Autodesk Inventor vs. ZBrush

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
ZBrush
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Pixologic in Los Angeles offers ZBrush, a digital sculpting and painting program for the 3D industry. Built within its interface, ZBrush offers tools for digital artists with an arsenal of features that have been developed with usability in mind, to create a user experience designed to feel natural while simultaneously inspiring the artist. With the ability to sculpt up to a billion polygons, ZBrush allows users to create almost limitless models.
$39.95
per month
Pricing
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Editions & Modules
Subscription - Monthly
$305
per month per user
Subscription - Yearly
$2440
per year per user
Subscription - 3 Years
$7320
3 years per user
Individual
$39.95
per month
Individual
$179.95
per 6 months
Individual
$895.00
perpetual license
Companies & Students
price varies
floating perpetual license
Companies & Students
price varies
academic perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAlso available for limited use through tokens on a Flex plan.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Top Pros
Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
6.8
2 Ratings
1% below category average
ZBrush
-
Ratings
3D Modeling8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
2D Drafting6.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Parametric Design7.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing6.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Assembly Design6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis5.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization and Extensions7.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.4 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.4 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.5 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(27 ratings)
8.5
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk InventorZBrush
Likelihood to Recommend
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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Pixologic
Blender is still behind Zbrush when it comes to production quality. But ZBrush is a bit on the expensive side. But again, I've used it for 20 years. So the $100s of spent back then have paid off many times over by now. Just something to consider when purchasing, though.
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Pros
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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Pixologic
  • Intuitive UI design.
  • Advanced sculpting capabilities.
  • Integration with other 3D software.
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Cons
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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Pixologic
  • Difficult and messy UI
  • Not well-suited for renders
  • Not suitable for animation and rigging
  • Expensive
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Likelihood to Renew
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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Pixologic
No answers on this topic
Usability
Autodesk
It’s easy and very good for mechanical design
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Pixologic
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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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Pixologic
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
Autodesk
I got the training during college, so mostly i learned on my own
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Pixologic
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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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Pixologic
Even though it's 4x as old, ZBrush is still better in my opinion. Plus, I'm just so used to it by now after 20 years. Blender will indeed become better over time and the leading industry standard soon, but for now, ZBrush is still better for me for sure. Love it!
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Return on Investment
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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Pixologic
  • a single tool to quickly and effectively create 3D objects.
  • Highly detailed 3D models allow us to create a range of highly detailed NFT 3D art collections for our clients.
  • Setting up licenses across an entire team can become costly.
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ScreenShots