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Solidworks Vs. Inventor

alon k

New member
Hello all,

I am a mechanical engineering student, and I was wondering about the advantages Inventor offers over Solidworks. I have been working with Solidworks for several years now, mainly in the automotive industry. Naturally, as I progress in my studies I find more uses for CAD, such as FEA.
It seems to me that learning to use Inventor as well as Solidworks is not a bad idea for me, so it would help a lot if you could advise as to what areas Inventor offers an advantage over Solidworks. Both programs are available to me free of charge as a student so cost is not an issue, neither is a user friendly environment (if Inventor isn't user friendly. I know Solidworks is).

Thank you,
Alon.
 
Solidworks vs Inventor

Hi Alon,

its not a bad idea to use both. Each has its own advantages. I learned Inventor first and then Solidworks. Did a little getting-used-to to Solidworks in two weeks. Inventor is also user-friendly especially in the excel parameters. Its a lot easier to use compared to solidwork's design table. A lot can be controlled in the model using excel.

Rico
 
The time has come for mechanical design to move from 2D to 3D. It has been debated for years, but the debate is over, so who do you trust? AutoDesk® AutoCAD® has been the de-facto standard for 2D, not by being the best, but by starting early at a good price point and addressing a broad audience.
 
Solidworks vs Inventor

Inventor is a better software for FEA if that is what you are interested in.

Also, it would be in your best interest to learn both programs and not become too dependent on one program because they constantly change with each update. And you never know what software a future job opportunity might be using.

Best thing to do is being able to adapt to new software quickly and effectively. :cool:
 
I think solidworks has generally a better feel to it, and is easier to use, but they both have their own niche. Maybe do what zbrook said and get good with both?
 
See whatever software you use,you should be comfortable with what you use and that is the most important thing in here,If you are using some software which is very tough to understand but you are very much familiar with it,So you will use that software and will not use the easy one...
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I originally learned Inventor coming from AutoCad. Then also took the classes for Intro to Solidworks. I like solidworks, and tend to find it less "glitchy". A powerful program in Inventor, yet expensive.

Most in industry are using Solidworks.
 
Solidworks is expensive alright. We use a lot of those engineering software in my old company. We have expensive programs like Matlab and ANSYS. But we were able to cut back on the license cost by using software asset management tools. My former colleague uses Open iT ( IT & Software Asset Management Tools by Open iT )for monitoring license usage.He's an IT guy there, he's mainly using it for reporting and facilitating IT chargeback. He's also using it for negotiating pay-per-use agreement with the software vendors. They say the software also has license harvesting feature. I'm not sure if they have a free program, but i think they have free demo. Anyways the good thing about it is that, it works even without the license manager. Haven’t tried it yet, but i maybe evaluating the Open iT software soon. Will let you know if it works for me.
 
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.
 

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