Exactly, but that's what I was trying to point out, that Inventor can, in fact import and export native Catia files. Correct me if I'm wrong but the more conversions you do, the more you're asking for trouble. Any CAD package worth anything today can easily import neutral files.

The main point I was attempting to make is that IV can import (and most export) native Solidworks, Catia, Pro/E, UG & Parasolid (amoung many other formats) and convert to native IV files and allow you to add constraints and modify as if they were always IV files. SW on the other hand can not do this on as many levels, not even files from their own flagship software, Catia.

That would be like IV not being able to accept AutoCad files.

Both IV and SW can import and export previous version of the other party's file.
If your customer use the latest version, you're out of luck.

I think it is the other way around. If you are using a backrev version, you are out of luck. I always tried to have at least one running "current" version for just such an ocasion. If you keep your software on maintenance, there is no reason not to have a latest version operational.

I mean if you're using latest IV and your customer is using latest SW. Then you can only exchange dump solids.

I think we all know why SolidWorks as been missing the Catia import/export.........Dassault doesn't want SolidWorks reading Catia files and thus cannibalizing Catia sales. A Catia translator is coming I hear......although I don't think it will be free from what I hear.

IV and AutoCAD is a different situation....same company.....its also 2d to 3d....Apples to oranges.. We all know that Catia may own SolidWorks, but its still like two companies with competing products (Apples to Apples).

Are you saying that IV can import the models with all the sketches and constraints intact? Or are they being created and added ala Featureworks? Or maybe its the direct modeling thing?

Sometimes the neutral formats work better. Reason being that trying to read and decipher the competitors files may result in more errors than read a file like STEP, ACIS, or SAT that is a well known and published standard. Just my experience with importing files.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."

It has been my experience that on large complex assemblies, you might need to convert from multiple formats and reassemble the best translations.
As to CATIA, I think Dassault hasn't been hiding the fact that they don't want to over empower SW.

I have heard stories of Dasault trying to move large SW companies over to CATIA. I know that UGS (Siemens) has done that with SE to NX. Perhaps someday, there will be a clean migration path to CATIA for the SW community. Why would any development company want to continue to support two R&D paths if the products are very close technically. They are getting a lot closer with each release.

They're going to have bring the Catia cost dow to SolidWorks level before people considering move "up" to Catia. We left Catia for SolidWorks due to the easy of use and cost difference. Granted, it was Catia V4 on unix which was horribly complex and not user friendly not to mention 4 times the cost. Maybe v5 is better on the interface but I think it's still costly. It's hard enough getting management to spend another $5000 per SolidWorks seat when needed.....imagine $15,000 - $20,000.....in this economy, not happening.

Question is what's in store for v6. The SolidWorks cloud thing had SolidWorks v6 on the interface.

I'd like to see Alibre get more going.......it already looks like it does alot for the price......jsut seems to lack the marketing to really get rolling.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."

I heard recently that CATIA had a foundation package for ~6K-~$7k. To that you would need to add 2D modules. It wouldn't take much for Dassault to roll the prices down or even do a swap upgrade. The only version I saw was the Windows version and it looked pretty good. Didn't have the capacity of Inventor but still pretty respectable.

Still can't see us upgrading......not enough benefit. Plus the SolidWorks support is outstanding compared to our old Catia support. Basically I was told by that "you obviously don't understand the software" (in French accent) when we had a problem getting it to do what we wanted.

Hard to beat the SolidWorks community when you need something.......trying to find anything for Catia is well.......lacking.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."

Try not to laugh, nah go ahead and laugh your head off. I was once trying to install 64 bit CATIA and just couldn't get it to work. I sent an email to our office in Switzerland asking for help and wondered how they did it. They replied that they couldn't figure it out so flew Dassault techs in from France to do the installs for them.

lol....No worries about Catia taking over they world with that kind of service. If they do manage to start mucking around and create that kind of havoc with SolidWorks, I may well just recommend to management here that we go to something else......IV, SE or hey....maybe Alibre will fit the bill.....not hard to justify it on cost, and it looks like its capabilities are coming along.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."

I agree the ACad/IV being apples/oranges....but you get the point...I hope.
How about Inventor reading in Revit files and vice versa? Both are parametric 3D files from the same company. Granted, they are not competing, but still.

I think that's part of the problem with SW, it'll never be equal or better than Catia.
Inventor doesn't have that ceiling, Inventor is the flagship software.

Inventor imports in the solid, you either automatically have it recongnize each feature or manulally select the features you want to recognize. From there you can add constraints and then modify those constraints and thus modify the model. At this point the model is in fact a native IV file. To be honest, I haven't attempted to have IV recognize any sketch entities yet. But even if it didn't it's easy enough to create that sketch from the model and adjust it by constraints as needed.

Where has SolidWorks been held back besides the Catia translator? It has a fairly comprehensive set of surfacing tools which is Catia's strong point. Some of the surfacing tools are in fact using Catia code.....you can look in the install directory, there 30+ dll files prefixed with "CAT" (catadvancedmathematics.dll, catelfmathkernel.dll, etc.).

What SolidWorks lacks is Catia's specialized modules for ship building and automotive applications.

SolidWorks can do the same with imported models.....I can take an imported model and have it recognize features. I can let it recognize everything, or selectively recognize just one feature. It will add the sketch and contraints (relations) and dimensions if you select that option.

_________________
Jason
-I don't know if I'm alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering.

"Chuck Norris can speak braille."

Jason,
I don't think I was saying SW is being held back. What I was saying is that Inventor can and will read in numerous other cad files as native files as opposed to the standard "dumb solid". Pro/E, Catia, SW, Parasolid, UG, etc. Last time I checked and last time I requested SW to do such, they were unable to and that was release 2009. Maybe SW2010 has finally added these options, I don't know.

This is just one issue though. It is not the only issue. Your CAD needs may be totally different than mine or the needs of the customer I am working for.

In a nut shell these are the things they need SW to do just to be on par with what they have now with Inventor/ACAD/Navisworks:

1. Using equations in constraints
2. Show a part/sub assy as reference in assembly model and/or drawings
3. Ability to create user generated planes easily
4. Save a sweep or other feature as a library part
5. Create a pattern of a feature and be able to modify it after the fact
6. Undock all menus and locate such on a secondary screen (dual monitor set-up)
7. Custom Threads
8. 3D Sketching abilities (how they differ from 2D)
9. SW interaction with AutoDesk Plant Design
10. Factory parts (iParts/iAssemblies)
11. How SW deals with legacy files
12. How SW deals with 3rd party PLM programs and how does it offer version/revision control
13. Drawing Creation and templates of different standards per project
14. Multi-key short cuts
15. Large....and I mean LARGE assemblies
16. XRefs
17. Run on native 64bit

And ideally, their IT dept would love to stay with Inventor's avg of 2 Service Packs per release as opposed to SW's 6

One of my favorites is when Inventor opens native UGNX files that UGNX can't open.