Are there any users of SWood or Topsolid? If so, what are your opinions of them? What would be the major differences?

Hi Robert,

I have don't have any experience with SWood but I have used Topsolid Wood extensively over the past 6+ years.

The benefits of TopSolid would be it is a fully capable and powerful 3d modeling software that has a lot of flexibility. Good library tools for saving reusable components and it has a lot of features that have been created specifically for the wood industry. I build a fully functional cabinet library for inset face frame cabinetry that we used at a high end residential shop. I have also worked with it on some commercial projects at another company where the latest project was a 4 story helical stair case that we wrapped in millwork panels.

The two biggest cons would be the complexity of the software and lack of US support. It has a steep learning curve and there is a very small US user base. I don't think that they currently have an office in the US supporting the Wood product. I put in many hours of blood, sweat, and tears to learn the software. Much of that was trial and error coupled with scouring YouTube for videos and watching what others were doing.

The commercial company I last worked with recently bought SolidWorks since some of their engineers had experience with that software but it seems like after talking to them that it just isn't as easy to build and engineer millwork products in it. In TopSolid, I can easily make fully parametric products that are driven by prompts and geometry allowing me to reuse them. They seem to struggle with doing that in Solidworks.

Happy to chat more on this topic... there is no perfect software out there and I feel like TopSolid can be a great fit for some but probably only for a group of power users that are very technically skilled and are willing put in the work to learn it after seeing what it is capable of.

-Ken

Ola;

Also a TS'W user.
It is honestly a pleasure to use.... depending on your paradigm.
Same as the @KenHale answer, 6 years in - you need a decent mentor.
Support in Australia is pretty good. Chris @ Opticad is a lovely man, who knows his product well, and is a good educator.

It's a learning journey, that is accompanied with it's own frustrations on the way. It's a truly large package/skillset to master. I didn't feel like I was an absolute expert until about 4-6months with it.

The most important thing is: will you be putting a lot of dimensions on drafts? If you have **really** detailed drafts to make all the time, you're probably better off with a *lighter*, AUTOCAD-style program where you can script it, and put lines on the page. If you make stuff, a lot of stuff, TS`W is really much more productive and fluent.

In my shop - kitchens - modelling/drafting revisions really slow down the process. The initial model is quick, accurate and powerful: I've not used anything else as 'expressive' as TopSolid. It feels like making things, in real like. But then, over-serving your client with revisions is tedious and frustrating. After acceptance is done, manufacturing straightforward, powerful and comprehensive.

Not suited for very-large businesses. We have 3 seats, and I'd hate to be more busy with it, than I am. Absolutely ONLY for power-users, though I do have some design staff using it, I need to answer 3-4
"how do i....?"
"why did that just do that....?"
questions a day.

PM for recommendations.