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The primary difference is the purpose it's designed for. Your usual3D modeling and animation programs are designed to be a blank canvas where you can build anything from scratch. CAD programs such as AutoCAD are designed to be technical tools with functions in industrial design, mechanical design, architecture, and even areas such as aerospace engineering and astronautics. The term CAD itself stands for either computer-aided design or computer-aided drafting, focused on more technical design and drafting uses.
The quality of the output differs, as well.3D animation and modeling programs focus on high-poly renders with detailed textures and bump maps, with such finely-tuned things as strands of hair and fur, flowing fabric, individual tree leaves, animated particle systems, moving bodies of water, falling rain, etc. The entire goal is to create the most visually appealing output possible. In CAD programs, how it looks isn't as important as how it works. You don't have the same tools on hand to create detailed, high-poly renders with maps and other enhancements. The output from CAD programs is generally much simpler and bare-bones, just as an engineering or drafting diagram should be.
When you take the long view, there really isn't much difference between CAD programs and other3D modeling and animation programs. When you get up close and personal, though, the devil's in the details, and it's all about functionality and design .A Ferrari and a Honda are both cars, but one's designed for speed, the other for reliable transport. It's the same sort of difference between CAD programs and 3D animation software.
I only have briefly worked with Inventor which is an Autodesk product as AutoCAD is ...
So far I have found that SolidWorks is very close to Inventor commands ... you just need to know the sequence or order to place the commands ... most of these programs are very close and just have minor differences....
Since Autodesk has bought Microstation3D software from Intergraph ... they have bought a very good program ... should be much easier to work than AutoCAD... and yes Bentley's is the same only difference is Bentley stole the program from Intergraph and developed their software for PC usage. Intergraph owned for many years Bentley stock... prior to the privatization in2006.
Most do not know that CATIA and SolidWorks is done by the same company.
CATIA commands do work in SolidWorks..
autocad is a program which can word in2d and3d at the same time .
The objectives of AutoCAD and other3D Programs are nearly same. For the technical side AutoCAD is the best and for the visually and graphically the other3D Programs i.e. Maya,3D Studio Max, C4D, etc are better.
And she and the other programs are only a means to convey their thoughts. The only difference is that the program Cad transform your ideas into reality, and3D fed them in the aesthetics
