Free for EAA Members: SIEMENS SolidEdge CAD

[Eric Page]

I received this email from EAA today, which I presume means the end of EAA's relationship with SOLIDWORKS:

A New CAD Program for EAA Members

EAA has partnered with Siemens to offer members free access to Solid Edge professional 3D CAD software. Solid Edge is an easy-to-use, synchronous CAD program that allows users to simulate, draft, and render 3D designs. With a streamlined workflow, data migration options from other industry software, and a plethora of training resources and customer support, Solid Edge provides a great package that is available for free to EAA members. This is a great tool for homebuilders looking for a place to plan their aircraft designs or any design project! Learn more about SolidEdge and download your package.

Get Solid Edge

First, I'd like to thank EAA for working to find a replacement for SOLIDWORKS. Before I "authorize Siemens Digital Industries Software and its affiliates to contact me via email, phone, and postal mail about its products and services," I have just a few questions for EAA staff:

1. The SolidEdge download page offers this software to "any active maker, CAD enthusiast, or design challenge competitor." What's special about EAA's relationship with Siemens, or, put a different way, what's special about this deal for EAA members?

2. After the SOLIDWORKS debacle, I'm a little gun-shy. Will Siemens want to put their hand in my pocket a couple of years form now, once I've invested time in learning their software and drawing my projects?

3. Will EAA or Siemens provide any support specifically for EAA members, or will the SolidEdge Community Forum be the only avenue for support?

4. Does the software permit local storage of users' design files (on my own computer only), or is this an online-only product? Does it require public sharing of my designs?

Thanks.

[rwanttaja]

2. After the SOLIDWORKS debacle, I'm a little gun-shy. Will Siemens want to put their hand in my pocket a couple of years form now, once I've invested time in learning their software and drawing my projects?

This. I spent some time learning Solidworks, drew up some cool stuff, and suddenly my files were worthless. Sure, they'd load in other tools, but they couldn't be edited. Eventually bought another product, but it worked enough differently that I really didn't want to face the learning curve again.

I finally got the veteran deal for SW, so I've got it again, but still have a bad taste in my mouth. Been off SW long enough that I feel I'd have to re-learn it all. Haven't felt too enthusiastic about that. I think they're less likely to pull the rug out from under veterans, but just can't get fired up about using it.


Ron Wanttaja

[W. Reynolds]

Thanks you Eric. You've expressed my thoughts exactly, beginning with a Thank You to EAA staff. But, like you, I'm not interested in a repeat of the Solid Works experience.

I do find the availability of Solid Edge very exciting, assuming I can learn to use it. But like Ron, I'm having trouble with the idea of facing yet one more (steep, in my case) learning curve. Maybe if I'd ever gotten really good at ANY of the CAD programs I've used...

Has any one out there used Solid Edge? Any thoughts or experience you can share?

Thanks, Wayne

[Voyager]

This. I spent some time learning Solidworks, drew up some cool stuff, and suddenly my files were worthless. Sure, they'd load in other tools, but they couldn't be edited. Eventually bought another product, but it worked enough differently that I really didn't want to face the learning curve again.

I finally got the veteran deal for SW, so I've got it again, but still have a bad taste in my mouth. Been off SW long enough that I feel I'd have to re-learn it all. Haven't felt too enthusiastic about that. I think they're less likely to pull the rug out from under veterans, but just can't get fired up about using it.


Ron Wanttaja

You read my mind. I spent probably 80 hours learning and starting to use SolidWorks when they pulled the rug out. I am now trying to do the same with SolidEdge. The main difference I have found is that SW had many great tutorials on YouTube. One community college professor basically put one of his courses online and it was fantastic. I have yet to find the same for SE. I found the tutorials disjointed without logical flow and the few tutorials I have found on YouTube seem to suffer the same. I have found nothing remotely equivalent to what I found online for learning SW.

[CharlieN]

I am also one who had a real bad time with the SW scam. I had partially machine parts that one day later I could no longer run the machine leaving me with expensive scrap.
I am not stupid enough to fall for this crap again.
I started drawing on Autocad 2, we only had DOS systems then

Plus being a very short time from turning 70 and with a rather low income from being scammed by an accountant decades back I will stick to Auto Cad that I am still very comfortable with it's limits.

I also no longer put much faith in the Post Paul P EAA and how members are treated.

[DaleB]

I don't really blame EAA for Dassault's actions. I suspect there was an expectation on their part that offering the deal to EAA members would increase sales of the full priced version of their software, which probably didn't happen. Used to be you bought software, or more accurately a permanent license to use it; now pretty much everything is moving to an annual or even monthly subscription as companies explore how to extract the maximum amount of cash from their customers. This is all based on the fact that there's an expectation that all of our devices are always connected to the Internet, so they can control licensing and usage in real time. This is only going to get worse.


So like I said, I don't really blame EAA here -- but by now we should have learned that if the software company can pull a Lucy and yank that football away, they most likely will. Unlike Charlie Brown, I won't fall for it again.

[PaulDow]

Following the link in the letter, it looks like there is the free Maker and Community edition that is available to anyone, and the EAA benefit is a 25% discount on subscriptions to the Solid Edge Mechanical Design, CAM, Technical Publications, or Wiring and Harness Design products.

[Eric Page]

Yeah, there's a bit of confusion. The EAA email links to a page on the EAA website that says, "Download Solid Edge Maker & Community Edition." Father down the page it says that EAA members get a 25% discount on the subscription products you mentioned. The Siemens site says the free version puts watermarks on its output and that files created with it cannot be opened in commercial (subscription) versions of the software.

There's text on the EAA site with instructions to view a video that explains how to access a $900 training course for free. That's a nice touch.

So, it appears that EAA members get the free "Maker" version of the software and a free training course. However, everything we produce will be watermarked and if we want to turn it into a product for sale, it will have to be re-drawn in the commercial package. That's fair enough.

There's a link on the Siemens sign-up page for on-line subscriptions. Clicking it returns a "Page Not Found" error. Searching the site for "Solid Edge" returns nothing. I poked around for awhile and found the monthly subscription prices for Solid Edge. Adjusted for the 25% discount, those rates are:

SE Basic: $62.25/mo (part/assembly design, automated drawings, basic animation/rendering)
SE Foundation: $175/mo (adds: sheet metal, frames, weldments, surface modeling and 2.5-axis milling)
SE Classic: $188.25/mo (adds: design for cost, reverse engineering, subdivision modeling, generative design)
SE Premium: $270.75/mo (adds: motion/stress simulation, point cloud visualization, electrical routing)

I couldn't immediately find obvious matches to the other modules listed on the EAA page (CAM, tech pubs, wiring/harness design).

---

Frankly, I'm more inclined to put my effort into learning FreeCAD than any commercial CAD package. There are numerous tutorials on YouTube and an active forum. At least this way I control my own data, I don't get watermarks and I can sell my designs without paying large monthly subscription fees and duplicating my work.

[bigdog]

... The Siemens site says the free version puts watermarks on its output and that files created with it cannot be opened in commercial (subscription) versions of the software...

If this is true then we would be unable to send files to vendors for laser cutting, 3D printing and the like. That to me is a major problem.

[Eric Page]

I would imagine that production shops would want DXF files, not native Solid Edge. No idea if the Maker version of Solid Edge can export DXF...