PTC Chalk

brucebartlett

I was super impressed with the Chalk demo @jon_hirschtick gave today at Liveworx. I am signing up, I think this could be very helpful for viewing products remotely in the field.

It also got me to thinking that this would be a great feature to also have built into the comments section, it would be next level to taking screenshots editing and uploading. I know you can tag geometry which works great but sometimes scratching out some annotation over the CAD geometry works better. 

bryan_lagrange

I second Bruce's motion.

tim_hess427

Is there any marketing material on this that can be shared? I did a quick google search and found some stuff about an AR product, but not sure if you're talking about the same thing. 

Anything that improves the markup/commenting features in Onshape would be awesome to see. 

NeilCooke

https://chalk.vuforia.com/

brian_brady

It doesn't appear that it is designed to work with marking up CAD, just augmented reality. It also requires a license (subscription?). I don't see it being used widely outside of those companies/enterprises that are already using PTC (Creo) products.

steve_shubin

@brian_brady

YOU SAID —
I don't see it being used widely outside of those companies/enterprises that are already using PTC (Creo) products.

I watched a short presentation / commercial on it.

Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that anyone that needs help on how to operate a piece of equipment — or how to construct something, but does not have a person at the same location that could show them how to do it, would appreciate using this app.

It does not seem to be tied to any particular make of equipment. It’s just a remote way of showing somebody how to adjust a knob - as in what direction and how far to turn it. Or what lever or switch to throw, or slide pot to adjust.

Looks like a nice straightforward simple app. The way apps should be made

If I was still working, I would either use this or recommend it to be used

brian_brady

@steve_shubin
I don't understand why PTC needs to be so opaque about pricing and licensing. If you look around the website, there is nothing at all about pricing. That's why I think it will only be used by PTC existing customers; they will just add it to their existing licenses. Maybe other large enterprises as well. But smaller companies or teams who may find it useful cannot see the price; which tells me a lot. I am a fan of up-front pricing, not hiding behind a "request quote" link (of which I did not see). Maybe you can see pricing tiers after creating an account. I am not in favor that approach as well.

Vuforia is one of PTC's acquisitions. Why not let it stand alone like Onshape still is? I suggest that only customers of PTC's other tools or those looking for those other tools will run across Chalk.

I do agree that it does look like a helpful application though.

michael3424

I can see lots of applications for this in research and industrial environments where operations must be supported 24/7.  Nothing like a way to avoid having to drive into work in the middle of the night to show a new operator how to deal with an issue.  Does anyone know what this costs and how it is licensed for a group of users?

NeilCooke

I don’t, but it’s free to use at the moment. Like all tools, if it proves invaluable then the cost almost becomes secondary. 

edward_petrillo

free to use at the moment.

Downloaded the app from Google Play.  Terms of use appear to allow 30 day free evaluation, otherwise requires association with a business that has licensed the software from PTC.  

There's an obvious benefit from this app for anyone whose access to workplaces has been restricted by covid-19 precautions.  A low or no-cost licensing opportunity would be a boon for many of us. 

Ryan_McClelland

It looks super useful, but when I tried it with a Galaxy S10, if fell flat on its face and wouldn't recognize and environments and let me start annotating. Anyone else have a better experience?

romeograham

I tried to use it with a couple of co-workers - and the performance (I think they had a not-brand-new iPhone) wasn't great....I will have to try again, because it has potential for us.

Theo_R

Thanks for sharing this link @brucebartlett

fnxf

brucebartlett said:

I was super impressed with the Chalk demo @jon_hirschtick gave today at Liveworx. I am signing up, I think this could be very helpful for viewing products remotely in the field.

It also got me to thinking that this would be a great feature to also have built into the comments section, it would be next level to taking screenshots editing and uploading. I know you can tag geometry which works great but sometimes scratching out some annotation over the CAD geometry works better. 

I've used Chalk when we were in full Corona-times. It was very useful, because the person who knew the machine was able to be at home in front of a computer (using Google Chrome), and could talk to me and draw arrows and show me what had to be done. It does eat your battery, but that's not a big issue. What I've liked most is that after the session ends, you get to save screenshots of all the annotations.

About your second point- I've submitted an improvement request where we could use the feedback tool (Usersnap) to take screenshots and add them directly as a comment, that would improve this workflow of commenting. But they'll get to it when they get to it

Ryan_McClelland

@fnxf This is exactly the use case I have, but it just failed on my phone (Galaxy S10). What phone where you using?

fnxf

Ryan_McClelland said:

@fnxf This is exactly the use case I have, but it just failed on my phone (Galaxy S10). What phone where you using?

iPhone XR 

michael_bird880

I know that getting pricing information can be difficult but although i might get some details wrong here is my understanding of Chalk packaging/pricing.

There are a number of Chalk offerings.....

1. Free Chalk app from Apple App Store or Google Play - This is non commercial and has a limitation on the duration of the call (i think 20 -30 seconds)

2. Chalk User - I think the main use case for this is "company internal" supporting field engineers or shopfloor etc. You get 50 users with unlimited calls approx $10,000

3. Chalk Host - This one is more designed for external support of consumers. You get 5 internal users that can connect to your customers approx $15,000

4. PTC are offering Chalk foc until the end of August.

Chalk is great product and especially in the current situation and considering how things may well change going forward a really good solution to offer remote support/training. There are other products but Chalk is quite unique in the way it can lock the location of notes and instructions as you move around your environment and they are still in the right place when you return.

If you have any specific questions about PTC's AR products let me know.