AutoCAD or Tekla

[Anonymous]

Hey

Wanted to take opinions in comparison between AutoCAD/Revit, Tekla and SDS2?

Could anyone let us know which is the most suitable to work with when it comes to Aluminum and Stainless Steel too?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

TEKLA is specialized in steel structures and is really good for companies that involve in complex detailing. For faster working go with TEKLA. 

AutoCAD is a more of manual software where you can control the drawing, numbering etc, manual help is required for the tasks. Whereas TEKLA carries all these tasks automatically. The inner work of TEKLA requires some programming knowledge. 

I hope that I was clear enough to make you understand the difference.  

[dgorsman]

It's not the materials, its the industry.  Inventor and Revit both work with aluminum and stainless steel but have very different applications.

Those are all very different programs.  Revit is a structural/architectural BIM design package, but lacks in the high detail nuts-and-bolts level.  Tekla is a structural design package, but is expensive and focused on one single field.  AutoCAD is a Swiss Army knife, which can do many different things well enough (especially in the field of 2D drawings like schematics), while it supports very diverse customizations with many third-party add-ons it can't quite compete with dedicated products when the latter is all you need to do.

There's also compatibility to consider.  If a client is expecting a Revit model, you're not going to build it in AutoCAD.  While you could build it in Tekla and transfer to Revit via IFC... why not do it in Revit in the first place?

[mo]

Hi;

I worked both in Tekla and Advance Steel, which is Autocad add-on. They are both BIM software, which means you get all information automatically i.e. profiles lists, cut lists, bolt lists, anchor lists, assembly lists and so on and if can you adjust workshop drawings options (literally hundreds of options) you will also get drawings automatically. From my point of view both have their flaws and benefits. Tekla is far better in concrete building and drawings (for example you can clone similar drawings from initial part, there are easily expandable views and cut views), while AS is way better in modelling of plates and complex shapes and more flexible in numbering department, but drawings are sometimes horrible experience (sometimes even their unwanted deleting), although you can get used to it in time and work out a way through. AS has an option to check static calculation within typical joints and I don't remember if Tekla had this feature too. The results are quite similar as I mentioned before, you create 3D model, then produce different type of lists and drawings automatically or semi-automatically. Tekla is swift regarding hardware of your PC, while AS is very demanding. IFC files are better from Tekla than from AS. These are basic differences. And of course Tekla is much more expensive.