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Founded in 1985 and based in Commack, New York, TERK® Technologies is an innovator and industry leader in reception solution products, dedicated to providing a wide variety of home entertainment solutions to the consumer electronics industry. Products include indoor and outdoor AM/FM antennas, HDTV and analog television antennas, patented in-car cellular antennas, TERK Works installation hardware, as well as Leapfrog wireless multiroom audio/video distribution and multiroom control systems.
SolidWorks Express recently spoke with TERK Technologies Industrial Designer Stuart Reinhardt about the company's decision to purchase SolidWorks® software.
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| Industrial Designer Stuart Reinhardt of TERK Technologies Corporation using SolidWorks software. |
Describe your CAD evaluation process.
"In our evaluation of solid modeling tools we found SolidWorks software clearly surpasses Autodesk Inventor® in a number of areas. The SolidWorks user interface is much more intuitive, making use of contextual menus and toolbars, and creating a strong sense of direction in the workflow. Although there were some equivalent tools in Inventor, we felt that the Inventor interface might impede the workflow. The ease with which a designer can access these tools is critical, and while SolidWorks often feels like an assistant, handing off relevant tools as one moves through part creation, Inventor feels increasingly opaque, its version of contextual tools requiring the designer to hunt for the right tool and how to manipulate the model in order to accurately apply the tool."
Which SolidWorks features impressed you the most?
"While in sketch mode, SolidWorks proved to be particularly effective in constraining and dimensioning sketch segments. The speed with which design intent could be built into the sketch was very much attributable to the user interface. The comparison of SolidWorks to Inventor is a great example of how an interface design is not at all a superficial component of a tool, but one that is integral to its functionality and ease-of-use. By comparison, Inventor's sketch mode did not seem conducive to easily creating desired sketch relationships."
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Describe the design process at TERK Technologies.
"Our industrial design team consists of three CAD users. SolidWorks is the standard for solid modeling but we also use Alias Studio for surface modeling and concept rendering. We have also produced renderings of fully detailed products with PhotoWorks™. This has been extremely useful for presentations. In addition a surface tools in the latest release of Solidworks have proved to be very capable, allowing us to rely on SolidWorks for all stages of our design process. At times we use AutoCAD® for quick 2D drawing functions, or to provide templates for foam studies, but this is usually in conjunction with SolidWorks. The data exchange in and out of SolidWorks is definitely a value-add."
How would you describe SolidWorks software to a colleague or supplier?
"I consider SolidWorks the standard in 3D for product design. Its compatibility with other software packages and ease-of-use coupled with extremely robust modeling and engineering tools make it a versatile tool across a spectrum of design activity – from quick concept modeling to engineering design for manufacturing."
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What are some of the advantages of using SolidWorks?
"SolidWorks provides us with a clear advantage with its ability to handle complex curvilinear surfaces. With several of our antennae for the automotive satellite radio market we were able to quickly create or import the necessary complex aerodynamic surfaces, knit and shell them, and proceed to detailing and assembly creation. This process has been seamless with SolidWorks. Another advantage we have with SolidWorks is the ability to build and manipulate large assemblies. The assembly constraints and top-down modeling available in SolidWorks allow us to quickly make changes to complex assemblies with the confidence that parts and subassemblies will update accordingly."
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