dgs
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Metoo said:DGS wrote; "But you can't align to a model surface in SW, you have to use the edge."
I'm lost as to your reference...
I was referring to SW sketcher. You cannot align sketch entities to model surfaces. You have to use an edge. Now, create a cube by sketching a square and extruding it. Now round the 4 extruded corners (the corners created by the sketch). Add a hole on the sketch plane and dimension it to the side of the cube. You have to dimension to an edge created by your round. The hole is a child of the round. Now, SW may do a pretty good job of sorting through this simple example (as does Pro|E, frankly), but in more complicated cases I've seen it fail and you have to go and find a new edge to dimension to. Pro|E has the same problem if you use an edge like that, but if you dimension to the surface of the cube, the hole is not a child of the round at all.
Metoo said:Unlike in Pro-e, which sets idly by while you try to figure out what your feature is missing, SW pops up a message window with the error messagepointing to the problem if you try to complete the task with missing info.
Frankly I found the error messages in SW as cryptic as Pro|E's at times. No real difference there in my experience. I do like that SW will leave a failed feature (and its children) hanging and regen the rest of the model.
Metoo said:It appears that you have not spent much time using SW.
I'll give you that. My only real in depth design project was about 6 months ago and I had to use SW 2005 per the client's request. Perhaps it's improved in 2006 or 2007. I'll also grant you that much of my frustration was in trying use SW like I use Pro|E. I've become quite adept at getting Pro|E to do what I want it to. I've learned exactly how to communicate with it t get the results. Come to PTC|User in Long Beach and I'm doing a presentation on how totalk toPro|E.
SW doesn't respond to the inputs I give Pro|E, it won't even take them in many cases. Perhaps I just need a 'How to talk to SW' class.
Metoo said:Of all the whining and complaining that takes place on the Pro-e forum over SolidWorks,it should be kept in mind, like it or not, if you plan to stay in the business of design engineering, it would bewise to learn Solidworks.... The future of Pro-e is in doubt.
Honestly, lots of SW fans make claims like this with no data to show SW growing faster than Pro|E or Pro|E shrinking. Maybe it is. I know that PTC claimed at last year's PTC|User conferencePro|E is growing faster than the overall MCAD market.They stated thatthe market was growingat 5% and Pro|E at 15%. Is that PTC putting a positive spin on the stats? Maybe, but it is at least a statistic instead of an opinion.