Why NX CAD?
Some people may ask, why use UGS’s NX CAD system compared to PTC, Dassault, Autodesk CAD offerings. First lets get the actual CAD application names related to the companies that offer them.
- UGS -> NX
- UGS -> NX – Ideas
- UGS -> Solid Edge (mid market)
- Dassault -> Catia V5
- Dassault -> Solid Works (mid market)
- Autodesk -> AutoCad (primarily 2D)
- Autodesk -> Inventor (mid market 3D)
- PTC -> Pro/E
I’m not going to discuss the mid-market solutions from these companies. They are great products but what i’m interested in is why whould someone choose NX over other CAD systems. NX is a high end product so we will only compare similiar products. I have used each one of these products listed, except for Inventor from Autodesk. I have seen it though and it looks very similiar to Solid Edge. I’m going to keep that in the mid-market section and not compare it to the other products. The line between mid and high is getting more blurred though.
Catia v5, the intereface looks dated, and feels like a unix application that is running on windows. Not very intuitive for me.
Solid Works looks to have more potential as a high end product but with a mid market price, we’ll have to keep this in mind.
Pro/E, has this truly odd in session concept, along with versioning of files on the Operating system, and a trace file.
Then there is the whole debate of the file type extensions (drawing, part, sketch, etc). I’m not a fan of this different extension to classify the type of part. I like the freeform process instead. If i’m building a concept part tha is machined out block then in production want to make it out of sheet metal. What would i do? resave the type of file but with the same part number? Something i don’t even want to worry about. This is the part number that is going to be used in production and this is what it looks like. Otherwise if i mentioned part number 12345 is being used, i also need to clarify the sheet metal version. sounds like a chance for error. Inventor, also looks to be a mid market application, not sure the limitations but the interface looks modern, I believe there is one part file extension.
Then there is Ideas, this is a product getting merged into NX so i’m not going to dwell on it for long. This interface is also dated looking, and not intuitive in nature.
NX i believe to have the best of the best, there is still room for improvement and looks like they are extensively doing that. The dialogs are reasonable consistent, behavior consistency is getting a lot better. Using the latest technologies in respect to NX/Open able to use Java, .Net, C++ for the customization API. Able to build dialogs with UI/Styler easily or use winforms or JAVA swing dialogs in NX. The object -> action, action -> object metaphore is working well (pick a function then the object, or pick the object and do a function). context menus are available in more and more places. dynamic shadows in shade mode is cool, you can create a line, feature, primitive, sketch, sheet metal, surface, drawing all in on e file (if you want). break it apart into assemblies easily. There is one file extension for the part and it can be a model, drawing, sheet metal, primitives, sketches, wave geometry, etc.. The integration to Teamcenter is phenomenal.
For those that love Pro/E, Catia v5, Ideas. Take a look at NX with an open mind and compare the benefits. See for yourself. Maybe your process adheres better to Pro/E or Catia. Or maybe there is a specific function that it has that others don’t have. Competition is a good thing, we need strong competitors to make a stronger product. Whichever product we choose.
6 Comments to “Why NX CAD?”
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[...] Why NX CAD? [...]
tell me in surfacing which is good solidworks or solidedge?
Please can anyone give me the list in which NX give more productivity than other
1.NX vs Autocad
2. NX vs SW
3. NX vs Proeng
NX vs AutoCad… NX is a high end 3D modeling package, with many supporting applications such as manufacturing, analysis, motion, assemblies, plus a powerful programming infrastructure.
NX vs SolidWorks… NX has a strong expression engine to build engineering constraints and logic into the application, a leader in 3D surfacing, large assemblies, and the other features in the NX vs AutoCad section
NX vs ProEngineer… The differences here are smaller. The 3D engine (parasolid) that NX uses has more 3rd party support, is more widely used because it is a licensed 3D engine. The UX in NX is modern and fundamentally works different. NX has action object as well as object action for flexibility on how the model is constructed. NX has essentially one file extension for all types of files (except for analysis/motion files), which allows more flexibility. Also the file structure is different. ProE has a internals to the file that can make it more difficult to understand and looses flexibility when trying to reuse files.
These are my opinions and observations, I'm sure many have their preferences to CAD systems that sway their prejudice.
NX vs AutoCad… NX is a high end 3D modeling package, with many supporting applications such as manufacturing, analysis, motion, assemblies, plus a powerful programming infrastructure.
NX vs SolidWorks… NX has a strong expression engine to build engineering constraints and logic into the application, a leader in 3D surfacing, large assemblies, and the other features in the NX vs AutoCad section
NX vs ProEngineer… The differences here are smaller. The 3D engine (parasolid) that NX uses has more 3rd party support, is more widely used because it is a licensed 3D engine. The UX in NX is modern and fundamentally works different. NX has action object as well as object action for flexibility on how the model is constructed. NX has essentially one file extension for all types of files (except for analysis/motion files), which allows more flexibility. Also the file structure is different. ProE has a internals to the file that can make it more difficult to understand and looses flexibility when trying to reuse files.
These are my opinions and observations, I'm sure many have their preferences to CAD systems that sway their prejudice.
I’ve used Autodesk Inventor versions 11 (2006) to 2010, Solid Works 2006, and NX 5 and 7. I think you’re right that NX is the “best of the best”, but in my opinion it’s mainly in features. I’ll mainly comment on Autodesk Inventor. Compared to NX, Inventor has fewer features (e.g. no complex surfacing like x-form, or capabilities for very large, multi-user, multi-platform assemblies). However, while they lack features, I think they’re trying to make up in UI. As of 2009 they switched to a ribbon interface such as the one used in Microsoft Office 2007. It came as a surprise to me and I think for a lot of people as well, but after giving it a few days to set in – I think they’re targeting novice users rather than trying to displace NX, Pro-E, or Catia.
I would imagine that the ribbon design would be a lot easier to learn than the rather lengthy file menus, and while the novice users go through college, Autodesk could slowly build up its features until Inventor could match NX. By then they’d have both the incoming body of designers and the features to compete with NX, Catia, and Pro-E.