Wait till I stop laughing.....

Take my advice. Send someone to class. It is money well spent, and we won't have to teach you how to use it.

SolidWorks Forums: SolidWorks vs Solid Edge/Autocad/Pro-E

Lyn is right. Send at least 1 person for training.

I've been using SolidWorks since 2000. I had initial training and that helped. I took a 3 day advanced assembly class 2 years ago. I learned some methods of doing things easier that I wasn't aware of.

I've taught myself how to use Inventor. I am sure that I am doing some things the slow way and not the fast efficient way.

If some of your people have experience on a 3D modeling system it will help. I switched from the 2D world to the 3D world. If your company doesn't have any experienced 3D modelers, either hire some or send more to training.

my $.02 worth. good luck

I appreciate everyone's advice (and I would certainly want at least a refresher course), but I don't think my company will spend the money for a class.

On the positive side, I've used Solid Edge in college about 7 years ago and I've used NX3 and NX4 since. I can't remember if we used Solidworks briefly as well. In other words, I have experience in 3D modeling.

I'm really looking into which program to purchase at this point.

SolidWorks probably has a larger number of users than SolidEdge.

What programs are being used in the your area of the world?

In my area, the big 3D cad programs are SolidWorks, ProE, NX (a limited # of larger companies), Inventor. SolidEdge hardly every shows up in a job description.

The embedded tutorial that SolidWorks has is pretty decent. Especially for a user that is familiar with the program.

How complicated is the equipment or product that is being designed? Structural shapes, machined parts, castings, molded parts.

Are you doing a lot of concepts, design changes or?

Let me get back with you on the type of equipment being designed. I'm kind of the low man here, so I will probably be using the program but I don't know what the work consists of yet.

I believe they clients we are looking at working for will want either Solid Edge or Solidworks. We have Inventor and ProE (maybe on the ProE), but I don't believe the client wants to use these programs in their design.

Selection of CAD software is primarily dependent on the products/equipment your company specializes in.

Further, many of the software packages are configured to start with a 3D model, and the 2D drawing is generated from that, and is automatically updated when the 3D model is changed. A standalone 2D is possible, but very "clunky" if not based on a 3D model.

Making the step up to 3D is a fundamental leap for your design methodology. As many above have said, FIGHT to get professional training! Tutorials can only take you so far, and are seldom configured to your specific needs.

Personally, I've been using NX-IDEAS for 15 years and am trying to make the switch to NX7.5. They're similar in structure, but am having a hard time with it until the beancounters tell me I can spend the $5K for offsite training.

Good Luck.

yes, totally agree with you. In addition, Solidedge now had the advantage of switching between direct and parametric modeling. this trick is very useful especially when you are dealing with large assembly part. the work will become more easy with direct modeling instead of parametric modeling.

trust me i had been years of Solidwork user and now i had switch to using Solidedge...

That's why I come here for software reviews. You can't find these kinds of reviews through google. I'm starting to think that these software companies don't want users that don't like their product to post this

There is a LOW cost program with almost ALL features of the above mentioned softwares: ALIBRE.

You can download for free a limited version and also get a full version for a limited time. I use it and it is axcellent.

I was having some issues with SolidWorks while designing an injection mold yesterday and I've been curious if Solid Edge would be able to better handle it. Came across this thread and it's been helpful. Hope to get some good use out of Solid Edge's 45 day trial.

nick name, I have to disagree with you though on Alibre. I tried using my copy of Alibre 2011 to see how it handled my injection mold, and it was less cooperative than SolidWorks. Of course Alibre is great for personal use, but I wouldn't recommend it for high level professionals.

I have been using Solid Edge for more than a decade now due to the companies I work for. That is the CAD program they had. I have used Solidworks in the past to open and manipulate Solidworks models we got from a vendor. I have created some models and assemblies using Solidworks as well. Each has some better features than the other for the user from what I remember comparing the two. One thing I liked about Solidworks was the ability to take an accurate 2D drawing and convert it to a 3D model, accurate being the key word here. Solidworks seems to have a larger user base, so it may be easier in your location to find new employees that are using the program than Solid Edge. That is the way it is in my area in northern Ohio. Both have PLM applications. That is something your company may consider for future business decisions and base the CAD application on these products too. Much to think about. I would suggest having a presentation from both Solid Edge and Solidworks be given to the primary staff members at your company that includes the department that would actually have to use the CAD application, and their input should weigh heavy on the decision making, not necessarily the cost but the capabilities of the CAD application that fits your company's current needs and future growth.

That being said as well as the other valuable comments already made, the potential decision of your company not to spend money on formal training of at least a couple of potential power users of the CAD application will cost the company much more lost money in slower and potentially poorer productivity than what the cost of training will be. One would think that your company can have the formal training be included in the initial purchase price from which ever company they decide to go with.

An additional comment I have is about support. With Solid Edge, one gets support directly from Siemens and the software programmers. One does not get the kind of support from Solidworks that one does with Solid Edge.

Yep I miss siemen's technical support! So much better than hack through SW forums for a workaround.