VW in a browser

[Christiaan]

One lovely little habit I could truly do without is VW crashing on me while I do a save and commit and then having to recreate the project file. This kind of thing is a hangover that OnShape eliminates nicely.

[digitalcarbon]

for those who are wonder about how you keep everything straight when everyone has access

 

 

[digitalcarbon]

wow!

read the email...sweating bullets hoping everyone is up to speed... i have experience this!

 

[digitalcarbon]

so in the example above the machine shop has access to the "Sheets layers" so no one needs to print out any pdfs or anything 

[EAlexander]

I don't know dude - I'm not buying it.  Seems like a lot of marketing speak.

 

The idea of multiple users working on the same file at the same time seems like a nightmare to me: what happens when you start working on part A which is connected to part B...after 4 hours of modeling, you realize that someone else has changed part B and your work is now outdated and useless. Yes, I realize that can happen with the current spread out system as well.

 

You are asking about multiplayer video games.  Keep in mind, those games are multi gig downloaded applications that are running locally and performance is based on system hardware specs.  Yes, users are connected via the web, but the game is not running off the cloud, it's running local.

 

In the current industries (Arch, Entertainment, Landscape, Mechanical, etc.) we can't get anyone to agree to one software, so I don't see this getting any better anytime soon.  Some firms have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in multiple seats of their software of choice (and the hardware to run it).  Small one man shops have invested in their seat(s) as well.  How many other people on your Nuclear reactor project were using VW?

 

In this system, where are the calculations being done?  If I try to fillet a 6000 sided cog wheel - where is the heavy lifting happening?

 

I commonly receive multiple Revit files that sit around 100MB per file on one project.  How can this system deal with that.

 

Its common for one of my VW files to weigh in around 200-300MB - how can and online system deal with that.  Designing a part is different then an arena.

 

I see a lot of people on user forums complaining that : the webstore won't load in Safari or line wrapping isn't working in IE, etc.  Won't this put their fate in the hands of Microsoft, Google, Apple and others?  Remember Flash vs. HTML5?

 

Ever have your router take a dump before a meeting?  Ever find that your machine "Has a self assigned IP and can't connect to the Internet"?

 

I understand what you are saying and are desiring. Yes, I'm taking the piss a bit here, but seeing the current state of Web sharing in VW and the general state of 2017, I want Nemetschek to put their focus and engineering time into making the current overall product work as advertised.  I appreciate what Onshape is doing, but I don't know that this is the path that VW should take.  Call me a luddite - I'm okay with that.

 

(By the way - have you ever looked at Fusion 360? from Autodesk?)

[digitalcarbon]

valid points,  i too wonder about large files.

i do know this for sure,  that the last large project i worked on we all spent a day exporting and importing and dealing with a FTP site.  

this became a big headache.

 

as for teams working on separate files vs an onshape environment:

i would rather find out right away that someone changed part B while i was working on part A then find out at the end of the week

when i download their exports from the ftp site

then import

then align to my grid

then find out about the change

then call them

then find out that because they have 3 days of work based on that change....they are unwilling to discuss the validly of the change.

then i need to post a formal complaint to the Architect (because i feel its going to cause problems in other areas)

then another few days for a goto meeting to sort this conflict out (in the mean time more stuff has been uploaded to the ftp site for downloading)

(i personally lived this many times)

 

i think the fear around a "Multi-Player" is a non-reality.

i remember having similar fears when i first heard about people doing drafting on a computer.

what if a person deletes a whole detail with the push of a button? or the HD fails?

valid points...yet here we are. 

as i said before, it may be scary for the first week but the team will learn to work together.

 

as for the reactor project.  i'm planing on exporting all that work to Onshape and inviting others to into the model to view.

then we will see how well things work.

 

one last thing, we need to keep in mind that Onshape was built by the people who invented Solid Works. 

they sold Solid Works in order to make Onshape

& they have a bunch of core Solid Works engineers who jumped ship to work on this

this is not some college kids with a flashy new app

 

the questions is "why would these experts in the industry do this?"

Edited June 30, 2017 by digitalcarbon

[digitalcarbon]

as far as the internet going down before a meeting...never happened during any of my goto meetings.

but i have had VW lock up on me a few times and needed to force quit with everyone watching me.

 

as for the investment in hardware:

currently i have a mac pro $3000+ (2013)

use to have a mac mini but i wanted the most power so i dumped the mini 

if the browser VW can run on a chrome book (as onshape can) then i can go back to my mac mini approach and save money

 

software investment:

you could say the same thing about manual drafting and all the offices that had huge drafting machines

yet people changed...not over night.  but they likely bought one or two computers and put the young guys on it.

then phased it in.. the older ones who could not learn were phased out

[digitalcarbon]

here is a 7min excerpt from one of the guys who developed Solid Works back in 1995 & why they jumped ship to develop browser based cad

 

 

[EAlexander]

I have no doubt that these guys know what they are doing.  Soilidworks didn't become industry standard by chance.  My main interest is that Nemetschek stay focused on making the current product work first and foremost.

 

If you take the reactor online, I'd love to check it and and be part of that process.  Always curious to try new things.

 

e.

[digitalcarbon]

will do. then we can find out for sure how well this browser stuff works

[Christiaan]

I'm currently working on a model trying to get slabs to connect cleaning to walls.... there's a communal stair well with split levels and I'm having trouble getting it to recognise the bounding walls... and there are not enough options in the Auto Bound Edge Offset dropdown menu in the Slab Style to connect to the Walls the way I want them to, so I have to set the Edge Offsets for every single slab instance... which makes me wonder why I'm using a smart object like the Slab at all... why don't I just model it directly... how much easier it would be for other people to edit the file... and how great it would be to not have the connections break because I happen to edit a wall...

 

But then I think of all the extra work adding IFC data (which could be overcome by pre-defined Materials), double-checking things are set at the correct height, having to go about and change every single slab instance because the engineer changes the slab thickness... etc.

[Christiaan]

1 hour ago, Christiaan said:

I'm having trouble getting it to recognise the bounding walls... and there are not enough options in the Auto Bound Edge Offset dropdown menu in the Slab Style to connect to the Walls the way I want them to, so I have to set the Edge Offsets for every single slab instance...

 

I've found a solution to this: don't use auto-binding, add slabs using manual mode, and then set all the wall component heights to suit.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Christiaan

[digitalcarbon]

Christian, i have not had any type of building to work on for years.  

 

all i know is that if the model is not clean then you end up chasing unclean output for the rest of your life when you end up making sheets.

 

it almost seems like there needs to be a modeler and then a Data/Library person.  this person makes a library of components that can then be eyedropper into the file you are working on or you copy a piece of the component that has IFC already attached 

 

as for moving part of a model if something changes.  

i have done this and its easy.  

you just toggle through every layer and move what needs moved

it give you a visual check to see how the move effects every layer

i just don't trust anything that is automatic 

 

 

[digitalcarbon]

i have never used the slab tool. can you send me a small piece in a file please so i can see the data attached etc

[zoomer]

2 hours ago, Christiaan said:

 

I've found a solution to this: don't use auto-binding, add slabs using manual mode, and then set all the wall component heights to suit.

 

^ I always ask myself,

although not "real"

wouldn't it be better in many complicated situations to let the walls run through

an just fill in all slabs between walls by paint bucket ?

(less amount of wall styles, better export geometry, .... )

 

On the other hand,

auto binding for slabs works really well for me in most cases.

It can even create holes for staircases.

Although the custom binding options for every single edge might look as tedious

as manual slab borders, they still provide binding to wall changes.

Edited July 25, 2017 by zoomer

[digitalcarbon]

while i always upgrade (because i want to say current) the busier i get the less excited i get about the Release Date.

 

don't get me wrong.  i would love to have the time to go to the show and take a day to enjoy everything but I'm swamped with work and do not look forward to the upgrade because of the chaos it will introduce into my work flow...but i will find the time.

 

i really would like to just have a Browser based version of VW that gets improved every few weeks while i sleep at night and have no interruptions...

[digitalcarbon]

think about this...if every software that i use has a big event release date then when am i going to do my work?

 

it should be "Here is what we did while you were sleeping..."

 

small...weekly...bite-sized portions.

 

Edited September 11, 2017 by digitalcarbon

[zoomer]

I second this.

Would save me from yearly workspace rebuild