When comparing 3D-Coat vs SolidWorks, the Slant community recommends 3D-Coat for most people. In the question“What is the best 3D modeling software?” 3D-Coat is ranked 7th while SolidWorks is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose 3D-Coat is:
3D coat is also known in the game industry to be a great app to preform retopology.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A known app for retopology
3D coat is also known in the game industry to be a great app to preform retopology.
Pro Link to Photoshop, or any app that can open PSD files
You can save and open your texture work in apps like Photoshop, work on them and send them directly back to 3D coat. It will remember your layers and update.
Pro Professionals recommend 3D Coat for Handpainted textures
You can texture in many styles with this app, but when it comes to Handpainting, as seen in World of Warcraft and Torchlight, 3D Coat is the one that many professionals will advice you to as their top choice.
Pro PBR materials
3D Coat supports the creation of your own PBR materials that are ready to be used in the PBR workflow.
Pro Voxel sculpting
Voxel sculpting is entirely free from the bounds of polygons and topology.
Pro A fast and fun way to UV
3D coat has made UVing my work go super fast and it's actually quite fun because you're finished in a breeze.
Pro Easy CAD model exchange
Because Solidworks is so used, most companies/universities/research institutes have at least some licenses for it, even if it's not their main CAD program. This facilitates exchanging CAD models in native formats between institutions.
Pro Advanced modelling
Solidworks is one of the most advanced, commercial CAD applications on the market today. For solid modeling, it uses a parametric and feature-based philosophy. Its operations library is enough to build the products/objects that most designers/engineers will ever need to model.
Cons
Con Not a voxel program
This is a paid texture program. Why is it in this list?
Con Voxel sculpting hits your system
Voxel is quite heavy on your computer, if you intent to use this as your main model and sculpt app do enough research to see if your computer can handle it and if you have the right graphic card for it. If you really have doubts , just go ask in the forums.
Con 7 layer restriction in the affordable version
The cheapest version available only lets you paint on 7 layers, which is very unfortunate.
Con Expensive for individuals and freelancers
Solidworks typical clients are big organizations, so buying licenses can be quite expensive for individuals. Usually they only sell them in packs and will only give quotations when requested directly.
Con Weak analysis modules
Solidworks has analysis modules ( structural, thermal, flow, ... ), but they are quite simplistic and their solving abilities aren't the best, so analysis results should be looked at with a critical eye. These modules should only be used for preliminary analysis.