A new era

[Oyvind]

Solid Edge has arrived.

Goodbye Vectorworks!

[GWS]

On a Mac?

[AndiACD]

Give us a rundown of the SolidEdge experience Oyvind. PM if you don't want to post . . . .

[propstuff]

On a Mac?

Not listed on their site

[GWS]

Not listed on their site

So where can I find it?

[propstuff]

find what?

[Oyvind]

No, on a HP EliteBook.

Solid Edge is Windows only. I believe Siemens has Mac support for their larger CAD system, NX?

[Oyvind]

I'll do that.

[Oyvind]

After four days of basic training with Solid Edge I can now say that I really do regret not leaving VW behind many years ago. SE make me design faster and with much grater confidence; I make a change to a part and I can be sure that all related parts are adapted to the change by SE.

Relations is the backbone, both in 2D and 3D.

I don't have to struggle with class management.

I have 2D tools that actually work as expected, finally.

A hole always has a center, 2D and 3D. Wow!

A hole can be dimensioned just by a single click :-)) so can a bent surface.

Dimensioning is smart. You don't need a specific tools for radial or linear dimensioning.

A fillet does not lock all modeling history.

...

The differences are so many. I get the feeling that the makers of SE know mechanical engineering, that's a completely different world.

If you do mechanical engineering don't hesitate, make the switch.

[GWS]

I am having a similar experience at the moment, although I am learning Solidworks, the differences are immediately obvious and the whole set up seems more robust and inter-connected right through from the initial sketching to the final drawing presentation, including things like cutting lists which seem to be much less hassle to set up than VW 'worksheets'.

[AndiACD]

Thanx Oyvnid for getting back to us with the feedback.

Have you set up a windows volume on you Mac, or are you running it on a PC?

So Guy, doesn't look like you'll need to come to Gillingham on the 8th June! Same again . . . .Windows volume on your Mac, or a PC?

Which versions of Solid Edge and Solidworks are you guys using?

[GWS]

Windows on a Mac for me and Solidworks 2010. Seems to run very well even OpenGL seems to be functioning as it should...which is nice!!!

[AndiACD]

Guy, using Boot Camp or a third party translator?

Which v of Solidworks?

Edited May 14, 2011 by AndiACD

[GWS]

I'm actually running on Parallels using XP Professional rather than Boot Camp which seems to work really well, although hearing the windows start up jingle is rather odd!!

[AndiACD]

And the SW package? i know there are many with various inclusion and exclusions (bit like C4D) from basic to the "World Domination" version . . . . .

[GWS]

Standard...at the moment!!

What's your set up?

[AndiACD]

Sorry if i have given the wrong impression Guy, i've only toyed with SW. For me it's an enormous step to drop VW, but the fact that i can no longer open old files without having to redraw them with every upgrade that arrives, i think it may finally be on the cards.

i just wanted to know how difficult the transition had been and if you had any of troubles that afflict every day with VW . . . . Fillets, Chamfers, Extrudes, EAP, Lofts etc. etc. Hangs, Crashes, Slow Downs, Jagged OpenGL, . . . . . .

[GWS]

I too have found it difficult to take the step after all it's quite an investment on many levels and I have been using VW for a long long time and don't want to give it up. The decision by NVW to drop Machine Design and therefore not develop that side of things further started me considering my options, and with recent frustrations in 2011 I have to taken the plunge. Especially as in the Machine Design world VW is quite far behind.

In answer to your question, 'how difficult the transition had been', it has been easier than I thought, although I am still using VW and it's still early days, but learning the basics and producing drawings has not been difficult. The tutorials are helpful and utube has a fair amount of videos to help as well.

Filleting, chamfering, 3D dimensions, EAP's etc all seem really good and the lofting even carries a history.

OpenGL works very well and I have had no crashes or freezes...yet!!

So far a good experience

Edited May 15, 2011 by GWS

[Oyvind]

I considered a new MacBook Pro but I've heard of poor graphics performance with Parallells and Boot Camp would be to much rebooting. So I went for a new HP laptop with Windows7. Apart for Windows being Windows, this works very well.

I choose the Foundation version of Solid Edge.

I find that mastering the interface, workflow, tools is easy. Also, it seems like a solid, stable and well thought trough software package.

For me too, the decision to drop VW was hard. It has my only cad tool since 1995. But, finally, as Machine Design is lacking so far behind in features, ease of use and robustness, one can not avoid seeing the writing on the wall, literally. VW is out.

[GWS]

So far the graphics are working well, I still may end up going with PC laptop.

Would you mind telling me which laptop you decided to buy?

[Oyvind]

A HP EliteBook 8540w Core i7-740QM 1.73GHz 16GB Quadro FX 1800M 15.6"

[AndiACD]

Thanx guys for all the updates.

Maybe a trip to the Seminar on 8th June will help me make up my mind . . . . .

See you on the other side . . . . .

[GWS]

Thanks Oyvind.

[M700]

I feel gladness in my heart to see that many of you who have always be ready tell othersVW. users that VW. changes for the better was just around the corner, now finally see that it is never going to happen. It is a relief because Stupid me belifed it also through whole 16 years now, that it would change for the better.

Now I have drawn 3 complicated machines with parts list and plenty of holes,bolts not to mention the 3D shaft tool which turns out to be impossible when it comes to rendering in viewport.

I have now Autocad Inventor that is like driving a truck down town, it is all based on 2D drawing and for me there must be a better way to draw than that, but it has probably most of the features all of us need. I am really angry to be in the position to have a pile of tousands of VW drawings which is impossible to import properly into other programs and the best way is to redraw the whole lot. Belief it or not (Europian inventor experts has worked on this for hours for us whit no result).

2 years back there was someone here that was pointing out on http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?18358-SpaceClaim-vs-Alibre-vs-Inventor-SolidWorks-etc unfortunately I bought Inventor cause I never wanted to find my self in the position of using software that was as unic like VW.ending up with no support but I still think Spaceclaim is a good option and they are working on direct 3D which is the future of 3D draving.

I feel this is misleading and someone should be responsible at VW. I bought VW cause it was cheaper and seem to do more than others were offering at that time.

I now insist that VW give us a tool to export files in a different format that can be used fully by other programs and shut their mechanical department afterwards and I?m not talking about .sat format here

As you can see here I don?t recommend this software for mechanics.

Bjarmi Sigurgardarsson

[M700]

Forgot one thing.

I am using VW 2011. better than older versions but still junk.

And yes I am angry. This is dead serious situation, many years of work down the drain.