I use Solidworks for my day job and think it is one of the best things to happen to mechanical design in a long time. For those unfamiliar with the software, it is a parametric modeling tool in the same genre as Pro Engineer and Catia. It is like google sketchup on steroids. That being said, I have not seen anyone using it up at the makerspace and it is hard to gauge interest sometimes. Who is interested in getting their hands on a copy of Solidworks?
The reason I ask, is I got student copies donated when I was president of the UTD robotics society several years ago and could see if I could swing something similar for the makerspace. I could also teach some courses if there is enough interest. I would prefer to direct my effort elsewhere if there is not much interest.
There would be a HUGE amount of interest if this is something we could pull off in a legal manner . We’ve typically found that educational versions are restricted to organizations that give “degrees”, but that could just be shorthand for laziness on the vendors’ part. Anything you could do to look into that would be appreciated greatly.
IMO, parametric modelling is definitely the way to go for “functional” parts. We currently have one legal copy of Autodesk Inventor (which is also parametric). For single parts (non-assembly), I think people often overlook what FreeCAD is actually capable of doing and resort to downloads from other parts of the world. All that said, FreeCAD isn’t Inventor level (or obviously Solidworks) in some areas. Constraints currently can’t be equations for instance, but that’s on the horizon.
I second Kent,
we always got stuck with licensing. I’ve been trying to learn solid works for over a year now with limited success. Are you thinking of also teaching a course?
I could indeed teach a course. My company actually sent me to our UK sister company for a month in 2010 to train them to use Solidworks. It sounds like I should reach out to some of my contacts at Solidworks and see what I can do.
I need to start polishing my chops on 3D design. Have yet to print anything at all in 3D and last time I worked with any sort of design software it was in the 90’s on 3D Studio on a 486 or Pentium. Yah… long time.
I’m interested but of course curious about the cost and whether the learning track (and ease of use) would accommodate different skill levels. Some software tools are “expert only” whereas others are easy to start with but translate poorly when your skills are ready to advance to the next level.
I would love to learn. I do a lot of modeling in Maya, but while that is really good for film/game assets, I’ve had a number of difficulties getting it to make good models for 3D print.
I should add that I’d be interested, but only if there’s a path to continued use without some enormous license fee. Investing the time to learn something that goes away after a month/year/whatever is not a god use of time in my opinion. I’m not familiar with the licensing structure, so this may not be an issue. Pardon my ignorance is this is not a problem.
If we could somehow get licensed copies at DMS for use, then there would be.
If we can’t I’m guessing Solidworks would fall into the “enormous” category for you and me both
FWIW, another member and I both very seriously considered each buying a version of Autodesk Inventor that was around $1.8K and came very close to pulling the trigger. Then we found out it didn’t handle assemblies, and I decided FreeCAD was good enough for me to do single part design. $8K for a version of Inventor that did assemblies certainly didn’t feel appropriate to what is basically a hobby. If I did it for a living I’d consider buying Solidworks or Inventor, but then my employer would most likely be footing that bill.
I would jump at the chance to get a student license of SolidWorks at a reasonable cost.
Last time I did mechanical design professionally, it was in AutoCAD LT. I’ve mucked around with 3D modeling in full-blown AutoCAD, but never did much more than play with it.
I have just sent an e-mail to my contact at Solidworks. I don’t expect to see a reply until after 17 Feb because Solidworks World 2015 is going on right now. Everyone cross your fingers.
. We’ve typically found that educational versions are restricted to organizations that give “degrees”, but that could just be shorthand for laziness on the vendors’ part. Anything you could do to look into that would be appreciated greatly.
Couldn’t find a fingers crossed emogee