Na jaki CAD postawić?
This is a question that many engineers ask themselves on their career path. In most cases, we don’t have much choice and are left to adapt to the software that has been adopted in the company we work for.
But if we had an influence on it…?
To answer this question honestly, you have to go a long way with a given software and you can’t rely on the opinions of salespeople whose role is to sell. It often happens that things are not as rosy as the gentleman in the suit told you… this comes to light after some time when we go deeper, and after buying it, it is difficult to withdraw from this software… because even though it has many shortcomings, it works, we have all got used to it and, most importantly, we have such a database of models that it will be difficult to edit in another program. This is a trap that many companies fall into.
In life, I stick to the principle that I can’t afford cheap things. And that by buying a Fiat or Hyundai in the highest equipment version, I will be the owner of a car that is designed from the inside out to compete on price and in principle is not able to match the quality of cars of brands such as Volvo or Audi. Unfortunately, flashing, tacky gadgets and an attractive price convince those who have not done their homework.
Currently, many CAD systems, which until now were considered to have less possibilities, have been equipped with many really functional gadgets. I think that Solid Works and Inventor are good examples here – most engineers learn about them at technical universities and most work in them due to their easier availability, popularity and lower price. Well, exactly… lower price. Well, it turns out that strong competition from the above-mentioned ones forced companies offering premium CAD systems to reduce their prices (long live the free market!) and as it turns out, the difference in price is small… and by paying more we can feel like in Volvo. It is similar with CREO, CAD which is not very popular, especially in Poland, but offers a lot in the standard Design Essentials license.
What convinced me?
- advanced surface modeling – you can easily create a surface model from scratch or from a 3D scan,
- flexible modeling module, which provides incredible possibilities for editing features regardless of the origin of the model,
- creo simulate – an advanced tool in which you can conduct a professional FEA simulation, you will see the distribution of the stress state, deformation, reaction forces. Here, I am a bit disappointed, because the gentleman in the suit of course “forgot” to mention that some functionalities require the purchase of a higher license, but it is still good.
- framework module, which is perfect for building structures from profiles of all kinds, and supported by tools for creating welded structures and simulations, it is a complete tool!
- versatility – CREO is a system that is used by many large companies such as Toyota, Hitachi, NewHolland (CNHi)… it is therefore subject to high requirements regarding cooperation with PDM systems, stability of operation, precision and some consistency in development and introduction of changes. This tool has been used by professionals for many years.
- infertejs – those who worked in early versions of CREO or maybe even Pro/E will laugh at this point, because it really was weak. However, starting with CREO 4.0 (and in CREO 7.0 in general) I can safely say that the interface is intuitive, fast, and its level of detail is optimal. PTC did a very good job here.
- configuration flexibility – CREO can be configured almost freely to suit your needs. I had the opportunity to work for CNHi, which had very well-developed configuration files. It significantly accelerated and organized the work.
