Comparison of Inventor to Solidworks

[MikeKovacik4928]

Hi all

I have obtained a 30 day trial version of Solidworks, solely for the purpose of comparing it to Inventor.

I see the parts, assemblies and drawings work in a very similar manner.

Over the next 21 days (what I have left on my trial version) I will be comparing the two.

I am licensed on Inventor 2018,  even though I have let my subscription lapse, I have 8 years experience on it

and have no intention of switching to Solidworks.

This is just an exercise I am doing out of curiosity.

2 years ago when I was looking for work for 6 months, I acutally

found that more jobs were on offer using Solidworks than Inventor.

I also see on the freelance websites, solidworks is always mentioned but not Inventor.

I am assuming Solidworks is used more worldwide than Inventor.

I remember there being a few members here that are also or have been solidworks users.

It would interesting to hear their feedback on how specific functions differ between the 2 softwares

Michael Kovacik
2d & 3d Autocad and Inventor designer/draughtsman
.
Draughting/Designing (Manufacturing) (31 yrs)
-Drawing Board (3 yrs)
--Cad (28 yrs)
---Cadkey (4 yrs)
---AutoCAD 2d & 3d (16 yrs)
---Inventor (4 yrs)
---Autocad and Inventor Simultaneously (4 years)
---(and recently Autocad/Inventor Customisation)
.
Higher Diploma Mech Eng
Ex Member SAIMechE
Technician Member ECSA
Collaborator (Rank 9) on Autocad & Inventor Forum
Certified Autocad 2013 & Inventor 2013 Professional
Authorised Autodesk Trainer
.
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(personal licensed copy)
.
Johannesburg, South Africa
.
(Impossible only means you haven't
found the solution yet)

[Thomas_Savage]

Hello @MikeKovacik4928

I have done courses for Solidworks. An passes a few exams.

Because as you mentioned. When looking at jobs, their is a lot more jobs for Solidworks than Inventor.

I think Solidworks is used more in colleges, and universities. That's why its more popular. I could be wrong though.

I personally found Inventor better, and more enjoyable to use then Solidworks.

I found Sheet Metal better in Inventor. Which is what i use most of the time. Also Solidworks doesn't have iLogic. Which i use a lot.

Also when attending my courses. I found the Solidworks instructors did not know enough. As a lot of my questions went unanswered. Which also put me off using Solidworks.

Whereas when i attended Inventor courses, the instructors answered every question. And were very knowledgeable.

Every will have different opinions. But i personally think Inventor is a lot better to use.

Thomas.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Mike,

As a CAD user, I encourage you to try every possible solution you can find. It is like buying a car. You have to test drive it before you buy. You cannot rely on infomercial or other people's opinion to make a decision. Based on our internal study, INV and SWX are very similar in many ways but also very different in many ways. Conceptually, they work very similarly. It is no surprise, because both are targeting the same user base serving the same industrial need.

There are many comparison reviews of the two available online. You can do a quick search to find them. A lot of them has false information or biased information. I think you will be a better judge yourself. You know your need and your habit the best. In my personal opinion, I certainly think INV is better but you will not go wrong with SWX either.

Many thanks!

[Frederick_Law]

Designing in Inventor is more flexible.  Solidworks force user to follow their workflow which is layout in tutorial.

Can't use equation in Solidwords when dimensioning sketches.

[JDMather]

---

@Frederick_Law wrote:

Can't use equation in Solidwords when dimensioning sketches.

---

Actually, you can.

[Frederick_Law]

Not when entering dimensions.  After that, you can.  A lot more clicks and slow.

Can't do d2 / 2 by selecting dimension.

Even simple 3 * 25.4 doesn't work.

Unless they updated in 2018.

[Anonymous]

This is a very common question.  Depending on what forum you ask, and how disgruntled the user is or (to paraphrase Mr. Mather) how badly trained in the software, you will get a different answer.

I'm biased towards Inventor, but I've used Solidworks a bit, and I don't have any beef with their software.  It works, it makes models, and drawings.

The actual answer is: it depends.

If you're trained in Inventor, you will be (for the first bit for sure) more efficient in Inventor.  If you hate Inventor, you will like Solidworks better.  If you're trained in Solidworks, you will (for the first bit for sure) be more efficient in Solidworks.

Many times it comes down to - what is the rest of your CAD/Engineering chain (IE: parent/sister/child company, customers, suppliers) using?  Or, which is cheaper (to you).

The nice thing I've always found about Inventor is it does not have a big brother.  Solid Edge < NX, Solidworks < Catia.  So you know you're not working with an "almost good enough" CAD package; or a CAD package that is the other one with all the good features removed.  All the effort in 3d modeling from Autodesk (OK, not precisely all, but you know what I mean) goes to Inventor.

Cheers,

Telson

[swalton]

We maintain Inventor, Solidworks, and Creo.  Our clients specify which software we use on their projects. We can make the same designs in each.  Some workflows are easier in Creo, others in Inventor or Solidworks.  

All 3 make us money. 

We tend to hire based on machine design aptitude, not knowing where the buttons for an extrude feature are in a specific package.

Specific Functions:

Displaying sketch dimensions/3d annotations of 3d models in 2d drawings : Creo is best

Position Reps: Inventor is best

Configurations: Solidworks?

Data management: WIndchill for functionality, Vault for ease of use.

[Anonymous]

I have experience using several CAD platforms. However, my base is Solidworks. Recently, I started using Autodesk Inventor for work. Honestly, there is a lot of similarities between the two software. That being said, there are some significant differences too. Although, I am a novice at Inventor,

I find there are certain functionalities that I wish Solidworks would adopt. Most noticeably the ViewCube. This feature within the .ipt and .idw is extremely easy to use and allows me to capture the proper view orientation with minimal effort.

Additionally, the Marking Menu feature has proven to be quite helpful and improved my efficiency. Conversely, I feel Autodesk Inventor drawing interface needs some improvement. Most noticeably, spell check, flag notes, etc.

However, there isn't a perfect CAD platform. I believe if you're learning Solidworks specifically for work or to attract future clients, then utilizing the  30 day free trial and taking the embedded tutorials will help you excel with the software. That's my two pennies, I hope it was helpful. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

That's incorrect. The equations may not be as user friendly as Inventor but doing any kind of math in a dimension prompt(like your 3*25.4) worked for me as far back as 2012. I'm not sure about before that as that's when I first started using SW. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Guys,

As I said in other threads repeatedly, we are more than 100% committed to making Inventor Professional better on a daily basis. The annual release and the subscription updates are released all year round. These updates include frequently requested enhancements and important fixes. It is a way Inventor team saying "thank you" to all subscribers around the world. We thrive on your demands. This is an endless pursue for perfection. 

If you have not heard about Product Design and Manufacturing Collection, you should take a look at the following page. 

https://www.autodesk.com/collections/product-design-manufacturing/overview

The collection includes Inventor Professional, Inventor HSM, NASTRAN In-CAD, and AutoCAD for a little more than $200 per month based on annual subscription (some people pay more than that for mobile device usage). Just a few days ago, Inventor team announced the Nesting Utility Preview for Collection subscribers.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/nesting-utility-preview-is-live/td-p/7724352

Action speaks louder than words. I hope our commitment resonates with you. Please do not hesitate to give us feedback. We love to hear from you.

Many thanks!

[MikeKovacik4928]

Thank you all for your input.

I agree with most of the comments.

It just depends on what you have been trained on, and what you use.

There will always be moaning and groaning about things that can't be done,

or in most cases "perceived" that can't be done.

I have never had an issue with Autodesk, except for their recent forcing

of everybody to the cloud subscription instead of the maintenance subscription.

This has forced me to lapse my personal subscription, and stick with 2018

as I can't afford to lose

use of any version of the software, where I am not able to access anything.

This is what will happen with the cloud subscription.

If at any time you stop paying, ALL VERSIONS of you software, INCLUDING THE CURRENT VERSION,

will be disabled.

 It is my career, my hobby and hopefulluy

my means on income after I retire.

I can maybe understand why autodesk have done it.

They are only interested in the income from the large companies.

The individual or small operator will not conribute significantly to their income,

and thus can be marginalised. After all, we are all in business to  make money!

Michael Kovacik
2d & 3d Autocad and Inventor designer/draughtsman
.
Draughting/Designing (Manufacturing) (31 yrs)
-Drawing Board (3 yrs)
--Cad (28 yrs)
---Cadkey (4 yrs)
---AutoCAD 2d & 3d (16 yrs)
---Inventor (4 yrs)
---Autocad and Inventor Simultaneously (4 years)
---(and recently Autocad/Inventor Customisation)
.
Higher Diploma Mechanical Engineering
Ex Member South African Institute of Mechanical Engineers
Technician Member Engineering Council of South Africa
Collaborator (Rank 9) on Autocad & Inventor Forum
Certified Autocad 2013 & Inventor 2013 Professional
Authorised Autodesk Trainer
.
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(personal licensed copy)
.
Johannesburg, South Africa
.
(Impossible only means you haven't
found the solution yet)

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Mike,

I am not trying to debate the value proposition between new licensing model and old licensing model. Everybody has his/her opinion. At the end of the day, it is about whether or not you get the value out of what you pay. We are aware of the concern that after subscription ends, the files can only be viewed in the free Inventor Viewer. There is room for improvement there. We are looking into a better solution.

I know some people do pay more than $200 per month for mobile device usage. I understand that it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. But, the same amount of money allows you to access broad range of software critical to product design. In the past, you would have to pay 5 times or more to get the same package. And, the value keeps adding along with the updates.

One can certainly argue that he does not care. He only wants to use the old workflows since they work fine. The added enhancements do not matter. To certain degree, this kind of attitude is irrelevant to the licensing change. The argument holds true in the old model too. One can hold on to the old release forever without upgrading. But, maybe it is time to re-exam the workflows to see if some of the enhancements do help boost productivity or do things differently and better. These enhancements are carefully chosen based on our user study and usage pattern collected worldwide all year round.

If you don't see the value, this means that we are doing something wrong. You should let us know so we can improve. Your feedback is always welcome.

Many thanks!

[MikeKovacik4928]

Johnson

I am in agreement with all of what you say

We are aware of the concern that after subscription ends, the files can only be viewed in the free Inventor Viewer. There is room for improvement there. We are looking into a better solution.

What you said above in red, is what I am in disagreement with, and why I have stopped my subscription.

After a long conversation with the Solidworks reseller, they are NOT FORCING the cloud subs on their clients like autodesk are,

they are giving their clients the choice.

If I was given that choice I would have kept up my subs and stayed on the maintenance plan

Through work I will always keep up with the changes, but as an individual I have no choice, for the reasons mentioned

in my previous post.

I do see Autodesk's point of view, don't get me wrong, the individual is far less important that the big corporate businesses.

Mike

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Mike,

As far as I know, we care about every customer. This is why I am here and I never ask how big your account is. I don't work for sales team so I am ill-equipped to answer any pricing or licensing questions.

INV and SWX are direct competitors. I respect the product, the team building it, and the customers using it. I personally think we offer more superior product and experience than our competitors. If you disagree, I fully understand it and respect your choice. We are always here to help you succeed.

Many thanks!

[jletcher]

I would go with Solidworks or Creo but also you should look into Solid Edge they have made awesome improvements and I see a lot of Inventor companies going to it or Solidworks..

 Autodesk to me lost its vision on Inventor and their users and are more concern with dollars than the users enjoyment of the software.

 After loading 2018 and seeing how they are forcing users to do it their way not the users workflows is causing a client to go back to 2012..

Like idws you are now forced to bring in a shaded preview and large files now take minutes to make a base view or not at all because you get tired of waiting but you can use a bounding box option where you see nothing.

 Then you have ilogic no longer work in libraries forcing you to do it their way again. Changing workflows used for years and years.

Then you can't drag multiple views to a new sheet so you are forced to do it one by one..

You no long can organize the browser without scrolling multiple times.

Or this new ribbon interface they force you into it with no option of classic or an easy way to set the ribbon to your liking..

There is more but I think you get the idea AutoDesk is now forcing you to their way just like their subscription. I don't understand how they can't see they are pushing users away. Years ago like release 2012 was the last year I recommended Inventor.

Just my 2 cents......

[kgilham]

@jletcher

With regards to the shaded vs bounding box preview not much has changed between 2012 and 2018.  The only thing we changed was to take our partial preview and renaming the All Components option Shaded.  Were you using Partial preview in 2012?  I would be interested to hear if you saw a large improvement between Partial and All Components if so. 

As for the preview performance I would be happy to look into any performance issues you are seeing.  We have been working in this area recently and I am seeing relatively good results with rather large customer datasets that we are using.  With a higher end machine we are able to preview and place assemblies as large as 110,000 occurrences (this is the largest we currently have) in a drawing.  

Thanks,

[jletcher]

 No I was not using partial preview in 2012...

Thanks for the reply.......

[Thomas_Savage]

Hello,

Has anyone done exams for Solidworks? I have done Associate, and Sheet Metal Professional.

The thing i don't like is you can do these exams at home, on your own computer. Which makes it too easy to cheat. Or get someone to do the exam for you.

When i did my Inventor exams, i had to go to a Autodesk Training Centre. And someone sat in the room with you to make sure you don't cheat. Or have any books to read from.

I feel the Solidworks exam should be the same. And this is an area Autodesk definitely do better.

Thomas.

[MikeKovacik4928]

James (and everyone else)

Let me just set the record straight.

1. I have no intention of changing from Inventor to solidworks or anything else.

    I use Inventor at work, where they will continue upgrading, and Inventor at home

    where I have lapsed my subscription, and will continue working, hobbying, learning, experimenting on Inventor 2018.

2. I am very happy with Autodesk and their products. The only thing that really upset me and stopped me from continuing

    my subscription was the fact that they are forcing you onto the new cloud type subscrption, and if at any time in the future, you lapse your subs,

    you lose access to ALL YOUR DATA AND ALL YOUR OLD VERSIONS

3. The only reason I contacted Solidworks was to see if they are doing the same. THEY ARE NOT.

4. The only reason I got a 30 day trail version of solidworks was to compare it to inventor, not to switch to it.

Michael Kovacik
2d & 3d Autocad and Inventor designer/draughtsman
.
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(personal licensed copy)
.
Johannesburg, South Africa