Adobe Illustrator CC vs. SOLIDWORKS

Indicated and suitable for companies and agencies that work with the creation of materials for social media, digital graphics and printed materials. Suitable for any scenario and for those who want to produce high quality material without image pixelation. A scenario not very suitable would be the use without proper knowledge of the tool, it would be interesting to see the tutorials and guides available by Adobe

As a mechanical engineer, it is one of the best tools to just start modeling and engineering with. The UI tools are intuitive and engineering analysis such Mold Analysis, FEA, are great! Other 3D CAD modeling tools have a longer learning curve to master. All in all, if you're not planning to design an entire airplane with large assembly files, then Solidworks is your tool!

Incentivized

• Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
• Filling an object with a texture
• Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
• Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics

Incentivized

• The collaborative work environment is a cool and useful feature where groups of people can work on the same model at the same time, and SOLIDWORKS ensures that you don't overwrite each other's work.
• The ease and amount of customization options are very useful for creating a personalized and intuitive user interface, whether SOLIDWORKS is your native CAD package or not.
• It is very easy to quickly edit a model you have already created. The software allows sketch and feature editing without having to take the time to actually enter the sketch/feature environment.
• The use of configurations and configurations-specific dimensions in the same sketch is very useful for creating different forms of the same part

Incentivized

• Illustrator Files can get large/cumbersome when you begin to incorporate high resolution photography, especially if you 'place' the photo instead of linking to it's source file
• Typography can sometimes be a challenge, especially if you working on different machines that may not always have the font you need installed or sending the file to a commercial printer
• OLDER versions of Illustrator can be a bit temperamental about being backward compatible though this issue has been greatly reduced with Adobe's move the Cloud Based subscription model
• Not great for large print layouts (books, magazine etc) you're better off to move the project to Adobe InDesign in that case.

Incentivized

• To date, the baked in surfacing tools lack power compared to dedicated surfacing software.
• In a similar vein, the core modeling kernel is not owned by SOLIDWORKS themselves and so there exists limitations with regards to implementing certain modeling/math.
• SOLIDWORKS is playing catchup to other online vendors of CAD (notable OnShape); instead of being the once leader, they are being forced to compare themselves. This, however, may work to their advantage and in turn allow them to produce a better on-line CAD tool.

Incentivized

While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.

Incentivized

We have absolutely no reasons to not keep with SolidWorks for the foreseeable future.

Incentivized

There's a bit of a learning curve to this software vs other similar tools that can take some time to learn and get familiar with but the amount of functionality that Adobe Illustrator CC offers is quite large compared to simpler tools.

Incentivized

I have been using SOLIDWORKS for around 12 years as of writing this review, so have learned where most things are and how they work. When first starting out it was quite daunting, but the interface is well laid out with like functions near each other which made finding new functions relatively easy.

Incentivized

I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.

Incentivized

We have an unusual arrangement. We don’t pay for support, but we’re partnered with a VAR for second-tier support.

I work with other users if I have questions but when we’ve had to ask the VAR, they always have answers. It appears that all of the VARs have access to a support platform from DS SOLIDWORKS that helps them answer most questions.

Incentivized

It was very easy to purchase and download.

Incentivized

I chose Rhinoceros 3D because it is accurate to make drawings in it and it is better to make drawings in Rhinoceros 3D and then put them in Adobe Illustrator. But while printing or scaling it is much easier to put it in Adobe Illustrator. This makes the whole printing aspect of it much easier.

Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can control where it is stored

Incentivized

• Improved engagement in employee programs that are now represented in documents created using Illustrator.
• Improved customer outcomes/interest as a result of materials created using Illustrator.
• Better ROI on the programs we have developed or introduced due to the higher engagement and involvement.

Incentivized

• Hard to answer directly. Given our customer's needs, we absolutely have to have SW to open their file types.
• Given the relatively limited use we need at our company, it would be useful to have a cheaper option that was more stripped down but still had some capabilities. Something in-between SW and eDrawings, for example. SW is very capable and expensive, eDrawings is free and super limited. Would be nice to have a middle option.

Incentivized