Informal survey for Solidworks usage.

[IndianaDave]

I have been a Solidworks user for over 20 years.
I've used the basic modeling software, creating parts, and assemblies, and creating drawings of those parts and assemblies for production.
We use PDM for drawing management, and have recently added Flatter Files to make creating drawing packages easier, and more accessible to others.

It's frustrating for me to see all of the promotion and effort put into all of the cloud services, collaberation, AI, etc, instead of the core Solidworks modeling software. I honestly believe the vast majority of users still just want a robust, efficent, reliable CAD package, and could care less about the rest .
I see comments, opinions, and conversations over the state of Solidworks / DSS scattered throughout numerous threads, but figured we could maybe consolidate them all here.
So tell me if I'm wrong....
What parts Solidworks and/or the 3DX do you use daily?
What's your opinion on the direction Solidworks is going?

[AlexLachance]

I have been a Solidworks user for over 20 years.
I've used the basic modeling software, creating parts, and assemblies, and creating drawings of those parts and assemblies for production.
We use PDM for drawing management, and have recently added Flatter Files to make creating drawing packages easier, and more accessible to others.

It's frustrating for me to see all of the promotion and effort put into all of the cloud services, collaberation, AI, etc, instead of the core Solidworks modeling software. I honestly believe the vast majority of users still just want a robust, efficent, reliable CAD package, and could care less about the rest .
I see comments, opinions, and conversations over the state of Solidworks / DSS scattered throughout numerous threads, but figured we could maybe consolidate them all here.
So tell me if I'm wrong....
What parts Solidworks and/or the 3DX do you use daily?
What's your opinion on the direction Solidworks is going?

It's an ever-ongoing discussion with them. When I went to Boston to see them at their headquarters in September, they were aware of the frustration surrounding all the efforts being put towards Cloud services while basically ignoring the core features. Personally, I think they were just doing damage control by listening to them because I haven't seen any effort to change their ways, but I could be wrong, sometimes it takes a while for a ship to turn around.

I'm a SolidWorks Standard user, so anything that goes with Standard is what I use. One thing I wish is that new releases wouldn't impact existing files anymore, or at the very least, not unless you decide to have it impact the file. Moving from one version to another is such a coin flip and so hazardous because it's really hard to cover the wide variety of methods we use when working.

Let me be clear, I do not mind them working on the Cloud, what I do mind is that they prioritize the Cloud over everything else. I made a "MSGA: Make SolidWorks Great Again" thread on their platform, but the platform being the mess that it is, it didn't pick up much traction.

[matt]

This has been a lot of what I've written about for the past 15 years, off and on. They wrecked their online forum, which is the reason this place exists. They've been trying to wreck the SW software since 2010, although they took some time to backpedal and rename things, and then roll out essentially the same plan. They've proved over and over again that they don't understand the market, don't understand the purpose of the software, and definitely don't understand the customers. "They" being DS. I don't even bother complaining about it, because I don't hold out any delusion that it could be what it was at one point. I've mostly moved on to less contentious software or organizations.

If you want to read some history, go back and read the CatiaLite or V6 posts from 10+ years ago. That was before they actually implemented some of this stuff. Eventually there were enough complaints they relented, but the new plan was just the old plan with new names. So complaints you see today are about things that have actually happened vs things back then were just about things they had threatened.

You'll never get this consolidated into one place, but if you want to see a huge density of examples and complaints, here's a good thread to start: viewtopic.php?t=53

And then there's always the blog...

https://dezignstuff.com/category/3dexperience/
https://dezignstuff.com/category/catialite/
https://dezignstuff.com/category/cloud/
https://dezignstuff.com/category/catiav6/
https://dezignstuff.com/category/wtf/
https://dezignstuff.com/category/v6/

[Glenn Schroeder]

I have used desktop SW since 2009. It's all I have ever used, and all I anticipate ever using. I plan to retire in 2028, so even if they do phase it out completely hopefully I can hang on until then.

[AlexB]

As a PDM Admin, we have used and plan to only use SW Desktop paired with our on-site PDM server(s). This solution is working as we need it, and the latency is basically 0.

I don't see a reason to ever move to a cloud based solution. That would move the files out of our control, reduce connection speed, increase issues w/ connectivity, and overall reduce user experience. Additionally, if anybody has worked with a user base from an IT perspective, the though of introducing something new and arguably more complex to the already cumbersome daily work is terrifying.

[bnemec]

TL DR, We jumped from a slow boat to a sinking boat that the captain had abandoned a while back and a puppet had been put at the wheel in his place. The jump was painful and I'm not sure if it's worse to jump ship again or just tread water.

We switched from Solid Edge (another red headed stepchild "adopted" into Siemen's PLM portfolio years ago) in 2019. We had been looking for some type of file management for 5+ years. Team Center was never cost justifiable and our Siemens VAR was uncapable of grasping our usage needs. They had a kind of system built on SharePoint community that I remember being so grateful we weren't using when MS killed SP Community, Siemens' response was, "Use Team Center". Then BiDM came along, after most that were using the Share Point system found other solutions. BiDM relied on Windows File indexing and all our CAD files were on CIFS which doesn't support file indexing. So after watching all of that we still needed some solid file management. We really didn't have problems with broken references it was where used lookups and version history that we needed.

Anyway, a couple SW VARs were able to competently present SW PDM to us. We were convinced that PDM was worth changing CAD systems for. At the end of the day it wasn't, we've seen no significant change in productivity between SE and SW but will never recoup thousands of hours of remodeling time. Time that the competing VARs downplayed while in the evaluation phase.

So SW and PDM are fine, they work ok. I learned that for where I work changing CAD system will never show a return on investment, no system is that good. However, I feel that it's coming eventually given the way DSS is going. Hopefully I'm not around when that day comes, I don't want to be involved with it again.

We also use a little bit of the platform, by force, to use the higher end simulation system. I'm not one of the users of that system but I've supported those guys running newer version of SW so the connector would work. Done a little bit of trouble shooting when it doesn't work. We're at the mercy of whatever they want to do. Everything is a marketing game to get the customers' money and data. Adding value to the customer is not of high importance to DSS.

[RichGergely]

Well I think it really depends on what type of business you are. Quite simply if you are a large business run over multiple sites where many CAD users are working together it would make sense to use the cloud version. For the rest of us it really isn't that important and of little use.

[AlexLachance]

Well I think it really depends on what type of business you are. Quite simply if you are a large business run over multiple sites where many CAD users are working together it would make sense to use the cloud version. For the rest of us it really isn't that important and of little use.

Running your own server is much smoother for now, I haven't seen many people shouting success at their cloud experience on the platform.

[TTevolve]

I have been with 2 companies that made the decision to go to a "Cloud" solution for files without consulting or even involving engineering in the decision. After the switch was made we reverted back to on site file management due to the lag issues at both companies within months. Remote file servers work fine for other areas since word, excel, and power point files are usually small and you open one at a time. With even a small assembly you have to open 5, 10, 20 or more files in order to work with that assembly, and then the auto saves would take 2 or 3 minutes. We calculated hours of lost time per day on some of the most highly compensated people in the company. The one site serves pay for themselves in 3 to 6 months in most cases.

So unless your a multi-national company where files need to be exchanged all the time the cloud is not something you want for your CAD system.

[DanPihlaja]

I use assembly, parts and drawings daily. With a smattering of Photoview 360, Motion and Simulation here and there.

Have been using it since 2009 (the year, not necessarily the release).

We are currently on SW 2022 SP4.

Don't really pay much attention to the direction. I guess my take on it is that I am not specifically loyal to a program... I have used many of them. So whatever direction the company I am working for goes, that is the direction I will go (within reason).

If they asked me to recommend something....well it probably wouldn't be anything cloud based.

[RichGergely]

Running your own server is much smoother for now, I haven't seen many people shouting success at their cloud experience on the platform.

It was more of a theoretical position rather than the reality

[jcapriotti]

I learned that for where I work changing CAD system will never show a return on investment, no system is that good.

Those days are over I think. We went from CATIA v4 to SolidWorks 98. For what we do, it was a huge improvement for a 1/4 of the cost, ran on Windows, and was way easier to use. Now the big 3 are a little less costly, but not much, run on Windows, and are easier to use than they used to be. Switching between mid-range CAD is mostly pointless unless you're in a company merging or purchased by another and just need to be on the same software. I suppose there is the file exchange and maybe what software your customers or vendors use that could influence the decision.

[jcapriotti]

I have been with 2 companies that made the decision to go to a "Cloud" solution for files without consulting or even involving engineering in the decision. After the switch was made we reverted back to on site file management due to the lag issues at both companies within months. Remote file servers work fine for other areas since word, excel, and power point files are usually small and you open one at a time. With even a small assembly you have to open 5, 10, 20 or more files in order to work with that assembly, and then the auto saves would take 2 or 3 minutes. We calculated hours of lost time per day on some of the most highly compensated people in the company. The one site serves pay for themselves in 3 to 6 months in most cases.

This is my company, except that our global IT gave us no choice and moved 100% of our servers to Azure, performance be damned. I did time studies to show how much slower it was.......still got shot down and told this is the future and find a way to deal with it.

So unless your a multi-national company where files need to be exchanged all the time the cloud is not something you want for your CAD system.

We are, with R&D and Manufacturing in like 7 different countries. We use Windchill which is web based but not really what I would call a cloud tool like 3dx is. We host it on Azure VMs but its still internal. You could do the same with PDM and replication servers to exchange files.

CloudWorks demos like to show sharing designs on iPhones and making changes and comments. No one in their right mind is going to do design work on a phone or tablet if they can help it. I barely like working on SolidWorks on my 15" laptop screen, I'd rather have my triple 24" monitors in the office.....or my two 32" monitors at home.

[mp3-250]

I think our company is in its 10th year with Solidworks, PDM was introduced later in a "suboptimal" way and workflows are convulted, overly complex and the previous admin got the revision process wrong.
The mess extendend to user rights, file rights that allowed everybody to delete 3d data under revision and cold storage used to manage file versions.

our var was and is still very happy to milk us $$$ for little to no return.

I am trying to fix PDM, reduced the lag and the slowdowns on the server: sql had a wrong maintenance plan, AD authentication was slowing down every kind of operation and many other issues. Basically I am trying to remake the whole system while running the legacy mess.

We mainly make 2D drawings out of 3D projects, sometimes using edrawings to assemble our machinery in tje factory. But it is a very paper driven process.

We tried XVL and composer, but our data is a mess, to even think a semi automatic process to produce our technical documentation.

half of the company is still using a 2d cad and we have a non parametric 3dcad for a certain customer, both of them from a japanese vendor, both of them seem stuck in the 90s from many points of view.

there are some pushing for the cloud, even if we had been attacked multiple times, and got some huge network outage. some people never learn.

[XHawkeye]

User since SW2003. Last (2) jobs have used standard with aftermarket PDM (DDM & DBWorks). Thankfully none have used the SW cloud but I've always had the latest revision. Learned long ago not to expect SW to get better. If I were paying the bills I'd cancel the SW subscriptions because each new release brings little to no added value.

[TTevolve]

CloudWorks demos like to show sharing designs on iPhones and making changes and comments. No one in their right mind is going to do design work on a phone or tablet if they can help it. I barely like working on SolidWorks on my 15" laptop screen, I'd rather have my triple 24" monitors in the office.....or my two 32" monitors at home.

Ever ask them to deviate from the canned demo parts/assembly files and open/work on real parts or assemblies?

I can only imaging how many times I would slide my fingers apart on my phone to zoom up on a bolt in large 50ft x 30ft structure assembly to see it zoomed in!

[zxys001]

Owned/Used SW for 26yrs.
I still don't get what/why/how... DS is doing with 3DX and how they have failed, time after time, with getting the desktop users to migrate to the cloud. The latest trick to get the desktop users to get their feet wet with 3DX.
I personally think (confident) "we the desktop users" are a thorn in their sides and are waiting out our desktop retirement.
A very slow SaaS nudge and (my guess) they will get everyone over within the next 5-10 yrs?

[HercalloY]

It baffles my mind that a particular group (software developers) are hell bent on killing them selves. They are meant to make software that CUSTOMERS want that solves CUSTOMERS problems. But somehow.. software development (of all kinds, not just CAD suffer from this) has turned into a "lets turn our customers into a dependent child we can force to do anything once we change how we "sell" them what we want them to buy". Its insane. Its like someone thats trying to sell something but completely ignoring the basics of a First sale doctrine and trying to just change reality to suit their corrupt digital ways of manipulation and force.

I've been on this ship since 1997 (and was keenly watching it since 1995, still have some magazines with SW95 in it that i used to dream over).

It seems the internet combined with Marketing (aka a license to lie and manipulate without consequence) has allowed software developers to mostly be corrupt evildoers that just can't help but go the route of forcing customers to be reliant on them via "cloud integration" and "bait and switch rental seeking models". Its absolutely baffling they are so keen to bite the hand that feeds them.

I guess human nature just can't handle the huge temptations thats a combination of technological aspects all meeting at once provided them (internet combined with industrial revolution benefits combined with computer power growth). Instead of using it to provide better for more, they just get lazy, greedy, and evil.

[jcapriotti]

User since SW2003. Last (2) jobs have used standard with aftermarket PDM (DDM & DBWorks).

How is DDM? I looked at it like 20 years ago....looks like its come a long way and passed up PDM on functionality.

[SamSpade]

I've been using it on and off pretty much since its inception (SW95) along with 2D CAD (AutoCAD). Way back, I had worked for one of the first companies to implement the use of SW in our area (Quebec). Back then our reseller would physically come into the office to provide training.

It has come a long way from that first edition that didn’t include configurations to what is today. Conversely, it seems that over the last 10 or so years it has been fairly stagnate. We do a whole lot of sheet metal work here and that module hasn’t seen anything enhancements or amendments in like, however.

[peterbrinkhuis]

I wrote something you guys might enjoy
37 things that confuse me about 3DEXPERIENCE: https://cadbooster.com/37-things-that-c ... xperience/

[HercalloY]

I appreciate your efforts. But if you think this is getting fixed, you are mistaken. If it has got this bad and this far... there ain't no way ANYONE in that company has the brains (nor the power) nor the morals, to fix it.

IMO, its straight to the scene of the accident (only in super slow motion because they have far to much real monopoly money [from lockin]).

[XHawkeye]

How is DDM? I looked at it like 20 years ago....looks like its come a long way and passed up PDM on functionality.

I didn't admin the system, but as an end user I didn't have any issues once I learned the button pushes. DDM managed Creo, SW & ACAD files and was used to initiated, signoff & approve ECNs. It wasn't connected to the ERP system.

I had an problem (can't remember what it was) that the admin didn't know how to fix but DDM responded within a day.

[Hoz]

Grateful for the submissions and opinions from some of the community with far greater weight than I....

SW User since 2005, currently working on 2022. Used some Pro/E, NX over the years, but 90% SW for a variety of solid, surface, assembly, engineering drawing & simulation tasks for a variety of clients in a variety of industries.

Used 3Dx for one client for a year or two - overall a pretty horrible experience; the software just didn't feel anywhere near finished. Trying to map metadata from part/drw files through the cloud was a complete nightmare. Often assembly check-ins would fail half-way through for no reason, losing data / saving half the flies etc... creating a mess to unpick. If you're a massive company with hundreds of seats, you'll get SW and/or VAR attention to fix some of these problems, and probably quickly. If you're a small/medium sized user, forget it. Going on everything I've heard coming out of SW from the last few years there's too much ego invested in 3Dx and the 'swmp' for them to admit they've got it wrong and to wind back. Shame.
One of my main clients now runs Standard SW PDM and it works fine. Took a while to setup and optimise workflows (which has to be done on a live project really, to flush out all the real-life oddities) but now is pretty slick and with an on-site server is fast and reliable.

How is DDM? I looked at it like 20 years ago....looks like its come a long way and passed up PDM on functionality.

A previous client used this, and no way would I consider it again. We experienced massive issues and had to switch PDM systems back to what was being used before mid-project. It may have been tweaked over the last few years but in my opinion the problems were so fundamental I have low confidence they could be resolved in any reasonable time frame.

Looking back broadly over the whole industry, it's interesting to look at what drives it - money. SW had a glory period where it sold loads of seats, taking market share from PTC, Autodesk etc... and made loads of dosh. This drove development and made the good bits of SW that we all appreciate, but (like smart phones) the improvements at each release generally got less and less useful as the software reaches a point of convergence, (I guess similar to most others). Would I choose to use SW2015 over SW2005? Absolutely. Would it make much difference if I was now using SW2016? Not massively. Sure there'd be a few things, but nowhere near enough to justify 8 years of subscription fees. Sorry to sound cynical, but it just feels like they've realised they can't continue to make money at the same rate they used to so have looked at alternatives; unfortunately this feels like they've let the marketing department take over with a overall goal of owning your own data, and holding you to ransom to use it. If this had been implemented in a slick and rigorously-tested way they might have succeeded, but you've only got to spend a few minutes on the 'new' forum to realise this hasn't happened.

No empire lasts forever I guess.

[mp3-250]

Grateful for the submissions and opinions from some of the community with far greater weight than I.... :)

SW User since 2005, currently working on 2022. Used some Pro/E, NX over the years, but 90% SW for a variety of solid, surface, assembly, engineering drawing & simulation tasks for a variety of clients in a variety of industries.

Used 3Dx for one client for a year or two - overall a pretty horrible experience; the software just didn't feel anywhere near finished. Trying to map metadata from part/drw files through the cloud was a complete nightmare. Often assembly check-ins would fail half-way through for no reason, losing data / saving half the flies etc... creating a mess to unpick. If you're a massive company with hundreds of seats, you'll get SW and/or VAR attention to fix some of these problems, and probably quickly. If you're a small/medium sized user, forget it. Going on everything I've heard coming out of SW from the last few years there's too much ego invested in 3Dx and the 'swmp' for them to admit they've got it wrong and to wind back. Shame.
One of my main clients now runs Standard SW PDM and it works fine. Took a while to setup and optimise workflows (which has to be done on a live project really, to flush out all the real-life oddities) but now is pretty slick and with an on-site server is fast and reliable.


A previous client used this, and no way would I consider it again. We experienced massive issues and had to switch PDM systems back to what was being used before mid-project. It may have been tweaked over the last few years but in my opinion the problems were so fundamental I have low confidence they could be resolved in any reasonable time frame.

Looking back broadly over the whole industry, it's interesting to look at what drives it - money. SW had a glory period where it sold loads of seats, taking market share from PTC, Autodesk etc... and made loads of dosh. This drove development and made the good bits of SW that we all appreciate, but (like smart phones) the improvements at each release generally got less and less useful as the software reaches a point of convergence, (I guess similar to most others). Would I choose to use SW2015 over SW2005? Absolutely. Would it make much difference if I was now using SW2016? Not massively. Sure there'd be a few things, but nowhere near enough to justify 8 years of subscription fees. Sorry to sound cynical, but it just feels like they've realised they can't continue to make money at the same rate they used to so have looked at alternatives; unfortunately this feels like they've let the marketing department take over with a overall goal of owning your own data, and holding you to ransom to use it. If this had been implemented in a slick and rigorously-tested way they might have succeeded, but you've only got to spend a few minutes on the 'new' forum to realise this hasn't happened.

No empire lasts forever I guess.

My take is that IT went too far hand in hand with finance: short cycles with high returns.

Manufacturing is the opposite. People need reliable goods. Imagine your car or appliance maker stopping business in one year to make other stuff.

In our company there is also who think to go back to 2D. at least you can develop with less cost than 3d, but use double the amount of designers and drafters as the software, its maintence, the hardware and the var cost as much as a multiple person salaries.

IT and finance think they can leverage everything they control, but if we had to do the same they would not be able to afford food anymore, and a simple chair is going to cost like a plane to develop and produce.

[Cadmonkeychris]

Started on SW98+ after several years of drawing board then AutoCAD 12/14. I pestered management for ages to get hold of SW and they finally caved in after receiving a quote for Pro/E. Have mostly used SW since then with short periods of Pro/E, Inventor, Fusion, NX and Rhino, working initially as an employee, then as a freelancer. Work has been across a broad spectrum, from wire & cable to test and measurement, then into industrial design and back into engineering.

I have whinged a lot over the years about SolidWork's flakiness to colleagues and on various forums, but it has served me well and I can usually get what I need done, perhaps with the odd workaround or two. I have always recommended SW to others looking for a system, usually with a few caveats, but now find myself in the position where I am looking again at a new system for a startup I am involved with.

I stopped paying maintenance a while back as I didn't see much return, either in new features with each release, or from support from the VAR (they're not at all bad, I generally don't need it). I am stuck on SW2022 but using 2018 on the current project as it is far more stable and quicker on my machine than later versions, a view shared by the other designer I work with (started on SW97).

We should be receiving another round of funding in the next quarter. One of the tasks scheduled is the purchase of seats of a shiny new system for the growing mechanical design team and we are scratching our heads over which way to jump. What would once have been a simple decision has been complicated by the shenanigans with 3DExperience. Our ambitions are large so we want something that can scale effectively as the organisation grows. We have trialled NX, which we like but balked a bit at the cost, we don't like Inventor particularly and I think Creo is unlikely. There's a lack of enthusiasm for Onshape and we have another designer who has used it and hates it.

I work remotely most of the time so I like the potential of the cloud but almost everything I read suggests 3DExperience is a bit of a clusterf### and I can't escape the feeling that DS is busy trying to kill its golden-egg laying goose.

What to do?