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Battle
of the Bands
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Solidworks vs Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire- Alias vs Rhino. Which is better? What is right for me? How can i choose? These are common questions that IDSA Chicago set out to find the answers to. The overall opinion was as diverse as it was passionate. We all know everybody loves their own software and tempers often fly, much like the late 1980's debates of yesteryear such as Macintosh vs Windows vs Unix, or MAC vs PC vs RISC, or Ford vs Chevy vs GM. I have always enjoyed these debates so the last month or so in Chicago has been great with everyone debating on everything from the war in Iraq to the state of the economy. This ISDA debate was too intriguing an opportunity to pass up. Heading off to the debate, I imagined that people would mostly be dignified and reserved, but deep-down I hoped for a louder and more rowdy, popcorn-throwing audience. Beer and finger food was supplied. The moderators, namely Marianne Grisdale (Chicago Chapter Chair of IDSA) and Tim Copland (IDSA) who facilitated the event, wished it to be an informal experience, free of the vendor sales presentations that often overshadow the authenticity of such debates. The moderators also hoped that the audience would leave the event more enlightened and informed than when they had come. In all, a large turnout of about 130 people showed up to witness four high-end users model the ACCO Swingline Stapler. COMMENTS Erik Holverson of Packer Technologies, Chicago thought it would have been beneficial to see all the experienced users using each software package. He would have preferred to see each user spend a half hour showing what each software can do, the thought process behind each user's approach as well as a brief capability assessment of each software. It would really have been helpful if there was a chart or display comparing all of the software packages so that the essential differences were readily apparent to all. Aaron Eiger of Design Integrity of Chicago running SolidWorks, wanted to highlight the specific capabilities of all the programs. "We were able to see what could be done on other software, 'the real deal' and not just what the software vendors want us to see, by allowing the power users show us what could be done. Every vendor seems to think that their software does not have problems." - Aaron Eiger aaron@designintegrity.com Tim Copland of Podd Morrow Design, Chicago, one of the event planners, did not see any clear victor and helped put things in perspective. He believed the whole process helped people to understand the balance between individual needs and what each program has to offer. "We used Think3, now we use Solidworks. It was helpful for me to learn that people use more than one software at a time." Tim thought it interesting how a lot of software is now used in tandem with another for example IDEO uses Rhino and Pro/E, teams use Rhino in conjunction with something else, Sram uses Alias and Pro/E. Incidentally, it's interesting to see the division that has formed between design and engineering. Kent Solburg of SRAM Corporation with headquarters in Chicago and who was also at this event running Alias Studio made some good points. "It's not the tool that is the most important but rather it is the user. Cad packages are essentially just a pencil or a marker and results depend on the talent and proficiency of each user. All are very in depth." - Kent Solberg ksolberg@sram.com Kent did not get into the workings. He just showed us he went from Alias to Pro/E very fast. People were modeling four different platforms. "What we did not see was the nuances and the troubles we had", Kent says. "we only spoke about general use of the software." CONSENSUS: Following the above decision, Design-engine.com wanted to do a little research and find out not only the actual cost of each of the programs and maintenance as well. So I asked people if they new what each program cost. Most did not want to comment for sure so I asked them to guess. Everyone seemed to know that Rhino was under $1000.00 and very few people had any idea of the cost of Pro/ENGINEER. Below is what I found out, since there were several other packages mentioned in the discussion I researched those as well. I asked four or five people and the results are below. PERCEPTION
OF COST: Alias Rhino
Pro/ENGINEER MAYA
ACTUAL
COST: (Check back this week for the perspective
models)
Alias http://www.alias.com Design Studio $7500.00 (promo $4000.00 includes) Alias Studio tools $25000.00 Rhino http://www.rhino3d.com 895.00 Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire http://www.ptc.com Wildfire Foundation Advantage Package: $4995.00 This package of the software has the core solid modeling, assembly, simplified reps. It also comes stock with parametric surfacing capabilities called Pro/SURFACE and sheetmetal, welding, and photo rendering. It does not come with the ISDX free form surfacing functions that were used to model the ACCO Swingline stapler.
MAYA http://www.alias.com Complete $1999.00 Core product includes FX and artisan. Maya Unlimited 6999.00 all that plus cloth and fur. Ashlar Vellum http://www.ashlar.com three products intended for industrial designers. Graphite 995.00 (professional drafting –was Vellum), Argon (solid and surface modeling with rendering -entry level surface modeler like Rhino), $995.00, and Xenon. 2995.00 Combines Graphite and Argon and combines those functions and adds parametric history tree with associability. Cobalt is targeted more to more engineers and that price is $3995.00 on demand dimensionally constrained parametrics which allows geometric relations. Think
3 http://www.think3.com
Annual subscription fee. A customer gets upgrades. Includes e-training
and support. A
FUTURE EVENT: Bart Brejcha Design-engine.com |
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SPECIAL
NOTE: VIEW LAST YEARS 2002 WINNERS 2003 INTERNATIONAL PHOTOREAL FURNITURE COMPETITION INFORMATION PAGE. look for entry form and other information here.
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