I start look for a way work for different company with PDM and find Solidworks connected. Anyone using it? it looks relay nice.
I have heard many bad things about the Solidworks Connected/3DExperience product
https://old.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/pw7d8j/3dexperience_solidworks_vs_solidworks/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/wbqe5t/solidworks_connected_3dexperience_error/
Perhaps things have improved as of late.
I have seen a lot of posts on the platform of people having issues with the add-on, but I’ve also seen a lot of people say it’s wonderful. I’m guessing, like most SolidWorks things, if you do things right, you won’t have issues.
So is the bridge I’m gonna sell you.
He may not be wrong…He said, “It’s relay nice.” That is if this is the relay:
image.png
They’re relayed.
Per S You probably want to collaborate on CAD files with someone at another company or location.
3DExpereince Solidworks Connected could work for this, but it’s weird - and not totally proven (but it’s getting better). You can test it out for very little money (~$10/month) with the Maker version (but don’t stay on that version for business use). https://www.solidworks.com/solution/3dexperience-solidworks-makers
If you plan to use it for years, then you will learn it, and it may be worth it.
Note you can also use regular Solidworks (instead of “Solidworks Connected”), and pay for roles in the cloud 3DExperience platform.
For an easier to implement and learn collaboration platform you could try https://www.getbild.com/, https://wikifactory.com/, https://thangs.com/ Those would all be easier to adopt for file sharing. Thangs and Wikifactory are much smaller, and limited in capabilities.
I am not so good spelling in Swedish to…
Thanks for tips, but I had one meeting with my VAR and him convinced me that Dassault would make this a excellent PDM/PLM system.
The folder 3Ddrive where you can export manufacturing drawings and share with subcontractor was what i looking for.
Good luck! And please let us know how your experience goes with 3DExperience.
For our needs I haven’t seen anything compelling that’s been offered. Definitely not worth the overhead for the little benefit of the one useful thing I did see.
There’s probably a lot over there, but it’s about as clear as mud to try to figure out what all you can do, how much it costs, and how much trouble it is to do what you need to do…And I’m not interested in marketing crap because 9 times out of 10 there’s some huge flaw that prevents implementation in the flashy way that it is presented. I want to see users presenting their success with the platform.
I stumbled across this page when poking around. Clicking on the ‘Roles’ category and then ‘SOLIDWORKS’ reveals 18 different roles! Good luck figuring out what you need. From those 18 roles, 3DEXPEREINCE SOLIDWORKS Professional lists these 5 ‘apps’:
3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Premium lists the same 5 apps!
Well, at least it isn’t CATIA. That one has, I kid you not, 262 roles. We’re probably just a couple years away from microtransactions in your CAD software. Oh, you want a Boss-Extrude longer than 1 meter? Please confirm your credit card details to purchase the ‘Greater than 1 meter cubed’ role…
So are roles like tags?
Roles are packages of apps/widgets/tools on the platform - which unlock various powers.
These are the 3 fundamental ones for a Solidworks user:
CSV: Collaborative Industry Innovator – connects your traditional SolidWorks desktop to the 3DExperience Platform
IFW: Collaborative Business Innovator – allows SolidWorks users to create dashboards and communities
UES: Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS – Basic data management with revision control and five states
(these are the ones includes with a subscription after July 2023)
A lot of them have overlapping offerings, the hundreds of roles are way over-complicated, but fortunately, most users don’t need to worry about more than the common 3 - some users will add something like “Change Manager”. Note they are named user licenses, not floating/concurrent.
Here is another list of roles https://edu.3ds.com/en/learn/learning-libraries/3dexperience-works
Tags in 3DExperience are for narrowing down searches.
For me I have to spend about 15 000 SEK/year for three rolls connecting my existing Premium license to 3DX, Give total 40 000 SEK per year in subscription with premium SW. 10 SEK about 1 dollar
Thanks for tips, but I had one meeting with my VAR and him convinced me that Dassault > would > make this a excellent PDM/PLM system.
The fact that the existing system is NOT already an excellent (or rather usable) PDM/PLM system speaks a lot for itself…
Well, at least it isn’t CATIA. That one has, I kid you not, 262 roles. We’re probably just a couple years away from microtransactions in your CAD software. Oh, you want a Boss-Extrude longer than 1 meter? Please confirm your credit card details to purchase the ‘Greater than 1 meter cubed’ role…
Your default license come with 100 feature limit 
Should you need more license, please purchase the higher tier license (I kid you not, some software is in fact already doing this bs, our cable routing software license actually had a 100wire limit where you can only connect 100pins in a assembly)
You have used up your 500 boss feature credit. You will need to purchase more credit for more boss feature
These are the 3 fundamental ones for a Solidworks user:
CSV: Collaborative Industry Innovator – connects your traditional SolidWorks desktop to the 3DExperience Platform
IFW: Collaborative Business Innovator – allows SolidWorks users to create dashboards and communities
UES: Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS – Basic data management with revision control and five states
(these are the ones includes with a subscription after July 2023)
I am no longer surprise that the role code had almost zero relation to its role title (why does Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS coded as UES? Where is the U and E)
Not to mention the code using some common abbreviation (CSV)
Lol Zhen-Wei. You have some good points, but you’re trying too hard to hate 3DX with your final point about the unimportant role codes (which may be French based?).
3DX is usable as a basic PDM system.
Honestly, even today with some known problems, I’d recommend 3DExperience over Solidworks PDM (Standard or Pro) - given these conditions:
Modest size company and CAD team; some remote work;
without much of an IT crew, existing PDM, or server.
That includes a lot of companies. Dassault epically screwed how they launched this product years ago, but it’s their future (and cloud PDM is going to dominate before long), and they are highly motivated to make it better. I even admire some of the innovative features they included, but they over did it, and got carried away with a stew of features.
By the way, there are good PDM systems (when implemented carefully), but there are currently no excellent PDM software options.