Solidworks is free for 90 days- their "stimulus package"

[jime57]

Can someone knowledgable comment on the computer specifications required to run these various programs. I'd like to give something a try, but I have the general impression that these programs require a huge, fast, expensive computer :-(

[Blue Bomber Man]

Now if they would just give floworks away as well.... :-)

The 2009 version comes with FloworksXpress. It won't do full computational CFD results, but it will show airflow around a vehicle and will show you relative drag areas and turbulence.

Can someone knowledgable comment on the computer specifications required to run these various programs. I'd like to give something a try, but I have the general impression that these programs require a huge, fast, expensive computer :-(

I've been running SolidWorks 07 on my Laptop smoothly, and not under the best conditions either. Solidworks 07 requires XP, but I am running Windows Vista with 2Gigs of ram. I am Virtualizing XP on my Laptop and running Solidworks inside XP. It runs surprisingly well. I think performance would degrade fast if I was using larger assemblies with more components though.

I am demoing the 09 32 bit version now, but I haven't had time to really explore it yet. It appears to run ok, but I really haven't designed anything in it yet.

[Blue Bomber Man]

So the new SolidWorks is extremely sweet and it made me decide to scrounge up some cash for a new computer. Working on a laptop was getting old!

Once I become more familiar with it I am hoping to help Paul with his controller project and design the layouts etc in Solidworks. I can then do some analysis of the assembly for managing heat transfer, cooling etc. I think the program may also do circuit layout, I'll have to look into that more in the near future.

[MechEngVT]

I presently work with SolidWorks 2007 on an XP workstation with a 3.2 GHz Xeon processor and 2 GB RAM. I deal with some large assemblies and while I have noticed they cause some rendering hiccups graphically I have not yet run into memory overruns or similar issues.

Prior to SW06/07 I worked in Pro/Engineer 2001, Wildfire, and Wildfire 2.0. SolidWorks is *much* easier to learn and become proficient with than any Pro/E package. That said, I do have SolidWorks 2008 Vista 32bit at home and don't use it much. It's quite a bit different than 2007 which I have to use at work so I don't want to confuse myself. Another issue with Pro/E is it uses far more memory resources and has more issues with memory management causing more frequent overruns and crashes.

SolidWorks can typically save various file types or "universal" export files to use on different systems. As far as I have seen SketchUp doesn't handle this as well (maybe Pro does?). SolidWorks is a real solid modeling program and is very capable...I can strongly recommend it if you want to hone your skills as a mechanical designer (not sure how well it would work out for architectural/civil engineering folks though...not sure what's involved in that type of work but they all prefer AutoCAD).

[laserlipo]

This is a good package for all one so use it and this is a stimulus package in which The Solidworks is free for 90 days, isnt is nice..
So i think all one have to use it...

[Jim Bullis]

I am not a real designer, but I have made a lot of patent drawings and other illustrations. I have worked with low cost CAD (all the way back to the most primitive early PC CADs), Autosketch, and high cost CAD (Full Autocad). Over the years Turbocad Pro (get the mechanical full powered version) has gotten better and better. At this point the only things it will not do are the things I have not gotten smart enough about. It takes some adjusting to go from one CAD to another, but I particularly like the way Turbocad uses 2D shapes to make 3D shapes. Sometimes it seems a little fussy about having things in the exact plane to start with, but I have always been able to get it to work if I stick with it. For my purposes anyway, Turbocad is a lot more convenient for color and line types. Autocad still (last I looked several years ago) has that clumsy pen stuff, like it thinks we still are using ink pens on an XY plotter. But as I say, I am not a real designer.

I strongly recommend this Turbocad CAD because its creators have not gotten greedy and exclusive about things. (Autocad made it so you could bring a file from elsewhere and if you modified it you could not move it back. I thought that stunk. Even Autosketch has become expensive.)

I am having no trouble running this with an HP Pavilion, I think with 2GB memory. It is 2-3 years old and it looks like the equivalent is about $500 now. Monitors are so good, big, and cheap now so go for a big one. Five years ago I paid around $800 for a good monitor which I still use, but it looks like I could get a better one now for about $300.