As the market for 3D Printing continues to expand we have the opportunity to make sure that designers 'think SolidWorks' as their tool of choice. One way we can do this is by targeting our marketing and sales at the maker and the hobbyist, much like Autodesk is doing with Fusion 360 and similar products. Another way we can grab a share of this market is by adding 3D Printing tools into SolidWorks.
A great start is the File > Print3D... functionality. Interestingly I have asked many users and VAR AEs about this, and not one has been aware of this functionality. In the KB I see "The functionality only works if the 3D printer's manufacturer has developed their own SolidWorks add-in and driver that implements the "ISw3DPrinter" interface APIs." Are the Stratasys, 3D Systems of the world leveraging this opportunity? Or are they focused on their own pre-processors to the exclusion of CAD-specific tools?
I think one direct approach to add value to Costing in Professional is by addressing additive methods. For one this would help up-sell to Pro the one-off Standard seat sold to this maker/hobbyist segment. Additionally we serve the RP service firms who are using spreadsheets to calculate these costs. A quick search reveals a few online-based and windows-based tools to estimate cost of 3D prints, which to me means the demand is already there for such quick-check tools:
http://3dprintingpricecheck.com
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29310
http://www.protoswift.com/estimates.html
What are other ways you guys think we can address this fast-growing segment?
See:
Solidworks