I worked with both of these tools and found them very similar, but rather different at the same time. OK lets start with me, I'm an apprentice engineer who uses both of these tools, Autodesk Inventor in college and Pro Engineer at work. I have been using Autodesk for about three and a half years, so I do not have full visas on it, but I feel good on it. Pro Engineer I have only used the last 7 months, so my knowledge is a little less in this software package. Since it is clearly visible to everyone who I haven't used any software for very long, I am not familiar with every little trick every package is capable of, but I have a good idea of the basic functions of each software, and this is where the focus of this review.
Creating a 3D part is a simple, direct process. The only difficult part of creating the first three-dimensional part is all the different types of files. When the inventor of Autodesk opens, and you choose to create a new file that is presented to you with a beautiful little window, it looks quite simple? Look again that there is a good list of different types of files in different formats. If you don’t know what you are looking for, it can be a pain trying to find the type of file you want. I'm still wrong, so I decided to write a small text file telling me which commonly used files create a separate part, as well as an assembly and a technical drawing. I mean, who would have thought that BSI.IDW is a drawing! I rarely remember which one is right.
In this case, Pro Engineer is much simpler, in the Pro / E window there are 3 simple buttons, the first of which is called the “Starting part by default”, the following is “Starting starting assembly”, and the last one is the “Starting drawing for models”. After that, several windows appear; one requests the name for the part / assembly / drawing. After that, we get a second window, which is usually ignored, and the answers are accepted by default, reliably straightforward. Therefore, to facilitate the creation of a new part, I would have to give this moment to Pro Engineer.
Let's focus on creating a separate part for a bit. When Pro Engineer loads, it shows a set of three planes, which is a horizontal vertical and end plane. To start making a part, you need to choose what you want to do with a sketch that you have not created yet. For example, if you want to make a simple bar, as a rule, you will draw a circle and then extrude it along the length of the bar. In Pro Engineer, you need to choose extrusion as the first thing. From here, a small toolbar appears in the upper part of the window with the red color highlighted. When you click on a placement, you need to click on the definition ... and then on the plane ... and then sketch ... and then finally, you can start drawing! For me, it looks from a few to a few clicks, just to say: "I want to sketch on this surface and squeeze it out." This process is then modified for all the sketches you want to make that are directly on the surface of the part. To make a sketch on a surface, you must first select a surface, and then choose what you want to do with the sketch, and so on, as before. For sketches on a plane, you use the same process as the first sketch.
In Autodesk Inventor, we have a slightly different setting: first, when you open a new part, it automatically goes straight into sketch mode, but after that, for any other thumbnails, you follow what seems to me a much more logical way. You select “Create 2D Sketch” here, then select the surface on the part you want to draw. After selecting the surface, you will be taken directly to the sketch where you have drawn the design you need and select the finish. Now you have a sketch that you choose, that you want to do, for example, extrude. After you have made this choice, you will then select which part you want to give out, but only if there is more than one closed segment. By this I mean that if you just draw a circle on the surface when you choose extrude, it automatically determines the circle, but if you have a square around the circle because you want to extrude the square with a hole in you, then you need to choose either inside circle, or in a closed area around the circle. Therefore, in my opinion, working with both of these methods, I prefer the Autodesk Inventor method, it feels more reasonable and logical. There may be other ways to do this in Pro Engineer and Autodesk, but from the training I received in college, this is the only way I was taught in Autodesk Inventor with Pro Engineer, I worked with tutorials, and they have only one way mentioned. .
So now we see the similarities between the two programs, as well as some key differences. The next difference is short, but for me it is quite important. Hot keys, some people never touch them, some love them, I'm one of the lovers. In Autodesk Inventor 2011, they decided to jump on the most annoying wagon of the time, tape menus. I hate them! I could never find the tools I needed. I spent many hours trying to find where all my tools had moved when I jumped on Inventor 2011. Fortunately, I was able to break it down because I knew the hotkeys for key things. I could easily find how to create a sketch and finish the sketch, well, because I don’t know the hotkeys for them, but I know the hotkeys for things like; line drawing, circle drawing, line trimming, measuring tool, extruding, chamfer and much more. This meant that even with these moves I was still able to continue working. Not everyone gets hotkeys, but by learning the Inventor hotkeys, I was able to quickly create parts and models, because I don’t need to search for a tool or spend time moving the mouse to a tool and retreating, I know that the last moment is saved for only a few seconds , but add this, a few seconds, saved for each tool change ... quickly folding.
After a little less than 3 years on Autodesk Inventor, I moved to the design departments at work and started working on Pro Engineer. The most annoying thing for me is losing the hotkeys, Pro Engineer has no hotkeys, at least what I found. Therefore, for ease of use and search tools, I feel that this applies to Autodesk Inventor. Let's proceed to the creation of the assembly. Pro / Engineer reliably runs the process straight. You place the first part, and then install it on a binding to the heart assembly system. After that, you add items in turn each time, completely limiting the item to other parts of the assembly. Pro / Engineer uses a great system in which it automatically determines the required limit. This usually works well until you accidentally pick the wrong surface. Then it becomes painful to change. With the inventor, you can add as many parts as you like before holding back. The inventor automatically links the first part placed in the assembly, so this is the “grounded” part that does not move. After that, you can manually limit each item by selecting the type of limit manually.
My opinion is that both of them are good for different reasons. I like Pro / Engineer's automatic detection of constraints, but I also like Inventor clarity. For me, this should go to both. So, I will briefly talk about the basic use of both Autodesk Inventor and Pro / Engineer. To summarize, I prefer to work with Inventor, but this may be due to the fact that I taught Inventor and worked on it longer.
