Solid Works

[Mattwarne]

hi guys
Just wanted to know what you think about the 3D cad program.

thanks Matt

[HLA-27b]

Not much to think really.
If you want to get anything manufactured these days your product will have to go through SW at some point.
So learn it early and learn it well but don't forget to learn the competition as well otherwise you may be locked in.

[DavidMenting]

It's great.

Ask better questions and you'll get better answers. What do you want to know about SolidWorks?

[harnon]

Solidworks has been pretty much the industry standard solid modelling package for mechanical CAD.  Its ok for small projects or single parts and is used by many businesses and taught by many universities. 

Increasingly other packages are becoming more common - e.g. many auto manufacturers use Catia because its better for large assemblies, I know Red Bull F1 team use Siemens NX and there is always Autodesk Inventor.

If you use or learn Solidworks for small projects its hard to go wrong.  If you are a student you can get a free version of Inventor and normally if your university has an agreement with Dassault you can get a free version of Solidworks.  Good luck getting a legitimate free trial of Catia or NX.

[robrenz]

I have used SW since its beginning so I may not be completely objective and me saying I think it is very intuitive is a joke since I have been conditioned by the program. But I go to SW user group meetings and hear many happy converts from all the other cad systems so its not just me. I think it is by far the best in class. I personaly pay $1350.00 a year to stay current and it is worth every penny. Autocad has its place and is the top dog in many areas but not in 3D mechanical design. Solidworks has the momentum, user base, and corporate attitude necessary to stay on top. It pays attention to customer input and the vast majority of enhancemants are user requests.  Solid works can handle assemblies larger than most companies work with but you would not design a 747 with it.  You cant go wrong choosing SW as a personal cad package.

Catia owns SW and is a more for large corporation huge project type use.

[Ajahn Lambda]

To sort of echo what robrenz said regarding converts, I started my university engineering career with Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 (now Creo, ugh...), then tried SolidWorks (now using 2010), and fell in love.  It was, and still is, so much easier to use, and creating solid models with it is nearly effortless.  The hours wasted trying to get Pro/E to do what we wanted, back in my freshman engineering days, could easily have been saved by using SolidWorks instead.  To me, it's always been more intuitive -- that may be a bit of a skewed view too, coming from Pro/E -- and I can churn out much better and faster results with SolidWorks.  It's just...smarter...?  The only thing I've had to bust out the help file for was 'Flex'.   

There's even an add-in called CircuitWorks, which allows 3D/solid modeling of electrical components, PCBs, etc., with the ability to interface with Mental Graphics' PADS (which I do not currently use).

SolidWorks Premium now includes CircuitWorks as an Add-Ins which allows bi-directional IDF and PADS file interface for the SolidWorks 3D CAD system. The Priware Limited company was acquired by SolidWorks in March of 2008.
CircuitWorks is designed to bridge the gap between SolidWorks and Electrical Computer-Aided Design (ECAD) systems by providing an intuitive tool that allows users to import and export Printed Circuit Board (PCB) designs between SolidWorks and ECAD systems.

Source:  http://www.hawkridgesys.com/products/circuitworks/

[slateraptor]

I have used SW since its beginning so I may not be completely objective and me saying I think it is very intuitive is a joke since I have been conditioned by the program. But I go to SW user group meetings and hear many happy converts from all the other cad systems so its not just me. I think it is by far the best in class. I personaly pay $1350.00 a year to stay current and it is worth every penny. Autocad has its place and is the top dog in many areas but not in 3D mechanical design. Solidworks has the momentum, user base, and corporate attitude necessary to stay on top. It pays attention to customer input and the vast majority of enhancemants are user requests.  Solid works can handle assemblies larger than most companies work with but you would not design a 747 with it.  You cant go wrong choosing SW as a personal cad package.

Catia owns SW and is a more for large corporation huge project type use.

I support $1350 isn't too bad for personal use. I'd instantly be on the bandwagon for a nominal cell-phone-like $75/month fee...that is, when I'm not poor anymore. Until then, I'm milking my uni's license for everything it's worth, which is great because I'll have VPN access to their private network until at least next year May.