design a facility to produce said car.

Originally Posted by Gunman

I've used Siemens NX, formerly Unigraphics, aka UG, almost my entire career, which has varied from aerospace, to top level race teams. I don't have any real experience with other software packages, but I have former co-workers that have gone on to use others, and said they wished they could go back. NX is very versatile, and is on top of the CAD world with Catia. There hasn't been a part, from nose to tail on a car, that we haven't done in NX.

I'll definitely check this out.

[M-17]

Its been a very long time since I used a CAD program, so I don't anymore, but I'd recommend SolidWorks. You can just about use that program for anything to draw up from small to big projects.

[1stGenBRZ86]

there are a limited number of solidworks seats available at my job. Maybe I can convince the IT dept to get me one on my workstation lol.

[fourvalleys]

I always think of SolidWorks as the LEGOs of CAD. It's awesome, and you've got a lot of flexibility. You can't do everything, but most of what you want to do is way simpler than you think. It might take a bit to process some things, but for the most part you can play around and make some really cool stuff.

[strat61caster]

For hobby stuff? Solidworks seems to be the most user friendly, they are a little more involved in supporting engineering students so they get fresh graduates who are familiar with it. AutoDesk would be second, if you have a .edu email address you can download this years student edition for free but I agree it has limitations (using AutoCAD right now, I miss the Pro/E I was using not long ago).

Honestly for hobby use, find what's cheapest, most reliable and comfortable. It's easy to just 'save as iges or stp' and all your drawings can be exported as pdfs. I've heard CATIA is what industry primarily uses but that's just anecdotal.

[BRZerk]

i use creo 2.0 in the medical device industry and do mostly advanced surface modeling of organic shapes using ISDX, freeform, warp etc.

[dem00n]

Solidworks here...

[Shagaliscious]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

No I work in Melville, NY. I agree, everyone at my job complained about pro/e, and how its difficult to learn. I basically taught myself that program. Now we are in the process of switching to creo and everyone is afraid to make the switch, but i've fully embraced it, in fact I'm the only one using it at the moment.

We have a plant in Elmira, that's why I asked. That is a crazy coincidence that both our companies are switching from Pro/E to Creo. Everyone here is complaining about the switch to Creo as well. To me it looks to be more user friendly, and I can't wait to mess around with it.

[1stGenBRZ86]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

For hobby stuff? Solidworks seems to be the most user friendly, they are a little more involved in supporting engineering students so they get fresh graduates who are familiar with it. AutoDesk would be second, if you have a .edu email address you can download this years student edition for free but I agree it has limitations (using AutoCAD right now, I miss the Pro/E I was using not long ago).

Honestly for hobby use, find what's cheapest, most reliable and comfortable. It's easy to just 'save as iges or stp' and all your drawings can be exported as pdfs. I've heard CATIA is what industry primarily uses but that's just anecdotal.

kind of for hobby use, but not really. I am trying to build up my suite of software knowledge for future jobs. And yes I have my .edu still (college switched to gmail server, so I'll have it until they decide to delete it).