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The licence of my EAA Edu desktop version of Solidworks is about to expire. I’m new to SW so I’d like to keep going with it despite the shortcomings discussed on these pages.
Has anyone transitioned to the 3D Experience version and if so, how was the “experience”? Any tips and tricks you can pass on?
The experience has some very ugly aspects, especially if your internet connection is less than ideal. You will require an internet connection to start the software even though it is completely installed to your local machine. Startup is SLOW. There will be mysterious pauses sometimes - I don't know why but occasionally everything just stops when I perform an operation, perhaps there is some server round-trip going on to verify that I am not a software pirate while drawing. The files menu is less populated than it was. You will by default save to the Solidworks Cloud, and this takes forever. Even when you specify "Save to this PC" it will make you save again before exporting to STL for printing even when you literally just saved.
The web site is generally awful. Obviously the back end is simply slow and no amount of local speed would help. Solidworks will try to guide you into communities and maker forums but it's really not something that interests me. I have no need to understand their implementation of roles, I am not working with a team of designers at $5k a seat. I have avoided the 3DExperience web site except to download the software. The forums there have a fair proportion of users that are only there to complain about how bad the web experience is, or how they used to use a tool that is no longer available and is now priced far out of a hobbyist's pocket.
Perhaps if I was in Lichtenstein with an average internet speed over 200Mbps it would be fine. In Australia it's a significantly worse experience. That said it's still Solidworks. I do not know if these problems will ever be fixed - it's like putting on your favourite shirt and finding a handful of sand inside. But it's still your favourite shirt.
My number 1 tip is to follow the "how to install locally" guide - finding the button that actually installs to your local machine is unnecessarily difficult. I suspect the web site was designed by someone whose primary skill is not user interface design!
Thanks for your reply. I’m in Australia too and on a 50mbps NBN plan that’s quite reliable. Is that what you’re using as well?
Yes, same plan. A year ago I would have agreed it was up most of the time but these last couple of months have been terrible and that has really exposed the holes in these cloud-based services.
Ok, I paid, I got an account, got 2 emails with links. I can log on and I have even uploaded some of my drawings from the older student version of solidworks.
What I can't figure out is how to get to the "desktop" or create a desktop where I will drag links for the tools that I use/have access to. Nor can I seem to get past some arcane menu system in the "compass". I'm supposed to click on the compass in the upper left to get to my "roles" where I can start up an application. However clicking on the compass only bring up one of two tabs.
1. "as a system of operations" tab where there a selection of industries such as health care.
2. "as a business model" for ordering engineering assistance.
I can't seem to get past this point. The youtube tutorials and the documents online don't work like this.
/Frustrated
A reboot/reinstall cycle did not fix it. Closing all the tabs where I was logged into the website i.e. having only one tab open on that site appears to resolve this. Fingers crossed.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoHo
Thank you guys for 'taking one for the team'.
Sounds 'cluster-ful', but I appreciate hearing your experiences.
Luckily I have access to desktop at work, but I would like to have the EAA
desktop at home.
-Christian
Did you have to uninstall the previous EAA student version of the SW desktop first? Or did the links sent to you via email after purchase look after the whole transition to the new version? I know from previous experience that uninstalling/installing SW updates can be finicky.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoHo
I also bought the 3DEXPERIENCE s/w and it has not gone well.
I have been in contact with 3ds.supprort since December 9 and I still do not have complete functionality.
The support agent assigned to makers is willing, but he does not appear to have access to the deployment tools required to correct my problems.
So far I have 55 emails in the email trail.
I can now create parts and assemblies and import Solidworks parts and assemblies and step files created in Alibre Design Expert.
BUT I cannot export files and I am not offered the opportunity to export in a neutral file format, the program errors out and tells me I don't have rights?
I'm no newbe to 3D modeling, I have used Alibre Design Expert for well over a decade, used Unigraphics and NX daily for 20 years on my job at ASML, Pro-Engineer before that at SVG and AutoCAD since version 3.(2D of course)
I'm more than disappointed with this s/w and the lack of support, I think Alibre Atom will be a better value, Free CAD is another option that has a good reputation and zero cost.
I liked the Solidworks educational version, it allowed me to keep current with the Solidworks command set and that comes in handy if a contract assignment comes along that requires using that tool.
All of the simulation that was available in the EDU version is not present in the 3Dexperience s/w and that was nice to have.
I use FEMdesigner in Alibre and that does an adequate job for first pass analysis.
Alibre is a professional grade design tool, and still robust at the entry level.