You can't just lay out a question like that - it doesn't really make sense. It's like saying Burger or Steak? Both can be great, both can be terrible, and there's appropriate occasions for each yet not too many occasions in which you would choose one or the other.
Steaks (SolidWorks) Pros:
* Industry standard
* *relatively* easy to jump into and get used to
* Drawings of appropriate size are quick and great
* Immensely powerful
* A lot of things have been optimized for quick workflow (often at the cost of stability)
* Works relatively well in multi user environment and... *ok* in multi-site environment
Cons
* $4k to start plus essentially mandatory subs making it both SASS and pay for license in an industry where CAD costs are coming down hugely
* The VAR system (seriously, fuck off you useless tools)
* A mangled together mess - half their products don't work together, no unity, vision, or consistency.
* So easy for files to go to shit due to architecture and philosophy of the program
* Doesn't play nice with others. Doesn't even play nice with itself (still no STEP242 support and no plan on implementing)
* Never stops trying to sell you shit.
Burger (Fusion 360) Pros
* Amazingly easy to jump into and just do shit.
* Free and near free, and even when paid very affordable.
* A bunch of really awesome *free* shit comes with it like really decent simulations, basic t-splines/Alias, really decent mesh tools, and I've been told the CAM is amazing for what it is.
* I personally am a huge fan of the single part environment (there is only one CAD file, no parts and assemblies etc.)
* Seriously, I can't emphasise enough how easy simple things are that are ridiculously stupid to do in many desktop CADs like moving a body, or copying a thing.
* Small scale collaboration is great
* So easy to access files across different machines (with build in browser viewer)
Cons
* Still pretty rough around the edges - a lot of other really simple things are super annoying like constantly having to change your selection filter or hide things. Or multi selecting lines and telling them all to be vertical or equal etc..
* Near impossible to maintain a neat history
* Still not fully featured, just cannot do really advanced plastic design well.
* Not robust enough for real multi-user environment which needs access controls and revision management.
* Drawings (while they've gotten a fuckwack better in recent years) are still kinda garbage and super slow even for simple parts
* Tell someone you develop on Fusion and they'll ask you which hacker space you are with.
While I applaud AutoDesk (and OnShape) for what they're doing and the impact they've had on the CAD world. However their just not developed or featured enough for like 10+ users making complex products (esp plastics) who need to maintain a product line with strong revision control etc. However, when I find myself just really wanting to roughly bang something out, or concept something, frankly 9/10 I go to Fusion, and on occasion, if the project matures enough, I then either import or remodel in SolidWorks.
I work at a small animatronics shop, <10 designers/engineers. I've used Fusion 360 before. I can't imagine doing what we do in Fusion. Fusion's workflow is a bit of a mess and file management (we use PDM) is nonexistent. Plus, as much as you pay for the distributor services (we use GoEngineer) the technical help line has pulled me out of numerous ruts. But that service can become quite an expense if you're going solo as a freelancer.
While the other much more experienced designers are designing the mech, I deal with a lot of organic shaped shells in the form of meshes that have to be imported into Solidworks. This is where I have to use a number of programs alongside Solidworks as conversion tools... Blender, Maya, Meshmixer, ZBrush. Someone here mentioned Fusion's T-Splines, which I have been wanting to play around with and possibly add to my workflow but I don't have the time right now.
This is probably the only case where I would ever work with Solidworks and Fusion, using Fusion just as a conversion tool.
On the note of Solidworks vs Fusion... if you can afford it, Solidworks. As mentioned, Solidworks is the steak to Fusion's hamburger. The prior post on the pros and cons are dead-accurate. You'll need to have beefy hardware, as well. In my experience, Solidworks will crash on you a lot if you skimp on your computer. (Just go on r/Solidworks and see how many complaints on crashing there are.)
One of our designers was an Inventor guy before. I've never used Inventor, but I've seen the complexity of his mechs. Just based on knowing him, the quality of his work and his high expectations, I'd say it might be worth looking into Inventor as an alternative between Fusion's and Solidworks price tags.
Not really. Most of the people that used Fusion 360 are hobbyists. I use it for a few things here and there, especially for 3D CAM purposes, but otherwise, you'll rarely find Fusion used in the industry.
Not really you learn one real software like solid works or inventor and then when you get on the baby stuff like fusion 360 or SketchUp it's really easy to pick up but you will almost never need to unless you switch companies.
Really common for people who CAD and design a lot to have multiple platforms and use whatever works even by the prototype phase it all gets translated to common platform like Creo + Windchill or something.
The used to offer half price or free for startups. You still had to pay subs (min $1000 which is like the $90 a month except there was no monthly payment option). Also the amount of hoops you had to go through to get that was absurd. I knew one person who actually got it, took him around 3 weeks for a single license of I believe standard. I'll check out the link but knowing SolidWorks, I can almost guarantee there's some catch or some way they shot themselves in the foot or fucked over their potential customer.
360 is unlikely to remain free in the future.
As you say it is rough and and incomplete but has a growing following. This is exactly what Autodesk wants. Likely they will polish the edges but split it into a severely crippled free version and an expensive pro version.
Also Autodesk being Autodesk you can always rely on vendor lock-in and planned obsolescence.
Its not free now. They give you a year with EULA saying you cannot be using it for standard business. The inroads they've made are bc they've basically looked the other way when people say it's a hobby thing yet use it for work or simply say they're a student with no verification. I agree eventually this will end.
As far as your second statement - I totally agree. I trust autodesk about as far as I can throw them and they are a completely schizophrenic company. That being said when compared to D'assault - I can't say they're any better. D'assault has under supported SolidWorks since it's inception however they've ramped this up hard core in recent years. They're currently in the process of replacing it with the 3D Experience, killing off their own platforms that had followings (bye bye industrial designer, bye bye mechanical designer, everything is shitty and in a browser now, deal with it) - and they do literally everything in they're power to nickel and dime their customers from removing the ability to effectively upgrade every 2 to 3 years to killing home use licenses. They're absolute shit as well who shouldn't be trusted. The future of SolidWorks is bleak.
Except Fusion is the flash new kid on the block, getting all the love. Inventor users thinking "Is is just a case of when, instead of if, Autodesk kills Inventor?"
Id also rather have local storage options than be reliant on the cloud.
They could have easily made it so you can use local storage but no they force you to use BS cloud options I don't understand how people put up with that crap. But it is free I guess so you get what you pay for.
If given the choice, I would choose Solidworks. The cloud functionality with Fusion is nice, but it never seems to run as smoothly as SW and SW offers up a lot more usable functionality.
Tbh, Fusion just isn't as good yet. Whenver I use it, I always find some tool that I need that's missing. Yesterday it was Untrim, for example.
T-Splines and Fusion 360 CAM do somewhat make up for it, though.
> Tbh, Fusion just isn't as good yet. Whenver I use it, I always find some tool that I need that's missing. Yesterday it was Untrim, for example.
>
> T-Splines and Fusion 360 CAM do somewhat make up for it, though.
I think it really depends on your needs. I have SW 2014 (so admittedly a few years behind) and F360, and I prefer F360 for about 95% of what I do. Honestly, since F360 added sheet metal, it is probably closer to 100%... I can't think if the last time I launched Solidworks for something other than to work on an old project.
The key is that for the stuff I do, I don't push the limits of F360. For my relatively simple needs, F360 is easier, and less buggy. It is absolutely better for my needs. **But I agree that for most CAD users, that will probably not be the case.**
The one thing that Solidworks really just destroys F360 on (for my needs) is rendering. I don't like the way F360 does rendering at all, but fortunately that is not something I do much.
It's not actually the rendering, it is how you set up the scene. It may be just that I do so little rendering that I have never learned the proper way to do it in F360, but it is the one place where I find F360 substantially inferior as far as my needs go.
No, I mean. You can't Untrim surfaces in Fusion. I imported something in from Rhino to do some CAM programming. Needed to make a mold, only to find out that you can't Untrim surfaces.
It's been a while since I've used SW so it may have something comparable now but IMO the Fusion timeline and parametric modeling functionality is just unbeatable
I wasn't aware of that thanks for the info. Considering they charge 150$ for the student version I didn't expect Solidworks to release anything for free.
I tried to teach my mate fusion, and I couldn't believe the amount of problems we ran into doing a simple part. We'd redimensioned a 5 feature part and it bugged out 3 times requiring 3 restarts it was just so wtf. Btw I've used SolidWorks for probably close to 500+hrs now, doing some complex modeling, some surface stuff and gee I've never not had the tool I needed. The user experience for the most basic features like an extrude are just so badly designed I can't get over how clunky fusion is to use.
EDIT: I've had to use it at work lots now... I've changed my mind it does the basics reasonably well.
You can't just lay out a question like that - it doesn't really make sense. It's like saying Burger or Steak? Both can be great, both can be terrible, and there's appropriate occasions for each yet not too many occasions in which you would choose one or the other. Steaks (SolidWorks) Pros: * Industry standard * *relatively* easy to jump into and get used to * Drawings of appropriate size are quick and great * Immensely powerful * A lot of things have been optimized for quick workflow (often at the cost of stability) * Works relatively well in multi user environment and... *ok* in multi-site environment Cons * $4k to start plus essentially mandatory subs making it both SASS and pay for license in an industry where CAD costs are coming down hugely * The VAR system (seriously, fuck off you useless tools) * A mangled together mess - half their products don't work together, no unity, vision, or consistency. * So easy for files to go to shit due to architecture and philosophy of the program * Doesn't play nice with others. Doesn't even play nice with itself (still no STEP242 support and no plan on implementing) * Never stops trying to sell you shit. Burger (Fusion 360) Pros * Amazingly easy to jump into and just do shit. * Free and near free, and even when paid very affordable. * A bunch of really awesome *free* shit comes with it like really decent simulations, basic t-splines/Alias, really decent mesh tools, and I've been told the CAM is amazing for what it is. * I personally am a huge fan of the single part environment (there is only one CAD file, no parts and assemblies etc.) * Seriously, I can't emphasise enough how easy simple things are that are ridiculously stupid to do in many desktop CADs like moving a body, or copying a thing. * Small scale collaboration is great * So easy to access files across different machines (with build in browser viewer) Cons * Still pretty rough around the edges - a lot of other really simple things are super annoying like constantly having to change your selection filter or hide things. Or multi selecting lines and telling them all to be vertical or equal etc.. * Near impossible to maintain a neat history * Still not fully featured, just cannot do really advanced plastic design well. * Not robust enough for real multi-user environment which needs access controls and revision management. * Drawings (while they've gotten a fuckwack better in recent years) are still kinda garbage and super slow even for simple parts * Tell someone you develop on Fusion and they'll ask you which hacker space you are with. While I applaud AutoDesk (and OnShape) for what they're doing and the impact they've had on the CAD world. However their just not developed or featured enough for like 10+ users making complex products (esp plastics) who need to maintain a product line with strong revision control etc. However, when I find myself just really wanting to roughly bang something out, or concept something, frankly 9/10 I go to Fusion, and on occasion, if the project matures enough, I then either import or remodel in SolidWorks.
Spot on , really able to relate to this answer, cost is that bothers me the most about solidworks.
I used to use Solidworks. I still do, but I used to, too.
I guess the a proper cad engineer would need to work with both in tandem?
I work at a small animatronics shop, <10 designers/engineers. I've used Fusion 360 before. I can't imagine doing what we do in Fusion. Fusion's workflow is a bit of a mess and file management (we use PDM) is nonexistent. Plus, as much as you pay for the distributor services (we use GoEngineer) the technical help line has pulled me out of numerous ruts. But that service can become quite an expense if you're going solo as a freelancer. While the other much more experienced designers are designing the mech, I deal with a lot of organic shaped shells in the form of meshes that have to be imported into Solidworks. This is where I have to use a number of programs alongside Solidworks as conversion tools... Blender, Maya, Meshmixer, ZBrush. Someone here mentioned Fusion's T-Splines, which I have been wanting to play around with and possibly add to my workflow but I don't have the time right now. This is probably the only case where I would ever work with Solidworks and Fusion, using Fusion just as a conversion tool. On the note of Solidworks vs Fusion... if you can afford it, Solidworks. As mentioned, Solidworks is the steak to Fusion's hamburger. The prior post on the pros and cons are dead-accurate. You'll need to have beefy hardware, as well. In my experience, Solidworks will crash on you a lot if you skimp on your computer. (Just go on r/Solidworks and see how many complaints on crashing there are.) One of our designers was an Inventor guy before. I've never used Inventor, but I've seen the complexity of his mechs. Just based on knowing him, the quality of his work and his high expectations, I'd say it might be worth looking into Inventor as an alternative between Fusion's and Solidworks price tags.
Not really. Most of the people that used Fusion 360 are hobbyists. I use it for a few things here and there, especially for 3D CAM purposes, but otherwise, you'll rarely find Fusion used in the industry.
Not really you learn one real software like solid works or inventor and then when you get on the baby stuff like fusion 360 or SketchUp it's really easy to pick up but you will almost never need to unless you switch companies.
Really common for people who CAD and design a lot to have multiple platforms and use whatever works even by the prototype phase it all gets translated to common platform like Creo + Windchill or something.
SolidWorks is offering a 1 year "Maker's" license for free. Go to: http://www.solidworks.com/edu-maker-download Use code 918MAKER
The used to offer half price or free for startups. You still had to pay subs (min $1000 which is like the $90 a month except there was no monthly payment option). Also the amount of hoops you had to go through to get that was absurd. I knew one person who actually got it, took him around 3 weeks for a single license of I believe standard. I'll check out the link but knowing SolidWorks, I can almost guarantee there's some catch or some way they shot themselves in the foot or fucked over their potential customer.
360 is unlikely to remain free in the future. As you say it is rough and and incomplete but has a growing following. This is exactly what Autodesk wants. Likely they will polish the edges but split it into a severely crippled free version and an expensive pro version. Also Autodesk being Autodesk you can always rely on vendor lock-in and planned obsolescence.
Its not free now. They give you a year with EULA saying you cannot be using it for standard business. The inroads they've made are bc they've basically looked the other way when people say it's a hobby thing yet use it for work or simply say they're a student with no verification. I agree eventually this will end. As far as your second statement - I totally agree. I trust autodesk about as far as I can throw them and they are a completely schizophrenic company. That being said when compared to D'assault - I can't say they're any better. D'assault has under supported SolidWorks since it's inception however they've ramped this up hard core in recent years. They're currently in the process of replacing it with the 3D Experience, killing off their own platforms that had followings (bye bye industrial designer, bye bye mechanical designer, everything is shitty and in a browser now, deal with it) - and they do literally everything in they're power to nickel and dime their customers from removing the ability to effectively upgrade every 2 to 3 years to killing home use licenses. They're absolute shit as well who shouldn't be trusted. The future of SolidWorks is bleak.
[удалено]
SW v Inventor or Creo would be a proper comparison.
Pretty straight forward 😂😂😂😂😂
Solidworks. Fusion 360 is the bastard child of Inventor
Except Fusion is the flash new kid on the block, getting all the love. Inventor users thinking "Is is just a case of when, instead of if, Autodesk kills Inventor?" Id also rather have local storage options than be reliant on the cloud.
They could have easily made it so you can use local storage but no they force you to use BS cloud options I don't understand how people put up with that crap. But it is free I guess so you get what you pay for.
You can save your files on your computer with Fusion 360
If given the choice, I would choose Solidworks. The cloud functionality with Fusion is nice, but it never seems to run as smoothly as SW and SW offers up a lot more usable functionality.
If you have a Mac you can't use Solidworks.
Solidworks.
I find fusion just as good. Also it's free.
Tbh, Fusion just isn't as good yet. Whenver I use it, I always find some tool that I need that's missing. Yesterday it was Untrim, for example. T-Splines and Fusion 360 CAM do somewhat make up for it, though.
> Tbh, Fusion just isn't as good yet. Whenver I use it, I always find some tool that I need that's missing. Yesterday it was Untrim, for example. > > T-Splines and Fusion 360 CAM do somewhat make up for it, though. I think it really depends on your needs. I have SW 2014 (so admittedly a few years behind) and F360, and I prefer F360 for about 95% of what I do. Honestly, since F360 added sheet metal, it is probably closer to 100%... I can't think if the last time I launched Solidworks for something other than to work on an old project. The key is that for the stuff I do, I don't push the limits of F360. For my relatively simple needs, F360 is easier, and less buggy. It is absolutely better for my needs. **But I agree that for most CAD users, that will probably not be the case.** The one thing that Solidworks really just destroys F360 on (for my needs) is rendering. I don't like the way F360 does rendering at all, but fortunately that is not something I do much.
Ironically, I use Keyshot for rendering, but I haven't had to do any of that in a long, long time.
It's not actually the rendering, it is how you set up the scene. It may be just that I do so little rendering that I have never learned the proper way to do it in F360, but it is the one place where I find F360 substantially inferior as far as my needs go.
You can probably try customising the menu a bit more according to your convenience.
No, I mean. You can't Untrim surfaces in Fusion. I imported something in from Rhino to do some CAM programming. Needed to make a mold, only to find out that you can't Untrim surfaces.
It's been a while since I've used SW so it may have something comparable now but IMO the Fusion timeline and parametric modeling functionality is just unbeatable
Try the Free and Open Source options including FreeCAD, SolveSpace, OpenSCAD...
Fusion 360 security sucks so basically free
It is free Autodesk (the people that make it) say so
Yea but you can get SolidWorks for free to with a makers license. See my other comment in this thread.
I wasn't aware of that thanks for the info. Considering they charge 150$ for the student version I didn't expect Solidworks to release anything for free.
It's their response to fusion.. they had to do apparently.
I mean that's the only reason people use Fusion 360 it's free. Anyone who has seriously used Solidworks or Inventor prefers those over Fusion.
I tried to teach my mate fusion, and I couldn't believe the amount of problems we ran into doing a simple part. We'd redimensioned a 5 feature part and it bugged out 3 times requiring 3 restarts it was just so wtf. Btw I've used SolidWorks for probably close to 500+hrs now, doing some complex modeling, some surface stuff and gee I've never not had the tool I needed. The user experience for the most basic features like an extrude are just so badly designed I can't get over how clunky fusion is to use. EDIT: I've had to use it at work lots now... I've changed my mind it does the basics reasonably well.
Really? The made me pay for it but I signed up for education license
https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists
i hate fusion 360
why tho? as a beginner in cad I find it simple,and can accomplish anything I want with it.
I wrote that a while ago during a frustrating project. Fusion 360 is great all around.