Hi all,
I thought I would tell you my tale of the first 3 months ofSolidWorks. As an old guy with over 10 years with AutoCAD it isgreat fun to be using a parametric modeller at last. I did dabblewith Inventor but never really had the time to spend on it, you allknow the boss I had "Why are you changing it?"
I moved jobs and had to start again and learn a new technique. Ilove the parametric system, changes sent right through the system,but of course there are some problems. I always had drawn using 3Dsolids in AutoCAD so the 3D aspect is a simple upgrade althoughmuch slower with the sketch first and then the extrude. I coulddraw solids to size in an instant with the command line and thekeyboard. But of course I would then have to use slice or justrecently we had push and pull like in SolidWorks.
Overall for the normal draughtsman things are all there to createthe parts and drawings. I do wish the cad companies would come upwith a unified dictionary of terms and titles. My brain is spinningwith all the new words. They (the writers) are amazing to write allthese programs but they should remember we are mostly dyslecticengineers with big hands. I can sort out a machine in no time butto remember the words is hard and a bit pointless, as I feel somehave just been invented to be different from the AutoCAD and SolidEdge words!
Whilst wearing my other hat as network admin I struggle to see whySolidWorks uses so much memory? And then to make matters worstnever let go of it when it's grabbed it all. In AutoCAD ten opendrawings was a normal thing and big ones as well, all 'xref'ingeach other. Why is it still struggling with open GL when inventorspins along with off the shelf video cards? A windows computermeans lots of windows, that's the point, and if I want to see tenassemblies at once, Windows will cope but not SolidWorks. When wefinished with win95 and said goodbye to hourly crashes I'm now backto these until I learn to cope with the fragile state ofSolidWorks. It's making me tense all the time worrying when I willcrash again. I shouldn't have to worry about hidden windows; myhuge virtual disk memory should cope with the hidden stuff. I'drather wait a second for it to reload than have it crash for lackof ram. Very silly.
Just getting to grip with weldments today. Very nice and the mirrorbodies is great. Unlike mirror in assemblies which is useless. Youdo a mirror on some corner parts over to the other corner using thecentre planes and they just float about. What's the point? I haveto mate them all over again! Not really a mirror then?
All my years with computers I know that programmers do strugglewith real world users. We think different from them, dare I saymore normally? I love writing macros and a little dot net so I dounderstand it's very difficult to please everybody and get theusers to see what you're up to. So it's up to us as users ofSolidWorks to keep pushing the nerds to do it our way. I find itamazing watching the forums that you moan so little and are alwaysfinding workarounds for features that should be rewritten properlybecause they are rubbish. A good set of programmers will alwaysunderstand and want to improve their product and beat theopposition.
So to finish I think I really like SolidWorks and don't think Icould go back to AutoCAD. Afraid you will all have to put up withme demanding a product that works and does what it says on the tin.I don't like workarounds. But today it's 14.21 and no crashes soit's been a good Monday.
Cheers MartSolidworksGeneral
I thought I would tell you my tale of the first 3 months ofSolidWorks. As an old guy with over 10 years with AutoCAD it isgreat fun to be using a parametric modeller at last. I did dabblewith Inventor but never really had the time to spend on it, you allknow the boss I had "Why are you changing it?"
I moved jobs and had to start again and learn a new technique. Ilove the parametric system, changes sent right through the system,but of course there are some problems. I always had drawn using 3Dsolids in AutoCAD so the 3D aspect is a simple upgrade althoughmuch slower with the sketch first and then the extrude. I coulddraw solids to size in an instant with the command line and thekeyboard. But of course I would then have to use slice or justrecently we had push and pull like in SolidWorks.
Overall for the normal draughtsman things are all there to createthe parts and drawings. I do wish the cad companies would come upwith a unified dictionary of terms and titles. My brain is spinningwith all the new words. They (the writers) are amazing to write allthese programs but they should remember we are mostly dyslecticengineers with big hands. I can sort out a machine in no time butto remember the words is hard and a bit pointless, as I feel somehave just been invented to be different from the AutoCAD and SolidEdge words!
Whilst wearing my other hat as network admin I struggle to see whySolidWorks uses so much memory? And then to make matters worstnever let go of it when it's grabbed it all. In AutoCAD ten opendrawings was a normal thing and big ones as well, all 'xref'ingeach other. Why is it still struggling with open GL when inventorspins along with off the shelf video cards? A windows computermeans lots of windows, that's the point, and if I want to see tenassemblies at once, Windows will cope but not SolidWorks. When wefinished with win95 and said goodbye to hourly crashes I'm now backto these until I learn to cope with the fragile state ofSolidWorks. It's making me tense all the time worrying when I willcrash again. I shouldn't have to worry about hidden windows; myhuge virtual disk memory should cope with the hidden stuff. I'drather wait a second for it to reload than have it crash for lackof ram. Very silly.
Just getting to grip with weldments today. Very nice and the mirrorbodies is great. Unlike mirror in assemblies which is useless. Youdo a mirror on some corner parts over to the other corner using thecentre planes and they just float about. What's the point? I haveto mate them all over again! Not really a mirror then?
All my years with computers I know that programmers do strugglewith real world users. We think different from them, dare I saymore normally? I love writing macros and a little dot net so I dounderstand it's very difficult to please everybody and get theusers to see what you're up to. So it's up to us as users ofSolidWorks to keep pushing the nerds to do it our way. I find itamazing watching the forums that you moan so little and are alwaysfinding workarounds for features that should be rewritten properlybecause they are rubbish. A good set of programmers will alwaysunderstand and want to improve their product and beat theopposition.
So to finish I think I really like SolidWorks and don't think Icould go back to AutoCAD. Afraid you will all have to put up withme demanding a product that works and does what it says on the tin.I don't like workarounds. But today it's 14.21 and no crashes soit's been a good Monday.
Cheers MartSolidworksGeneral
