Unfortunately that project got pushed to the back burner, but as for what we used to do the PCB design in-house, we use Altium.

For 3D designs we use Solidworks.

If you are looking for alternatives to Altium (for whatever reason) there are some other packages out there such as Eagle. There is also the free software Express PCB which is what I use however my use isn't exactly high, it's more like tinkering with circuits and making small PCBs for mounting in my robots as an alternative to having protoboard or even components soldered to wires just flapping about in the robot.

Thanks jermie but when I went on solidworks I clicked on electrical design and it gave me 3 options which one do you guys use

Mohamed

Hi @Mohamed

We don't use Solidworks for electronic side. I think some people use Circuit Works for electronic design but we don't have any experience with it ourselves.

Hi @Mohamed.r

As Jeremie explained we only use Solidworks for our 3D CAD Design. The Solidworks Electrical suit is relatively new and unpopular (for now). Next to Siemens, Solidworks has one of the most confusing web sites in industry.

So to help explain how the "three options" work:

Solidworks Electrical is a suit. In that suit you can get different packages.

Package 1: SolidWorks Electrical Schematic

This is for making circuit design. This would be comparable to Altium.

Package 2: SolidWorks Electrical 3D

This is not for creating electrical circuits but more for incorporating a circuit into a 3D design/model.

Package 3: SolidWorks Electrical Professional

Simply combines both packages 1 and 2

Thanks that's a lot easier to understand but now I want to use it for 3d CAD design which program do you use Ps I do not want something to expensive

We use SolidWorks for our 3D CAD design. Unless you are eligible for the student version it is very expensive $5000-$8000 (USD). The student version is only about $150 which is mostly to cover administration costs.

Check out this Wikipedia page it has a list of virtually every 3D CAD software out there.

Comparison of 3D computer graphics software