6 Reasons why our customers are moving to the Cloud

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is cloud-based, allowing for collaboration on multiple projects between various disciplines in one centralised location. The platform offers solutions from manufacturing to health care, fit for the 21^st century. Below are six reasons why our customers are embracing the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

SOLIDWORKS is powerful software. However, we need to make a significant investment in top-range laptops or desktop computers to use that power. 3DEXPERIENCE offers tools that remove this hardware requirement. These tools are 100% cloud-based, with all the processing done on the server. All you need is a browser.

Because everything is on the server, the platform can be used on any device by simply using your 3DEXPERIENCE ID and it eliminates the dependency on working on the Windows operating system that SOLIDWORKS currently builds on. This means that Windows, Mac, IOS, Android, and Linux users can all access the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and, by extension, SOLIDWORKS (using SOLIDWORKS Connect).

 2. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is not just SOLIDWORKS on the Cloud

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is not an alternative way to use SOLIDWORKS but rather an evolution thereof. Apps like xDesign build on the functionalities available in SOLIDWORKS to help the transition from desktop to the platform while maintaining what we love about SOLIDWORKS and improving in other areas. However, there are features available on the platform that are not available in SOLIDWORKS. Some of these features are highlighted below:

• Command Parking

Command parking allows the user to add prerequisite features or geometry while another feature is active. In SOLIDWORKS, the demand needs to be cancelled to add the prerequisite feature or geometry. This is possible in a few features such as the revolve feature (add an axis of rotation), mirror (add a mirror plane), etc.  

• Xshape

Xshape is an app that is part of the 3D sculptor role. Xshape allows the user to create parts with free-form subdivision modelling. It is used for designs that require organic shapes with very smooth transitions. Moreover, Xshape allows much faster and more flexible creation of freeform shapes than standard parametric surface modelling. In order to create similar models in SOLIDWORKS, surface modelling needs to be used, which can be more intimidating to users.

The interactive nature of the app makes the design process more intuitive. A basic shape such as a cube is manipulated into the desired shape by "pushing" and "pulling" the surface, similar to a sculptor. This means that drastic changes can be made with no errors and no complicated techniques necessary, as can be the case with surface modelling.

Interchangeability between the x-apps is also very convenient on the platform. Simply press the "x" key on the keyboard or select the "switch app" button in the action bar. This makes it possible to create an organic shape using Xshape and continue with the more standardised nature of Xdesign.

• Design guidance

Design guidance is a powerful feature in xDesign. It takes inputs on what forces your part will experience, where it will be fastened, etc then it can generate an entirely new shape for you or modify your existing design. Often these shapes are complicated and difficult to manufacture, but with built-in tools you can easily convert them to shapes you’d be able to make on any lathe or mill (or any other manufacturing method) all while having an informed design to reduce weight, cost and increase strength.

• Super features

In SOLIDWORKS, when applying an extruded boss, when you intended to use an extruded cut, or a revolve, the only option was to delete the extruded boss, and only then can the cut be applied. This often resulted in broken references and features lower in the tree having errors. On the platform switching between an extruded boss to an extruded cut is just a single click away inside the same feature. This is quite a convenient functionality; however, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform takes this to another level. Not only can an extruded boss be changed to an extruded cut, but changing to a thin feature, surface, revolve and sweep feature, is also possible, without breaking any references.

• Design Assistance – AI in CAD

Often, we have many menial tasks in CAD that take up a lot of time. Tools like patterns and smart selections have helped make it easier, but they have their limits. With xApps, we have Design Assistance, an AI Machine Learning powered tool that’s much more than a selection filter. It can help pattern features, duplicate mates, parts etc however you like. It's hard to convey the usefulness of this tool in text, so we’ll let the video do the explaining.

All software needs to be installed and, when the time comes, needs to be upgraded to a newer version. This is a time-consuming process, and as we know, time is money. Furthermore, errors and downtime could occur during the installation or upgrading processes for various reasons, resulting in further delays and frustration. You can avoid all of this with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. A 3DEXPERIENCE ID and reliable internet connection are the only keys needed to access the platform. You will immediately be able to access the latest version, and the platform will ALWAYS be on the latest version. Although the platform is upgraded regularly, the user is never required to initiate any upgrading process.

Access to different features in a software, like SOLIDWORKS, is controlled through licenses (also called serial numbers). These licenses govern what you have access to in the software. On the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, licenses are replaced with roles. Each role contains a collection of applications that can be used by whoever the roles are assigned to. There are several benefits to using roles as opposed to licenses:

• The administrator can easily assign, remove, and manage who has which roles
• You only need roles containing the applications that you are using, which increases the value of what you pay for
• Some roles have overlapping applications (some applications are part of multiple roles)
• There is "no server" the user needs to communicate to in comparison to a network license. Technically the platform is the server.
• You can access all your roles on any device
• The user does not need to deactivate roles such as with licenses. This prevents administrative issues when a user leaves the organisation, for example.

Communities and collaborative spaces are instrumental in communicating ideas and collaborating on projects. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform allows for inter-disciplinary collaboration in multiple ways. This includes message boards, dashboards (discussed later), and Cloud Data and Lifecycle Management. Instead of using meetings and explaining where you placed a file or what the latest version is, both these tools allow you to easily document anything related to a task, project, team, or event and effortlessly manage the files of a project. Message boards allow a single stream of info regarding a project to be easily reviewed without rehashing info in meetings. Cloud data management automatically manages revisions and backs up all versions of a file while allowing for approval of finalised designs. Administrators can control who can create communities and collaborative spaces to fit any organisation's structure and control scheme. To further assist with collaboration, the privacy settings can be adjusted only to show information from specific disciplines in the team, i.e., designs still in process are only visible to the engineering department and not the sales or marketing department.

The platform offers a variety of ways to collaborate with your team. In addition to message boards, dashboards, and collaborative spaces, you can also call, or video call your team on the platform, in the same manner as with other software we are all familiar with, like Microsoft Teams. Furthermore, the creation of User groups speeds up collaboration and improves productivity by reducing the steps required to share content or invite new users to applications. Access can be assigned to user groups; groups can be added to communities and be assigned roles. The size of a User group is unlimited. Consequently, the administrator does not need to perform any individual actions on users, saving time.

 Collaborative tasks allow for an intuitive way of tracking and prioritising projects. With collaborative tasks, you can control the maturity of the task, define the estimated duration, and assign the individuals or groups responsible for completing them. All the different ways to collaborate with your team might seem overwhelming. Fortunately, with the 3DNotification centre, you can always be up to date with what is happening on the platform.

 What makes these different from every other message board/meeting/project management tool? The link to PDM/PLM is what sets this apart. Your design and engineering data, along with manufacturing data is one of the biggest portions of your business, so why not use tools that integrate and connect with that?

The 3DDashboard app is part of the Business collaborative innovator role – the primary role all users have access to. The app allows for a personalised environment based on your needs. Often you get saddled with the interface designed for someone else. With dashboards, your interface is unique to how you and your company work, getting rid of the fluff and focusing on the apps and features that are important to you.

The 3DDashboard app contains tabs with an open area where other apps can be dropped on. Depending on your needs, Tabs can contain a single app or multiple apps. There are no limitations on which apps can be added to a tab (granted that they are widgets) and how many tabs can be added to a dashboard. The goal here is to create dashboards with a group of apps that you usually use together. A good example is the 3D Creator dashboard. The dashboard contains the xDesign app, which comes with the 3D Creator role, and tabs containing apps typically used along with the xDesign app.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform makes collaboration with other CAD software possible, in addition to SOLIDWORKS. The platform facilitates collaboration for Altium Designer, AutoCAD, CATIA V5, Creo Parametric, DraftSight, Inventor, NX, and Solid Edge. Below is an overview of the roles for AutoCAD and Creo Parametric. Other roles allow for similar capabilities.

Collaborative designer for AutoCAD enriches the design environment with embedded capabilities to improve productivity. From within AutoCAD, users can save data to the platform, access management capabilities such as maintaining revision history, managing tasks, accessing related documents, and organising content.

Using Collaborative designer for Creo Parametric, users can save data to the platform, access management capabilities, and search for components. Beyond basic document management, you can also maintain revision history, manage tasks and changes, access related documents, organise content, and communicate with colleagues, all from within the Creo Parametric interface.

In addition to collaboration with CAD software, the platform also allows the ability to preview office documents​​​​​ on the platform. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files can be previewed using the 3DPlay app. In addition to previewing the documents, you can also:

• markup the office document
• modifying the annotations (size and colour)
• highlight text in PDFs
• share the annotated markup via a comment

These are just some of the things associated with the platform that stands out. As technology moves forward in leaps and bounds, businesses realise that their work practices are outdated. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides a solution to this problem in a way that fits into our everyday life. The platform uses functionalities that we are used to (chatting in Teams, sharing files on servers). It beautifully wraps them into apps that are available to you, depending on the role you must fulfil for your company. And the best part? This is just the beginning!

For those who love the platform and those who have never been exposed to it before, join us on 28 April 2022 as we give a preview of some of the CAD capabilities on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.