Autodesk Inventor Comparative Analysis Technical Comparison: Autodesk Inventor 5.3 to Dassault’s SolidWorks 2001 Plus CONTENTS Ease of Use............................................................................................................. 2 Sketching Environment .......................................................................................... 2 Design Support System (DSS) ................................................................................ 5 Why Adaptivity in Autodesk Inventor Is Superior to Parametric Associativity in SolidWorks . 6 Adaptive Layout .................................................................................................... 6 Adaptive Assembly ................................................................................................ 7 Why Autodesk Inventor Is the Best Choice for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical, and Autodesk Mechanical Desktop Users ......................................................................................... 8 Powerful Migration Tools ........................................................................................ 8 DWG Export ....................................................................................................... 11 Documenting your Design ....................................................................................... 12 Leveraging the Knowledge Vault .............................................................................. 14 Exceptional Large-Assembly Performance .................................................................. 15 Collaboration Tools................................................................................................. 17 Sharing Digital Design Data with Your Extended Manufacturing Team ............................ 18 Presentations with Autodesk Inventor .................................................................... 18 Autodesk Streamline............................................................................................ 19 Advanced Graphics................................................................................................. 19 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 20 The goal of this document is to provide you with a technical comparison of Autodesk Inventor™ 5.3 and Dassault’s SolidWorks® 2001 Plus software programs. Autodesk is the leader in mainstream 3D production level design due to its many innovations in adaptive architecture, segmented database for large assembly performance, its deeply embedded help and support system, and industry-leading DWG compatibility. Moreover, its ease of use, overall performance, and cost make it the best choice for companies that are making the transition from 2D to 3D. In fact, Autodesk Inventor software is the first new 3D design technology for the manufactur- ing industry since 1985. While Dassault’s SolidWorks still supports the old parametric para- digm, Autodesk Inventor solves the inherent problems of purely parametric design systems. Recently, CADALYST magazine selected Autodesk Inventor software as the best midrange modeler for large and complex assemblies. “Autodesk Inventor was the clear winner. We’ve had the opportunity to conduct an in-depth review of the software and other similar solutions, and Autodesk Inventor stands heads and shoulders above the rest,” said Art Liddle, CADALYST Labs director, and executive editor, technology. According to CADALYST, Autodesk Inventor is “destined to change the way designers and engineers work.” www.autodesk.com/inventor 1 Technical Comparison: Autodesk Inventor 5.3 versus SolidWorks 2001 Plus Ease of Use Autodesk Inventor software supports the easiest-to-use and most intuitive user interface (UI) for production level 3D design and 2D documentation. Autodesk Inventor technology has always taken advantage of Microsoft’s Windows environment including such features as standard toolbars, menus, component technology, Visual Basic as well as “drag-and-drop” capabilities. What’s more, as a result of the close working relationship that has existed between Autodesk and Microsoft for nearly 20 years, Autodesk was named as one of three Microsoft Global Partners of the Year 2001 for its leadership in providing Microsoft® Windows®-based solutions to customers worldwide. Autodesk was selected for this award in recognition of its comprehensive, long-standing support for Microsoft operating systems, such as Windows 9x, 2000, and Windows NT®, as well as its commitment to developing customer solutions using new Microsoft technologies, such as .NET. Sketching Environment Since its first release, the Autodesk Inventor sketching environment has incorporated an intuitive gesture-based UI, allowing you to develop complex sketches quickly and easily. This gesture-based UI automatically analyzes simple hand-mouse gestures and incorporates them into the appropriate function. By contrast, in an apparent attempt to catch up, Dassault’s SolidWorks 2001 has only recently added a “heads-up” display. However, this provides only part of the functionality of the Autodesk Inventor intuitive UI. A simple example of changing the default constraint schema will highlight the environment that allows you get your work done easier and faster. First, the Autodesk Inventor gesture- based interface allows you to dynamically change the constraint scheme during sketching by simply touching the sketch element upon which you want the new constraint to be based (gesture-based). This reduces the time required to become productive with a 3D system and saves money on training and through increased productivity. Functionality such as this is not found in Dassault’s SolidWorks. In fact, users of Dassault’s SolidWorks must first accept the default constraint schema, then delete the conflicting constraints, and finally add the needed constraints in order to achieve their original design intent. It becomes apparent to any user that Dassault’s SolidWorks sketching environment is neither simple nor easy to use. For example, to develop the basic sketch for the following part, SolidWorks users are required to perform twice as many steps as an Autodesk Inventor user. Autodesk Inventor took 8 steps, 7 picks plus the addition of one additional constraint, to develop the sketch. www.autodesk.com/inventor 2 Technical Comparison: Autodesk Inventor 5.3 versus SolidWorks 2001 Plus Sketch in Autodesk Inventor Dassault’s SolidWorks 2001 Plus requires 16 steps, 14 picks plus the addition of 2 constraints to create the same sketch. Sketch in SolidWorks As the example above illustrates, Autodesk Inventor requires far fewer steps in many common sketching operations than Dassault’s SolidWorks in order to create the same geometry, in some cases as much as half the number of steps. To be more specific, Autodesk Inventor takes 50 percent fewer steps than Dassault’s SolidWorks 2001 Plus in sketching this straightforward part. Not only can Autodesk Inventor users be more productive in developing their 2D sketches, they can be far more productive in creating their 3D models as well. Let’s take the above sketch and develop the solid model (base extrusion) for the part to illustrate this point. Extrusion in Autodesk Inventor www.autodesk.com/inventor 3 Technical Comparison: Autodesk Inventor 5.3 versus SolidWorks 2001 Plus Autodesk Inventor allows for self-intersecting profiles to be used for feature creation. The SolidWorks user must trim the sketches to form single closed-loop profiles. In other words, more work can be required from a SolidWorks user to create features. Extrusion Failure in SolidWorks Trimmed Geometry to Create Extrusion In the figure above Dassault’s SolidWorks fails to use the same sketch geometry to create the 3D component. This failure occurs because SolidWorks does not allow for multiple loop intersecting profiles. To remedy this situation, you must trim each circle to become an arc so it does not have an intersecting profile. This will add many additional steps to your design process. It is clear that for a variety of common sketching and modeling tasks Autodesk Inventor supports the easier-to-use and more intuitive UI for production level 3D design. Key points • Autodesk Inventor is the easier-to-use system. • Autodesk Inventor takes 50 percent fewer steps than Dassault’s SolidWorks in many common sketching tasks. • While creating sketch elements, SolidWorks can’t change constraints schemes. • Dassault’s SolidWorks doesn’t support self-intersecting profiles. • Dassault’s SolidWorks doesn’t allow you to analyze the original sketch design intent by graphically displaying all constraints at once. • Dassault’s SolidWorks doesn’t allow you to add dimensional relationships during dimensioning. You must exit and go into a separate dialog perform this function. Sketch Workflow and Functionality Autodesk Inventor 5.3 SolidWorks 2001 Plus Automatic dimension Automatic constraints Support for self-intersecting profiles Change constraint scheme while sketching www.autodesk.com/inventor 4 Technical Comparison: Autodesk Inventor 5.3 versus SolidWorks 2001 Plus Design Support System (DSS) Autodesk Inventor software has always maintained an innovative, deeply embedded support and help system known as DSS, which is unique in the industry. The DSS helps you signifi- cantly reduce time and costs of learning the software. Power-user productivity is increased through the use of visual design aids and in-context help options, while allowing the occasional