Inventor: Autodesk products target basic engineering. Autodesk offers AutoCAD, which is a 2D drafting tool that uses technology built several decades past. Inventor offers 3D design capability which is not available in basic AutoCAD.

Solid Edge: Solid Edge is a 3D CAD solution and was originally built as a 3D design tool. Using Synchronous Technology, Solid Edge makes it easy to design three-dimensional models. 2D design is also supported in Solid Edge.

Inventor: Command line entries and keyboard shortcuts speed up the design process.

Although Inventor has a Shape generator and basic rendering, it lacks many of the dynamic design capabilities and advanced features present in other 3D CAD tools.

Solid Edge: Advanced surfacing features are part of the basic functionality in Solid Edge. This allows a user to extend and extrude shapes, revolve them, and more. Developing a fluid, organic shape is a simple process. Managing design changes over time becomes easy, with minimal updates required.

And if you’re looking for analysis tools—whether that’s fluid simulation or testing for strength—Solid Edge offers a host of different capabilities to make sure your model is ready before it’s manufactured.

Inventor: Because of Autodesk’s simple 2D layout, it is easy for someone to quickly begin use. But, if you want to do 3D design, you may find Inventor to be less intuitive.

If you’re geared up for architectural engineering, this is the tool for you. The drafting capabilities for this industry are very robust.

Solid Edge: The user interface and toolbar layout makes Solid Edge feel easy. New users should not be afraid—Solid Edge works just as well with imported geometry as it does with native files, even allowing you to choose the modeling method of your liking!

If you’re working on mechanical engineering, Solid Edge will give you dynamic tools to increase your productivity and efficiency.

Autodesk doesn’t offer cloud-based CAD solutions for all their products (although Fusion 360 does).

In Solid Edge, you can work with files on the cloud, pulling them down to work locally as needed. Solid Edge can also be paired with Teamcenter on the Cloud as a PLM system. Here’s a video where you can see how Teamcenter and Solid Edge work together perfectly. 

With the integration of FloEFD (a top computational fluid dynamic tool), you can perform easy CFD analysis on your designs. There’s no need to import or export files into a separate isolated tool. It’s simple to use and eliminates the complex workflows of old-school CFD.

Check out how to use FloEFD in Solid Edge!

While Solid Edge offers history-based modeling, another major appeal is Synchronous Technology. Simply put, there is no editing tool out there to modify 3D geometry like Synchronous Technology. You can even reuse 3D features from your previous version. With Solid Edge, you can push, pull, and rotate a piece of 3D geometry with a simple click.

Solid Edge has been designed with Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet in mind (ever since the release of ST9). Using this tablet gives designers multiple interface touch points: enter key commands, use a mouse, or draw and interact with a Surface Pen.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you. Solid Edge is a full-blown CAD package that can be used for simple design and complex assemblies.

If you’re going to be doing any kind of machining, Solid Edge is a must—there’s easy interoperability between it and CAM Express. Now, you’re not just designing; you’re seeing your product all the way to the manufacturing phase. If you have engineering changes after release, no need to recreate NC code from scratch.