AutoCAD, Inventor, or Other
 

Which do you prefer? AutoCAD, Inventor, or other?

and why?

I prefer autoCAD, becuase Inventor isnt worth learning, and if you do learn it, it should be after you master AutoCAD

Solid Edge......
 

I voted other and i voted for Solid Edge...i really really like the program....its similar to Inventor, but better in my mind...

Also DJ is the reason u dont like Inventor because the "animation guys" have brainwashed you or is it becuase you don't know how to use it???

Also I think it would be easier to master Inventor first (its alot a lot more newbie friendly than AutoCAD)



:)

Thats the problem...inventor is too newbie friendly...you arent going to use it anywhere else in the real world as far as i know...

actually, i think autodesk is starting to get away from using autocad and they are starting to focus more on inventor. just about all the auto racing teams are using inventor. teams like chip ganassi. i think a lot of the places like delphi and chryser are starting to go toward inventor. looks like 3d modeling is the new wave of the future.

Last I heard Delphi was 100% with Unigraphics Solutions (Creators of Solid Edge)

Andy B, is this still true?

TurboCAD anyone?
 

Has anybody tried TurboCAD v7 Pro? I used the standard version to design a hangar and was very impressed. Bought the Pro version recently, and was floored by the amazing lighting and rendering.

TurboCAD is cheap, offers most of the features of AutoCAD and Inventor in one package. Converts to and from most file formats (including 3DS).

I heard that V8 has just been released. Gotta resist upgrade fever.

TurboCAD
 

I have have TurboCAD Pro (but i'm not sure what version: i'll check when i get home), and i like it quite a bit...It's a pretty simple program that lets you do many of the same things as AutoCAD for less...


:)

No... Delphi uses many CAD programs
 

No, DJ. Unigraphics is what I use as a machine designer, but there are many other programs used here at Delphi. Here is a breakdown of what is used within the Delphi-Delco division:

Unigraphics is used by machine designers and product designers.

Solid Edge is used by a few production engineers and system engineers who are not as CAD-intensive as the UG users.

AutoCad 2000 and v14 is used by EEs and MEs in manufacturing.

Mini-Cad is used by plant engineers (I think).

There are many other programs that are used for circuit board and IC layout, but I don't deal with that too much.

I just gotta say that using a Spaceball while designing is the best thing since sliced bread. A spaceball is not a mouse. It is a group of sensors which tell your CAD model to move around on your screen when you apply a force ot it.

For instacne, if I push my spaceball to the right, my CAD image moves to the right. If I pull the spaceball toward me, I zoom in on my CAD image. If I twist the spaceball, my CAD image starts rotating. The spaceball doesn't move, it stays still... but it senses the forces applied to it. I've had it for about 7 years. It would be great to use in games like Sim City or Starcraft.

Andy B.

Don't pass up those opportunities ....
 

Why pass up a great (and FREE!) opportunity to learn another application? Having multiple CAD application skills on your resume' when it comes time to look for that job IS a plus. I've been drawing with Autocad for a long time but since my exposure to Inventor and Solid Edge, I've concluded that parametric modeling is the way to go (especially for mechanical models). The concepts were a little hard to convert to (old dog - new concepts) but I got around the learning curve.

One other thing - I recently started using Solid Edge and found it easy to work with after learning the basics with Inventor. The drawing concepts and terminology are similar. :)

Give Inventor a try...... what do you have to loose?

Ed, if you were the head of the CAD dept at some corporation and you had the choice of autoCAD or Inventor, which would you choose?

My favorite program so far has to be Autodesk Mechanical Desktop (particulary release 3)... I cringe at Inventor, and hate using it. Unigraphics is nice though, but I don't know much on how to use it only really ever seeing it used, and not getting a whole lot of hands on time with the program.

~ lora

The Answer is .....
 

Inventor ..........

Absolutely ..........


(I'm assumming we are talking about mechanical modeling)

Im just saying in general, for architectual, or whatever...

Well, In the architectural world .......
 

DJ

I’ll agree with you that Autocad is a good product to use for architectural drawings. If your going to draw some floor plans and elevations (2D World), by all means use Autocad or Microstation. Both of these products have extensive 3rd party libraries available. I also agree that Autocad is a good application to have experience with. There’s no doubt that Autocad is popular across a wide variety of industries. I’m sticking with Inventor, Solid Edge, Solid Works, and Pro/E however when it comes to the wold of designing complex machines such as robots. The mass property calculations, engineering calculations, animation features, and constraint features alone make it worth learning any one of these apps.

The poll asks “Which do you prefer”. The answer depends on what your drawing …….


PS
I’ll be in Kokomo for the kickoff. Hope to see ya’ there.

:)

Thats true...i guess they both have their advantages....i think i might take a look at inventor...but my vote still is for autoCAD

Ill be at the kickoff

inventor
 

I personally learned to draw on mechanical desktop in school. Since then my school has switched to teaching inventor, and my experience with it has been good. I would have to say inventor, its just so easy to use without losing too much power. Every new release of inventor keeps making it more powerful, so I can only assume in a few years it will be much more powerful and even easier to use.

I admit it
 

Whoa there! Try not to use orange font. It hurts my eyes :)

.dwg to .ipt
 

have some old autocad files and an trying to convert them to inventor files and haven't been very successful. i was wondering if anyone knows how to do this.

Acad -> Inventor
 

Inventor 3 will not directly import 3d autocad files. You can however, open 2d autocad files and bring them into a model as a sketch. What I do is export the 3d Autocad file from Autocad as a .SAT file and then open this .SAT file in Inventor. This usually works fine as long as you keep those units of measure consistant.

I'm not sure if Inventor 5 acts differently. We just received our software yesterday and I haven't had a chance to play with it.

SolidWorks
 

I have not heard many people discussing SolidWorks, so I will share some history with everyone. When AutoCad (ACAD) first came out, it was a 2-D package for Architecture; but it was so versatile (at the time) that it became the most widely used CAD program. 3-D CAD came into the picture on Workstations (Sun, HP, etc.), but were very expensive. Programs like Unigraphics, Pro-E, SDRC-Ideas, and CATIA (Boeing & Chrysler) became very power tools used by most major companies. Delphi, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing (just to name a few) all use (or used) these programs. Many smaller companies could not afford the very expensive programs and machines to run them. Some software companies tried to make PC based solid modeling work, but were unsuccessful. Then came SolidWorks....

Solidworks was the first PC based solid modeling program to actually appeal to many small companies and it was starting to take market share from the larger CAD companies. FANUC Robotics (the company I work for) used 2-D CAD software up until 1997. In 1997 we evaluated Mechanical Desktop (Inventor wasn't around yet), Solidworks, Pro-E, and SolidEdge. We had a 3 month evaluation process and generated a 150 page report comparing everything you can think of. SolidWorks was years ahead of both SolidEdge and Mechanical Desktop. We chose SolidWorks and use it in our mechanical product development division. Our System division uses autocad 2-D, but recently made the decision to switch to 3-D. Autocad came in with their inventor product at about 1/2 the price of SolidWorks, but its functionality was severely lacking. Our systems division is also going to use SolidWorks.

FANUC uses SW for all mechanical design from initial concepting all the way through detail design.

To be fair to SolidEdge, in 1997 when we looked at them they were far behind SolidWorks; now the gap has closed significantly and from what I have seen and read, SolidEdge is pretty close in functionality to SolidWorks.

Team 217 uses SolidWorks exclusively to design all robot components and our students just had a week long training seminar for SolidWorks 2001.

well, i have enver used the others excpet AutoCAD so that's why I chose that, if I learned some of the tohers, it may have swung me to either side

After last friday, my vote changed....Our team went to a delphi office and trained in Solid Edge, and I really like how it works, and some of the things you can do with it....so my vote is for Solid Edge

Definitely Solidworks.

For those touting Inventor, realize that it was Autodesk's "Oh $#@!" response to Solidworks and SolidEdge. I've officially learned Pro/E, Solidworks, and I-DEAS, and I've messed around with Catia and Inventor. SW is tops in my book.


Microsoft makes a controller very much like the Spaceball for strategy games, it's called the MS Strategic Commander. I've often thought of bringing mine to work to give it a shot with Solidworks. At about 1/10th the cost of the Spaceball, it might be a nice alternative solution.