Again, same goes for store fixtures. It all goes directly to CNC without any of the nonsense of parametrics and constraints. This is all possible because ACAD's programming interface is second to none.
Parametric and Constraints are 'nonsense'? That's an absurd statement. Parametric design with constraints only allows for more fluid, efficient, controlled project work flow.
I disagree. It all depends on what you do. Parametrics may be great for you, and that is fine, for me they are non-sense and completely, totally, and thoroughly a waste of time. Parametrics were created for a certain "need". Because others who were working with solid raw material, such as wood, stone, glass, etc., needed a way to get a cut list out and no one had a way, parametrics were used to drive the drawing and create a cut list. Sure it works. You only need to be a wiz at math and have plenty of time.
This picture blow was something I modeled and posted in the ACAD newsgroup. It was a competition between Inventor and MDT I believe. I just happened to see it right after the post. I no longer have the video, as I moved my website hosting, but I did this in stock ACAD in 5 mins and posted a video to prove it. The MDT and Inventor guys responded the next day and they had it done too. I did not even understand the math behind what they did. I am sure glad it is not "required" I had no need to revise this model. Given it's symmetry, I could have just scaled it to change size. Where as the Inventor\MDT guys would change a formula. The time difference between the two, in this case, is negligible.
If something changes in my model, I get redlines from the engineer, whatever... revisions to an intelligent parametric, constraint driven, model in software like Solidworks or Inventor will take a FRACTION of the time as it would in vanilla Autocad.
This can be very true. I will give you that. Certainly if what you do is a good match for Solidworks then this is another valid point. However, because Solidworks is not the best option for me, your comment fails to address the whole story. Although it is "possible" that updating the parametric database may save me some time, as compared to what I do now to update my model, I will still create my model so many time faster then I can with a parametric software that the the difference in updating time is rather trivial. Again, this is for what I do. I tend to do one of a kind assemblies. Minor revisions are no problem. A major revision would still be faster then having to deal with the parametrics again.
I don't care what kind of customization you have, unless it's as extensive as a Mechanical Dekstop package... then you're not dealing with VANILLA Autocad, IMO... you've simply developed a unique, singular instance of a vertical platform that isn't accessible to anyone else, and shouldn't be considered anyways..
There is another way to do this stuff, you are just not aware of it. There is nothing proprietary about the objects you see. They are 100% true ACAD 3D solids. They were created that way and stayed that way the whole time. There is data attached to the objects, as xdata, which is not encrypted, such as material name, part name, part number, that can be retrieved later. Xdata is dxf compliant. Even if the solids are turned into a dxf this data passes out. It copies when you copy the object, etc. The technology is accessible to anyone.
Solidworks is a great program. There are quite a few things that it is exceptional for and well suited for. Like many ACAD users, I find Autodek's approach to updates, what they add, etc., lacking. I am certainly no lover of the way they manage ACAD and it can really ruin my day or week, or in one case, 3 years of wasted time helping them with MDT. I have had experiences with Solidworks and their users. They also have complaints from time to time about buggy releases and the sort. There is also plenty that I do not know. Such as with MDT not supporting previous MDT assemblies created in earlier versions. This point with MDT was pretty bad. Spend all that time creating a model and then have to do it again and again every time a new MDT came out. I expect and hope that Solidworks was more responsive and understanding of that problem and created the necessary conversion tools to update their assemblies, on release of the new version, without making the customer have to wait. Note that as far as I know Autodesk not only did not have that on release, but never created them ever.
