Solidworks 2008

There is an intersting 3D soft called ALIBRE which has the same features as Solidworks but is easy to handle and costs about 1/4th of the SW price because the editor bets on quantity.

I bought Alibre for my consulting business, and have not been impressed with it overall. I just left a day job where I used SolidWorks for the last 4 years (ending with SW07), and thought I'd save a few bucks on the CAD software I'd use for consulting. After banging my head against the wall all weekend on a project, I had requests for quotes out to dealers of Inventor and SolidWorks on Sunday night. I'm glad I'm still inside of my 30-day trial period.

Key gripes (unless I'm mistaken):
1) Cannot copy and paste sketches between parts or within one part
2) Cannot use one feature's sketch to make another feature (i.e. holes drawn as construction lines), even if all you want to do is snap to them from another sketch or convert them to entities in another sketch
3) Cannot extrude up to a body and inherit the surface features. It stops at the first tangent point.
4) Unless you're in for a painful experience, they force you to do top-down design of assemblies, i.e. design every part within an assembly. You can't open a part from within an assembly, and if you just manually open the part with the "open" dialog box, the part is not automatically updated (or even able to be manually updated with a "reload" command) from within the assembly. The assembly must be closed and re-opened.
5) You can't apply textures or even colors to individual faces within a part file. Consequently, when I wanted to make a little silver power switch with a blue graphic on it, I actually had to make a second "switch backlight" part and mate it to the back of a hollowed-out power switch. YUCK!

These are just a few... In general, it's an immature product that is being brought together by a bunch of collaborative efforts between software companies that are developing bits like part mating routines, PDM stuff, etc. and is really targeted at being able to check off boxes on a feature comparison matrix so people like me will consider it instead of SolidWorks. Granted, they're doing a good job of developing a decent CAD package from the ground up, and this software would work great for someone who is just tinkering or would rather save a couple grand than work efficiently. But if you're anything approaching a seasoned user and/or if your time is worth a lot to you, remember what your grandpa has always told you... you get what you pay for.

That said, release 11, due at the end of the summer sometime, might fix some of these issues. Apparently they're putting in some more sophisticated part mating routines, which may or may not be an improvement. I do like that they use constraints called "Mate" (which butts faces together) and "Align" (which makes the faces coincident and facing in the same direction). As long as you click on the right one, it eliminates having to click on the "toggle direction" button like you do in SolidWorks. One other good thing about this software: When you pick a face and convert it to sketch entities, it also picks up the holes, pockets, etc. on that face instead of just the exterior boundary. This was a pleasant surprise. Maybe I just haven't found that option checkbox in SW yet, I don't know. ;-)

I'm torn between Inventor '09 and SolidWorks '08 at this point... I need to see a demo of Inventor before I'll form an opinion. A very respected colleague of mine swears by Inventor, and he cranks out some VERY impressive stuff in record time. That alone makes it worth considering in my mind.

You are pointing out a common problem with program upgrades. These companies are on a track where they must generate revenue and they will use marginal releases and force unnecessary upgrades to do it. Back in the old 2D days, I remember that Autodesk released new versions of AutoCAD to the point of diminishing returns. AutoCAD 14 was probably the best release that I experienced. In fact, I still often use it today. Inventor 8 (not 2008) is a very good reliable program. Starting with Inventor 9 and up to the present Inventor 2009, very little has been added that is of value to me. Some features such as belts, chains, and library items are useful but not critical. The interoperability (such as being able to import and export Solid Works) and improved translations for input and output is good. But, the improved filing systems for large corporations have compromised the ease of the program. Finally, Inventor 8 is the last release that does not have the additional complexity of security protection. I can easily have it installed on each of my two workstations and can carry it on my laptop with no problem. I have two serial numbers so I am totally legit in the way that I use it. As a final comment, I do not let myself get tricked into time consuming and possibly inferior upgrades anymore. I am happy with Inventor 8 and will continue to use it for some time.

I use Solid Works as well. I use it occasionally for a client that sends me solid works files. I usually figure a way to move them over to Inventor 8. For my needs, Inventor 8 (no longer supported by Autodesk) does everything that I need at the moment. I have become very proficient designing with it. True, some complex surfaces can be done better with other programs or Inventor upgrades. But, I really do not want to invest the time and money to change programs. Further, it is often better to use more easily generated surfaces for most solid models. They machine easier and it helps to keep mold costs down. If a complex surface is needed, I will borrow a capable program and/or machine to do it. One final note: I do not want to leave my clients behind who have not upgraded. With my strategy, they can always read my work; regardless of what upgrade that they may be using at the moment.

To summarize: 1. Do not get overly excited about new upgrades without making a thorough investigation. 2. If you have a working system that is effective for you, do not be in a hurry to abandon it. 3. If you do any work for others, I would recommend either Inventor or Solid Works because so many seats are out there. You may also want to becomed skilled at translation. It is not that difficult. This info is provided because it may help you to know my chosen path after many years of work with solid models.

Does anyone have a good price for a seat of Solidworks 2008. We're accepting quotes now and they are coming in at $3995 + $1295 for the subscription service (+ tax). Any leads on best prices would be appreciated.