CAD Forum

Anyone using either of these?

I had a conference call with my VAR yesterday on a project that I'm currently using Driveworks Express on. The call was about the project as well as what advantages there might be moving from Express to Solo or Pro.

From what I can tell moving to solo gives me some tools that are not in Express, Variables, control over hole wizard features, being able to save resultant models to anywhere you want and a few more. However there seems, to me anyway, a whole lot of drawbacks.

1) Fixed license - Express comes with SW so anyone can use it. Solo can only be installed on one machine, you can't even borrow the license. This is a HUGE issue especially if you have one person doing the development work and then several people "Occasionally" using the applications.

2) Change to proprietary data base without great tools to copy projects - Right now in express the data base is in MS Access. There's no "Copy project" but it's pretty easy to "Start" a new project then go into the Access DB and just copy all the fields, expressions etc.

I'm just not convinced, again at least for us, that there's any advantage to going to Solo, or at least not one worth the cost.

Pro on the other seems to have a bunch of possibilities although being even more expensive.

1) Floating license for Admin
2) "User only" - Module, although I'm not sure what the cost is yet per user. This is not a "Plus" if each user costs the same as a solo license
3) Direct interface with CAMWorks, huge for us as that is a large part of the reason I'm using driveworks models. Ability to extract features and apply strategies etc.
4) Web interface module - Not something currently on the radar but has potential for sales, customer interactions etc
5) concurrent usage - Pro moves to a SQL database that allows some number of concurrent users

So just looking for more information, thoughts from people that may be using one or the other. Right now the only compelling reason to move to solo is use of variables. I have several formulas that are excessively long because you can't use variables....very painful.

For solo its limited....looks like you return the license manually twice a day.

https://help.driveworkssolo.com/topic/LicenseManagement

I think the price is justified if you have a lot of automated work. Turning hours of work into minutes can have a big ROI if you have a lot of jobs based on that design.

Not sure what db Solo i using....is text files? Pro uses SQL for the database. While that's extra cost the benefit is huge for data mining and transferring data.

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:26 pm For solo its limited....looks like you return the license manually twice a day.

https://help.driveworkssolo.com/topic/LicenseManagement

That's interesting. The VAR I had the meeting with stated that the license was tied to the machine it was installed on. He expressly said that you could install Solo on a different machine and re-active it but only a few times.

I'll have to send this to them and see what they say.

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:26 pm I think the price is justified if you have a lot of automated work. Turning hours of work into minutes can have a big ROI if you have a lot of jobs based on that design.

Not sure what db Solo i using....is text files? Pro uses SQL for the database. While that's extra cost the benefit is huge for data mining and transferring data.

That's exactly what I'm shooting for. I'm trying to get to the point where someone fills in the Driveworks form and 90% of the design is done as well as tying in the tool paths from CAMWorks for machining. There's ALOT of advantages if it is set up properly.

1) Consistency and "Standards". Driveworks ends up become a "Rules enforcer"
2) Time - I'm looking at taking 8-10 hours of design, programming and verification and smooshing that down to less than a couple hours. Couple that with the aforce mentioned consistency and the potential gains are extremely significant.

I was actually shying away from even looking at Solo because of the license issue. I'm doing most of the model set but won't be doing much if any of the actual use. Of Course I will probably continue to develop other projects and "Bug fixes" so I would need it and the person using it daily would need it as well.

Going to pro seems to have a lot more benefits though but the price is significantly higher.

Right now it's a "Proof of concept" stage and I have next to zero idea where it will end up.

"User" need a license to "fill in the form"?
I can see license for setting everything up and change to rules.

The cost can get a bit complex depending on what you want to do. Keep in mind these prices were quoted to me in 2007 but they seem similar. The names and bundling may have changed.

DriveWorks Administrator (Pro?) - $6000 fixed / $7500 floating;
DriveWorks Administrator (Pro?) Annual Maint. - $2100 fixed / $2625 floating;
Driveworks User (10 pack) - $9750
Driveworks User (10 pack) Annual Maint - $2475


DriveWorks Enterprise Bundle (May no longer be offered)
1x Administrator (1 Fixed license)
1x Model Generation Server (This might be called Autopilot now)
5x User pack
Live server with 10 concurrent web users
1 year support and upgrades
$48,475