User meeting results

[Gaspar]

A very good thing for speed is to use constraints only to place parts where they belong and then anchor the parts and delete the constraints.

Maybe not a good modeling technique, but it does help a lot :wink:

Also, don't go into unnecesesary detail with parts (mostly commercial parts which you won't fabricate and are only used as reference). We once modeled a big transmission chain. It seemed so simple, model one little link and its pin and then pattern that. That model became HEAVY :shock: . We solved it by replacing the whole chain with only an extruded rectangle.

On imported parts like cylinders, motors, etc. you may want to cut away complicated sections to make them lighter. Once you cut the section away, export as Acis and import back so part history is lost making the item a lot lighter.

Taking advantage of part suppresion, you may even have a version with detail modeling and complete geometries to make your JPG's to show to clients then suppress all that and use the light versions to design.

 

[hul]

user meeting results

Hi everybody
thanks for your hints to speed up my work !
But as user who also knows other CAD Software ( AD is comparing with them) I think to have the right to be able to work without to tune up the Hard and Soft and to turn all other soft down (there are other programs we use asyde AD)
To understand better we do not have only problems with modelling we do have most problems with speed in 2-D drawnings and in editing parts in assys.(to do it wthout constraints ? then we can use a non parametric sytem!!)
as I learnd during this meeting was that nearly all swiss guys attending this meeting have the same problems !
so we have to point out at AD to go on to work on a solution ( to have a motion tool is nice but to have a speedy AD is much nicer !!!!!! )
So :idea: we need more speed :arrow: :arrow: .

thanks listening
still believing in AD but did not see any results at the meeting!

cheerio hib

 

[indesign]

There are others on the forum who also have complained and Alibre is working on this. It appears they are going to change to a .NET from the java base code they currently use. This in itself will help due to the restriction Microsoft puts on java. (yes I am blaming MS because they just do that sort of thing)

Anyhow MS supports .NET and the speed should increase a whole lot when it is changed over. I do not know yet of a date but I understand it will be soon or hopefully within a year. Maybe a V10 release but I wouldn't know that either.

To make my drawings faster I have do things like only having 1 sheet per drawing file instead of having 100 sheets. Having a modeled thread also makes for a very slow drawing (even though I do it occasionally to impress a customer).

We are just here trying to help but Alibre does read these posts.

 

[Gaspar]

Re: user meeting results

...as I learnd during this meeting was that nearly all swiss guys attending this meeting have the same problems !
so we have to point out at AD to go on to work on a solution ( to have a motion tool is nice but to have a speedy AD is much nicer !!!!!! )
So :idea: we need more speed :arrow: :arrow: .

thanks listening
still believing in AD but did not see any results at the meeting!

cheerio hib

Agree 1000% :mrgreen: (Oficcial AD64 pet)

Though, as Tim said, we are just trying to share with you the ways we've found to maximize Alibre as it is today. But beleive us, they're listening. They always do.

 

[MikeB]

Re: user meeting results

Hi everybody
thanks for your hints to speed up my work !
But as user who also knows other CAD Software ( AD is comparing with them) I think to have the right to be able to work without to tune up the Hard and Soft and to turn all other soft down (there are other programs we use asyde AD)
To understand better we do not have only problems with modelling we do have most problems with speed in 2-D drawnings and in editing parts in assys.(to do it wthout constraints ? then we can use a non parametric sytem!!)
as I learnd during this meeting was that nearly all swiss guys attending this meeting have the same problems !
so we have to point out at AD to go on to work on a solution ( to have a motion tool is nice but to have a speedy AD is much nicer !!!!!! )
So :idea: we need more speed :arrow: :arrow: .

thanks listening
still believing in AD but did not see any results at the meeting!

cheerio hib

I am with you Hul, I would rather come up with work arounds for the little bells and whistles that would be rarely used rather than have to do work arounds for the things that compose most of my work. I can simulate motion using constraints. My big problem is that I do some assemblies with 1000+ parts. I could supress some things when modeling but my real problem is with the speed of drawing files. You need to show all of the parts in a drawing!

If I change one of these large assemblies and then open the accompanying drawing sometimes it takes 30 - 45 min. to open the drawing by the time it regenerates all of the views. I would rather see Alibre forget adding too many extra little bells and whistles, keep the program streamlined and easy to use and most of all keep the cost down. Oh yeah, and speed it up!

Adding more nice but unnecessary features will just continue to drive up the price which will kill Alibre's advantage. If the price continues to climb into the $2000-$3000 range, which it appears to be headed, then one might as well spend an extra $1000 dollars and buy Solidworks (sorry for mentioning that bad word!) and be able to exchange files with the majority of the world.

Please understand I am sharing this as constructive criticism. I not trying to be a complainer. I just hope we don't get away from what makes Alibre stand out by trying to become SW or Pro/E. That would defeat Alibre's original goal of providing CAD software that does the job for about the price of Microsoft office.

 

[MilesH]

Mike,

I can see your point of view, but surely we can have speed and animation and keep the cost of the base product down!

Alibre are doing this by creating 3 versions. If you want the extra bell you buy Pro, if you want the whistle, you buy Expert. Presently, provisional access to animation is at Expert level. If you want to move this whistle to Pro, then the cost of Pro will creep up etc.....

The speed thing is a separate issue, which I'm sure will be solved.

 

[swertel]

No worries about the criticism, Mike. How else are we going to improve unless we discuss our needs. But did you really have to condemn yourself to :evil: SolidWorks :twisted: :?:

 

[MikeB]

Re:

No worries about the criticism, Mike. How else are we going to improve unless we discuss our needs. But did you really have to condemn yourself to :evil: SolidWorks :twisted: :?:

Thank goodness I haven't bought Solidworks. I much prefer using Alibre. I just think the closer Alibre gets to the price of SW the more people who might have bought Alibre might go ahead and buy SW. Didn't want to leave the impression that is what I actually did

 

[swertel]

I'm also going to vote for animation in the Pro version. I think the competition is going to force the issue.

Some of you may know that PLM World is going on right now. That's the UGS get together for all their products including their mid-range application, Solid Edge. The highlights for Solid Edge v19 due out for release later this year are based on one attendees accounts:

Sheetmetal
Animations
Exploded Views
Collaboration (open JT in CAD)
NX/CAM link + NX/CAM Express
Enhancements on import/export DWG
New free 2D Drafting product
New Gear asm relationship (gear2gear, rack and pinion, cylinder)
New "motors" in asm (linear and rotary) to be used in animation
3D annotation (PMI)
User-defined table in draft (AKA the "Grundey" initiative, litterally!)
Sheetmetal
Sheetmetal
mmm, sheetmetal

I bolded the ones I really like. I have a few of the specific sheet metal enhancements, but I'm not going to list those. But, it's a little scary that the recognized leader in sheet metal CAD just made leaps in their sheet metal package. I hope Alibre's partnership with Amada starts paying dividends on our end.

 

[lcguias]

Hi

In my opinion for Alibre to "step in the next level" is more important to get this software working right and at decent speed and not neccesary adding more features. (Will be nice to have both)

ROI is just an empty word(s) if you have to wait for your computer(software in this scenario).

Does Alibre like to comment?!. Does Alibre like to give us an "official hint" of what is going to happen?

We all like Alibre but I believe that we need to see things moving. Like somebody said before. Xpress was good for Alibre but it slow down the development. My worry is that the next release will be an Xpress Pro and not Alibre v10.

Dan
Dan

 

[MilesH]

Dan,

Why do you think Xpress slowed down the Alibre development process?

 

[lcguias]

Miles,

If I put my programmer hat - No.

On the other hand,I liked to believed that v9 will have more improvements and will be issue sooner.
Did you heard anything about the next release?

Like many other users I used several CAD software.
Beside the price, I like Alibre for several reasons. (you know the 80/20 rule-in 80 % of the times we are using 20% of the features)
Problem is that I have a few issues and SPEED (2D and 3D) is the big one for me.

Dan

 

[alexfranke]

lcguias, I think Xpress is critical and any time they spent getting a free version out there is time well spent. In any case, it's essentially the same codebase -- any improvement to the full version means an improvement to Xpress, so long as the allow Xpress users to update (which I hear they plan to do). It's a great free viewer -- the same codebase saves a lot more time than developing a separate viewer application.

...and more importantly it allows guys like me to get in the door and see what parametric modeling is all about.

That's my US$0.02.

-Alex

 

[jwknecht]

Re:

lcguias, I think Xpress is critical and any time they spent getting a free version out there is time well spent. In any case, it's essentially the same codebase -- any improvement to the full version means an improvement to Xpress, so long as the allow Xpress users to update (which I hear they plan to do). It's a great free viewer -- the same codebase saves a lot more time than developing a separate viewer application.

...and more importantly it allows guys like me to get in the door and see what parametric modeling is all about.

That's my US$0.02.

-Alex

Alex, If you don't go pro soon, we are going to take a collection.

 

[MilesH]

Re:

Miles,

If I put my programmer hat - No.

On the other hand,I liked to believed that v9 will have more improvements and will be issue sooner.
Did you heard anything about the next release?

Like many other users I used several CAD software.
Beside the price, I like Alibre for several reasons. (you know the 80/20 rule-in 80 % of the times we are using 20% of the features)
Problem is that I have a few issues and SPEED (2D and 3D) is the big one for me.

Dan

Dan,

Probably the API, Configurations and transitioning to .Net, ate up development time.

Speed is an issue for me, as well, especially when building/editing Parts from within a large Assembly.

I expect we'll see new features which everyone will benefit from in 9.1

 

[alexfranke]

By the way, anyone know what features we should be expecting in 9.1? I'd hate to be working on an API app that's going to be obsoleted by built-in funcitonality just around the next bend...

-Alex

 

[mub]

There should be some sheet metal enhancements. Also they want to add some 2D enhancements like rotated views and "multible cross sections". Somewhere i should have a document regarding the 9.1 features. Anyway Scott should forward a similar document to me the next couple days. Tororrow i'll post the document i already have.

Cheers

 

[swertel]

I can't believe you don't have a non-disclosure set up preventing you from publicizing all this prior to Alibre's announcement.

 

[alexfranke]

Hmmm... If anyone out there happens to know that one of my API projects is in danger of being obsoloted by new functionality, and you have signed a nondisclosure, please offer me a "nondisclosing hint" that I might be wasting my time.

By the way, I'm currently working on batch parameter updating, repository search, and hole-table-like functionality -- some with more success than others

Cheers,
Alex

 

[indesign]

I personally have only saw a few screen shots and info on certain functions and none of them I have saw will effect the APIs that you do Alex.