Expert: Brian Mazejka - 2/11/2010

Question
I work for a company that outsources tool and die work.  My Japanese sources have been unable to utilize .prt CAD files.  If they can open them, they do not show dimensions and tolerances.  They would like to purchase software, but I am at a loss as to what the best software (least costly and most efficient) would be.  Can you offer any suggestions?

Answer
Adrian,

This is only my opinion but if you're looking to spend the least amount of money and want the most efficient CAD tool, I would highly recommend SolidWorks.

At the moment I can't recall the exact price for a single license of SolidWorks, but I know it's not the cheapest product available anymore (at one time it was a very reasonably priced package).  But from my experience, it's still one of the easiest (if not the easiest) CAD software package to learn how to use.  And it also has the flexibility to open, view and manipulate a large number of different CAD files (but then again a large number of CAD software packages can these days).

Not only is a great tool, but the "community" of SolidWorks users is (in my humble opinion) amazing.  I've been to 2 of the company's World Conferences/Seminars and I was blown away by the different "things" people use SolidWorks for.  As well the many different things people were able to do with the software.

Although I'm a Mechanical Engineer, I used SolidWorks to design and layout my home addition.

For more information you can go to: www.solidworks.com

I hope this doesn't sound too much like a commerical and I also hope this helps.


Cheers,
Brian