AutoDesk came out with inventor to target the ProE and Solid works products. Up until Inventor came out, AutoDesk did not have a high powered 3d modeling platform - their best effort was Mechanical Desktop - which was a good go-between for small to medium sized 3d models, but fell FAR short for anything of complexity. I have used both AutoCad 2004, Inventor, Mechanical Desktop, and a tad of ProE.
Inventor is very close to ProE with some major improvements in the ease of use area.
As said above, there are excellent translation programs available between all of the major platforms, something like Rhinoceros works great for us... anyway.
My opinion would be that Inventor would have the shortest learning curve and greatest support base - mainly because the support base for inventor is growing rapidly now that people are wanting to upgrade CAD programs. The past 3 years have been slow for many industries, and things like CAD software were compromised.
If you have not tried inventor out, contact your local reseller and schedule a demo - that is a great way to see the program first hand, see the capabilities, and decide if it is right for you. I assume you could do the same thing with solid works or pro-e.
One more thing - AutoDesk is working on database compatibility for inventor. when that happens, A WHOLE NEW WORLD will open up for cad programs and users - the ability to pull data from a database!
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by: meintsiPosted on 2004-12-07 at 07:02:52ID: 12764404
Boy is this a loaded quesstion. But since no one else has responded I'll put in my $.02.
I've used SolidWorks for the last four years and would really, really hate to have to use another CAD program. I have had some 'experience with' /'exposure to' CADKey, ProE, AUTOCAD and SoildEdge and only SolidEdge comes close to the intuitiveness when working with solids. ProE is way over priced unless you are paying even more for the addin packages whose computing power far distances itself from the other packages. But mnay third party companies are closing this gap for the other Mid-Level CAD programs.
Weak areas in SoildWorks are still in the drawing creation and surface modeling areas, but 2005 has made significant gains in these areas.
In response to one of your other questions, 10 to 15 years ago, the CAD program of choice seemed to be region-specific. That is no longer the case. And with the multitudes of translators between the programs, the choice of the CAD program a company chooses has become down to what is the cost of the software vs how does it function for my specific needs. A sheet metal shop has drastically different requirements when compared to an aircraft company developing wing-shapes.