Excellence in Design Award 2010-SolidWorks to Inventor

[vrivey]

I am interpreting the rules for the Excellence in Design Award to mean that you can NOT submit for this award unless it is in Inventor files.

Does anyone else see it that way?

Our team has been using Solidworks since day one for digital prototyping and we didn't realize since Autodesk was sponsoring this award that we would HAVE to use their programs. The details didn't come out until Kick-off and none of our team members know Inventor. This doesn't seem fair to all the teams (esp. some threads that I have read saying that some states may even be excluded from this "contest").

Does anyone have any help with how to convert SolidWorks 2009 files to Inventor 2010? We only have 3 weeks until this submission, so we want to see if it is even worth the try to take the time to convert everything.

[Akash Rastogi]

IIRC, the files have to be native Inventor We initially design our robot in SW and then once it is all done (I'm faster at SW than Inventor) the kids who have time just remodel everything in Inventor using my dimensions.

I know how much this sucks. Ours and many other teams use only SW too.

[vrivey]

We are in the same boat. The fact that we don't have anyone on our team that is remotely familiar with Inventor hurts us too. We can't even mentor the students. Is it worth doing a self-paced crash course in Inventor? Is it easy to learn (especially for people who are new to 3D modeling)?

[joek]

it helps if you take a school PLTW course

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by vrivey

I am interpreting the rules for the Excellence in Design Award to mean that you can NOT submit for this award unless it is in Inventor files.

Does anyone else see it that way?

Our team has been using Solidworks since day one for digital prototyping and we didn't realize since Autodesk was sponsoring this award that we would HAVE to use their programs. The details didn't come out until Kick-off and none of our team members know Inventor. This doesn't seem fair to all the teams (esp. some threads that I have read saying that some states may even be excluded from this "contest").

Does anyone have any help with how to convert SolidWorks 2009 files to Inventor 2010? We only have 3 weeks until this submission, so we want to see if it is even worth the try to take the time to convert everything.

When a company puts up money to sponsor an award it seems that they have to have a reason, making thousands familiar with their product is a pretty good reason IMHO. In fact, letting you use SW is counterproductive. So, while I agree that I prefer SW over Inventor, Autodesk put up the money so they run the show. Gotta love that don'tcha?

Now, just to clear this up, these rules were released a couple weeks before Kickoff.

As for converting them, from SW export as a STEP file and import into Inventor that way. Not the prettiest or nicest but sure beats redoing everything.

[vrivey]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

When a company puts up money to sponsor an award it seems that they have to have a reason, making thousands familiar with their product is a pretty good reason IMHO. In fact, letting you use SW is counterproductive. So, while I agree that I prefer SW over Inventor, Autodesk put up the money so they run the show. Gotta love that don'tcha?

Now, just to clear this up, these rules were released a couple weeks before Kickoff.

I completely understand the idea where they are coming from with requiring their product. It just doesn't seem fair to make it so you can NOT submit for this award unless you have done so. Our team is just running out of hands, so we don't have the time to convert the files.

And our team was not aware of the minute details of this award. Which, I guess is a "my bad" on our part, but even then, we didn't have any knowledge of Inventor, so I guess we would have been up the creek without a paddle anyway...

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by vrivey

I completely understand the idea where they are coming from with requiring their product. It just doesn't seem fair to make it so you can NOT submit for this award unless you have done so. Our team is just running out of hands, so we don't have the time to convert the files.

And our team was not aware of the minute details of this award. Which, I guess is a "my bad" on our part, but even then, we didn't have any knowledge of Inventor, so I guess we would have been up the creek without a paddle anyway...

*mumbles*

It ain't about fair, it is about market penetration. Basically, this is the "First hit is free" sales method. Get the students hooked by offering a shiny award in exchange for learning the software and then when the grow up and work they will want to use the software they know.

But, I agree, it is kinda crap that users of other systems are left out in the cold as far as awards go unless they want to take the time to convert to Inventor. As a mentor I can't teach what I don't know, how am I supposed to inspire students when I can't show them? Alas, [insert rant about it being all about money]

[mplanchard]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

When a company puts up money to sponsor an award it seems that they have to have a reason, making thousands familiar with their product is a pretty good reason IMHO. In fact, letting you use SW is counterproductive. So, while I agree that I prefer SW over Inventor, Autodesk put up the money so they run the show. Gotta love that don'tcha?

Now, just to clear this up, these rules were released a couple weeks before Kickoff.

As for converting them, from SW export as a STEP file and import into Inventor that way. Not the prettiest or nicest but sure beats redoing everything.

SolidWorks is a sponsor of the Boston First Regional and Worcester First Regional. We have judges and other volunteers at regionals across the country and at nationals. Our SolidWorks commerical users mentor teams and therefore want to use SolidWorks. Machine shops have SolidWorks too. We shipped software to over 200 teams - physical DVD media. We also included a Certified SolidWorks Associate Exam (CSWA) coupon to any designer that wants to take our first level certification and is part of a design team for First ($99 value). So why do so many mentors and commerical product designers use SolidWorks? The answer to this question goes far beyond a contest. Both PTC and Autodesk are contributors to FIRST. The more software tools you know the more valuable you will be to industry. Marie

[Ken Collins]

Marie,
My question is only indirectly related to this thread, but you seem like the right person to ask.

I'm glad to hear that SolidWorks is involved with FIRST. Why don't they also more actively promote their product to the FRC teams?

In the meantime, like other posters, I am a mentor, trained in SolidWorks. A couple of the student team members want to "learn CAD" to help with our robot design. We got a free Inventor DVD, but there is not enough time for me to learn that software and then try to teach the students. Are you the right person to ask about obtaining SolidWorks seats for FRC students; so I can get them started on SolidWorks? (Maybe later, we can convert files and apply for Autodesk's Excellence in Design Award.)

Thanks,

Ken

[mplanchard]

Ken

We have created a entire series of robot tutorials

www.solidworks.com/robotics

These tutorials were created with the help of ETC that actually mentored a FIRST team. This will jump start your team.

Download the frame built from AndyMark components so your team can see how a frame is assembled and they can get a jump start.

Change the wheels if required, this will give you new team how a robot is put together.

Also, have them look at www.SolidWorks.com/letsgodesign

This cad web tv series is a great example of the engineering design process - although not a robot, there are some really great design tips.

Marie