Motion/Dynamics; pay DST, to do or not to do

[protarawizard]

I see in the FAQ that Alibre have abandoned Dynamics.

This is disappointing. I chose Alibre back in 2010 because the promotional hype said it had Motion. Purchased the Expert package straight up for that purpose. Found out soon enough that it did not work.

Years ground by and we got dangled another variant that also did not work. Then the big news, we could for an upgrade fee get the new Dynamics toolset. I paid that fee and quickly found (in spite of countless hours invested) that the product was unusable and seriously lacked help and support as did (I am fairly sure) all other users.

Now I see in the FAQ that because I am unable to address my lapsed maintenance before 2nd July 2017 that I must pay maintenance to design-simulation directly.

I do remain interested in the possibility of a motion toolset ... though have to say I am getting a little gun shy on it all.

My questions are:
* Does anybody have a feel for the cost of the DST support package?
* Does the migrated package have a reasonable feature set or is that dependent on the plan one purchases?

Norman

 

[rockfusion]

I'd ask for a test drive of Simwise 4D (Motion + FEA) for Alibre so you know what has been updated...and if it'll work for you.

As for the pricing: https://www.design-simulation.com/Docum ... t%20US.pdf

 

[clexpert]

I see in the FAQ that Alibre have abandoned Dynamics.

You are not alone who is disillusioned. I use Alibre Expert for a lot of years. With maintenances to Geomagic Design in this time. I am on active maintenance.

For all that long time I use as paying customer, I lost Alibre CAM as part of Alibre Expert and several tools (DesignCheck I think). I cannot use CNC milling machine for several years. I did not receive any new version from year 2015 even thru I paid 3 year of maintenances (2015, 2016, 2017). Simply because no version was published for 2 years. 3D printing features included in Geomagic Design are not working. STL import is not working. Any free CAD has working STL import.

I bought Dynamics for Geomagic Design license last year. I see that I will get new Dynamics for Alibre Design 2017 because I have active maintenance. But next upgrades will be charged. Not cheaply I think. So, I lost next product.

I am trying Autodesk Fusion 360 for several days. I think that this product is very interesting and powerful replacement of Alibre Design. Free for personal use and very low monthly/yearly fee for commercial use. Autodesk Fusion 360 Standard is for $300 per year (cheaper than Alibre Design year maintenance) with cloud storage, photorealistic rendering, animation, simulation, and CAM too. I found three disadvantages for me:

1- I have a lot of projects and models created in Alibre Design. Migration issues.
2- I know Alibre Design very well, and I can working in Alibre Design very quickly.
3- Autodesk Fusion 360 does not support variants. And, I use variants every day.

But Autodesk Fusion 360 has a lot of benefits. A lot of video tutorials. Cloud storage and collaboration. True STL files import. Great assembly animation feature. Version management. Simulation in the box. CAM in the box. Per user licensing, so I can use it on my main computer, and on my laptop too. With access to my files from anywhere. Without license deactivate/activate, inserting license key each time, and similar harassment.

 

[protarawizard]

...
As for the pricing: https://www.design-simulation.com/Docum ... t%20US.pdf

Ok; so price is USD395 per annum for SimWise Motion Maintenance. This is way to rich for a home/hobby user so (sadly for me) I will have to let it drop.

Disappointing as the loss of Motion is, I am generally encouraged with the move of the product back to Alibre; hence will hold the faith and proceed to enable maintenance to effect software upgrade for the Alibre Design Expert that I have.

I see that our local Australian reseller site is asking $695 for Alibre Design Maintenance. I do not require support from them and I do not see any value add.

We should continue to pressure Alibre to enable direct purchase from Alibre at the USD $400 figure. I will hold off my purchase for a bit to allow Alibre to effect this.

Norman

 

[rockfusion]

...
As for the pricing: https://www.design-simulation.com/Docum ... t%20US.pdf

Ok; so price is USD395 per annum for SimWise Motion Maintenance. This is way to rich for a home/hobby user so (sadly for me) I will have to let it drop.

Disappointing as the loss of Motion is, I am generally encouraged with the move of the product back to Alibre; hence will hold the faith and proceed to enable maintenance to effect software upgrade for the Alibre Design Expert that I have.

I see that our local Australian reseller site is asking $695 for Alibre Design Maintenance. I do not require support from them and I do not see any value add.

We should continue to pressure Alibre to enable direct purchase from Alibre at the USD $400 figure. I will hold off my purchase for a bit to allow Alibre to effect this.

Norman

Norman, definitely talk with SimWise or your local reseller. I just happen to find that link on their website, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[albie0803]

...
I see that our local Australian reseller site is asking $695 for Alibre Design Maintenance. I do not require support from them and I do not see any value add.

We should continue to pressure Alibre to enable direct purchase from Alibre at the USD $400 figure. I will hold off my purchase for a bit to allow Alibre to effect this.

I totally agree with this, I have never had or needed to have any interaction with the local reseller other than paying maintenance. All my dealings over the years have been directly with Alibre (via here) or with 3dSystems (via their support ticket system)

The reseller still lists Geomagic Design but I assume the prices are the same.

I would much prefer to pay $400 US = approx $530 AUD than $695 AUD :!:

 

[JST]

I am not understanding the statement that STL input is not working. I have imported a number of STL files, and have been able to get an Alibre file that is modifiable and can be worked with.

Are you sure you are doing all the steps correctly?

Motion would have been nice, but I only had it with Solidworks. I actually did not get as much use out of it with SWX, due in part to problems with SWX in the first place. Had the full loaded package, so no missing parts. With not using it that much on SWX, I opted not to mess with ot on Alibre, plus the "buy a new seat to get it" deal just did not sit right.

 

[bigseb]

I don't like losing software. Never a good thing. But I thought Dynamics was a bit of a missed opportunity. It just wasn't very straightforward to use. I never gave it my full attention tbh but Alibre Motion was a far simpler product to figure out. I would like to see the return of a built-in easy to use motion package.

 

[clexpert]

I am not understanding the statement that STL input is not working. I have imported a number of STL files, and have been able to get an Alibre file that is modifiable and can be worked with.

As mechanical shape? Only very, very, very simple STL models.