Should I buy SOLIDWORKS?Long time user of acad, bought Inventor 4 years ago. It's improvingbut so has SW it seems. And in my trade SW is becoming the norm... ifyou can call a handful of 3d die designers the norm. But the top threereasons SW is attractive is part configs, individual form control ofsheet metal, and edrawings. Very excited to see if configs can live upto expectations. So I'm thinking about using my end of year money tobuy SW and have some questions. Oh, I'm foolish for not getting a 30day trial, but too late now.1 - I've been using master-sketching to control blocks that nestagainst each other. If I understand correctly, in SW, sketch 4squares,...2 butting, 2 gapped... extrude with one extrude. Then usesplit feature to create 4 configs or 4 separate part numbers. Thenthere is one file with 4 parts can be a sub in the assy. This wouldeffectively create a mastersketch, parts and sub within one file??? Togood to be true.2 - Edrawings. I've only seen relatively small Edrawings. How isperformance with larger models, 200 unique parts, 500 total. Is it realchoppy? Can it be measured, sliced? How big would that file be, approx.3 - Drawing side views. Dies are basically two halves, top and bottom.It is common to show the bottom plan view with section lines to theside views. Side views are a section of both top and bottom. In IV thisis possible with design views, plan view of "both halves" view issection cut, then "both halves" plan view is replaced with"bottom only" view, yet the side view still shows "both halves"view. Does SW have an equivalent?example: - Importing a .dwg to the sketcher... can you turn layers on/off?Widow select entities? Maybe even copy paste a dwg in a sketch? Or doyou have to import a whole file?5 - Is there window selection in sketch environment? in model? Indrawing ?

Diemaker, I can't say I understand your first question -- maybe someoneelse will answer. But for the 2nd thru 5th questions, here are mythoughts:2) Performance is generally pretty good on machines which have somepower. Sending an eDrawing of a large assembly to someone with atypical laptop/notebook computer is likely to result in some frustrationfor the recipient. Size of the eDrawing can vary greatly. Complexgeometry (especially some things like helical sweeps which would beneeded for threads on screws or springs, if you have either) willgreatly increase the file size. I would expect an eDrawing with 200unique parts and 500 total to be somewhere between 5 and 10 megabytes,but it could be larger depending on configurations and complexity ofparts (as mentioned above). Also, if you have to embed the code forviewing the eDrawing (making it a self-contained executable) itincreases the file size significantly, although not enormously. Havethe recipient download and install the...

Please review for a complete SolidWorks Die Designsolution. Please contact for live demonstration timesvia the web.

Should I buy SOLIDWORKS?

Nov 30, 2005 43 Replies

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ken 20 years ago

I imagine if the technology is worth it, somebody will buy it and make it their own. Apparently it isn't "all that"!

Ken

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3dquicktoolsusa 20 years ago

Please review

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for a complete SolidWorks Die Design solution. Please contact snipped-for-privacy@callsts.com for live demonstration times via the web.

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jimfrancis2000 20 years ago

ken,

I'd like to clarify that Edrawings is NOT made by GSSL and resold by Solidworks, but the other way around. Edrawings is a Solidworks owned and patented technology and GSSL is involved with developing it for other programs such as you listed. If someone buys edrawings for IV, UG or Pro, some of that goes back into Solidworks pocket. Just wanted to make sure you were aware.

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ken 20 years ago

Well, considering that GSS is not in the marketing/sales business for consumer products, but rather the business of building translator/viewers/integrations for the major CAD vendors, I would be more inclined to believe that SolidWorks has contracted GSS to produce the initial SolidWorks version and has been free to expand it for other applications since they own part of the copyright.

FYI, SolidWorks has only 8 patents to their name and Edrawings nor any of the technology used within is listed. The only registered Edrawings item listed for them is the Edrawings trademark (which isn't a patent).

JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE AWARE.

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