Learning curve

[RichGergely]

Looking for feedback on the learning curve of using Solid Edge.

Assuming you have used Soildworks for 20+ years and other software. I understand that all software works different and I won't be sitting there 'oh but Solidworks does it this way, this is rubbish'

The question is how long would you expect it take me to get up to full speed.

[KennyG]

Definitely want feedback from someone who has used Solid Edge 2023 as the UI was redone in it, and a few of the changes were SolidWorks expat friendly.

@matt certainly has some time on SE, and @mike miller I believe adopted it.

[matt]

I had originally written something , but it must have gotten away from me. Solid Edge is not as flexible as SW. It only has one way of doing each thing, which is easier to learn, but not as easy to make work by accident. So it's a blessing and a curse. SE has a definite order of operations it likes, but these new SW-ish changes make some things nicer. The context menus are pretty good. I use that a lot in 2023, but it still trips me up some times on order of operation kind of things. There are some things in drawings that are MUCH easier in SE. Like templates, or formats. In SW it seems like they went way out of their way to complicate that, but in SE, easy. Most things in SE drawings are easy except section views and aux views. You have to remember to do this unnecessary step of Cutting Plane first. There are some little things like that which will trip me up from time to time, and @KennyG gets an email.

It might be easier if you had something specific to comment on. In general, I like the attitude of SE company much better, and for me, this overrides the little foibles of the software.

[SPerman]

I can't speak to SE specifically, but when I transitioned from NX to SW, it took me ~18 months to have a solid foundation, and at least that long again to become proficient and have a workflow that is robust. I admittedly made a huge mistake. I assumed "I know CAD" and didn't take the time to do any tutorials, or much of anything else to educate myself to working with SW.

I've spent a very little bit of time with SE modelling, and Matt does a good job of summarizing my experiences. My SW approach of picking objects first does not fly in SE. I'm not sure how easy it would be to break that habit if I were using SW on a full time basis at the same time.

[matt]

Here's a playlist of videos I put together specifically for SW users making the switch to SE:

There are a huge number of advantages from switching from dealing with a company that doesn't hate you to access to synchronous, subd, generative, etc. It's more than just the software.

[zwei]

I had originally written something , but it must have gotten away from me. Solid Edge is not as flexible as SW. It only has one way of doing each thing, which is easier to learn, but not as easy to make work by accident. So it's a blessing and a curse. SE has a definite order of operations it likes, but these new SW-ish changes make some things nicer. The context menus are pretty good. I use that a lot in 2023, but it still trips me up some times on order of operation kind of things. There are some things in drawings that are MUCH easier in SE. Like templates, or formats. In SW it seems like they went way out of their way to complicate that, but in SE, easy. Most things in SE drawings are easy except section views and aux views. You have to remember to do this unnecessary step of Cutting Plane first. There are some little things like that which will trip me up from time to time, and @KennyG gets an email.

It might be easier if you had something specific to comment on. In general, I like the attitude of SE company much better, and for me, this overrides the little foibles of the software.

I had been wanting to test out SE but it had been sitting in my backlog for a while now...

From what you said, it does sound a lot like CREO (only one way of doing each thing, creating cutting plane first) ...
How does the learning curve compared to CREO? Particularly curious on the "intuitiveness" of the UI...


Off topic...

Most things in SE drawings are easy except section views and aux views. You have to remember to do this unnecessary step of Cutting Plane first

I used to hate this a lot when first start using CREO as it require the same thing (at least for section view where you have to create the section view in 3D first before able to put it in drawing) but i came to realize doing so break less stuff in drawing (unlike SOLIDWORKS where ur section like often coincident to some midpoint which may or may not be lost when you change the model)

[bnemec]

TL,DR: Consider the order of operations the other way around might help. Instead of selecting objects then the operation like SW is built for; first, select the operation (feature/mate/etc) then select the objects. SE applies automatic selection filters based on the operation you're in.

Transitioning to SW from SE, I still feel better in SW than works but... I think one of the core things still causing friction for me in SW is the order things are done. In SW, it seams that most of the time everything is available to be selected as it's select first then I'll tell you want you can do with what you have selected. Applying selection filters is a completely manual process and I'm not good at it. I >feel< like the "select other" function in SE is better too... Anyway in SE it's tell me what you want to do and I'll apply selection filters automatically for you. I find that to be much more productive in both modeling and assembly environment.

The thing with select first is the user needs to know what objects will allow the operation I need to do. So until I memorize what the developers have in mind it's just keep selecting different thigs until I the operation I need is available. Maybe I'm completely backwards in this, but I don't pick one of the many types of objects and think, "oh what would I like to do with this?" It's the other way around for me, I'm thinking of the operation first. The lack of automatic selection filters in SW has been very difficult for me to get over in SW GUI.

[SPerman]

Paying attention to, and using the breadcrumbs will change your life. I still know what I want to do, but I also know where I want to do it, and by selecting that face, for example, the sketch button will appear inches away from my mouse.

[KennyG]

That's why I recommended Solid Edge 2023. They have added a bunch of object-action workflows to the existing action-object workflows. Unfortunately, the face sketch example @SPerman mentioned is not possible because SE selects features/bodies generically, not faces, so you would be following the process outlines by @bnemec where you would select the Sketch command which would then filter only those objects you can sketch on (planar faces and reference planes).

[Pernils]

Once you realize that you don't need to hammer the most unergonomic mouse button and you can transition from zoom to pan whitout lifting the RMB. Also when you can create plane inside the feature and replace face work as its named etc etc. You will never go back.

I'm doing the opposite journey and still after a year I'm not fluid. Mostly due my mood turn south due to the non assistent non consistent ui that keep crashing on me.

So if you can keep your mood up and read the status bar what the next step is I estimate 6 months or less.

[mike miller]

Definitely want feedback from someone who has used Solid Edge 2023 as the UI was redone in it, and a few of the changes were SolidWorks expat friendly.

@matt certainly has some time on SE, and @mike miller I believe adopted it.

I haven't logged in for awhile, sorry. I'm wearing several hats including Teamcenter admin, CAD designer, team lead, and dept. scheduler, so maybe I have an excuse.

We have not switched to SE 2023. I was almost ready to begin testing when the Siemens forum lit up with complaints and I hit pause. We lose too much (per the longtime users on the forum) and gain very little for our workflow. We'll probably wait until the more major UI problems are resolved, and likely go straight from 2022 to 2024.

Overall, we like SE and consider the move well worth it. Of course that does not mean it will be worth it for company XXX, but we were blessed with a very low number of parts to migrate.

[RichGergely]

Thanks for all the feedback.

First I barely do 2D drawings anymore, client after client have come back now and said don't bother with any 2D. I assume this is part of current climate and looking at anything they can reduce costs by. Whether they struggle through with no 2D or do a bit in house from the 3D designs I send I'm not sure.

So the potential benefits of the SE 2D will never be seen for me unless companies suddenly want 2D again.

Nothing too scary has been mentioned on the 3D. I do mould tool design and plastic part design and I'm pretty sure once fully up and running I will be fine.

But the really worrying bit is how long it will take to get up to decent speed. From the above I can expect it will take some time which is understandable. While that is happening though I will have to reduce my hourly rate, clients will expect to pay exactly what they have previously. My work is pure design and there is no manufacture that I can sink the additional hours lost into. The other issue is how long a job takes, again I have no manufacturing to speed up the process and hide the extra time.

Probably the best thing to do is get the trial and see how fast I can pick it up.

[KennyG]

We have not switched to SE 2023. I was almost ready to begin testing when the Siemens forum lit up with complaints and I hit pause. We lose too much (per the longtime users on the forum) and gain very little for our workflow. We'll probably wait until the more major UI problems are resolved, and likely go straight from 2022 to 2024.

Mike, you have to look at the post on the SE Community forums about the Solid Edge 2023 UI with the lens that a lot of folks are just uncomfortable with change and will choose to fight it rather than embrace it. What I have heard from those who have embraced it, and this was also mirrored in my internal pilot group, the general opinion is it is a minor disruption with efficiency returning back to where it was within a short few days. We have implemented it to the entire corporation since a week ago and folks are using it just fine.

Any actual issues with the UI have been minor annoyances with several fixed in Update 5 that was recently released, and possibly more in Update 6 which should be out next month.

The big beef with most folks is the switch from the Horizontal Command Bar which was a minimalistic UI, to the new Vertical Command Bar which is not minimalistic. For ex SolidWorks users, this is a lot more familiar and shouldn't be shock.