Is it just me or is this update just as bloody confusing as it was year ago? First of all, if I wasn’t reading the forum I wouldn’t know that v16 is supposed to be available at all! All my GM does now is saying “Your software is up to date”!
Where the heck you get these e-mails? I have triple-checked both my spam folder and inbox and I can find no darn announcement about v16 download nor licensing. I have only e-mail “Announcing exciting new features including printability and direct scan integration with Sense™”.
My account info states at alibre.com that “Subscription Service Expiration Date: 4/4/2015” that is ok, since I’ve recently paid for renewal. “Upgrade to newer version” only advices to click “Download tab” and navigating thru _3dsystems_ website takes to “old” Alibre site.
Man, this is frustrating as it seems that you always have to dig and sweat to extract the information that should be obvious to customers.
Michael said:
My name is Michael, I work for 3D Systems, and I'd like to share some information with everyone on this thread.
You have no idea how good it did feel while reading this!
Next major release probably around December 2014; but obviously it's very early on, and may change. We aren't at a point where I can really talk about new features; and it is generally frowned upon (public company, future looking statements, have to be careful).
Understood, this is the common policy. However, I hope there will be also /minor/ releases, bug fixes etc. Otherwise this feels like a bit too long update cycle, as it now have been. Shredding some light about plans from time to time would be nice though.
As for the direction and 3D Printing; it shouldn't really surprise everyone that 3D Printing is a part of the direction here. 3D Systems is one of the inventors of the technology, and we are passionate about getting it into as many hands a possible. This puts Design users in an interesting position. Not only do we want a 3D Printer on every engineers desk at work to test out a concept; we also want one in every garage or hobby room.
3D Printing, as we envision it, is about breaking barriers. You should be able to hold your design in you hand and test it within a couple hours; not wait/work for days.
The Mechanical CAD and 2D Drawings won't go away though. They aren't exactly new and dynamic technologies, but there are always improvements to make.
This is both good and bad news. Initially I was a little bit worried about which direction 3D Systems will take (Alibre) Design. By all means, I’m sort of curious to see what you can add to the software. But this software was selected for mechanical engineering to design machines and all sorts of other structures. No 3D printing here. Now I’m starting to think that e.g. poor 2D capabilities (I use another product for this) will never improve, sheet metal section is never needed in 3D printing industry thus gets forgotten, better BOM managing will never be here (I still can’t have more than one BOM per drawing!) et cetera. What I’m saying here is that please do not forget those users who may not require 3D printing capabilities – perhaps they may in future but losing them now may not bring them back!
Cheers!
