Isolating Parts in Assembly

[Rouge484]

This is the thing with Alibre... its very capable software and you can do a heck of a lot with it and achieve the same thing you would with top shelf software.

but

Often this involves a few extra steps or a different approach.

I will +1 Nate's comment.

I would agree, I am just getting into using it with a trial version. I am trying to compare what I can do in Solidworks and what I can do with Alibre. I am trying to base my decision on buying this software of investing a little more money to go with Solidworks.

 

[HaroldL]

I would agree, I am just getting into using it with a trial version. I am trying to compare what I can do in Solidworks and what I can do with Alibre. I am trying to base my decision on buying this software of investing a little more money to go with Solidworks.

I have to agree with Bigseb on this. Remember too that SolidWorks did not have all these slick options when it first came out, it took a few versions to get them added.
At my work we also use SolidWorks and I've tossed the idea of buying into SW for my home/hobby work. I could probably afford the initial purchase but their maintenance costs are outrageous ($400/month was the latest I heard). Alibre suites my needs just fine and it's maintenance is much more reasonable. And SolidWorks has a lot of bloat in it. Take a careful inventory of all the commands and options that you actually use in your daily use of it and you'll see there may be a lot that you never touch but you'll still pay for it.

 

[dwc]

I have not used SolidWorks for several years now, I dropped it because I found nothing I couldn't do with AD.
If you are used to SW you will find AD more difficult, just because you are used to the SW mindset.
The contrary is also true.
Don

 

[JST]

The biggest single problem with Alibre is that it does not output a real Solidworks file.

Lost some business on account of that, as I do not have SWX, although I have used it. They did not want anything but SWX, a STEP file was not good enough.

SWX is OK to use, does some things backwards, but generally was OK. I was using a verion with every option then available, and it dod just about anything one could want.

But even Solidworks was a little "buggy", there were things it did not like that Alibre did OK, and a number of things Alibre chokes on that SWX did fine. Alibre does not do lofts and chamfers well, but I did not have any problems with them on SWX.

 

[bigseb]

The biggest single problem with Alibre is that it does not output a real Solidworks file.

Dude I got a loooong list of stuff thats more important than that.

Lost some business on account of that, as I do not have SWX, although I have used it. They did not want anything but SWX, a STEP file was not good enough.

My business model is slightly different. Deliver quality work in a neutral format. You want native Solidworks? Then give me Solidworks. YMOV.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

The biggest single problem with Alibre is that it does not output a real Solidworks file.

The problem is not with Alibre, it is with the International Anti-Standards Conspiracy! I spent no small part of 1981 though 1994 working on the Product Description Exchange Specification (PDES) that was supposed to be the successor to the Initial Geometry Exchange Specification (IGES) when "pressure" brought (predominately by AutoDesk and Daussalt) shut everything down through claims of Intellectual Property Rights for things such as Constraints and the mathematics of Ellipses were "enforced." Constraints were first proposed during a NASA Design Conference by government mathematicians from JPL in 1971. They were first demonstrated in the (1979) release of the Euclid 3D CAD system that was a "joint venture" between USAF, Canadian Air Force, NASA, and the European Space Agency -- and now they are Intellectual Property Rights!

After all, here in the United States of America we have issued a copyright to Autodesk for the work done by Johannes Kepler. Need I say more?

 

[oldfox]

After all, here in the United States of America we have issued a copyright to Autodesk for the work done by Johannes Kepler. Need I say more?

What work by Johannes Kepler was it that Autodesk claimed credit for? I would really like to read that if you can find the copyright registration.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

What work by Johannes Kepler was it that Autodesk claimed credit for? I would really like to read that if you can find the copyright registration.

In essence all the mathematics of Ellipsde forms (1986). [The same year that the U.S. granted a Patent to ITT/Renishaw for the kinematic mount that was first described in leterature by Leonardo DaVinci and mathematically defined by Thomas d'Castigliano about 1890.] <= Edited on 10 February

 

[JST]

Dude I got a loooong list of stuff thats more important than that.

Don't we all...

"The biggest single problem with Alibre is that it does not output a real Solidworks file."

You guys are being WAY too literal here....

That is more or less just saying "Alibre is not Solidworks".... like a waffle iron will not make pancakes. There is just no way to make one into the other. I really cannot see having a problem deciding which to use.

Folks who "want Solidworks", well, they "want Solidworks", because that is the "industry standard program" that does what they need. Their whole deal is that "you do not offer Solidworks? We can't use you because Solidworks is the standard,we use, we cannot be bothered to convert anything, we need it native so we know it is going to work for us".

As the industry standard program, Solidworks is one that nobody can complain about.... Like cars.... you may not like a Daimler/Mercedes, but nobody , even if they do not like them, can complain that it is just a crappy substitute.

Alibre tends to be viewed as the "cheap substitute", and folks can complain about that.

If you need what Solidworks offers, which is, frankly, a LOT more than what Alibre can offer, then you need it, and it's not a matter for indecision, you just get Solidworks and there you are, you have what you need. maybe it costs you $35 grand, but.......

It comes under the heading of "you can't satisfy everyone". They work differently, and they do different things, and if you want what Solidworks does, there is going to be no way Alibre is going to satisfy that need. Just quit sweating it and go "rent" Solidworks.

I remember when a vendor of ours was just starting to look into this new program called Solidworks that was 5x cheaper than ProEngineer. Solidworks has grown since then, quite a bit...... and costs now what a seat of ProE cost then.

 

[VoltsAndBolts]

@Rouge484,

As a fellow SW driver at work I can feel your pain. But like bigseb said “it’s very capable software and you can do a heck of a lot with it” But it is not SW, you will have to adapt to a slightly different work flow to get to the same place.

Alibre is a great 3D CAD package for the money. And the fact that it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Solidworks, Pro-E/Creo or AutoCAD is why is affordable.



As far as isolating parts in an assemble... I’m all for any Alibre improvements that save clicks!