32 Replies Latest reply on Oct 31, 2017 5:12 PM by Todd Blacksher

    2018 Rollouts - Highlights

    Todd Blacksher
    Todd Blacksher Oct 31, 2017 12:38 PM

      We are in the midst of 2018 VAR Rollout season (I'm going to the local one on Thursday)

      I thought it would be a good idea to have a place for everyone to share some of their favorite things that they picked up at their local event.

       

      So, after you go to your local Rollout, review your notes (I can't be the only one that takes notes), and share some of the new stuff here.

      Also . . . Who is your VAR? What did you think of their presentations? Was there anything missing?

       

      A few of you have already been to a Rollout, so please start sharing your stories!

        • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
          Austin Broeker
          Austin Broeker Oct 31, 2017 12:57 PM (in response to Todd Blacksher)

          VAR - Fisher/Unitech. I always enjoy going to their rollouts, this year they held ours at a chocolate factory (sorry to say they did not employ any oompa-loompas )

           

          Our rollout was yesterday. Here are some of my favorite additions to 2018:

          - ability to mirror 3D sketches

          - automatic tab-and-slot feature (this will be a FANTASTIC tool for us if it works well)

          - "Branch and Merge" tool in PDM

          - free Solidworks CAM included with SW subscription (maybe not so great for people who already have CAM software, but we don't, so I'm excited by this one)

          - finally adding an "undo" button to the data card editor in PDM

          • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
            Dan Pihlaja
            Dan Pihlaja Oct 31, 2017 1:32 PM (in response to Todd Blacksher)

            *sigh*....if wishes were fishes...

            • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
              Paul Risley
              Paul Risley Oct 31, 2017 1:35 PM (in response to Todd Blacksher)

              Rollout with Symmetry Solutions/Hawk Ridge.

               

              1-Would be the add on of importing Step files as recognizeable parts. (3d Interconnect)

               

              2-Free form of non concentric hole mating.(Would like to see this expand to non planar surface anomalies as well.)

               

              3-Tab slot function should be a great tool for welding(Other applications may see a use for it as well)

               

              4-Not for me, but the upgrades to Solidworks Electrical looks promising.

               

              5-Solidworks cam, The true upside I see here is the memorizing of how you machine and program. In the software it will remember how you pocket mill so it will save your preferences if you choose so you can select features and it will auto recognize how you did the last part and incorporate that into the new part.(Downside: File size could be an issue, I could not get a straight answer on how big the file size would be. Again it would be a variable, but if the part was in an assembly of say 100 pcs and each one had a program built into the part that could bog a system down.)

               

              7-Mirror of 3d sketches. Along with the function of mirroring sketches across planes.(My personal pet peeve, they did not address the mirroring of holes across 2 parallel surfaces. Pisses me off when I have holes mirrored on 2 DIFFERENT surfaces and it gives me a total count for both sides of the part.)

               

              I am sure there were more these are the ones from my notes in no particular order.

               

              I have gone to 2 rollouts the latest being with my VAR. The first one was with another VAR whom I cannot remember right now. The presentations at both were pretty good. I will say that I look forward to wading into 2018 when the time comes, but after the last 3 years of "glitches" I am in no big hurry to install this on my computers.

                • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                  Rick Becker
                  Rick Becker Oct 31, 2017 1:40 PM (in response to Paul Risley)

                  Paul Risley wrote:

                  5-Solidworks cam, The true upside I see here is the memorizing of how you machine and program. In the software it will remember how you pocket mill so it will save your preferences if you choose so you can select features and it will auto recognize how you did the last part and incorporate that into the new part.(Downside: File size could be an issue, I could not get a straight answer on how big the file size would be. Again it would be a variable, but if the part was in an assembly of say 100 pcs and each one had a program built into the part that could bog a system down.)

                   

                  File size shouldn't be an issue at all. Just get a bigger hard drive.

                  The programming will need to be put thru a post-processor and a simple text file is what the machine sees. Same as it is now.

                   

                  Which brings up another issue. Where will the post-processors come from?

                    • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                      Paul Risley
                      Paul Risley Oct 31, 2017 1:54 PM (in response to Rick Becker)

                      There is some concern on our end for file size because of the storage currently used.

                      Capture.JPG

                      This is a VNC file created from Gibbs cam and there are plenty more like it at this size or bigger, while the file of our solids should only have the post processed TXT file attached, my concern would be update and rebuild times due to the programming side having to update as well.

                       

                      One can only speculate at this point as to what the effect will be on the software as a whole. All in all it looks promising and I would love to spend a couple of weeks messing around with it developing tool libraries and basic program memory. More likely though I will get 20 minutes a week to mess around with it to get a feel over the next year what it can and can't do. Still will be fun t delve into it.

                        • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                          Doug Seibel
                          Doug Seibel Oct 31, 2017 4:57 PM (in response to Paul Risley)

                          If the CAM handles the part like an assembly does, there would be zero impact on the file size of the part.  It will be interesting to see how it does it.  Typically, CAM files are always larger than the CAD part models.  But 2.5 CAM doesn't really add a whole lot.  It's the 3 axis (or more) programing that makes the files size get HUGE.

                    • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                      Alex Lachance
                      Alex Lachance Oct 31, 2017 1:40 PM (in response to Todd Blacksher)

                      My VAR is SolidXpert. I've been to 2014's rollout only. Thought the whole thing was pretty cool but wasn't worth a 3 hour drive.

                       

                      Personally, I found that the presentation was too fast paced and they skimmed through stuff too quickly, but then again it's a presentation for over 200 person so obviously they won't have time to adress every question personally.

                       

                      Might go to SolidWorks 2019 Rollout next year, will see.

                      • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                        Doug Seibel
                        Doug Seibel Oct 31, 2017 5:06 PM (in response to Todd Blacksher)

                        Our VAR did the roll-out smack dab in the middle of the day, effectively killing workplace productivity for anyone that attended.  Plus they break the most desirable information into sessions that "book-end" their dog & pony show of stuff we have no interest in...turning what should only be about 90 minutes to 2 hours of presentation into a 4+ hour time waste.  The rollout even was Oct 19, and I did not go.  Thank-you for putting together this thread, I very much appreciate it.

                          • Re: 2018 Rollouts - Highlights
                            Todd Blacksher
                            Todd Blacksher Oct 31, 2017 5:12 PM (in response to Doug Seibel)

                            Doug Seibel wrote:

                             

                            Our VAR did the roll-out smack dab in the middle of the day, effectively killing workplace productivity for anyone that attended. Plus they break the most desirable information into sessions that "book-end" their dog & pony show of stuff we have no interest in...turning what should only be about 90 minutes to 2 hours of presentation into a 4+ hour time waste. The rollout even was Oct 19, and I did not go. Thank-you for putting together this thread, I very much appreciate it.

                            I knew that there would be a bunch of people that didn't/couldn't attend - this is a good way for them to skim for pertinent information.

                            There will also be a bunch of people that do go, and I'm curious to see what the different VARs show.

                            It is also interesting to see what different people think is good/bad/beneficial/useless/etc.

                            I'm going to the one on Thursday, and I think it is scheduled from 1-4PM - our VAR (Alignex) does a pretty good job, so I'm looking forward to it.

                            I'll probably post my findings on Friday morning.