what is the best software for mechanical design?
what is the best software for mechanical design?
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Hardi Meybaum 7 months agoI think naming just the software does not add much information. If you mentioned in what kind of projects you are working with and why is this software the best one.
36 answers
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Josh Mings 7 months ago
Some will say this is relative, but you need to look at three main criteria:
What is being used in your industry?
What feature set do you need? sheet metal? surfacing? mold tools?
What is your budget for software/hardware?It's not always one tool though. The toolset I prefer is solidworks, spaceclaim, modo and keyshot, with most of my mechanical work being done in SolidWorks. That said, Hardi is correct about Solid Edge and sheet metal. For surfacing, SolidWorks does alright, but you'll have frustrations, where packages like NX, modo and 3ds max are going to provide better results.
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Hardi Meybaum 7 months ago
I have found SolidEdge Sheet Metal module better than Inventor, Pro/E and SolidWorks with the following reasons:
* It has very powerful way to create sophisticated flat patterns and relate them to variables
* I found Variable table functionality better
* Compared to SolidWorks - Excel integration with SolidEdge was much more suitable. For example I could link all dimensions on a Variable table to one specific Excel spreadsheet. Then you can start playing with macros and sql queries to get dimensions for different orders.But this is one use-case where I found SolidEdge better than SolidWorks and I believe you can find a lot of different use-cases where SolidWorks is better than SolidEdge or Inventor etc.
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Kalle Grennfalk 7 months agoSince it so easy to get into my anwser is IronCAD.
A short movie.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ATJAz0rhIQ&feature=related -
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Tomica Vukovic 4 months agoMy mind and brain and my hands. All of earlier mentioned software is only a tool.
You may have a excelent bunch of installed software but if you have'nt ideas or knowledge all this tools are unworthly. Every professional software need a time to learn and when you teach one it's hard to reorient to another software. When you work a couple years you made a library for yourself with standard parts and desin solutions to easy your everyday tasks.Instead of that it's not a question which is best, question is which software can comunicate best with other software. Artificial inteligence is one way to do it, but fellows what will be happened with us when AI reach a border of our knowledge.
One time I study a smart languages as CLIPS and AI theory and it will come a time when programed AI software can make a decision for a right stuff between offered solutions. Databases get bigger and bigger and posiility to choosing right solution on experience of human beings fo rmachine is very closely. -
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Kevin Dobson 7 months agoJust for more variety, Inventor
They all have strengths and weaknesses, so Ali's comment is very applicable...the one you master the most
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Jon Banquer 7 months agoTopSolid CADCAM 7 and here are some of the many reasons why:
http://cadcamtechnologyleaders.blogspot.com/p/topsolid-cadcam-cad.html
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA-
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Jon Banquer 7 months ago
Very few SolidWorks users understand how dated SolidWorks has become. I hope that my blog makes it clear what areas SolidWorks has fallen badly behind in.
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Philippe Pigeard 7 months ago
SpaceClaim.
Pro/E and SolidWorks was designed during the last century.
SpaceClaim is design for THIS century.
Top 5 Reasons SpaceClaim Turbocharges Sheet Metal Design
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QQD9hnMeU8-
Jon Banquer about 1 month ago
There is a lot to be said for starting over with a clean sheet of paper. Lots of issues with legacy CAD like Pro/E and SolidWorks. Not many people realize how dated SolidWorks has become and how much it effects the user.
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Damián Hardeo 7 months agoYes, as say Ali H. If you master one of the software mentioned this is the best for you.
I think Pro/E 5 is very well if you have skills in all the modules, sheetmetal, surface, cabling, piping, mechanica . .. . but actually you can found various software that do the same thing. I have skills in Pro/E 5 an I earn my salary working with this but you can decide for any other.
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Saurya Mishra 5 months agoI recommend SolidWorks. Excellent for beginners, simple to use.
However, if you are a beginner and in the idea to enroll in autodesk student community and download and use Inventor.
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eric 4 months agoAutodesk Inventor with fusion, so easy to use and...free for students...
Anyway test Solidworks, Catia etc and make your choice, my students works with Solidworks and inventor, they prefer Inventor (more fun!!!)
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Abhijeet 4 months agoCatia is the best tool in automotive sector... if u want to focus much on surfacing then i must say u should go for it.
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Tom Lehn 3 months ago
Yearts ago there was a site called midrangecad.com which spelled out just about everything you could know about every cad app on the planet. It was an excel spreadsheet you could download and the public could update. This was the mosy compehensive spreadsheet that broke every feature and detail down the the finest.
Funny thing is that IronCAD always came out on top of the overall rating. However SolidWorks found out about this site and forced its closure. This was one of CAD's worst days, becuase it hurt ALL cad users regardless of what they used by denying an unbiased chart to all the CAD apps.
Anyway, my point is if you need a overall CAD tool that provides fast, accurate and a bunch of integrated options at a reasonable cost, then IronCAD wins.
If Sheet metal is your bread and butter, you need Solid Edge. If plastic injection molded parts is your bread and butter than I would look at Vero, most would say SolidWorks, but do yourself a favor and look at vero too. You will be very surprised.
Jig Design - IronCAD
Civil /Architectural - AutoCAD or Bentley. Since most civil engineernig is still 2D, this answer is temporary until the migrate to 3D in the future.
Bid Modeling - Inovatejust a few, responses. As I get more time, I will post more.
Tom -
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duya7k61 4 months ago
I'm still a student but I see in Viet Nam, every university of technology use solidworks and catia.
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Accushape3D 4 months agoSolidworks has been a go to software for me since 2001! I fell in love with 3D modeling when I started using solidworks and for mechanical design I am more proficient with it than any other software!
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Onur AYTEKIN 4 months agoCatia Forever :) Just my opinion. But i can say my words for whole softwares in different fields (CAD,Arc,Graphic,OS etc ... )
"Best software is software that can do your job"
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Praveen 3 months agoCatia would be the Best....As it offers complete range of solution for every Industry....
Solidworks also good but's more like just designing ease with which it's able to capture the market....
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john white about 1 month agoI have been using CAD software since the early 90's. I have used Solidworks, Inventor and a few others. I would reccomend Solidworks for a couple of reasons. The simplicity of Solidworks makes it very good for begineers and the drawing templates are the best. Like all have said, I guess it depends on what it is you are going to be modeling. I design RO systems and UV systems. I use Solidworks for the RO systems since e-drawings is available for free and the production guys can have the model on a screen downstairs and "spin" the model around making it easier to build.
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dastagir shaikh 27 days agogo for Pro/Engineer and if u select Creo(best) for transmission design i.e solid modelling, assembly, mold design, mechanism, sheetmetal. It can take large asemblies and best in data exchange. Better file management system unlike any other software presently.
go for solidworks if you want everything at ease+ surfacing+ rendering.
catia is the best for surfacing and evn solide modelling is too cool.
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ishimoto 7 months agoProEngineer and SolidWorks
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manish anand 4 months ago
solid works and creo are for part modelling... what about surface modelling. only catia and upto some limits rhino do the needful.
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Venkatasubramanian 6 months agodude...Undoubtedly Pro-Engineer is the Best Software for Part modelling..
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Dave Cancilier about 2 hours ago
I would look at the software that has direct modeling capabilities. You said for "design" and those apps (Spaceclaim, KeyCreator, Creo Direct, Fusion etc.) Make the design process faster than the parametric modelers. With those you can push, pull, drag and manipulate any geometry at any time without worrying about the order it was created or what features will fail if you change something. You can , for example, adjust the width of an assembly with hundreds of parts in just one command. In the parametrics you will either have to change and debug each part one by one or hope that the model was pre-thought out to be changed in that way. I use SolidWorks professionally every day as I am forced to but I find it much slower to make unpredicted changes and do "what if" scenerios where you can just save a model under a different name and play with it during the concept phase. I made a completely new sized machine from an old one in a few days in a direct modeler by just box moving,chopping mirroring etc. I then took the concept into SWX which took much longer.
SWX is undeniably the most popular (the industry alays seems to clump around one system) but that doesn't always mean it is the "best" for what you want to do. Just look around at options.
