functional comparison

8/6/2019 Functional Comparison

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1 SolidWorks 2009 vs. Autodesk Inventor 2009

Functional Comparison of SolidWorks 2009 vs.Autodesk Inventor 2009 Design Software

A close look at SolidWorks

2009 and Autodesk Inventor

2009 software revealsSolidWorks is truly the leader of 3D design. Users of SolidWorks enjoy deeperfunctionality, design flexibility, and unique productivity tools. The added functionalityresults in high design efficiency with less frustration. SolidWorks is the only

choicefor challenging and demanding design environments. SolidWorks enables designersto build better products, faster.

Sketching

Feature Description/Benefit Inventor SolidWorks

SketchEntities

Basic geometry creation tools. Allowrapid creation of complex sketched

features.

Lacks many tools, including;

parabola, partial ellipses,linear jogs, slots, and curve

through points.

OffsetFrequently used to create complexgeometry such as plastic parts and

casting

Lacks bi-directional offset,

end capping and fullassociativity.

2D SplineControl

Important in creating organic shapes,especially in consumer design.

Limited control. No controlpolygons or unidirectional

drag handles.

SketchXpert

Enables users to fully understand 2D

constraints and troubleshoot problemsketches.

SketchBlocks

Intelligent grouping of sketch entities.Aids in the creation of 2D layouts of

mechanisms.


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Full

Dimensioning

The ability to dimension entities using

common drafting standards

Cannot dimension an arcslength

Save inSketch Mode

The ability to save your work while insketch mode

AdvancedSketch

Relationships

Enable users to simulate gear, camand belt/chain motion within a 2D

sketch.

3D Sketch Required for conceptual design,wireframe modeling, lofts, sweepsand weldments, etc.

Very limited in supportedentities and relationships.No arcs, rectangles, etc.

Curve onSurface

The ability to sketch a 3D splinedirectly on a surface. Essential for

conceptual design.

Fit SplineEnables multiple sketch entities to be

connected with a smooth curve.

AdvancedContourSelect

The ability to utilize sketch geometryeven with overlapping, crossing and

tangent conditions. Saves atremendous amount of time by

eliminating sketch edits.

Very limited. Does notrecognize the intersection of

entities. Users mustmanually trim geometry to

use it effectively.

NegativeDimensions

The ability to control the position ofsketch entities with positive and

negative dimensions


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Modeling


Instant 3D

The ability to instantly create and editgeometry with simple mousegestures. Drastically speeds

conceptual design and edit ability.

Live SectionThe ability to utilize the cross section

of a part to edit the model.

ExtrudeThe most common command to

create 3D geometry. Adds depth to2D sketch profiles.

Lacks offset and depthoptions, the ability to extrude

in the direction of a vectorand the ability to extrude thin

walled features.

Revolve 2D profile rotated about a centerline.

Lacks options to specify

rotation independently in twodirections. Cannot rotate

thin walled features.

LoftCreates complex shapes by blending

multiple cross sections together.Common in consumer design.

Limited in curvature control

and predictability.

SweepCreates a surface or solid by

sweeping a cross section along apath.

Only basic sweep

capabilities. Weak incontrolling orientation, twist,

and variational sections.

Hole

Creation of standard counter-bore,counter sink, simple, tapped and

clearance holes. Sizes and optionsshould be based on industry

standards.

Slow performance. Poorhole placement options.

Lacks drill and tap drill sizeinformation.


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FilletCreating blends and rounds. An

extremely important feature for all

designers.

No constant width or holdline fillets.

Chamfer Used to chamfer edges of corners. No corner chamfer option

Thin FeatureThe capability to create thin walledfeatures from within the extrude,rotate, sweep and loft commands.

2D to 3DConversion

Tools

Utilizes standard 2D views to quicklycreate 3D models.

Available via Autodesk Labs

N-sidedsurface patch

A useful command to create complexsurfaced parts and repair imported

geometry.

No continuous curvature

capabilities

BoundarySurface

A very flexible capability for creatingcomplex surfaces and solids.

Ruled

Surface

A commonly used command to helpsplit models at their parting lines and

to create complex interfacing featuressuch as lips and grooves.

FlexThe ability to bend, twist, taper and

stretch parts.

Inventor has a limited bendfeature but cannot handle

complex geometry

IndentAllows volumes and parts to conformto each other. Important in consumer

design and packaging.

PowerfulEquations

The capability to write IF THENequations between parameters.

PreserveDimensions

whenMirroring

The power to edit and view thedimensions of a mirrored component


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DraftThe ability to add angled relief to

faces. A necessity for molded andcast parts

Only fixed edge and plane

draft. No step draft.

Power SplitCommand

The ability to easily divide a modelinto multiple individual bodies.

Extremely limited. Commandleaves only one body. Mustbe repeated to capture true

intent.

Free FormThe ability to easily push and pull a

surface into shape. Great for

conceptual design.

FilletXpertAn intelligent toolset which

troubleshoots filleting problems andsuggests best solutions.

CornerAlternatives

An intelligent toolsets that will allowusers to see different solutions when

filleting corners.

FilletSelectionManager

A powerful selection tool whichgroups edges based on their physicalcharacteristics. Speeds the rounding

of numerous corners

Inventor can only group

select internal or externalcorners

DraftXpertAn intelligent toolset which

troubleshoots draft problems andsuggests best solutions.

Mold DesignTools

Tools that aid in designing moldedparts and mold core and cavity.

Capabilities include: Parting linecreation, shut off surfaces, undercutdetection, side core extraction, etc.


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Simulation-

Xpress

Built in part analysis. Determines if

the part will fail early in the designprocess.

Equivalent is only available inInventor Professional andSimulation.

DimXpert(parts)

Intelligent feature baseddimensioning routines automatically

create full 3D annotations.

Deform

Shape modification using deformparadigm. Simple workflow that

enables modification regardless of

design history.

Multi-bodyControl

The ability to control each feature asan individual body or merged solid.Provides a powerful technique for

producing complex parts.

Local BodyOperations(Multi-body)

The ability to shell, fillet, and controlindividual bodies independently of

each other.

FasteningFeatures

Toolsets to create common snaphooks, snap grooves & mounting

bosses.

Available only through

Autodesk labs

Part LevelConfig-urations

Ability to define all design variationswith in part file. Extremely importantwhen designing families of parts in

multiple sizes and with multipleoptions.

Cannot configure tolerances

and equations. Stores allvariations in independent

files, making editing difficult.

ScaleThe ability to grow or shrink a part by

a specified factor. A necessity formolded and cast parts.

Can only accomplish by

creating a scaled copy of apart. Does not allow parts tobe scaled independently in 3

directions.


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Advanced RibDraft

The ability to control a ribs draft basedon the required thickness where the ribintersects the part.

Variable PitchHelix

The ability to create a helix which canvary in pitch numerous times along its

length.

Part LevelMates

The ability to accurately positionmultiple bodies within a single part.

Area Fill

A powerful patterning commandwhich allows any boundary to bepopulated with a feature pattern.

Great for creating perforated parts.

Can fill a rectangular

boundary, but is extremelylimited.

DomeFeature

Allow users to add concavity orconvexity to a face of a model. Used

to make many stylistic shapes.

Sheet Metal


JogCommon sheet metal feature. Adds asheet metal jog by simply sketching a

line.

Lofted Bends

The ability to create and flattencomplex lofted shapes. Important for

duct work as well as stylized sheetmetal parts.


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Normal Cut

Necessary for adding accurate sheetmetal cuts. Allows users to model

cut features in the folded state whichappear correctly on the flat pattern.

Solid toSheet Metal

The ability convert a solid shape intoa sheet metal part, by simply picking

faces and edges. Powerful whencreating complex sheet metal

enclosures

Flat PatternEditing

Add punches or other modificationsin the flat pattern and have them

appear correctly in the folded model.

MiteredFlange

Add flanges along multiplecontinuous edges. Without this

command, modeling flanged sheetmetal parts require numerous

addition steps.

Does not automatically miter

intersecting flanges

SelectiveUnbend

The ability to selectively unbend onebend at a time. Important for creatingin process drawings and determining

bend order.

CurvedFlanges

The ability to form curved edgeflanges

Rip and bend

The ability to turn standard solids intosheet metal parts. Adds the

necessary rips, bends, flat pattern,and required stress reliefs.

Gauge TablesSpecify the sheet metal thickness

and bend allowances by dimension orgauge.

Bend

AllowanceSpecification

Specify bend allowance calculationmethods using industry standards.

Only uses K factor or BendTable. Does not supportbend allowance or bend

deduction equations.

CornerTreatments

The ability to specify cornertreatments in the flat pattern.

Important for optimizing flat patternfor manufacturing.


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Assembly


Quick View(Selective

Open)

Allows users to graphically selectwhich components will be loaded intomemory. Essential for large assembly

design.

Interference

Detection

Ability to quickly analyzeinterferences. Includes the ability to

ignore specific interferences, anddetect/ignore coincident surfaces.

Extremely slow and limited.

Can NOT ignoreinterferences of fasteners or

within subassemblies. DoesNOT detect coincident

surfaces. Provides poorfeedback.

SpeedPakThe power to drastically reduce a

assemblies memory footprint withoutsacrificing graphic detail.

CollisionDetection

Detect collision within an assemblysrange of motion.

Does not highlight

contacting faces. Odd

behavior when global contactsets are used.

VirtualComponents

The ability to add components to anassembly without creating individualpart files. This is very useful whenadding items such as paint, grease

and oil.

SimplifyAutomatically simplifies all parts in anassembly and stores them in a unique

configuration.

2D AssemblyLayoutDesign

The ability to create 2D layout withinan assembly using blocks and sketchentities, then easily use the sketch to

define assembly relationships andstructure. Speeds design ofmechanisms and component

positioning.

Requires any simplifiedlayout to be created as

independent part. No blocksor complex motion

capabilities.


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Limit MatePermits components to move within a

specified dimensional range.

SymmetricMate

Forces two components to besymmetric about a plane.

Width Mate

Permits parts to be centered withintwo faces of other components.Important for any type of slot-pin

motion.

Screw MateCreates an accurate screw motion by

specifying rotation to travel ratios

UniversalJoint Mate

Creates realistic relationship betweenrotating components as if connected

via a universal joint

Path Mate

Creates a mate that simulates motionalong a path. The path may be

defined as a single edge, curve orcombination of both.

Belt/Chain

Mate

Enables multiple pulleys andsprockets to be related accurately,

resulting in true rotational motion.

MateDiagnostics &

MateXpert

Permits problem mates to be isolatedand analyzed quickly. Includes theability to force mates, in order to

converge on desired result.

Limited ability in isolating

problem mates. Nocapability to force mates.

AssemblyConfig-urations

The ability to capture any variation ofan assembly. Size, shape, location,

materials, mates.

Cannot vary tolerances

between variations. Mustcreate individual files for

each variation.

Multi-bodySplit Parts

Automatically creates an associativeassembly of multiple components out

of a single part.


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In-contextRelationships

The ability to add sketch dimensions

and sketch constraints betweencomponents.

Must manually createprojected copies of

component edges. Extremelytime consuming.

Multi-MateMode

Enables users to easily mate multiplecomponents to a common reference

in a single command.

CopyComponentwith Mates

Enables users to quickly copymultiple components along with their

mates. Mates can be directlyduplicated, redefined or ignored.

SmartComponents

The ability to define librarycomponents complete with mountingfeatures and auxiliary components.Great for data reuse and speeding

machine design.

DisplayStates

The ability to mix the display mode ofdifferent components. Adds level of

visual clarity to design.

Limited. Cannot mix shaded

with wireframe.

Production Drawings


Spell Check100% of drawings should be free ofspelling errors. Classic tool which

detects spelling errors.

Multipleleader

dimension

Useful when calling out multiple filletand chamfer dimensions.

AdvancedBOM

The ability to group, sum and createrelationships within a Bill of Material.(For example, if quantity >24, change

cell value to case).


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3D ViewManipulation

Enables 3D manipulation of the 2Dviews to optimize componentvisibility. (Rotate an explodedisometric view slightly to avoid

overlapping components).

Hide Parent

View

Often you wish to show only asection, auxiliary, or detail view

without the parent view. Adds clarityto drawings.

AdvancedGeneralTables

Permit users to split cells, mergecells and write both mathematical

equations and logical if/thenexpressions within a table.

ParametricNotes

Enable users to include associativedimensions, tolerances and

properties within note annotations.

Only model parameters are

supported without toleranceinformation.

Insert 3Dannotation

Permits all annotations defined in themodel to be automatically inserted

into the drawing.

Only weld treatments and

hole callouts are supported.

DimXpert(drawings)

Intelligent feature baseddimensioning routines that speed

detailing geometry. It will evenautomatically dimension imported

geometry.

AdvancedHole Table

Enables users to document holetypes and locations in multiple faces.

Lists holes from a single face

only. Hole labels are notfully associative with the

table.

ReattachDimensions

for betterplacement

Allows you to move a dimension toother related geometry for better

placement. (for example, move a holecallout to another hole within the

same pattern)


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Productivity Tools


Real ViewGraphics

Hyper-realistic, real time graphicswhich include reflections, self

shadowing, realistic textures, andenvironments.

Design TreeSearch and

Filtering

Powerful tools which allow featuresand components to be quickly

queried and identified both within thetree and graphically

3D Clipart/Dissection

Allows any feature, sketch, or drawingview to be accessed without opening

the file. Aids in geometry reuse.

Heads UpMeasurement

Display

The ability to automatically seemeasurements by simply selecting

items of interest

DriveWorksXpress

Unique wizard which helps automatedesigns. Allows product

permutations to be controlled via an

easy to use form.

VBA MacroRecording

Enables easy automation byrecording commands directly to

Visual Basic API calls.

Reload

A frequently needed command thatallows the user to revert to the

previous saved document. Allowsusers to avoid closing and re-opening

files unnecessarily.

Linked Views

The ability to view the model

simultaneous in different orientationsthat are linked in scale and position.Aids in visualization.

Visual Search

Fast thorough search capabilities thatallow users to find files on theirsystem. Very graphical and user

friendly.


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Feature

Folders

The ability to group features, mates,sketches into logical groups. Adds a

level of organization that speeds editsand communication.

Power SelectDynamically select/sort features

based on size, type, color, name, etc.Speeds edits and modifications.

CompareDrawing

Graphically compares two drawingsto indicate differences. Great foridentifying changes in unfamiliar

documents.

Compare

Documents

Compares the properties of two

documents or product configurations.

Find/Replace

Permits fast edits to annotationsusing find/replace functionality.

DesignChecker

Ensures parts, assemblies anddrawings conform to a companys

standard. Easily identifies mistakesand saves hours of manual checking.

Feature PaintThe ability to copy the properties of

one feature to another using thepaintbrush methodology.

Feature-Works

Enables users to automatically ormanually analyze imported geometry,converting it into an intelligent feature

based part. Extremely importantwhen editing geometry from other

CAD systems.

A limited/unsupported

version is available fromAutodesk Labs.

AutoSave

A very important capability thatautomatically saves a users work at aspecified interval. Helps reduce the

amount of work lost due to

unforeseen events.


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Data Import CapabilitiesFile Format Inventor SolidWorks

IGES (.igs) STEP AP203, STEP AP204 (.step)

DXF (.dxf) DWG (.dwg) ACIS (.sat)

Parasolids (.x_t, .x_b)

VDAFS (.vda)

VRML (.wrl)

STL (.stl)

SolidWorks (.sldprt, .sldasm, .sldrw)

Unigraphics (.prt)

Pro/ENGINEER (.prt, .asm)

Does not support features orassembly mates

Autodesk Inventor (.ipt, .idw, .iam, ipn, ide) Part and assembly files

Solid Edge (prt, asm)

CATIA Graphics (.cgr)

IDF (.brd, .emn, .bdf, .idb)

Autodesk Inventor

Professional and AutodeskInventor Routed Systems


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File Format Inventor SolidWorks

Rhinoceros (.3dm)

Adobe Illustrator (.ai)

Mesh Files (.nxm, .scn, .3ds, .obj, .stl, .wrl, .ply)

Point Cloud (.xyz, .txt, .asc, .vda, .igs)

Data Export CapabilitiesFile Format Inventor SolidWorks

SolidWorks (.sldprt, .sldasm, .sldrw)

Pro/ENGINEER (.prt, .asm) IGES (.igs)

STEP AP203, STEP AP204 (.step) DXF (.dxf)

DWG (.dwg) ACIS (.sat)

Parasolids (.x_t, .x_b) VDAFS (.vda)

VRML (.wrl)

Parts only. Not available forassemblies or sheet metal

parts.


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File Format Inventor SolidWorks

STL (.stl) Parts only.

Adobe Photoshop (.psd)

Adobe Illustrator (.ai)

Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf)

JPEG (.jpg)

Tiff (.tif)

CATIA Graphics (.cgr)

eDrawings (.edrw, .eprt, .easm) Available with add-in.

3DXML (.3dxml)

Microsoft XAML (.xaml) HCG (.hcg)

HOOPS HSF (.hsf)

Viewpoint MTX/MTS (.mts) Universal 3D (.u3d)

SolidWorksand eDrawingsare registered trademarks or trademarks of Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corp.FeatureWorksis a registered trademark of Geometric Software Solutions Co. Limited. Other company and productnames are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All other brand names, productnames, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.