New Member CAD Software

Hello,

I just recently joined up with the makerspace and was wondering how I could get a student license to start working on designs?

If you mean SolidWorks - @David_A_Tucker is the man to peak with

I still haven’t heard anything new about this:

https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/need-solidworks-license/81395

Maybe @Robert_Davidson has heard something by now?

I am unable to view that page.

You need a green dot to view it.

https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/about-the-member-access-green-dot-category/42006

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Well, as the above link explains, we still don’t have the new codes for the student licenses. We’ve got emails into them trying to move things along, but we can’t apply much pressure since we’re getting this for free.

It is correct that this is a student license that can be downloaded onto your personal computer at home. You might need the jumpserver Solidworks because it’s the Premium version. It’ll have a few additional features that are greyed out in the student version. Also, it’s unrestricted in that you can use it commercially.

As for the student license, this is perhaps outdated, but I suspect that their terms aren’t too different from the 2015 license posted here: https://www.solidworks.com/sites/default/files/2017-12/EULA-SWEduEdt-StdEdt-Research-100815.pdf
In it, they define “Commercial Purpose” as “professional consulting, hardware production for resale, job shop activities, services performed under a Technical Services Agreement, corporate or government internships, private tutoring or training of anyone other than Qualified Students.” They define "Educational Purpose” as “classroom or laboratory learning by Qualified Students or instruction or preparation of courses by Qualified Instructors. Educational Purposes may also include Capstone or other student projects if the work is nonproprietary, does not create or transfer Intellectual Property and the results will become part of the public domain. Educational Purposes do not include Research Purposes, Commercial Purposes or Curriculum Development.”

I don’t speak for Solidworks on this, and I’m not your lawyer, but my understanding is that copyright can’t be magically transformed into a patent. They can control how you use the software, what watermarks are printed on your designs, and certain IP rights you have in the designs you make; and they can get you to agree to certain behavior about how you use the software. If you violate the terms you agreed to, then they can cancel the license and/or sue for their damages (or injunctive relief in rare circumstances), but there won’t be any actual damages to Solidworks in most circumstances. I believe that they granted us the student licenses with the idea that we would make things with them that we would keep and/or gift away.

That said, I recommend that you do your exploratory/design/learning/prep work on the student version and then recreate it on the Premium version when you’re ready to deploy it commercially, if that’s necessary. This is particularly important if you want to assert copyright or patent rights in the designs and/or the things you make. It also means that your plans you print won’t have watermarks in them saying it’s made from a student license for noncommercial use.

I’ll keep you on the list of student licensees once the new codes come in.

This is the message referenced in the copy of my post above:

Recently, I got an error message when I tried to retrieve a free student license code for a member.

Robert Davidson reached out to our sponsor, Dessault. He reports that we got a new license for 2021 for the jump server, but as for the student licenses, we will have to wait till next month for them to release the 2021 license.

So for the meantime, please use the Premium Solidworks copy that we have on the jump server. You can access it from home through your remote desktop.

Instructions are here:

You can find information on using the Jump server via the wiki: https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/JumpServerFAQ

I’ll make a follow-up announcement once I’ve heard about the student licenses.

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Ok thank you :slight_smile:

In a recent conversation with sky spook I was led to believe that we are missing an installation code. Without which the latest version of solid works cannot be installed on the jump server.
Therefore work must be performed on the jump server because solid works is only backwards compatible.

We have the license codes but the site was misbehaving last time I tried to download 2021 had not had time to circle back to confirm it.

Any update on getting our Solidworks educational licenses?

I believe that @Robert_Davidson is in contact with them. Maybe he could chime in with a status update for us?