Autodesk Inventor vs. MicroStation

Autodesk Inventor is well-suited for situations where you are creating 3D models of small, simple parts and assemblies. It is hands-down the fastest and most reliable way to get this done. When you are looking for a software that has many advanced features and controls to create an assembly of 20+ parts, you need to look for other software.

Incentivized

MicroStation is well suited for environments where animation and 3D modelling is required for designs. It perfectly fits into scenarios where Building Information Modelling (BIM) is used. One should avoid this platform if the budget is low and the overall length of the project is not huge.

Incentivized

• You can make designs (CAD) and you can also manufacture them (CAM) and do not need an interface like Solidworks to recognize it in a CNC.
• Inventor is very easy to use to create realistic, solid designs.
• The software allows you to design and see where problems are in real-time.

Incentivized

• MicroStation, as a stand-alone CAD package, is a great plan production tool.
• MicroStation makes a very good base to build other applications on top of.
• It has at least, in my opinion, a very easy to use interface.

Incentivized

• Inventor demonstrates a lack of fluidity in the process of transferring data between programs.
• Inventor shows some lack of sophistication that certain features that are readily available in other design software packages are limited in use in Inventor.
• Inventor can often have difficulty in creating models that show true color, as in blacks can come out as dark grays in certain renders, even when the material and appearance settings are the same from part to part.

Incentivized

• MicroStation's graphic interface appears data in comparison to other CAD software.
• MicroStation has a tendency to crash if not managed properly during design.
• MicroStation's transportation design component is separated from the main system which causes occasional complications.

Incentivized

Inventor continues to meet our enterprise needs. I don't see a need to change unless we change our business model significantly.

Incentivized

It is quite user-friendly as long as you have the computing power to download and use it. However, this makes it quite inconvenient if you are trying to access files on different devices, as Inventor has to be loaded on all of those devices. While the program itself works just fine, it would be much better for my application if it, or a version, were web-based and allowed users to access and modify projects from anywhere.

Incentivized

MicroStation is very hard to use for our newest employees. It is not intuitive, and you need to know where to find the buttons to perform the commands you would like to perform instead of typing in the commands like other similar modeling programs. Also, it has no good traffic turning add-ins. We continue to run ALL our turning in Autoturn, since this is not a usable feature with MicroStation.

Incentivized

I'm giving the overall support rating a 5 only because I rarely have to use it. Trying to find the answer on the help pages hardly ever helps me because any problem I have is usually too deep for what the help offers. Given the popularity of Autodesk, I have always been able to find an answer online after doing enough looking!

Incentivized

We haven't had to use it for many years, so not able to comment.

Incentivized

I got the training during college, so mostly i learned on my own

Incentivized

ANSYS is far more expensive and has a steeper learning curve. Autodesk has many flexible and scale-able licensing options that adapt to our institutional needs and IT infrastructure. Furthermore, it allows our students to have free educational software running in their own personal computers, allowing them to work at home and be more productive with it.

Incentivized

Microstation is not intuitive. It is almost impossible for our newest employees to use effectively, and I strongly prefer to start them with Civil 3D, where possible. With MicroStation, you really need to be an intermediate to advanced user to use the program and know where the buttons to do what you want are located. They need to make their program more command based. Things like snapping to a near point or correcting text size universally are not intuitive like they are in Civil 3D or SOLIDWORKS. For other programs you can just type in commands like "LINE" and draw a line. In Microstation, you need to select between a polyline or smartline from the tools>geometry menu. Why does it need to be so complicated? We ONLY use this program, because we are required to deliver our models in the DGN format to our client. Otherwise, we would use Civil 3D for everything.

Incentivized

• We are working toward full engineering integration with Autodesk Inventor. This will remove most of the human error in our current processes.
• Production team is moving away from physical samples to using Autodesk Inventor models. This is a cost savings and helps us manage change better.
• Autodesk Inventor iLogic is allowing us to automate some of our engineering. This is proving to make one job 20% faster to complete with fewer errors.

Incentivized

• Been beneficial in the current office to have a copy for information exchange.
• Some of the more "die-hard MicroStation users" often do markups in it over our current software.

Incentivized