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Pro-E vs Solidworks

B

billdaugherty

New member
Just a couple of general questions for the group:


1) I have always heard it said that it is easier for a ProE user to learn SolidWorks than the reverse.... True..?? Why..??


2) Is it plausible for an experienced ProE user to take a SolidWorks job and hope to 'adjust on the fly'. Do-able.....?? Impossible...?? Bad Idea...??


Thanks in advance for all the help....
 
1. True (but the ProE user needs to let go some things and accept others


2. Do-able. I would go further and say that an experienced user of any 3-D CAD package should be able to adjust and use any package (with a bit of time to initialise himself/herself)


Kev
 
1 - As a Pro/E user who is now using Solidworks, I would say that it is probably true that it is easier to go from Pro/E to Solidworks. My thought on the why is that Pro/E makes you constrain things. In Solidworks, you can get away with leaving things unconstrained. The letting things go is not easy for me. Also, to get going on Pro/E, there was a bit more training required on design intent and the messes that can be made if you aren't careful of your references. Solidworks seems in some areas to be less worried about that. (and on letting things go, if you like reroute, be prepared to not have that in Solidworks except for your sketch plane)

2 - As far as "adjust on the fly" my experience has been that the Pro/Fanity module gets employed much much much much more often with Solidworks than Pro/E because I feel that I don't have as much control. I think in part it will matter what kind of modeler you are. If you are very deliberate about how you create your Pro/E models and how you constrain things to reduce failures, then some things about Solidworks will drive you bonkers. If you aren't that concerned about it, you won't notice the differences. I didn't have formal training, just worked thru the tutorials and have used the Solidworks forums to try to find the answers. The other users here have some but not loads of experience so can answer the easier questions. There are many people who switch from Pro/E to Solidworks and love it.
 
Dear billdaugherty,


As u had said it is very easy to switch over to solidworks from pro-e.. Hardly it will take 1 or 2 days to get trained in solidworks.
 
carrieives said:
1 - As a Pro/E user who is now using Solidworks, I would say that it is probably true that it is easier to go from Pro/E to Solidworks. My thought on the why is that Pro/E makes you constrain things. In Solidworks, you can get away with leaving things unconstrained.
Click to expand...


I don't agree with this statement completely. Yes, you are right in that constraints aren't displayed automatically in SW and the sketch can then be used for whatever but that just leads to disasters later on. Try and adjust dimensions and you won't have full control over what happens the unconstrained areas. So yes, you can get away without applying akk the constarints but anyone doing this would be very foolish. As far as ProE goes, even though it does constrain things auto, I would always constrain it in my own way and not let ProE decide for me cause anyone I've seen let it do this again leads to trouble.


1&2. Coming from SW, using it for 5 years then swapping to ProE was a hard transition initaially but as prohammy says, a competent CAD user should be able to learn another CAD package easily enough. I use both packages on a daily basis and like them both. No real complaints though I prefer family tables in SW over ProE.
smiley4.gif
 
my hunch is the only reason its easier for proe people to learn solidworks is because proe people are smarter (i laugh at my own jokes means I am not smarter)

It can never hurt to be honest with your new employer. In a week or two you will be up and running. It could not hurt to take a class tho. The problem is you would be in with a bunch of folks learning cad for the first time. I could not deal with that if I were in the same spot.
Edited by: design-engine
 
someone should do a menu mapper from pro-e to sw so people can find the commands...still looking for a bunch of em, in the end its all technique anyway, right...

why in the world is the file size so huge with import surfaces? eeee
 
I transitioned from Wildfire to S-Works 2006-2007, there were still a lot of bugs in the code then, but SP4 on 2008 is good. You can get away with more using S-Works, in terms of constraints and design intentions.


But as said above, any 3D CAD engineer should be able to package hop within a week!
 
After getting laid off from a soldiworks design job where i used Pro-E for a very limited time. I did get the Wildfire trial Cd sent to me so I could get a crash course at home in case I got offered a Pro-E job.


I soon did. I went from Solidworks to Pro-E and had minimal problems.


There are things I miss about Solidworks, but I'm not complaining... I've got a paycheck.


As I tell anyone in this situation. don't take the job based on the CAD package. You'll really limit yourself, and might miss a golden oppurtunity.
 
Ok, after reading this thread I thought I'd give my 2 cents. I'll admit, the only 3D package I've ever used is Pro/E. I've heard a lot of co-workers that have used solid works rant and rave about how SW's is just the best thing since sliced bread and how Pro/E sucks.


I've worked with extremely large assemblies for the last 6 years or so and all the research I've done says that no MCAD package handles these very well without lots and lots of memory and time.


As far as not constraining sketches completely in SW I can't imagine not doing that as everyone is human and tend to forget the details. Only to have lots of problems later on.


B.T.W. does anyone know where I could get a student version of SW so I could try it and see for myself how good/bad it is?
 
Whatever. Poorly acted, poorly written propaganda with little to no real facts. Kinda ironic that they show 3 guys in a trailer doing nothing but arguing as a promotion for 'collaboration'. PTC's cheesy 'Product Development Wilderness' live demo at PTC|User last year was a better demonstration of collaboration.

How does SW promote collaboration? User groups? Meh, PTC|User has been around 20 years and has more activity and knowledge depth than the SW forums. Here at MCAD, the Pro|E forum is many times more active than the SW.

PTC has been developing collaboration tools like Windchill PDMLink (and Intralink before that and Pro|PDM before that), Windchill Project Link, Windchill Projectpoint and integrating DRM technology for years.

There's 3 minutes of my life I won't get back.
 
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