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Inventor vs SolidWorks - Which is better.

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Message 1 of 93
sprayvent
22625 Views, 92 Replies

Inventor vs SolidWorks - Which is better.

Hello,

I just talked to the owner of the comapny I work for about getting Inventor insead of getting Solidworks. Does anybody know of any sources that has some pro and cons of both software. I perfer Inventor, since I am Autodesk loyal. I also got my two Certifications in Inventor at AU 2009. I have used Inventor since R11 and love the user interface compared to solidworks. Since i know Inventor, I can save the company lots on training for me and others, since I can train them. Any inoformation Inv. vs sw. will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Sam
92 REPLIES 92
Message 21 of 93
michaeldavis7418
in reply to: JDMather

not 100% sure but I believe it's a translation problem?

 

but I think it's suppose to be ADDA Drafter Certification

 

Michael Davis
Charlotte, NC

Work ~ Inventor Ultimate 2013 SP1.1
Win 7 64bit ~ i7 20gb
Nvidia Quadro FX 1700

Home ~ Inventor Ultimate 2013 SP1.1
Win 7 64bit i7 - 16gb
Nividia GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
240g Kingston HyperX SSD
Message 22 of 93
mikeweb74
in reply to: JDMather

Oops, I meant Certified Drafter, ADDA, American Design & Drafting Association. I started using solid works before Inventor was even thought of. Inventor has to many canned routines like Solid Edge that tie your hands. SolidWorks gives me much much more freedom to design especially in top down and in context. The sketcher in inventor always makes you project geometry or does it automatically when dimension  to a model edge, so you end up with extra yellow lines in every sketch and it lets you leave empty sketches very confusing. SolidWorks will not let you leave empty sketches and you can dimension and constrains to model geometry with out it projecting extra geometry sketch to the sketch plane. There many other things that SolidWorks does better and simpler such as assembly mates, in context part editing, Sheet metal. In Inventor have to create presentation file to create exploded views, this makes creates a 4th file type (*.ipn) maintain. Not mention configurations not views or display states........I can go on and on.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 23 of 93
SBix26
in reply to: mikeweb74


@mikeweb74 wrote:

........I can go on and on.


And you are... Do you have a question or problem with Inventor that we can help with?  Or expertise to offer?  That's what this forum is for.

Message 24 of 93
michaeldavis7418
in reply to: SBix26

it's just like Chevy vs Ford vs Dodge ...everyone has their likes ...and mine is IV (and Dodge)

Michael Davis
Charlotte, NC

Work ~ Inventor Ultimate 2013 SP1.1
Win 7 64bit ~ i7 20gb
Nvidia Quadro FX 1700

Home ~ Inventor Ultimate 2013 SP1.1
Win 7 64bit i7 - 16gb
Nividia GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
240g Kingston HyperX SSD
Message 25 of 93

I would say SW for the simple reason that it has configurations. No other tool is more used where I work.  Sketches are a good second place.  The only thing I like better about INV is how it has buttons for sketch constraints.

Message 26 of 93

I guess I'm SolidWorks (Chevy) guy.  I did not mean to bash IV or offend any one. But autodesk has done there best to copy SolidWoks, but Inventor is far less user friendly.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 27 of 93
ampster402
in reply to: mikeweb74

remind us yet again,

 

What is your issue with Inventor?

 

Any factual statements you can make about actually using Inventor?

Message 28 of 93
Cadmanto
in reply to: mikeweb74

I am a chevy guy as well.  Specifically Camaros.  I have owned 3 of them.  But with that said, I rented a Dodge Challenger for a week and that car is so technilogically advanced and awesome to drive!!!!

So, that kind of patterns my life in the last year.  Was a SW/Chevy guy and now an Inventor/Mopar guy?  Smiley Wink

 

Maybe!!!!  As far as configurations, when I was talking to my VAR he told me that because SW came out with configurations first, Autodesk quickly came out with iparts and iassemblies to try and compete.  I found that interesting.

 

I have been using Inventor for a year now and while I am becoming more and more comfortable with it, I can say more convincingly now that Inventor while I feel it is a decent program, still falls short when it comes to SW.  Don't get me wrong, SW had it's own issues.  I have come to the conclusion after spending time with three modeling softwares (SW, Pro-E and Inventor) that Inventor is a happy medium between SW and Pro-E with SW on top.

 

I am now using Inventor and have to make the best of it learning it and applying it.  I am hoping by being part of the Elite experts group I can have some input to make some suggestions into the software that I once experienced with SW that might be benificial.  Maybe this is a pipe dream, but it nevers hurts to try.  Smiley Happy

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 29 of 93
divingdoug
in reply to: sprayvent

What a fun question.

 

I started with AutoCad way back in version8 or something like that (back in the 90's)  Autocad became the de-facto standard for 2-D computer drafting for 2 reasons.  It worked good and it could easily be pirated. I loved it.

 

As 3D started to immerge, Autodesk tried MTD.  What a stumble that was.  Then, they kind of left it hanging and created Inventor.  What was really asinine is that they were trying to run two 3D applications that were not even compatible with each other.

 

Somewhere in there, I have to admit I don't know when, Some of the other guys came out and starting making some really nice "mid-level" 3D systems, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, etc.  I say mid-level since compared to Pro-E and other mainstream 3D apps of the time, there was a huge cost and feature difference.

 

One trend that I have seen is that for the most part, no on has yet to put all the 2D drafting features of Autocad into a 3D modeling application.  You would think Autodesk would have considered this somewhere along the line.

 

In 2000, the trade journal, Desktop Engineering did a series of articles that did non-biased comparisons of all the mid-level packages of the time including IV, SW, SE and others I cannot remember.  I think there were about seven articles in all comparing like 6 or 7 packages.  SW came out ahead in all but one area and this is what drove me to select SW as the first 3D application for the company I had just started with.   It ended up doing exactly what we needed and there were never any complaints over the years.

 

Fast Forward to 2010.  We had just been bought out by a fortune 250 company, were forced to migrate to Inventor and I have been cussing ever since.

 

I have yet to find a tool in Inventor that does not take at LEAST twice as many mouse clicks as the equivalent tool in Inventor.  And some tools simply don't exist.  You have to create workarounds.

 

The kicker with this, I never received any training in SW. It was so intuitive, I never needed to.

 

I have received training for IV and still struggle with the complex navigation of some of the commands.  Probably the most aggravating feature is the mates.  Compared to SW, it's like trying to eat peas with a shovel.

 

I won't say IV doesn't have a couple nice tools but I don't buy a car only because it has nice door handles and the speedometer needle is blue.

 

I would really like to see a new series of articles by the guys as Desktop Engineering or another third party but with today's politically correct climate and the power of advertising dollars, it will probably never happen.  Too bad there is not a Consumers Reports for the technical world.

 

There was a study done earlier this year that showed IV topped out in all features but turns out this study was sponsored by Autodesk so that was nothing but a blatant advertisement disguised as a real comparison.

 

Doug

Message 30 of 93
JDMather
in reply to: divingdoug


divingdoug wrote

 

What a fun question.

 

In 2000, the trade journal, Desktop Engineering did a series of articles that did non-biased comparisons .

 

I would really like to see a new series of articles by the guys as Desktop Engineering or another third party ...

.


There is no such thing as "non-biased comparisons". 
If anyone tries to write such a comparison I will have fun ripping them apart (from any angle - I don't care about the software used).


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
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Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


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Message 31 of 93
mikeweb74
in reply to: ampster402

Let's start with the sketcher:

 

1) Why does inventor allow empty sketches? When close a sketch with no geometry you get an empty sketch. Why would you want that?

 

2) Why must always I have projected geometry in the sketches, even if its only the center point. Most  the time I only to have the geometry that I sketch. And as you dimension to model edges those become projected as well. This just clutters up the sketch with extraneous geometry.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 32 of 93
FProcp
in reply to: mikeweb74


@mikeweb74 wrote:

2) Why must always I have projected geometry in the sketches...



Excellent point, I very much dislike projected lines and projected features. You should be able to select other solids. We need something more like this:

 

http://youtu.be/FUjYpPDhOto

 

Smiley Surprised

Franco
GMT +08:00
Message 33 of 93
mflayler2
in reply to: FProcp

Something like this then... http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=20884205&siteID=123112 ;I got to see this firsthand and it looks VERY promising.  It even does Simulation and has been announced to have CAM capabilities built in as well.

 

This is using the TSplines technology that was originally developed for SW and Rhino, but Autodesk decided to buy it because Dassault didn't want to invest in their own technology.  Oh yea, they let HSMWorks (also going into Fusion 360) go to Autodesk and Moldflow too...wow, doesn't say much for internal investment at Dassault in their 3rd most important product (Enovia and Catia are first there).

 

Anyone want to tell me the equivalent of Alias Design, 3Ds Max, AutoCAD (no Draftsight doesn't count its closer to AutoCAD LT), AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical (SW's new module for this looks promising though if anyone is actually using it), and Navisworks that you get with Inventor that SolidWorks gives you for free?  How about a dedicated Factory/Layout Module that syncs with AutoCAD?  Home grown Tooling package?

 

Small differences in the core modelor sure (each one has stolen ideas from the other), as mentioned here some things are better one way than the other, personally I hate the way configurations work in regards to data management with SolidWorks, I prefer to have unique traceable files rather than revving the entire configuration.  And when my configurations get to be too large, I can go to a full iLogic tool compared to a DriveWorksXpress which is too watered down for what I consult with.

 

These small things while they do matter, does fully show the bigger picture between the two companies and their future directions.

 

Am I a biased, sure, I drive a Ford, probably always will.  I drove a Chrysler for a while...and hated it.  I like how my truck runs and I get recall notices I don't have to pay for too. 🙂

Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept as Solution or Kudos button below.

Mark Flayler - Engagement Engineer

IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog: https://resources.imaginit.com/manufacturing-solutions-blog

Message 34 of 93
FProcp
in reply to: mflayler2

The way we think is not the result of who we are but it's caused by the environment we grow up in and live in.

 

Americans have a mentality of beautiful life, everyone has a say and we are all equal. Listen to the masses....

 

Does the American type personality and thought methodologies have the capability to create something as refined as a very different culture, i.e. the French for Solid-Works and the Germans for Solid-Edge.

 

Those cultures are more perfectionist cultures and they don't care about making everybody happy, like introducing some new stupid colouring scheme in Inventor that is worse than before or introducing the ribbon because it's what Microsoft is doing.

 

Does Autodesk have the thinking capability?

 

I could not imagine a Ferrari or Porsche coming out of the U.S. All they can produce is Dodges & Fords, don’t expect anything better Smiley Sad

Franco
GMT +08:00
Message 35 of 93
ampster402
in reply to: FProcp


@FProcp wrote:

I could not imagine a Ferrari or Porsche coming out of the U.S. All they can produce is Dodges & Fords, don’t expect anything better Smiley Sad


Really people?  Is this what it's coming to now?

 

About to add a post to the "delete my account please" thread.

 

 

Message 36 of 93
FProcp
in reply to: ampster402

I should add that I absolutely love Inventor and enjoy using it very much. It's my favourite piece of software.

 

I just worry when I hear people say what other packages can do and want to make sure Autodesk do not get left behind (like the US did with the car industry).

Franco
GMT +08:00
Message 37 of 93
divingdoug
in reply to: FProcp

Franc
inventor 🙂 wrote:

 

"I just worry when I hear people say what other packages can do and want to make sure Autodesk do not get left behind (like the US did with the car industry)."

 

Hate to tell you this, from my experience, they pretty much stay behind.

 

Another big gripe,  why would you allow the origin point in a sketch to be deleted ?   Really ??

 

Doug

 

 

Message 38 of 93
Indentor
in reply to: FProcp

Was a long time user of SW and I felt I was very productive with it.  Moved over to IV a few months ago and have never used so much profanity in my life.  My main complaint is that the interface does not exactly guide you through the workflows but rather seems apparently designed to confound us.  That said, I have gotten over the hump and have learned to appreciate IV more and more and would probably not want to give it up.  So far I would say IV can do anything SW can, some better, some worse...but really they are the same tool.  Other than perhaps that enough people are saying IV doesn't have the surfacing that SW does but I don't use that so can't say.

 

My productivity now is almost where I was in SW and will probably be equal to it during my next project.  I don't expect to get faster than SW since eventually the bottleneck is my brain generating ideas rather than clicks.  I mean to say, once you reduce your "what command button do I want to press and where is it'' latency to zero then what else is there.

 

Some things people really don't like about IV is where I think some of the power is.  For example I can take fairly complicated 2D sketches with a bunch of intersecting lines from legacy data and build up accurate models very quickly.  I think it is genius that you can define an extrude area from multiple bounds.  That less restrictive sketching technique allows you to model using 'geometry' instead of 'shapes', lets say.  Anyway I like that flexibility a lot and you get used to the seeming complexity.

 

I was pretty pissed at having to expressly project edges from the model into sketches, but mostly because it seemed messy and restrictive.  And it IS a little messy graphically, but over time you learn it is not at all restricting and probably does a lot to free up resources since you narrow the scope of external (to the sketch anyway) references to only what you need.  Plus once you master constraint creation and editing then the projected stuff gets under control pretty quick.

 

I really really like the IV BOM and Parts lists, and that probably is the main reason I wouldn't rush to go back to SW.

Placing fasteners in IV is super fast if you run CC.

 

One thing that really really gave me a bad taste about IV early on and made the software seem unprofessional was how the keyboard customization names didn't match the command names on the buttons.  DUH guys, but I'm over it.

 

Lastly, I am on 2011 still and the iparts and iassembly stability regards get, and check in and out of vault and member creation and read write status crap is frustrating.  I know now to rebuild-all before generating members so that helps a little.  And I think there is a windows 'functionality' issue tied into this, but hey iproperties and everything need to update when I say so.  I hear 2013 fixes some of this.

 

IV is good stuff, just has a steeper learning curve for the self taught types.  I have proven how much quicker it is to learn with support as I have been teaching others in my organization, and those IV skills I had to battle fiercely to acquire they can learn without any pain whatever.  I if had to do this over again I would have bought a training book earlier and read it often.  As it turned out, I bought the book a little later, but am filling in the blanks quicker because I know the tool already.

 

.02

 

Message 39 of 93
cwhetten
in reply to: FProcp


 

Americans have a mentality of beautiful life, everyone has a say and we are all equal. Listen to the masses....

 

Does the American type personality and thought methodologies have the capability to create something as refined as a very different culture.


???  This Inventor/SolidWorks superiority topic flirts with bigotry a little too much as it is...  There's no need to escalate it like that.  Smiley Sad

 

Although it's entertaining sometimes to sit back and watch, there's no one answer to the question of which software is superior.  There are just too many opinions out there for this to ever be clear.

 

And who cares anyway?  People using both programs are able to get the job done, and some of them even do it well.

Message 40 of 93
mikeweb74
in reply to: mikeweb74

Inventor (Not Autodesk) is behind every other Mid Level 3D CAD program. Don't get me wrong it's a good program and I enjoy using it. I love all using and learning any CAD program since AutoCad Rev 9. I just hate the fact that people chose Inventor just because they think it will work better with legacy AutoCad Data. That is just not the case! So i'll stop beating this dead horse.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.

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