Any Opinions on Solidworks vs Alibre

[Fastfretter]

I'm new to the whole CAD design world and am looking to get into a good 3d modeler. I'm not opposed to spending the money for Solidworks and it certainly looks like a good program but want to make sure it is worth spending 3 to 4 times the money for Solidworks over Alibre. I will be using it for designing highend musical instruments and I want something that doesn't take a rocketscientist degree to work with and also need it translate easily over to CAM software also and of course that is a whole other question there.

Thanks,
Mike

[NC_jimbo]

My decision got easier when my 8th grader son decided he was interested in learning CADCAM and got a full function 2year academic license for $69.

[ger21]

Based on your user name, I'm not sure either one would be the right choice. A lot of guitar builders use Rhino. Completely different type of CAD, though.

[CyborgCNC]

I had tried both, and Alibre does have a lot of similarities to solidworks.

I chose solidworks, because I think is has a lot more features, and best of all , a LARGE community of users. Sometimes, this is an overlooked factor....if a lot of people are using solidworks, don't you think that there will be more resources and knowledge out there? Have you seen books on alibre? (I just got my copy of the solidworks bible the other day... :-) )

SO that is my point....

This is exactly why I went with it, and have not looked back. Building guitars with solidworks is not very hard, and you can really put some very nice designs together....

It will require you to use both Solid modeling and surface modeling at the same time, but once you learn these techniques, the possibilities are endless...

Look for my other posts here to see some pics of guitars designed in SW, and I have attached an edrawing file for a model I recently did...to see what can be done in solidworks (open the .htm file with explorer....).

Peace...

[RandK]

As Gerry mentions Rhino is best for the freeform surfaces in guitars, particularly for arched (carved) tops. It has solids capability in addition to the surfacing but it is a hybrid modeler vs a solids modeler. There is a lot of training material available. SW is great, and for simple extruded body bolt-on guitars it would be fine but at $1300/yr just for maintenance it's overkill. Start with Rhino and since they are complementary products, add SW is you really want to use if for keeping track of assemblies and configs and for the simpler parts. I have both but could easily get by just with Rhino.

[Jay Kyle]

I've used Alibre for a couple of years, it's a great product. But the day came when I needed more - specifically the COSMOS components. So now I'm working with my vendor to make the transition.

I tend to call Alibre the "Son of Solidworks", and solidworks the "Son of Catia" as they all follow the style. In fact I find great comfort knowing that my skills I learned in Alibre transfer over pretty easily into Solidworks.

Jay

[JIMMY]

I personally would go with solidworks. It is very powerful and is very user friendly. You always can get help with it.