CATIA – replace it? How to get rid of IPS? SolidWorks vs Inventor vs 3DSMax?

Now that the US tax deadline has passed I’m busy receiving questions about CAD software…Just a few questions I received in my inbox today I thought I’d post about…

Your Question: Is there any software which can replace CATIA v6? Why CATIA rather than the other softwares?

Answer: CATIA v6 – its principal competitors are SolidWorks (owned by the same company) and AutoDesk Inventor Professional. But, if you’re working in the aeronautic or automotive industries, CATIA is a must. Basically CATIA works much more easily with freeform surface modeling, so you can create much more complex products much more quickly. The downside is that it’s more than 10 times the price of the ofter softwares!

Your Question: How do you delete inches, feet and all the other strange units in Autodesk Inventor 2014?

Answer: Funny to hear inches, feet and pounds described as “strange units”, hee hee! These are in fact imperial units, and are this is the archaic measurement standard still used in the United States, who never joined the metric age. It’s easy to switch units in Inventor but you wouldn’t actually “delete” the IPS (inches, pounds, seconds) standard, unless you manually delete templates etc. You can just configure your document template to use whichever units you prefer. The software is very flexible and intelligent about the way it manages units. If you need to work in IPS but are native to the metric system, Inventor will let you manage this also very easily and seamlessly.

Your Question: Autodesk vs Solidworks vs 3DSMax for product design to be 3D printed?

Answer: All three are suitable for product design to be 3D printed. It really depends on the product and the industry; you need to learn whichever software is being used by the company where you seek work. SolidWorks remains dominant.

That’s all for now, folks! Thanks.  Don’t forget to save 20% on all courses in our shopping cart with the “april” coupon code! We’ve got more than 30 hours of new SolidWorks 2014 materials just released.

Rosanna D, VTN  – www.video-tutorials.net   www.youtube.com/videotutorials2

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