Get Rid of 2D Software: The Resisters

If you read my earlier rants (first post, second post) about getting rid of 2D, then this one is the next logical step: dealing with the human element.  Inevitably, there will be folks who refuse to give up their 2D software.   This is their comfort zone, and most people don’t like change anyway.  To ensure your transition to 3D is 100% there are a few things that need to be done to help the people along.  Continue Reading

12 Step EPDM Upgrade Checklist

SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (SolidWorks EPDM) is not a difficult system to upgrade, but any IT system requires preparation and planning to upgrade effectively.  Since we do this all the time for our clients, we thought it made sense to share our SolidWorks EPDM upgrade best practices to save you time and effort in planning your next upgrade.  What follows is a 12 step checklist, with explanations, of the steps to follow in upgrading SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.  Continue Reading

EPDM and Replicated Servers

There comes a time when your business will expand to other locations.  You might start a new office in another state, or even another country.  The board of directors might decide to purchase another company and wish to bring all of their information under a single data repository.  In any event, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (EPDM) can handle your company’s need for global operations and other multi-site scenarios.  As with all EPDM software functionality, replication is built into the base application. There are no other software modules or add-ons to purchase to have a distributed Enterprise PDM implementation.  Continue Reading

CAD and Virtualization

Virtualization has progressed considerably in the past few years, but graphics performance has been notoriously poor because VMs (virtual machines) have been unable to take advantage of the host’s video card.  Even if your workstation has the latest from NVidia, ATI, or some other video card manufacturer, the VM has had no way of taking advantage of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) processing power or VRAM (Video RAM).  There are still a handful of things you can do to optimize graphics performance (for CAD) with virtualization.  Continue Reading

Setting Up an EPDM Test Environment

When people ask us about SolidWorks Enterprise PDM best practices, we often note how critical it is to have a test environment available for critical business systems that matches the production environment. A test environment allows you to validate patches, service packs, version upgrades, and configuration changes in an environment that will not impact production systems. For SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (EPDM), creating a test environment is a very simple process.  Continue Reading

Getting Rid of 2D in 5 Steps

If you read my previous rant about why people are still designing in 2D, then this one is the next step: getting rid of the 2D authoring tools at a company.  Today, there’s no reason why companies can’t make the switch – it’s just a matter of taking the time and having the willpower to do it.  Of course I am oversimplifying a bit when I say this, but you can get rid of 2D from a company with basically five steps: 

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Stop Designing in 2D

I am always surprised, no make that astounded, by the number of companies that are still designing in 2D software.  3D CAD has been around, and relatively mainstream, for over two decades.  When I ask this question of my customers they tell me things like “Oh, Mike can crank out 16 drawings a day in 2D, but the 3D CAD jockey only puts out 8 drawings a day.”  I have my response ready: Continue Reading