Solidworks. I worry about what I am designing rather than 'how am I going to make the software do what I want'
BUT most of the leading packages are getting about even and keep messing with their UI's which
gets annoying when they have 'hidden' a function in a different place from the last 5 or so releases.
The expression, "If it aint broke don't fix it" may apply here?

 

Hey All,

A slightly unfair question as most us probably only use one or two packages. Although I guess we all did the research before settling on our main package. Mine is solidworks.

 

I'd say the context of the poll isn't stated. People model things in different departments for different things.

Rhino-Great for quick accurate 3d modeling that can be then transferred over to the engineer team for fabrication.

SolidWorks-Great platform for taking the geometry and prepping it for manufacturing.

What I really enjoy about Rhino is its ability to define and generate dynamic surface information with ease. It really freed me up as far as my designs go. The export abilities are a dream as well.

I think a better poll, considering that this is a wide range profession forum would be what is your favorite file format to import/export.

 

I've recently been using SolidWorks 2008 and Inventor 09 and 10, and I thought SW was the bee's knees - very easy to pick up and very versatile, although we used this in conjction with Rhino for better STL handling.

I then changed job and switched to Inventor 09 which is horrendous - my main gripe with this that the generic "press the middle mouse button down to orbit the model" just doesn't exist. It was replaced with a cube in the upper right corner which you can drag around to rotate the model, and a floating option wheel which is located in a sub-menu which you can use to orbit the model, but cannot then click on the model with this menu open.... I get the feeling that this is due to trying to make the interface more intuitive for new users to CAD, but for someone such as my self who has been using CAD packages for years - this is a major annoyance!

Fortunately, this has been solved in Inventor 2010 of which I have a trial version, with the addition of a "Shift+Middle Click" orbit function which I find much less stressful! Also I find the newly designed interface very easy to use with little or no need to dive into help files!

So after a very rambly rant, Inventor 2010 goes top, followed very closely by SW, with Inventor '09 banished to the bargain bin in Currys.

 

Yo... I've been working CAD since the board days... 1980 to be exact. At that time it was an open world out there. Workstations cost 45k a seat and they came with the hardware, monitor, desks,etc. Wow have times changed. There were three major break thru's that I've noticed, those being one, the creation of a "3d wireframe/surfaced" model, two, the creation of a "solid" model, three, the creation of "features", used to define the "solid" model. Heck, prior to this, it was Acad v2.6 2D.... Over the last 30 years, I have been able to utilize most of the CAD softwares that existed. Some have come an gone. For those that remain, there are 3 to 4 major players in Mechanical CAD, several others in Polygonal 3D modeling. ACAD, UG, PRO/E, SW. major players. All have up's and down's, it's whatever you feel fits your enviornment the best. Personally, I was sold on UG, but then came SW, (uses the same kernal as UG), which was cheaper and more widely utilized. It was the 5k SW seat that knocked the knees out of Pro/E. Sure you can get Pro/E for 5k, but then you add surfaces, 5k, wiring, 5k, toolbox, 5k, etc. etc.
Basicly, they are all good. And, as in marriage, pick one, and stay with it, it's cheaper to keeper.

Enjoy the game, =)~

stop by and visit my website.... www.traserdesign.com

 

google sketchup is now up and comming.
translators required, must be for real.

 

For those of us somewhat economically challenged, there are some interesting 3D modeling solutions out there that, while perhaps not as fancy as some of the commercial products, can actually result in some pretty acceptable output. Included in these would be BrlCAD, originally developed for the US Military, and Salome-MECA, which is more an FAE package, but includes some solid basic solid modeling capabilities...

 

Used it for 3+ years (2001-2004) while working at EVANS Consoles, and OneSpace is fantastic! Went for training in Ft. Collins, Collorado. Non-history based modelling is amazingly versitile, and can do MANY things that history based software will never be able to touch. Try designing a coffee mug in ANY history based software. Then cut off the handle and try to glue it onto another mug WITHOUT bringing all the unnecessary geometry, sketches, extrusions, cuts, etc. with it. In Onespace you can design up a mug, cut the handle off, and merge it with another mug of a different shape...and bring nothing more than the information pertaining to JUST the handle. It's like modelling with clay. The entire model is in one file until you save out parts individually when required. Very cool program. Tuned more to Industrial Design than Engineering.

 

The new name of OneSpace is CoCreate, can you pleaese correct.