#TraditionalCADsucks

michael_zeagler

Just installed Solidworks on my machine again last week and the random BSOD has happened like three times already.

john_mcclary

File based systems... Arrgg

All I did was re-name the purple bracket holing the guide rail.
Then it broke all of the mates attached to it for some reason.

So I deleted the mates and re-mated them. Then I switched to the extended configuration (which only extends one part that isn't associated with the guide rail... and THAT is broken still.

So, the fix was to delete the configuration and re-make it.
So stupid.



Also broke the drawing...


I've renamed parts the same way I've been doing it for years, nothing special here. Just the most basic file associations are so unstable.

Or, better yet.
Changed the paint color in the part properties, and it invalidated the dimensions and shot one far out...
What trashware...

john_mcclary

MMmmmm,
Sanctuary!

Finally get to work a job in Onshape again.
God how I love just being able to create parts on the fly and have them fill in a chart drawing for multiple assemblies...

fnxf

"Only" lost 20 minutes of work..

eric_pesty

Time to dig up this old thread...

Had to go into SW today and opened up a document that was "released" in PDM (to revise a "legacy" drawing) and that's what I got:



Fun times! There are also a bunch of configurations (including nested "derived configurations"), it's a total nightmare to figure out what is going to be affected by any change you make or to find the differences between the different configurations!

I am ruined forever and would have a really hard time switching to a job that requires SW (i.e. it would be insanely frustrating)!

Right now the only "blocker" that could prevent anyone from using Onshape instead of SW would be if they have specific drawing requirements that can not be me met in Onshape (or they don't have reliable internet access). The 3D world has workarounds for pretty much everything I can think off (and even the ones that are convoluted I am willing to deal with!) but there are some things on drawings that just aren't supported and can't be "faked" easily.

john_mcclary

eric_pesty said:

Right now the only "blocker" that could prevent anyone from using Onshape instead of SW would be if they have specific drawing requirements that can not be me met in Onshape (or they don't have reliable internet access). The 3D world has workarounds for pretty much everything I can think off (and even the ones that are convoluted I am willing to deal with!) but there are some things on drawings that just aren't supported and can't be "faked" easily.

The only real blocker I have for ditching solidworks is one customer that demands we use SW, even though they never receive a pack and go... But We've slowly started to claim certain I.P. as our own and refuse full drawing sets. So, we are working around that issue already.. I've almost become full time in Onshape myself, just need the other 3 guys here to start the tutorials... I feel the light at the end of the long tunnel trying to change over to OS. Almost there....

But since this thread has been opened up again, I had some screenshots sitting in my downloads folder waiting for me to get pissed enough to post. May as well do it now..

Cool, design finished, just need to save as PDF...


Yes, solidworks.. that is exactly what i was expecting


I messed with this for hours before I gave up and said fuck it... sorry assembly (and customer deliverables...), you will have to deal with looking at it too.

eric_pesty

@john_mcclary
LOL!
Looks about right, what more do you want?! Does it only break when you export the PDF, that seems like a fun one... How about printing to PDF from a current view that looks ok (assuming you can still get that)?

It turned out that a ctrl+Q would "fix" the issue, except that it also swapped out the font in the process (with no warning or indication that this was going on of course)...

Turns out I upgraded my workstation since this was last edited and I didn't have the one specific font required... No warning though!

As a side note I believe that this sort of issue is why we don't have "custom fonts" in Onshape: they haven't found a way to make sure that things will look the same regardless of who opens the document and from what type of machine...

john_mcclary

No amount of rebuilding worked, it was just corrupt. We've all had pdf issues since switching to 2022.

I always have issues with sw. I just don't post as much anymore since I'm using it less 

michael3424

I use Onshape for all of my hobby/personal work and Alibre Expert for the few paying jobs that I do.  Over the past 3-4 days I've been using Alibre for a simple project and it's been driving me nuts with its idiosyncracies.  Guess I've gotten too used to Onshape's way of doing things, even though I've used Alibre for 15+ years and am just one version behind the current offering.

I'd be more than happy to my Alibre annual maintenance fees toward a mid-tier Onshape version.

homebrewdesign

I found a way out of using Solidworks; it involved changing career paths, which means I don't use Onshape anymore either. I'm now with a custom homebuilder using Chief Architect. I'd love to be able to build out the functionality a program like that offers into Onshape, but that seems way to complicated.

john_mcclary

Nothing like coming in for 12hrs on a Sunday because you're a week behind and you need to release Monday...
and you get this...

john_mcclary

Cleaning out the server closet today.. Finally getting rid of some old trash.. 

Pfft.. Installation media.. Hah