MeshMixer vs Siemens NX CAD

Autodesk MeshMixer is best for repairing STL files and basic modifications toward 3D printing. It is excellent for hollowing out models and adding escape holes for SLA printing or lost-wax casting. Its CSG (Boolean) functions to combine different meshes are good too and seldom cause the program to crash. There is even an integrated algorithm to optimize the layout of multiple files on a print bed in case of small-batch production. Autodesk MeshMixer's sculpting tools are there yet limited and there are a few better alternatives. Best of all, it is completely free.

Siemens NX CAD support team is very responsive & active. They are having updates very frequently & good layout for commands & User interface. They have commands simple to use & operate on low configuration systems. Siemens NX CAD supports 3D modeling , 2D drafting. It has options for CAD library which is very useful for similar projects & easy reference.

• Auto-repair function works fast, and if it does not completely cover all problem areas, manual fixes will work 99.5% of the time.
• Remeshing algorithm is fairly slow but does a wonderful job in creating meshes with homogeneous or adaptive triangulation.
• It contains a comprehensive set of tools to optimize and prepare STL files for 3D printing, such as hollowing and support generation.

• 3d modelling
• Motion analysis
• Detailed drawings
• Accountability of users history with parts

• The remeshing tool needs to be faster, as in some cases it takes up to a day of waiting time.
• The sculpting tools need the addition of a proper brush for creating sharp creases and ridges.
• The standard shape library is rather limited. It would be nice to have this connected to online repositories such as Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory, or Cults3D.

• The thing that I need to keep all the parts, usually in common with other assemblies, in the same folder is very uncomfortable if I need to revise a single component.
• I would prefer to have 1 file for each part and just select it when needed. (with Solidedge this is possible).

It works very well for our organization. It has made us much more productive.

Siemens NX CAD has been has been simple in design & user interface. It is best among the competitors. It can develop heavy models & designs with very ease. It has Layers options for arranging multiple assemblies in the same file. It does not require heavy system investment & works fine on professional PCs

Using Blender for STL file preparation is like swatting a mosquito with a wrecking ball, plus its boolean functionalities can be glitchy. ZBrushCoreMini proved too limiting as a sculpting tool, but so did Autodesk MeshMixer, so I am sticking to Sculptris. Materialise Magics and Netfabb are somewhat better at STL file repair and offer more advanced functionalities. But Magics does not remesh as well and Autodesk MeshMixer is far more compact and faster than Netfabb, so remains my weapon of choice.

The only reason why NX was chosen was due to the process management, and revision control that's built-in. And being able to limit access to files and if they can be modified.

• It speeds up projects by streamlining the CAD-to-3D-printing workflow
• As an advanced user, I have written a few tutorials about it as well

• Siemens NX CAD made much faster studying and modeling tooling and product assemblies