SW Student Edition 1

[meterbox]

I want to learn SW on my own. The SW website indicates the Student Edition is only sold to "registered, degree seeking" students. What about people like me who want to (legaly) learn SW on their own?

Please note that I have discovered PTC will sell Pro/E Student Editions for home use. It is not my first choice, but I will take that route if there is no alternative with SW.

Thanks for any feedback in advance.

 

[josephv]

Hello,

Was wondering if you are currently unemployed? If so SolidWorks has a retraining program, here are the details:

http://www.solidworks.com/html/retraining.cfm

You may also want to take SolidWorks in night school. Many colleges have SolidWorks.

And lastly, you can always convince your current employer to get SolidWorks (are you working in design?).

cheers,

Joseph

 

[TateJ]

You can download a demo copy.
I'm sure you already knew that...
Check with your local SolidWorks vendor.
Have them come by and give your boss a demonstration, then download the demo copy.
Then, when your 30 day trail expires, cry like a baby.
Then every day - before your boss gets to work - go into his office and move all his furniture 2" to the left.
One day he will notice this.
That's when you tell him it was you, and you'll keep doing it till he buys you a seat of SolidWorks.
Good Luck.

H_o³
tatej@usfilter.com​

 

[meterbox]

Thanks for the replies!
I should clarify:

1) I am employed, but my company is not as excited about 3d as I am ($5000 a seat x 20). I am doing everything I can to prove that SW or 3d in general is the wave of the future.

2) We design/mfg sheetmetal enclosures with electrical devices inside. I am a product/process designer, so I see both sides of the CAD/CAM equation.

3) I believe you have to use a software every day to really learn it inside out. The school I attended used Euclid cad/cam sw (remember them?), and what I learned was never used in my career. These are the main reasons I would like a at-home student edition.

To sum it all up, I am employed, a non-student, but still want to learn SW. The local VAR is not interested because there is no money in it for him.

Any ideas? I know I can't be the only person in this situation.

 

[TateJ]

20 seats?
I find it hard to believe that your VAR can't get excited about 20 seats... unless your boss(es) made it clear that the money and interest ain't there!
You're going to have to speak their language. Talk about time and money and profit.
How about sales? Does your company produce brochures and proposal drawings? See if that department would be interested. If your boss ain't biting, try to get around him.
Find out what your biggest competitors are doing. Maybe one of them can convince the boss that he needs to invest in the future.

I'm lucky, my company bought me a seat after I tried going 3d with AutoCad - it was like being pecked to death by a duck. Fortunately, we already had a few other product lines using 3d, so I didn't have to convince anyone of the merits of the software - only that I was motivated and able to learn it myself.

If all else fails, enroll in a class. I'd bet a prospective employer would rather you tell him that you've completed an accredited class, rather than: "Oh, I just learned it myself at home."

Good Luck.

H_o³
tatej@usfilter.com​

 

[meintsi]

Just go to a college bookstore near you and buy a student edition. Most bookstores don't check id's unless you write a check, and when installing SW, enter the college you bought it from. SW does not check this information back.

Besides, beware, the student edition normally caries a 2-year licence and you will have to find the registry hack on the web to get rid of the student edition logo on everything SW student edition prints.

Remember...
"If you don't use your head,
your going to have to use your feet."

 

[RawheadRex]

One doesn't need to try very hard to understand hesitancy about a capital expenditure for 20 seats of SolidWorks on the part of your boss. But on the other hand it kind of sets me back for a loop when I hear that anyone would think 2D mechanical design is the way to go in a 20 seat installation in this day and age.

You're on the right track here, 3D is the way to go. It's faster and less prone to errors (at least in my opinion) than 2D CAD. We started with a couple of seats of ProE 5-1/2 years ago and switched to SolidWorks in the early spring of 98 when our group was starting to grow. Our boss was hesitant about $10-12k per seat of ProE so we evaluated SolidWorks, SolidEdge, and MDT. SolidWorks was the clear winner then and now for us. At least there are real viable choices today in the mid-range market though.

Unless your boss is just plain dead-set against it I suggest you keep pecking away at him on the subject. If the VAR who's not interested won't help you with a 30-day trial find someone who will (and with 20 seats potentially I don't doubt that you'll have no trouble finding an interested party).

As a final resort, not to knock SolidWorks, there are other packages such as ParaLogix and Alibre with go for ~$500. I've tried them and they're not too bad. I can pretty much guarantee that they'll give a 30-day free trial because they're trying to go after people such as ourselves in the mid-range market. Just a thought.

Chris Gervais
Mechanical Designer
American Superconductor

 

[DennisD]

Besides the watermark "Educational License - Not for Production Use" (or whatever it says) I think that the Student Edition has also been changed such that Student Edition files cannot be opened by a commercial seat. I had found some SWX part files on a website somewhere but they could not be opened because they were created in a Student Edition.

Has anyone else encountered this?

- - -DennisD

 

[RawheadRex]

"...Student Edition files cannot be opened by a commercial seat..."

I'm fairly certain that I read something about this being snuck in on one of the service packs for 2001Plus (5.1 maybe?) in the release notes. You can check for yourself though on the subscription website.

Chris Gervais
Mechanical Designer
American Superconductor

 

[rocheey]

Check out XchangeWorks. While the CD is actually for data import to AutoCAD/MDT, it does contain a 'lite' version of SW, along with some tutorials.

 

[josephv]

Hello,

Here are some ideas:

1) Find another VAR that is interested in giving you an eval.

2) I hate to say this (in my opinion SolidWorks rules) but to be fair you should also evaluate other 3D SolidMoldelers.

3) If your company is still reluctant to go 3D maybe you want to consider working for a company that is more progressive and has 3D.

best wishes!

Joseph

 

[SnowCrash]

Keep an eye on eBay. A search for "solidworks" turned up this gem:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2081855693

Crashj 'caveat empetor or something like that' Johnson