During January's annual Solidworks World love-in, Dassault Systemesmade what could be perhaps the most important announcement in a decade to the Solidworks users assembled in Los Angeles: the French company finally recognized that Solidworks is here to stay on the desktop -- this after attempting since 2007 to cloud-ize the software.
Solidworks CEO Gian Bassi showed a slide in which he heralded a reality of two pillars: one made of desktop Solidworks, the other online. (See figure 1.)
 Figure 1: CEO Bassi describing the two pillars of Solidworks, desktop and online (all images sourced from Solidworks World)
Mr Bassi explained why two pillars were needed: "You know how to run your business. We want to give you choice: to grow your business now [with desktop Solidworks] and to help you for the next foreseeable future [with online Solidworks]."
Despite the second pillar sporting "Online Solidworks," it turns out there is no such thing, except in name. Instead, the gray 3Dexperience logo that bridges the two pillars gives it away: the second pillar consists actually of a variety of browser-based programs running on Dassault's 3Dexperience platform, not Solidworks.
Nevertheless, the admission that desktop Solidworks is a pillar was great news for the "millions of [Solidworks] users that happily use it throughout the world" (as Mr Bassi described them), but who had suffered through several stages of uncertainty. It began with 2010's 'Solidworks has to move to the cloud', and then moved on through 'Maybe on the cloud soon', to 'On the desktop for maybe for another 5-10 years', and finally to this year's 'Yup, we consider it a pillar'.
The second pillar is, however, weak. Dassault not only failed at cloud-izing Solidworks, it has made short headway in linking Solidworks with its 3Dexperience software. Dassault has shipped little, and what little it has shipped has been mostly rejected by Solidworks users. No surprise, given that 3Dexperience offers users what they don't want:
- A different file format (Enovia)
- A different kernel (CGM)
- A different user interface (3Dexperience)
- A different price -- a more expensive, subscription-only price
Further, the product names are confused, as we see next.
What Dassault Wants You To Know
"We want to build you a ramp to what is coming next." With those words, Mr Bassi ignored Solidworks for the rest of his keynote. He demonstrated instead a number of Web-based Dassault applications, showing them in the order that users might employ them in their projects. "From dream to doorstep" is how he described deploying five apps for designing and making a bracket -- from initial sketch to delivery by FedEx.
3DExperience Social Collaboration Services is the dream stage. This app collects all information about a design project, such as scanned-in napkin sketches and third-party parts shared from other systems. It is meant for online collaboration between designers. "Think of it as a Google Drive that understands how Solidworks builds knowledge," explained Mr Bassi.
Solidworks 3DExperience PLM Services app is for tracking changes and doing other product lifecycle management tasks.
Solidworks Product Designer app is a suite of programs for doing mechanical design: parts, smart assembly, motion simulation, sheet metal, drawings, and BOM -- all running on the 3Dexperience platform. (See figure 2.) "It is art-to-part and is natively integrated with everything you have seen so far and will see today," proclaimed Mr Bassi. (A related program, Solidworks Industrial Designer, was given only a brief mention, while Solidworks Conceptual Designer was ignored.)
Figure 2: Solidworks Product Designer performing a motion study
Solidworks XDesign app is meant for design on-the-go, running in WebGL-compatible browsers specifically on tablets and laptops. It offers design, mass reduction, and collaborative task assignment. It has Design Guidance, where you specify connection points and force conditions, form which XDesign suggests a design.
(I wrote about XDesign when it was introduced in 2016, but its rollout is delayed; the xdesign.solidworks.com Web page still only hosts a feel-good video and the beta signup form.)
3DExperience Marketplace Make is the final stage: the doorstep. This app is for finding contract manufacturers certified by Dassault. You specify the materials for manufacturing your 3D model, get a fixed-cost price, and a delivery date. "We want to become the Amazon for engineers all over the world," Mr Bassi stated.
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Mr Bassi didn't say it explicitly, but his message was not unclear: from dream to doorstep, all the design work he demo'ed in front of Solidworks users was done without Solidworks.
Dassault still aims to convert Solidworks users to 3DExperience platform for the recurring income, and to eliminate the expense of developing in parallel an incompatible MCAD program. In the meantime, the company told financial analysts last week that "For the Solidworks users’ community, [3DExperience cloud platform] represents the opportunity to benefit from a wide range of cloud services, from 3DExperience PLM services, to Marketplace, or to Solidworks xDesign, a browser-based solution." www.solidworks.com
In part 2: What Solidworks Users Want to Know
[This article first appeared in Design Engineering magazine and is reprinted with permission.]
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New posts on our WorldCAD Access blog in the past week:
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We have a new geometric kernel! Frustum announced the commercial availability of its in-house TrueSOLID 3D volumetric kernel, meant for generative design. It offers
- Optimized designs that include mesostructures (lattices)
- Multi-part assembly optimization
- Kernel-integrated mesostructures
TrueSOLID powers Frustum’s Generate software for complex geometry in additive manufacturing, milling and casting. The technology is also commercially licensed to Siemens PLM software. Get more information from www.frustum.com/blog/
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The AllPlan division of Nemetschek introduced Allplan Bridge for parametric modeling of bridges. "The initial focus points to the requirements of detailing concrete and composite bridges." Data is imported via Bimplus. https://www.allplan.com/add-ons/bridge/
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Stratasys is very excited that their improved J750 3D Printer is 5x-10x faster than the competition and prints in over 500,000 color combinations. http://www.stratasys.com/j750
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Not that Gartner is often right, but they feel that cloud computing is as much of the future as, oh, let's say the Pony Express, to be replaced by edge computing: "Around 10% of enterprise-generated data is created and processed outside a ...cloud. By 2022, Gartner predicts this figure will reach 50 percent.
"The market for so-called micro-modular data centers is growing rapidly" because customers can "run enterprise-grade IT in close proximity to their operational technology (OT) environments, machines and equipment to enable low-latency, secure, and reliable digital processes." gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/
(If Gartner were typically correct, they'd be fund managers, not prognosticators.)
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The yearly SigmaNEST user conference takes place May 8-9 at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati OH USA. Full info and registration at www.stac2018.com.
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BETA CAE Systems' Open Meeting in Korea is May 10 at the InterContinental Seoul COEX in Seoul. www.beta-cae.com/news
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SpatialManager 4.2 works with AutoCAD, BricsCAD, and ZWCAD in six languages. The new release offers to...
- Bring transparent background maps to front
- Create geo-referenced raster images
- Import/export hatch properties
- Import LiDAR points
More info from www.spatialmanager.com/downloads/
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Siemens PLM reports that the beta of its MindSphere Internet of Things (IoT) operating system for the cloud is now available on Microsoft Azure. The final release is scheduled for late this year. www.siemens.com/mindsphere
In other Siemens PLM news, the firm launches its Additive Manufacturing Network to match on-demand design for industrial 3D printing. It "creates an open ecosystem that instantly connects highly qualified members to co-innovate and help realize new products using the latest software, technologies, and materials." More info on the network at www.siemens.com/plm/am-network/
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The new Design With Shapeways software walks "through the 3D-printing process, starting with a 3D file, 2D drawing or even just an idea." design.shapeways.com/
In related news, Shapeways needs more cash, borrowing $30 million in a fifth round of financing. The 3D printing service company has now borrowed $100 million from investors.
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Hexagon AB acquires Alphacam CAM software for woodworking, metal, stone cutting. It's a complex move, so bare with me here: Licom Systems was already part of Vera Software, which in turn was acquired by Hexagon in 2014. But now Hexagon has sole ownership of Licom, making it part of its Manufacturing Intelligence division.
In a related move, Hexagon acquires ProCAM, a distributor of Vero Software Solutions in Italy. ProCAM joins Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and will operate within the Vero organization. www.hexagonmi.com/en-US
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Next step in cutting off your life details from Google and Facebook: cancel logins you make through them. For Google, this is at "My Account" and then "Apps with access to your account. And then refuse to do business with sites and apps that demand sole login via Google-Facebook.
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"We have to transform PTC into one of the premier software companies in the world. Our current plan says that by 2021, we will achieve revenues approaching $2 billion" - Jim Heppelmann, ceo, PTC. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4163907
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Autodesk in 2018: "There are still significant gaps between the browser-based version of AutoCAD and its desktop-based sibling." http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2018/03/the-future-of-autocad.html
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For late-breaking CAD news, follow upFront.eZine on Twitter at @upfrontezine. |
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Thank you for your useful and smart information about CAD software. It helps me so much to know the trend of the technology and their strategies.
I am a user of a DWG-compatible CAD system. Now I am shocked to hear the rumor that AutoCAD 2019 has a function to watermark the CAD data drawn by DWG compatible, as "Trial version." 'Til now I didn't notice any similar statement from any DWG-compatible CAD software developer nor the ODA.
If you have any comment or have any plan to put the comment on any of your public information sources, I would like to read it. - P.K.
The editor responds: It is within Autodesk's rights to do anything they want to their software -- such as adding a watermark to free versions. Other CAD programs do the same thing, such as ARES from Graebert.
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What do you know about OEM software? What do you know about how OEM licensing is effected by the EU's recent court ruling in favor of buyers from original purchasers? - Chris Cadman
The editor replies: The license is modified to suit the company selling the OEM'ed software. The OEM'er would have a separate license with their CAD vendor customer. I would suspect that the CAD vendor (say Dassault Systemes selling Draftsight) would be the vendor responsible, not the OEM'er (Graebert, in this case.)
Re: The Steep Challenges Facing MBE Adoption
Nice paraphrase of my Webinar on MBE. I particularly liked that you added some references to further help people understand the evolving world of MBE. - John MacKrell, chairman CIMdata, USA
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Move over BIM, here’s MBE. Which, for those of us who have been on-board forever, is just CAE. - Greg Morehouse, managing director Motovated Design & Analysis, New Zealand
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Hey, the last few eZines have been really good! In light of the featured article this week, I thought I should send you this link, which I found through my alma mater’s newsletter. It goes hand-in-hand with the premise of the capabilities of 2D and 3D drafting. I hope this prof gets some traction with his article. https://polytechnic.purdue.edu/newsroom/award-spotlights-need-for-design-students-understand-sketching - Ron Powell
The editor replies: Coincidence! Earlier today I got out my drafting textbook from first-year engineering to admire how 3D shapes were projected in 2D. A photograph on an adjacent page explains that this is how the Apollo command module was designed.
You could say that ever since CAD arrived, we haven't been back to the moon!
(Image source: 'Engineering Design Graphics' by James H Earle)
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A wonderful introduction. I like it! - Herbert Grabowski
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The hyperlink below to the online article isn’t working. It opens up a page on my Google Chrome browser but it stays blank and never loads the content. It also didn’t work in Internet Explorer, failing to even open a page for the article. - M. L.
The editor replies: I see that the link in the newsletter contains extra code used by my email provider. Normally this is not a barrier, but perhaps a security setting is causing the blockage. Here is the direct link: http://www.upfrontezine.com/2018/04/upf-977.html
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You really tweaked me this past eZine! [RE: "CNN lists five questions the Zuck dodged (with my answers).] I had to laugh at your answers, because we all know it's true! - Chris Cadman
The editor replies: I was ROTFL at the mainstream media admiring the Zuck for his "clever" answers.
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“When instructors skip teaching sketching and just move to CAD (computer-aided design), it’s a big problem because students need to learn how to visualize objects before they can draw objects on a computer.” - Todd Kelley, associate professor, Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation, Perdue University polytechnic.purdue.edu/newsroom |
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