Autodesk 3ds Max vs. Autodesk Inventor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Autodesk 3ds Max
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk offers 3ds Max, 3D modeling and rendering software for design visualization, games, and animation. The vendor states that users can produce professional-quality 3D animations, renders, and models with an efficient and flexible toolset to help create better 3D content in less time.
$235
per month per user
Autodesk Inventor
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk Inventor 3D CAD software offers professional-grade 3D mechanical design, documentation, and product simulation tools. These blend parametric, direct, freeform, and rules-based design capabilities. Inventor includes integrated tools for sheet metal, frame design, tube and pipe, cable & harness, presentations, rendering, simulation, and machine design. It also features TrustedDWG® compatibility and Model-Based Definition capabilities for embedding manufacturing information directly in…
$300
12 days over 1 year via Flex pricing 100 tokens
Pricing
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Editions & Modules
Monthly Subscription
$235
per month per user
Yearly Subscription
$1875
per year per user
3-Year Subscription
$5625
3 years per user
Subscription - Monthly
$305
per month per user
Subscription - Yearly
$2440
per year per user
Subscription - 3 Years
$7320
3 years per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFlex pricing available for limited usage. Minimum plan $300 for 100 tokens. 3ds Max costs 6 tokens per day.Also available for limited use through tokens on a Flex plan.
More Pricing Information
Features
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk 3ds Max
-
Ratings
Autodesk Inventor
6.8
2 Ratings
4% below category average
3D Modeling00 Ratings8.52 Ratings
2D Drafting00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization00 Ratings6.52 Ratings
Parametric Design00 Ratings7.52 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Assembly Design00 Ratings6.52 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis00 Ratings5.52 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation00 Ratings6.52 Ratings
Customization and Extensions00 Ratings7.52 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.5 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.5 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.8 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(11 ratings)
8.0
(27 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.2
(2 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(12 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Inventor
Likelihood to Recommend
Autodesk
For print media for marketing and for 3d animations for web spots and TV ads/movies/programs. It is less suited for quick 3d graphics or images that you get from AI image programs, but it is much more powerful than most AI image programs.
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Autodesk
Autodesk Inventor is a great tool for students and faculty for engineering areas that don't require great precision or development of more thorough scientific results. Is you are conducting research, or deal with very intricate and complex systems I would recommend a more robust platform that complies more to industry standards.
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Pros
Autodesk
  • 3ds Max includes some of the inbuild modifiers which can be very good in the case of beginners.
  • 3rd party Rendering support makes 3ds Max a powerful software for rendering out realistic images.
  • Autodesk 3ds max in comparison to its rivals is lightweight and fast, also the animation case also.
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Autodesk
  • The program is very good at simplicity. Each of the buttons, menus, and options has an explanation of exactly what the feature does, and even a more advanced description if you desire to learn more about what each one does.
  • Autodesk Inventor is a very fast program. Everything renders extremely quickly and there are no delays when examining a 3D model, part, or assembly. This is especially useful when giving a presentation about a product or design, and you need to be able to show a concept to an audience in real time.
  • The software has an extremely accurate simulation feature that lets users do stress analysis on a 3D model. It can calculate precisely where the stress concentrations are going to be in a particular model and even give you an accurate depiction of where the part could likely fracture and/or fracture during loading.
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Cons
Autodesk
  • working in 2d is very frustrating and unreliable. It just lacks the precision
  • How scaling affects units (or doesn't) There needs to be a way for modifiers to address a change of scale in the object.
  • Booleans are not intuitive. Especially for architecture, creating an opening and putting a door or a window is an incredibly cumbersome process.
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Autodesk
  • most if it still runs on a single core. Please fix this
  • Crashes. In our experience, too many crashes. We have high end machines and crashes are way too common.
  • Autosave. I think it is simply unacceptable that Autodesk Inventor combines common crashes with no autosave functionality. We feel this pain all the time.
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Likelihood to Renew
Autodesk
It satisfies 95% of my 3d visualization need. The left over 5% is handled by a few other programs. If Max just can't perform a specific task I can do that elsewhere and then bring it back to Max to finish up. But, it's rare that this occurs in my work
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Autodesk
Inventor continues to meet our enterprise needs. I don't see a need to change unless we change our business model significantly.
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Usability
Autodesk
It is a very difficult program to learn to use and even harder to use well. But once you get to using it it is a great software package to know how to use. Getting to be good at using it takes lots of use.
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Autodesk
It’s easy and very good for mechanical design
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Support Rating
Autodesk
I have contacted support many times and have had a good experience. They have always been helpful
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Autodesk
I think the support for Autodesk Inventor is very good. The staff at our reseller were very knowledgable and able to walk us through problems pretty easily. The training we received was very good also. I will say that there were a couple of times we reached out to support with a question or challenge we had, and the support agent was not able to resolve our problem, and after touching base back we found out that there was not a solution for the problems we were experiencing. One of them was just how Inventor represents colors inconsistently at times, all things being equal. Another was that Inventor would not let decals on parts transcend to the assembly level. they just would not show up.
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In-Person Training
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
I got the training during college, so mostly i learned on my own
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Alternatives Considered
Autodesk
In Autodesk 3ds Max you can do camera animation with ease, its complex in Cinema 4D. Even I think same with light setup. Setting up light is quite easy in Autodesk 3ds Max as compare to Cinema 4D. Overall Autodesk 3ds Max is less complex in compare to other 3D softwares.
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Autodesk
When it comes to solid modeling, the bad choices died out years ago. So we looked at the total ecosystem and chose Autodesk Inventor because of the integration with Nastran, HSM (machining), Autodesk CFD, MoldFlow, and AutoCAD. This means our legacy data (2D) is still a valid part of our design methodologies going forward, and we have the full breadth of engineering tools at our disposal. Other solutions in this space have similar offerings but not nearly as potent of a portfolio in total. It's worth saying that we do not consider Inventor in the same space as CATIA or NX, but that the entire Autodesk portfolio (e.g. Alias, PowerMill, etc) includes a total toolset that exceeds these industry giants.
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Return on Investment
Autodesk
  • 3ds Max has one of the best control tools that can help someone to sculpt almost anything. With the vertex tool and polyline edit function we can create almost any complex geometry.
  • Default rendering is equipped with almost everything that is needed for process, V-Ray for 3ds Max is the best 3rd party plugin for getting crisp renders.
  • The four view port tools for viewing the model helps from each and every angle. The moment and selection tools in the 3ds Max are quit easy to operate.
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Autodesk
  • Working on a project designed with Inventor provides a modular design platform that can quickly be configured or changed as required. This allows for the quick turn around time for the design and revision of drawings.
  • We've used Inventor over the years (since 2013) and the updates and newly released versions of Inventor do not require re-training or restrict use.
  • Autodesk follows an intuitive approach and users or designers who have worked on other design platforms like SolidWorks can transition easily to Inventor.
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ScreenShots