Solidworks

[ronan]

What about siemans solid edge and autocad inventor ? Any use ?

 

[Rocketman]

Yeah brightspark a bit of sugar coating on the bitter pill

And they wonder why people pirate software. 6K for a computer program in the first year is mental.

Add Cam to that if you need it and you will be well over 10K

 

[brightspark]

Yeah brightspark a bit of sugar coating on the bitter pill


Add Cam to that if you need it and you will be well over 10K

the downside is u have to turn a lot of business over to recover it though

 

[ronan]

Yeah brightspark a bit of sugar coating on the bitter pill


Add Cam to that if you need it and you will be well over 10K

I did a cnc course years back and what we were doing was designing in solidworks, exporting to alphacam and then sending a dxf file to the milling machine.

 

[JoelC]

If it's basic, sketchup is pretty good, and free. Not a "proper" cad program though.

 

[Normsthename]

Solidworks is one of the better 3D packages.
Best one?...... Not sure.
It has some really annoying Bugs (or 'features' as there called if you ring Technical support...)

Andy

 

[Angusdog]

And they wonder why people pirate software. 6K for a computer program in the first year is mental.

This comes up across the internet. 6K for a tool is pretty cheap, if you're a business (I'm thinking of the Adobe Suite including Photoshop). As a cost for a tool, it's cheap for something to make money from. As something to play around with at home, it's expensive but it's an specialised industrial tool - similar to a four axis mill; the fact it's software shouldn't make a difference.

Having said that, it entirely understandable to want to use these tools for free at home. I've been guilty of doing this, just as an exercise or for playing around with an idea. It's a bit like the anti-video piracy ads: I wouldn't steal a car, but I would download an Aston Martin DB9 for free if I could. Or a Morgan trike

 

[ronan]

But why not offer an old (5 or 10 year old) version for semi professional or home users at a cheap price ? It would stop piracy and theft , as well as making them a bob or two for an out of date product.

 

[Normsthename]

But why not offer an old (5 or 10 year old) version for semi professional or home users at a cheap price ? It would stop piracy and theft , as well as making them a bob or two for an out of date product.

Updates is one area where Solidworks have there users by the short and curlies
Every time they bring an updated version out they change the file format.
So once one person/company upgrades to the latest version, no one else can read there drawings.
Yon can export the latest version drawing to a Step or Iges but it always looses something in the conversion process

Andy

 

[Hulme1973]

No and it would be a very silly thing to do unless you know someone personally and trust them.

In the terms and conditions of SolidWorks it quite clearly states you can't lend someone outside your business the licence nor can you sell it.
Secondly to lend someone my licence I would be giving someone I have never met or know my activation key/details for my Solidworks seat - in doing this I will use the transfer key on my computer which basically turns it off on my computer.

The other person (who I have never met etc) will then use my person activation key/details on their computer and activate it over the internet. At that point I will have no control of them deactivating it plus they will also have my activation details which I again have no control over where those details might go.

This then leads to 2 scenarios either I won't be able at all to use Solidworks or if I'm lucky I can activate it on my workstation (and carry on doing design work) and get a warning e-mail from Dassault systems that I am using the licence on 2 computers and need to deactivate one of them - at some point after that they will contact me asking do I need to purchase an extra seat or stop using the 2 computers immediately or actions will be taken.

At that point I'm in trouble because I will have to confess lending my licence out (which you aren't supposed to do in the first place under terms and conditions) and even worse to someone I have never met on a forum. I guarantee not only will I have lost time/money not designing but I will be in the vendors mercy on how much they charge me for my foolishness.

So Welderpaul may be a great guy and I'm sure he is but it's a way too big risk to take.

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Something else people should be aware of SolidWorks (Dassault systems) don't mess around if they find out people have been using illegal copies of SolidWorks - and we aren't just talking about hack versions but true educational versions.

If they find out that you have used an education version for anything other than education you could find yourself paying for a full licence.

with a full paid for license of Solidworks you actually get the right to have it on 2 PC's for those who work on a laptop art home or to show a client, as the old dongal method was so annoying

 

[Rocketman]

with a full paid for license of Solidworks you actually get the right to have it on 2 PC's for those who work on a laptop art home or to show a client, as the old dongal method was so annoying

You can have it on as many pc's or laptop's as you want but you need to transfer the licence each time you use the alternative device. Which is no big deal it just activates over the net.

Fact is this my reseller sent a warning e-mail out last year not to run it on 2 computers without deactivating the other because it's a breach of contract. People were ignoring the e-mail they were getting from Dassault when you have it activated on 2 computers hence the e-mail from the reseller.

 

[Rocketman]

Updates is one area where Solidworks have there users by the short and curlies
Every time they bring an updated version out they change the file format.
So once one person/company upgrades to the latest version, no one else can read there drawings.
Yon can export the latest version drawing to a Step or Iges but it always looses something in the conversion process

Andy

Pretty well the same with all CAD/CAM systems TBH.

Though saying that SoildWorks are a lot more friendly that other CAD/CAM companies when it comes to updating out of date seats.

With SolidWorks it doesn't matter how many years you haven't paid maintenance to upgrade to the latest only requires a reinstallation fee of £250 + the years subscription.

Some software they charge you maintenance for every year you missed which can work out more expensive than just buying a new seat.