Hi there.

I'm an industrial designer and recently started at a furniture manufacturer. It's a dream job for me, and I'm really happy to be here but there's a major issue.

They use a program here called Pytha, which is primarily interior design/ planning software. While it is more than adequate for the planning guys, it is no where near the level of solidworks. My role is industrial design, so I'm going to be designing chairs, tables, screening systems for offices, shelves and brackets which will then be imported into the planning layouts but also sent to suppliers manufacturers to be made. We make timber products in house and import aluminium extrusions, moulded parts, castings and fabricated parts.

Now, pytha has very limited import capabilities. As far as I can see, the options are STL or DXF. I would really like to use solidworks at work, as it's what I've been using for 7 years and it has huge capabilities compared to Pytha. The only thing is I don't want to get into a situation where the two programs don't talk to each other.

I would like to go to my boss and say "you need solidworks because of ______" and "It's compatible with your planning software", but I'm not confident that I can say that.

I've modelled up a few parts in pytha and can already see major limitations, such as lack of surfacing tools, no assembly mode, no planes, no mates. No convert entities, spline tools, live sectioning and very limited drawing options. On top of that it's a co-ordinate system.

Any advice?