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AutoCAD vs. Inventor?

7 REPLIES 7
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Message 1 of 8
Anonymous
3356 Views, 7 Replies

AutoCAD vs. Inventor?

Our small design engineering firm (2 CADdies) is upgrading to AutoCAD2006. We design water and waste water treatment plant piping and specific systems, currently all 2D, but we have discussed possible 3D piping software. All of the AutoCAD resellers have recommended that we investigate Inventor series, as we can "ease" into the 3D capability. I am concerned, as it seems to be more geared to manufacturing. Currently, the cost to cross to Inventor is the same as upgrading AutoCAD, but the cost of future upgrades will be higher than what it would be with just AutoCAD. Have any of you faced a similar situation? Also, we need the ability to turn out 2D engineering documents - how compatible is the ability of Inventor to develop 2D drawings from a 3D format? Any help or suggestions for consideration will be appreciated!
7 REPLIES 7
Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Then the extra cost would be zero as Inventor's AIS packaging includes ACAD, Mechanical, Mechanical Desktop and Inventor. -Bill Sheryl Thompson wrote: > Currently, the cost to cross to Inventor is the same as upgrading AutoCAD
Message 3 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

AIP --- Inventor Pro is what you want to consider.
In contains "modules" for piping and wiring. As far as producing 2D drawings. Consider that if your deliveralbles need to be Acad there will be some growing pains in this area. IV uses a different 2D package than Acad and the tranlation from IV to Acad is less than optimal. If your customers are not picky about dwg standards then you should be fine.
Message 4 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Also keep in mind that your hardware requirements might increase. I would make the upgrade if you can afford it.
Message 5 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Recently I've been doing some duct runs in IV. By working in 3d I've been able to design some branches that you'd never be able to visualize in 2d. The contractors who received the drawings love the isometric views. Last time through, a project like this had tens of thousands of dollars in back charges - this time none. Richard Sheryl Thompson wrote: > Our small design engineering firm (2 CADdies) is upgrading to AutoCAD2006. We design water and waste water treatment plant piping and specific systems, currently all 2D, but we have discussed possible 3D piping software. All of the AutoCAD resellers have recommended that we investigate Inventor series, as we can "ease" into the 3D capability. I am concerned, as it seems to be more geared to manufacturing. Currently, the cost to cross to Inventor is the same as upgrading AutoCAD, but the cost of future upgrades will be higher than what it would be with just AutoCAD. Have any of you faced a similar situation? Also, we need the ability to turn out 2D engineering documents - how compatible is the ability of Inventor to develop 2D drawings from a 3D format? Any help or suggestions for consideration will be appreciated!
Message 6 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

If you where creating a small subset of a plant such as a specific tank or other apparatus, then I would recommend looking at Inventor or one of the other 3D modelers such as Solid Works or Solid Edge. All would perform piping quite well. If you are creating a plants worth of piping, then it may overwhelm the 3D Mechanical packages. If this is the case, then I would look as something such as a Plant Design system. One such system is Intergraph's SmartPlant suite of applications. There are others as well. Ken "Sheryl Thompson" wrote in message news:3115309.1112318358981.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Our small design engineering firm (2 CADdies) is upgrading to AutoCAD2006. > We design water and waste water treatment plant piping and specific > systems, currently all 2D, but we have discussed possible 3D piping > software. All of the AutoCAD resellers have recommended that we > investigate Inventor series, as we can "ease" into the 3D capability. I > am concerned, as it seems to be more geared to manufacturing. Currently, > the cost to cross to Inventor is the same as upgrading AutoCAD, but the > cost of future upgrades will be higher than what it would be with just > AutoCAD. Have any of you faced a similar situation? Also, we need the > ability to turn out 2D engineering documents - how compatible is the > ability of Inventor to develop 2D drawings from a 3D format? Any help or > suggestions for consideration will be appreciated!
Message 7 of 8
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

We make machinery for the waste water treatment plants, with piping between the machinery. About 2 years ago we switched to Inventor for all of our design work and we think it has paid off. Pro's We can create great iso and detail drawings. Our submittal process is much easier with better views. The 3D has cut down on a lot of interference problems and assembly problems. We can get accurate weights for our bidding, trucking, and installation. We use the 3D models for sales and bid presentations. It helped us win some big projects. Much better pictures for our installation and O&M manuals. Our installers love the 3D DWF's and better drawings. Cut back on installaion costs and downtime Cons Performance. Large assembly performance can be a dog. Hardware investment. Our computers are good computers, but we need new ones, so we have to reinvest in new computers, and a new server. We have a few vendors on IV, but most still use AutoCAD, especially the big engineering firms and municipalities. We have to translate everything into AutoCAD. If you're only doing piping, 2D might be the way to go because of the ease of use. However I'ld look at IV and see if it works for you, especially on tricky piping runs. Joe Bartels "Sheryl Thompson" wrote in message news:3115309.1112318358981.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Our small design engineering firm (2 CADdies) is upgrading to AutoCAD2006. We design water and waste water treatment plant piping and specific systems, currently all 2D, but we have discussed possible 3D piping software. All of the AutoCAD resellers have recommended that we investigate Inventor series, as we can "ease" into the 3D capability. I am concerned, as it seems to be more geared to manufacturing. Currently, the cost to cross to Inventor is the same as upgrading AutoCAD, but the cost of future upgrades will be higher than what it would be with just AutoCAD. Have any of you faced a similar situation? Also, we need the ability to turn out 2D engineering documents - how compatible is the ability of Inventor to develop 2D drawings from a 3D format? Any help or suggestions for consideration will be appreciated!
Message 8 of 8
Designer_Mike
in reply to: Anonymous

I use IV Pro for piping in plants (between all my mechanical equipment), and agree with most of the posts here, especially Joe. Installers and customers love the Iso views, shaded views and easily generated detail and section views. A virtual walk-through gives them a great feel for what they will be getting and design meetings are very productive. My re-work on jobs due to customer afterthought has basically stopped. We show up with all the right material (nearly automatic BOM from Inventor), install quickly, and collect the check.

Generating Acad drawings is less than perfect, but I think there has been some significant improvements here (but more room for improvement)

A large assembly with lots of details will take a more powerfull computer to generate your drawings in a reasonable time.
Everyone's perception of a large assembly is completely different. Are you talking about 300 unique parts and 50 runs of piping, or 5,000 unique parts and 300 runs.
If you are talking about an oil refinery, I wouldn't recommend IV, but a treatment plant should be within the limits of IV (IMO)
Search here, and surf around some of the other IV web-sites for some work other people have done. David Laurent has some good work posted at
http://www.david-laurent.com/

My suggestion would be to get a trial copy (free) and give it a test. Unless you have used a 3D package before, you may not have time to get a real feel in 30 days but at least you will not be going in blind.

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