Autodesk CAD Inventor pricing

[Admin]

A few people have asked questions about Autodesk CAD software . . . so I called and asked . . .

How much does it cost? Well the cost for government organizations, for the full Autodesk Inventor Professional version, is $7590.31. Its as if they made up that number just for me . . . And of course for a company much more . . .

But they said I can trade in my older version 7 for a discount! A whole $4 discount! Im serious, like really who would take that seriously?!

Then I asked how much would it cost if I wanted to not include wiring functionality (Autodesk Inventor Simulation Suite). Like if I didnt want to have a red wire connected across a circuit board . . . the price? $6411.
It costs $1100 to CAD a wire?!?!?

Oh and I asked about the student version, like what is different from the more expensive software. Well . . . the guy didnt know, and said I would have to call another number . . . but he said it probably would just have a watermark on it when you print stuff out . . .

blaaaah disappointing . . . anyone know the pricing for solid works (goverment or industry price)?

[Qubix]

If you have a "school-issued email address" or *cough* knows someone who does. You can download the student version of Autodesk inventor for FREE. I downloaded it a few months back, did some tutorials and it seems nice. Other postgrads here have tried it more extensively and say it's the full version, the only limitation being that when you print out drawings it has a border around it saying STUDENT VERSION. Not much to put up with if you A) Don't print it out, B) Own a scissors

The link is here:
http://students6.autodesk.com/

David

[ed1380]

you can get solidworks student edition too. it's almost like the regular kind, except they did something to it, so that businesses can't use it.
IIRC it's around $100.

[Admin]

Im sorta locked in to AutoDesk already because all my parts were made with it . . . will be a huge time waste to start over . . .

[ed1380]

you said it was for other people, so IDK why would it matter, or do you want to share your parts?

[Kohanbash]

The solid works educational just has some little red letters that show on start up as well as a message in its title bar that says academic version can only be used in the united states. From my experience i have never run into limitations with solidworks or cosmos (the attached program for mechanical analysis)

[Admin]

If you have a "school-issued email address" or *cough* knows someone who does. You can download the student version of Autodesk inventor for FREE. I downloaded it a few months back, did some tutorials and it seems nice. Other postgrads here have tried it more extensively and say it's the full version, the only limitation being that when you print out drawings it has a border around it saying STUDENT VERSION. Not much to put up with if you A) Don't print it out, B) Own a scissors Smiley

The link is here:
http://students6.autodesk.com/

Hmmm I started downloading it . . . its 2.7GB . . . Ill report my findings after playing with it . . . but Im sure it will be way better than Google Sketchup, hands down

[dcole07]

I started learning Auto CAD when I was in the 3rd grade. The company my dad works for bought Auto CAD Lt, it's only like $700, but can only do 2D drawing, but but can do 3rd drawings with limited filling.

My dad worked at home after he had to move offices a few times, so that's how I got hooked on it.

So I've been uses Auto CAD LT for about 10 years.

Well since I can get full versions as a student, I will do that. I wanted to get full versions of some of these programs, but was wondering if they came with the college class or what... I see now how it works now.

[Admin]

I looked into SolidWorks Student Edition . . .

FYI it only works for 2 years:
"Software ceases to function 24 months after registration."
http://solidworks.com/pages/products/edu/studenteditionsoftware.html

That means you pay $100 to use software that only works for 2 years then you lose everything. Or $200 if you get COSMOS . . .


Now reporting for AutoCAD 2008.
Summary: WORST SOFTWARE EVER

Now to be more specific. Moving from v7 to 2008, they fixed only one minor but annoying bug after 4 years, despite their claim of bugless software. In exchange, they made the software incredibly laggy, especially the drop down menus. The animation feature is incredibly confusing and crashes. They have very vague non-useful tutorials. The options have check buttons but dont actually explain what they do.

Now for the serious problems . . . 2008 is not backwards compatible with any version before v10, despite the claim of having the best compatibility in the market. Good thing I kept a backup of my old files!!!

Better yet, 2008 isnt compatible with my very expensive EdgeCAM software, meaning I can no longer use my CNC with this software. They suggested I purchase a newer EdgeCAM version . . .

Now for tech support . . . its great! For $125 'per incident' they might help you with your problem! (sarcasm )
Its like Microsoft charging you $125 for reporting a bug in their software, with no promise of correcting it. Seriously, they dont offer a free way to report bugs! And the FAQ and 'help' section is just marketing hype with little substance . . .

With zero improvement and all these problems, you would think they would give me more than $4 to trade in my old software.

But the 2008 version does have ONE good feature, and that is the built-in FEA (stress analysis stuff). But its just a plugin for ANSYS, so if you want FEA just buy ANSYS.

End of my longest rant ever

Im downgrading. sigh.

[Ro-Bot-X]

No wonder people get it for free...

[Qubix]

That's some rant Admin 

Surely its better than nothing ,(or google sketch up) for people who can download it for free? I'm definitely not an expert on CAD but, when I messed about it I was able to make *pretty pictures* and animations. I think it definitely would be good enough drawings of my robot bases.

Nothing worse than using buggy software though. So are you saying that it's not worth downloading the student version at all?, or just its not worth paying hard earned money for the full version?

(I think you can still download the student version of V7, if you don't want 2008)

Edit: You can download V11 , if you don't want 2008 (not V7)

David

[gamefreak]

Hey, i did it, i bought Autodesk Inventor 2008 EDUCATIONAL VERSION(idk why its all caps, but it is when you run it)

ok as far as i can tell the difference is that there is a watermark, other then that i am able to do everything(i think), every time i open a tutorial file it warns me that if i save it when in educational version it will be watermarked or

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