WHAT EX-Autocad customers have to say

2D Autocad Users:

This was much easier to use than I thought....

We should have been using this years ago...

This software kicks @$#

Very powerful, very user friendly.

Great software, great presentation.

Amazingly simple to use.

Very powerful software.

Where's all the menus?

Comments about Quest:

Very helpful.

Great instructor

Made the experience very comfortable.

Benefits of moving from AutoCAD products to SolidWorks

SolidWorks software allows you to preserve the value of your 2D DWG drawings with the best available tools for converting 2D data into 3D. Combined with our years of experience supporting customers like you this solution offers a wide array of benefits including:

1. Use 2D for 3D

Design sketches and assembly layouts may represent the first step of a consumer product or machine design; and if they exist in AutoCAD, SolidWorks can use them as the foundation for 3D geometry.

SolidWorks provides an Import Wizard to allow DWG/DXF files to be imported directly into the SolidWorks sketcher - from there, it can easily be turned into a 3D model. If the drawing contains multiple orthographic views, SolidWorks will arrange the 2D geometry onto a glass box making it easy to convert the design into 3D.

If there are any problems inherent in the drawing or caused by the translation, the SolidWorks Repair tool will automatically fix these problems in the sketcher

2. Migrate Inventor and Mechanical Desktop Files

SolidWorks gives users unmatched compatibility with other CAD systems, including over 20 built-in file translators, one of the industry's best DWG/DXF™ import capabilities, and unparalleled cross-platform, multi-CAD collaboration capabilities.

Users can directly open Autodesk Inventor® files which are automatically translated into SolidWorks part documents. SolidWorks can then 'reverse engineer' the geometry with feature recognition software. Autodesk Inventor versions up to and including Autodesk Inventor 11.0 can be opened.

The SolidWorks MDT translator can import part and assembly information from Mechanical Desktop® (MDT) and convert them into SolidWorks part or assembly documents. The SolidWorks converter can recognize features, mates, design tables, work features and pattern features. The MDT translator supports MDT 4.0 or higher.

3. Edit DWG Data without Autocad

For many users, it is often necessary to edit a drawing after importing it. SolidWorks provides an application called the DWGeditor, which allows users to edit DWG files natively.

A user who is experienced with AutoCAD can easily edit the drawing by using familiar commands. This is because the DWGeditor is designed with the same look and feel of the AutoCAD interface. Since DWGeditor software's native format is DWG, you can open and save any native AutoCAD file without file conversion.

4. Stop Drafting, Start Designing

If you're tired of doing the same detailing, bill of materials, cut lists, LISP routines, file searching, text editing, learning different program interfaces... you're not alone. Chances are you got to where you are now because you wanted to design, to build, to create. Let us show you how SolidWorks frees you up to pursue your ideas with the most powerful, easy to use suite of engineering and design tools on the market today