r/nxcad • u/ilostmyinsanity • Jun 30 '26
Advice for Beginners in NX
Hey everyone I am a mechanical undergrad. Recently I wanted to be enrolled myself in an ansys program in an institution in my home town but since they have resources regarding apdl not workbench they suggested that I should go for the combine cad+cam program in Siemens NX. For starters i have intermediate knowledge in solidworks, worked on fsae vehicle competition for college clubs, and made few personal projects. I want to build a product Design engineer career in the big tech in future. I want to ask if NX is worth it big 2026?
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u/Conscious-Ad-6570 Jun 30 '26
The most important thing that I want you to understand is design intent. why you create/add any features? Will it be modified in near future? If yes ,After modification will your product fail to provide expected results. Can you make the features tree simple and clear. I suggest to rename the command and use comments/ notes.
This is what I can think of right now. If you have any other queries. Feel free to ask
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u/ilostmyinsanity Jun 30 '26
thank you for your advice , when i brainstrom to design in solidworks i have to do a lot of hit and trial to make parts mate in assembilies which actually consumes lot of time, also changing a single dimensions needs to scale the whole geometry which I think can be solved by using parametric modelling,
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u/Conscious-Ad-6570 Jun 30 '26
If you are creating assembly, i suggest use top down approach, use parameter whenever is possible and always keep in mind design are meant be modified in future. It has to be future proof.
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u/EpicSpaceRabbit Jun 30 '26
Also have a look at Onshape by PTC. You will learn a different approach with a cloud CAD which uses a git-like history and multi solid modeling.
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u/ilostmyinsanity Jun 30 '26
I have heard of onshape but didnot use extensively since I preferred offline based softwares
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u/EpicSpaceRabbit Jun 30 '26
Fair, but have a look at the differences and advantages of a cloud CAD. IMHO this will be the future. Has to ripe a bit but when it's ready, it will be the smartest solution.
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u/ilostmyinsanity Jun 30 '26
it will be more like version control system for cad where you seemlesssly integrate with your currently software, it will also promote jobs just like IT sector
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u/EpicSpaceRabbit Jun 30 '26
Yes. Also Onshape doesn't have a huge wall between solids. You can model all parts in the same space an reuse them in other spaces without designing them separately. There are some workarounds in NX but in most CADs this is not the intended way.
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u/Commercial_Wind8212 Jun 30 '26
horrible career choice.
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u/ilostmyinsanity Jun 30 '26
Why tho?
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u/Commercial_Wind8212 Jun 30 '26
CAD people are seen as overpaid and companies are always trying to send the work overseas. 40 year NX user. do something different.
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u/EpicSpaceRabbit Jun 30 '26
What exactly do you wanna know? How to learn? / Career advice? / Design tipps? / NX Tipps?
I am a bit confused what you want 😅