Electrical Engineering & Electronics Design

If you want to design electronics professionally, go with Altium. SolidWorks PCB is a collaboration to try to tie MCAD and ECAD closer together. I don't believe that SWPCB has Draftsman which makes doing fab drawings, assembly drawings, drill tables, and layer stackups really streamlined. I believe the BOM management is deeper in Altium.

The UI in SWPCB seems to be the same one Altium uses in Circuit Studio. So it's most likely just a rebranded build CS. You can buy that directly from Altium for under $500. I find AD to be more intuitive but that could just be me used to using it for so long.

As Jason replied above.

If you are planning a career in electronics design engineering go with Altium. It is very expensive but powerful.

If you are planning a career in CAD design engineering that incorporates electronics design I would say go with Solidworks and Solidworks PCB powered by Altium. It is again very expensive but powerful.

Both Solidworks and Altium are cross compatible last time I checked.

Altium concord pro is a cross compatible component vault for solidworks and Altium and others. Once again very expensive.

Software choice changes depending who you work for.

When I started with solidworks PCB it was a very steep learning curve with virtually no online tutorials or support. I don't know what the situation is now with online tutorials for solidworks PCB but I assume it is much better.

Thank you for your reply

Thank you for your support

From my experience, what Jason said is true that SolidWorks PCB is the best real-time interactive  MCAD to ECAD solution, especially for those who are already using Altium for PCB layout and obviously for those who are already using SolidWorks for MCAD.

In choosing the best solution in any situation, one must ask 'what are you trying to accomplish or do ?' For example: if you need to create a biscuit board embedded CPU and you know that you will be designing with large BGA parts and that all of the design requirements and high speed simulation tools are available from your PCB tool (in this case Altium) then your requirements are met and therefore the solution is good.

But let's say that you need to design a 40 GHz Radio Frequency board for 5G and that there are going to be many RF simulations (not digital) required to complete the design successfully. You will find that Altium falls short and therefore you will have major problems.

In this case a tool such as AWR, Ansys Maxwell, or another tool may be your best solution. The problem becomes now : 'how do I successfully interface to these tools ?' Well your solution may be right in front of you with a module in SolidWorks called CircuitWorks.

CircuitWorks is a universal batch-mode module that allows importing and exporting various CAD file formats in and out of SolidWorks to your ECAD tool. This not done automatically and nor is it real time ! However your must ask yourself how many times to need to import / export files ? If your answer is just a couple of times, then this will also meet your project objectives better since the ECAD tool is designed for your project requirement needs.

So there really isn't one-tool-works-for-everything unless your designs are restricted to specific electrical technologies, specific industries, specific standards, and CAM requirements that your 'one tool' meets all of them NOW and in the FUTURE ; because change is coming and inevitable - just look how many tools have come and gone over 30 years !

So find out the entire scope of all your company project needs for the next decade and choose the tools the best meet your needs OR just choose the tools that are able to bridge the technical gaps whatever direction you may go.

One last note :

I have noticed that for small to medium companies that Altium is becoming (or has become) the leader in the ECAD arena, especially since SolidWorks is the leader in the CAD arena. However recently Cadence acquired AWR from National Instruments and Cadence is becoming the leader in the RF design arena.

Cadence and Mentor have had a strong tie into the large BGA devices such as Intel and AMD for CPUs, and Xilinx and Altera for FPGAs; especially when it comes to interfacing to other memory BGAs or a very large number of BGAs that are typical of very high end designs.

So again choosing wisely may not be that simple, especially if you have to partner with companies that use these tools heavily (e.g. Intel).

Solidworks PCB is just Circuit Studio. CS is cheaper and all you really need in ECAD to MCAD collaboration is the ability to export an STL. Altium designer has more features for more complex boards, but Circut Studio is fine for a lot of scenarios.

I know your question was specifically regarding Solidworks PCB and Altium but Steven as always makes a very good point.

Software packages are simply a selection of tools in a package eg: (tool bag). Different sectors require different selections of tools to carry out their jobs better and more efficiently.

Decisions especially when starting usually comes down to cost effectiveness and what tools you can get with your available resources to work in a certain or specific sector. Then you can upgrade to using better tools when you have more resources.

When you ask what is the best this can vary massively depending on a number of varied factors. For instance the best for me is the most intuitive toolset that is quick to get started with that gives me the most productivity long term. I don't want to have to study for an entire year just to be able to use a new tool package. However for someone else in a sector specific job this tool package may be brilliant with all the tools they will ever need throughout their career. Then it makes a year of learning worth it.

I personally stick with the tools I know for productivity and study new or specialised packages in my spare time. I then integrate them in to my work as I get faster and more comfortable with them.

I have found a software comparison between Circuit works and Altium designer. Soildworks PCB powered by Altium is a variant of Circuit works.

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-76216/l/circuitstudio-by-altium-vs-altium-designer-feature-and-specification-comparison

Good luck

Jason ;

Looking at the comparison I think that CS lacking the export feature may be the Achilles heal of the product since exporting to other 3rd party programs is almost a must today.

However I still think that you have to look at the electronic technologies first, then CAM, then niceties like UI and OS since I started my career as a Macintosh user in 1990 with Protel on my Mac IIci but all the companies wanted PC experience on specific tools.

Fortunately Altium is one of the most popular tools and it is PC based so no issues there, especially in small organizations, but for very large companies, expect to use Cadence or Mentor since these are the tools that interface to the ASIC design tools and there is a legacy of data files.

FYI, 

Steven

Hello Steven,

If you refer to my first comment that is why I advised:

If you are planning a career in electronics design engineering go with Altium. It is very expensive but powerful.

If you are planning a career in CAD design engineering that incorporates electronics design I would say go with Solidworks that has Solidworks PCB powered by Altium included in the premium package.

Obviously there are other factors to consider as you mentioned about what sector you want to specialise in regarding software.

I would advise people to do their own research on Solidworks PCB. It shares the Circuit Studio interface but it is a different product with integrated functionality that differs from CS. For example just check the Solidworks PCB import export formats. They are not the same as CS as you might think.

What support is available for importing from other design tools?

SOLIDWORKS PCB accommodates import of the following file types (using the File » Import command):

• CircuitStudio PCB Files (*.CSPcbDoc).
• EAGLE Files (*.sch; *.brd; *.lbr).
• Mentor xDxDesigner Files (*.prj).
• Mentor Xpedition Files (*.pcb; *.lib).
• OrCAD Designs (*.dsn).
• OrCAD PCB (*.max).
• OrCAD Design Libraries (*.olb).
• OrCAD PCB Libraries (*.llb).
• OrCAD CIS Config File (*.dbc), OrCAD LIbrary Files (*.olb, *.llb).
• PADS ASCII PCB (*.asc).
• PADS ASCII PCB Library (*.d).
• PADS ASCII Logic (*.txt).
• PADS ASCII Schematic Library (*.c + *.p).

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Which 3D model formats can I embed/link to the 3D bodies in my designs?

Supported 3D model file types are STEP File (*.Step; *.Stp), Parasolid File (*.x_t; *.x_b), and SolidWorks Part File (*.sldprt).

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Which CAM output formats does SOLIDWORKS PCB support?

SOLIDWORKS PCB can output Gerber (RS-274X), Gerber X2, ODB++, and IPC-2581 CAM formats.

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In which formats can I export my PCB?

The board in the active PCB document can be exported in the following file formats:

• STEP File (*.step)
• Parasolid File (*.x_t)
• VRML (*.wrl)

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What are SOLIDWORKS PCB's design limitations?

SOLIDWORKS PCB supports:

• Unlimited components.
• Unlimited nets.
• 
  

Agreed. CS is not worth bothering with IMHO.

I know its cheap but only good for the hobbyist.

Just go with the full Altium Designer since there will be the case where import / export is used more than once.

Most people just don't want to invest in good software tools.

We are in an era of free and cheap apps from cell phones, so $3K seems astronomical to most ; except when you are making money from the tools.

For professional PCB design I have would have to say go with Altium. Although I've never used SolidWorks PCB, I cannot offer you a direct comparison between the two, but the fact that in my entire career I've never needed to use any design software other than Altium says a lot. There are SolidWorks plugins for collaborating with mechanical engineers if that is something you're looking for. I personally just export step files for our mechanical guys. Altium allows you to design PCB's, create fab and assembly drawings, board panelization for manufacturing, various repository options for version control, circuit simulation and analysis, downloading components through manufacturer part number search, and more. There might be a bit of a learning curve with this software since it is so feature rich, so I would suggest attending some training seminars or work-shops to help acquaint you with the software and I would highly suggest additional training on library management since that it plays a critical role when using this software.

I currently use three different software packages for circuit design engineering:

Altium designer:

Solidworks PCB :

NI Multisim & Ultiboard:

Altium designer : I would recommend for very high end professional use and company's such as phone design, computer design, microcontroller and SBC design and well as odd board shapes or flex designs. This pretty much covers everything in professional electronics you could want but is very complex for beginners. Not intuitive software and can be frustrating to learn with the shortcut keys. Very expensive.

Solidworks PCB: I would recommend for many electronics professionals and company's, it covers virtually everything most professional businesses could want except really high end designing. It lacks some format compatibility compared to Altium. It has full compatibility to Solidworks design engineering software though. This pretty much covers most areas of professional level electronics and virtually everything for CAD Design. This is once again very complex for beginners. Not intuitive software and can be frustrating to learn with the shortcut keys. Again very expensive.

NI Multisim and Ultiboard: I would recommend this for small businesses and small company's, schools, collages and most certainly for beginners. This still has one of the best simulation packages in the business for basic design and is quick and easy to learn although this software is getting seriously outdated for modern or really serious electronics design work now and has not been updated by NI now for years.

I still really like this software and if it was given serious tlc and attention with new modernization and serious updates especially to the library's I think it has the potential to overtake and be a market leader. I am quite shocked NI let this fall behind with no modernization but for beginners this is a gem. They would need to sort the price out though. little steep for an outdated product.

People used to buy tools to make jobs easier and quicker. Now they seem to make tools so unintuitive and complex most people cant even use them.