PTC Mathcad vs. Tacton Design Automation

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PTC Mathcad
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
PTC offers Mathcad, the company's engineering analytics engine including Mathcad Prime, for managing complex mathematical calculations inherent in solving engineering problems. Additionally the software includes Area Protection and Locking, which limits access to information based on role so that work can be shared without fear of losing proprietary information.
$230
per month
Tacton Design Automation
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Tacton Design Automation provides constraint-based and parametric engineer-to-order automation inside SolidWorks, PTC CREO and Autodesk Inventor. With needs-driven design, CAD engineers can configure designs of complex products – including feedback on incompatible choices - and automatically generate complete 2D drawings, 3D models and quote documents. The configurator-powered Tacton Design Automation is designed to propose a solution that's not just buildable, but optimal for the…N/A
Pricing
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Editions & Modules
Worksheet Library - Applied Math
$230.00
per month
Worksheet Library - Civil & Structural
$230.00
per month
PTC Mathcad Prime 6.0 Subscription
$600.00
per month
Worksheet Library Volume 1
$600.00
per month
Worksheet Library Volume 2
$600.00
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Small Businesses
Rhino
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(5 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PTC MathcadTacton Design Automation
Likelihood to Recommend
PTC
It is great for any manual calculation. You can lay it out as you would on paper, but the math is calculated instantly, similar to how it is in excel. It is superior to either method for most engineering calculations. Being able to copy-and-paste is very helpful for considering multiple scenarios. In some situations where you need to do the same calculation on an array of numbers, Excel is still faster.
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Tacton
For design automation for SOLIDWORKS, I feel Tacton Design Automation is the best solution out there. It's simple to develop and implement for the design/engineering department. But can be implemented within the sales team as well with Tacton CPQ. When a company has products that are modular and/or have many sizing updates, this is where Tacton excels. If you have products that are completely customized, then Tacton or even design automation isn't the best suited for that.
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Pros
PTC
  • Conversion of measurement units (Imperial and Metric)
  • Easy to use for writing detailed engineering worksheets
  • Formulas can be written in the expanded form which facilitates verification
  • Spell Checker feature is life saver.
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Tacton
  • Tacton has a non-linear solver, meaning it can solve lots of equations without them being is a particular order. This enables the software to be incredibly flexible.
  • Tacton has a great interface to set up configurators for people to use. No knowledge of programming languages is required. The configurator uses equations similar to Excel equations to control what the users options are.
  • Tacton has the ability to easily add lists of data like product lists, beam or pipe sizes that because available for user selections or for calculations.
  • The Tacton configurator also automatically builds the user interface as you set up user inputs making it much easier to set up then competitor software.
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Cons
PTC
  • Some of the math and text formatting aspects are a little cumbersome.
  • Converting from older Matchcad versions to the newer Mathcad Prime platform could be made easier. It should be a direct import function.
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Tacton
  • Layout mode is probably the most lacking aspect of the software (within Tacon Design Automation Engineer). Something so powerful as having modular parts should be more heavily supported. Although, I've heard Tacton is focusing on updating this with better functionality.
  • The constraint editor does not display complex/lengthy constraints very well. I end up using Excel to visually break out in cells the different aspects of the constraint.
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Usability
PTC
Higher-order math, despite symbolics, become tedious and variable nomenclature isn't as forgiving as other programs. Due to it's sheet-like nature, the greater the complexity the more bothersome the screen usage becomes. But it's a trade-off between a sketchpad-like interface or lines and lines of code. Pick your poison but MathCad was our choice.
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Tacton
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
PTC
MathCAD is easier to learn and faster to start with. It has more user-friendly interface and conventional style toolbox and GUI. It is really good for the beginners and those who are afraid of complex math.
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Tacton
Drive Works is the main competitor for the TactonWorks module of Tacton. We actually discovered DriveWorks and purchased it before we discovered Tacton and started to use it. Once we discovered Tacton we liked it so much better we dropped using DriveWorks and switched to Tacton. I think you could accomplish what you need to in DriveWorks, but it is easier to setup in Tacton and Tacton has alot of features that really can make your product configurators nice
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Return on Investment
PTC
  • Speeds up calculations (especially when corrections need to be made near the beginning).
  • Ability to re-use old calculations as a template can save significant time.
  • You can use consistent formatting for all calculations, allowing for more organized, clear calculations.
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Tacton
  • Time to produce submittals went from 1-2 weeks down to a couple of days. Then, once approved, normally to produce the fabrication drawings (70+ unique parts) it would take from 4-6 weeks. We can get it down to as little as a few days.
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