Here are some of the details about Product Design Suite 2015.
http://inventortopix.blogspot.com/2014/03/product-design-suite-2015.html
@Anonymous wrote:
It is not that hard to learn...
Need to see if they updated the link to work better I hope.....
Hi jletcher, Sorry for the vague reply yesterday. I realized I wasn't using the "quote" function in the forum, so a few of my replies appeared at the end of the chain without much context. I'm dilligently using quoting now. 🙂
For this comment - are you talking about the menu option inside of Inventor ("I" menu --> Workflows --> 3 options to export data to 3ds Max Design), or another type of link?
Thanks,
Janna
@jannaspicer wrote:Hi Rory_M, thank you for all of your feedback, and especially this piece. This is exactly the type of input that will help us make the Inventor/3ds Max Design workflow better, and more tailored to engineers.
Thanks!
Janna
Thanks Janna for the heads up regarding the potential 3DS Max workflow improvements. However, I would respectfully suggest that by doing this, you would be essentially trying to use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. We had a perfectly good nutcracker in the suite.
As jletcher said, having a link that allows the model within Max to be updated without losing all your hard work would be essential, and I can't help but think that no matter how many preset templates/lighting environments you provide with Max, its interface will simply put people off.
The workflow of Inventor > Showcase was as good as you would expect from using 2 different pieces of software. The only way IMO to improve on it is to build that level of quality real time graphics (and rendering) into Inventor. 3DS Max is simply the wrong piece of software for the job.
Don't get me wrong, Max is a brilliant, powerful and well regarded package, and you could produce an Oscar nominated movie in it. The majority of PDSU owners are engineers, who produce pretty pictures in the spare time between real work.
I'd class Showcase in the same way as iOS. Great at what it does, and it doesn't let you tweak every single facet of the software but what it does give you is quick results and gets the job done. It is used efficiently by beginners and power users alike.
3DS Max is like command line Linux. It's all powerful and can control everything, but it's hard work to learn and master and probably overkill for most people.
Hope this explains my thoughs on this matter. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about the decision though.
Rory
Yesterday I've had a tiny nightmare: Inventor had been separated out of PrDS 2016.
😉 But not really a problem. I can use it further, paying an additional fee.
Walter
Walter Holzwarth
@Blair wrote:
Used to be with Showcase, if you used the Autodesk Product Design Suite and selected the Interactive Design Review it would then ask/inform you that the Inventor model had changed. Since the Autodesk Product Design Suite doesn't state "an immersive interactive presentation" with 3dsMax, one can only assume that this feature only exists with Showcase. If you open Showcase and import the model, you loose this "immersive interactive presentation". This must be done in the "Autodesk Product Design Suite" utility/program. Another reason we are protesting the dropping of Showcase from the Suite, we didn't get this interaction with 3ds Max.
I'm guessing this will no longer be an option even if you pay the 'small' fee requested by autodesk to reinstate Showcase. Since it's not part of the Suite workflows anymore, I would doubt that this "immersive interactive presentation" workflow has been updated in 2015.
Scott Moyse
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It's possible they made this decision based on CIP data, how many of you opt out of that?
You could be on the mark here Scott. If they get small data sets from the CIP then that may have influenced their decision to remove Showcase. I opt out of CIP and heres why. I take a 5S approach to my production machines. I strip out all of the non-essential software and add-ins and such that are not needed to model and make drawings. This includes saying NO to the CIP windows. I want the machines to be as lean as possible so that they are as fast as possible.
I think Adesk could have taken a different approach to figuring out who uses Showcase and the value of it to the suites before chopping it. Simply send out emails to their subscription customers with a vote for the products they use and want in the suite they have. They could also use it as a gauge for customers wanting to upgrade their suite. Let the numbers talk. If you go off the tone of this series of posts then they would have gotten 100% YES I USE SHOWCASE. But these figures are obviously biased as only people who use it and want it retained are commenting.
For all people following this post, the only real effect you can have is to contact your reseller and make them understand the problems and concerns you have with the strange decision. And then get them to push that up their tree to their manager and so on. I spoke to mine yesterday and he was a 30 minutes away from a meeting with with his Autodesk sales contact. So I took that oppurtunity to write up a letter arguing for the re-instatement of Showcase in the 2015 PrDS suite I use. Time will tell if this has any effect. My reseller mentioned that he has had a lot of contact from customers over this matter. Use the reseller to influence Autodesk in the same way that the resellers influenced the backflip on the Vault Workgroup/Collaboration to Professional fiasco last year.
I'm not surprised about Showcase and Alias. Autodesk has been doing some very stupid things this year. I used to use Softimage a lot and they've discontinued that, effectively making Autodesk the most hated company in that market.
I hope there's a big enough backlash that they have to backtrack a bit.
@brendan.henderson wrote:
It's possible they made this decision based on CIP data, how many of you opt out of that?
I opt out of CIP and heres why. I take a 5S approach to my production machines. I strip out all of the non-essential software and add-ins and such that are not needed to model and make drawings. This includes saying NO to the CIP windows. I want the machines to be as lean as possible so that they are as fast as possible.
Brendan while I respect your decision to keep your machines lean, CIP add a neglegible overhead to them. The idea of email polls is fine, except most people ignore them. IMO CIP should be enforced by them upon install & details of the data it sends home included in the privacy policy. Polls will never be able to collect the depth of information CIP can provide the developers. I haven't verified this yet, but I believe CIP has been renamed and enforced in some/all 2015 products. CIP is an extremely valuable service for customers to provide back to Autodesk in order for them to make the products you use on a daily basis better, it drives focus on the areas of the software customers use most and away from the least used areas.
Autodesk have resource limitations just like all customers do, and CIP allows them to manage those resources more effectively for the benefit of the customers (then marketing get involved :-P). I strongly advise you revisit your decision to opt out of CIP on the basis of performance gains. They need to see how often you use mitres in frame generator!
Scott Moyse
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@Blair wrote:
I would think so, if you import a model directly into Showcase, you don't get the "immersive", you needed to use the Design Suite function. It was one of those little link/add-ins that never really was explained well.
mmm ... you should still be able to get the Design Suite functionality even if you don't have the design suite installed. I teach (for now, but might drop it for next year) a Showcase module in my Inventor Foundation Workshop. The students don't have the product design suite - they get the student licenses for Inventor Pro and Showcase separately. With both of them installed, completely independent of any PDS bundling, they still have the Suite Workflows stuff available to go from Inventor to Showcase.
Rusty
Showcase only is one aspect, Alias and Sketchbook is another.
When I decided to subscribe to PrDS some years ago, I did this because of the total combo. Now I'm seeing, that this combo is cut off, and many parts are moved to 360 solutions. Not good for me, because all this stuff is depending on reliable Internet connections.
Now PrDS is cut off remarkably. I could have been thinking of continuous extensions as an aspect for additional customers instead. But no way.
My consequence: Meanwhile I'm beyond 65 of age. I'm not dement and in good psychical health, but customers begin laughing about people like me. I think, I've been doing no bad job in Betas and in some forums, but I can't live from that.
😉 Therefore I regret, that I can't extend my subscription with the new conditions.
Walter
Walter Holzwarth
This is why I object to susbscription and only uprgade after I see what I am getting.
They expect us to pay in advance for improvements and upgrades, but wont disclose what is planned. We have to hope we get something usefull. This year they remove products that people have paid to own. So does this mean people that paid for Alias 2013, Showcase 2013 etc and paid an annual fee for upgrades and improvements get to keep using the last included version, or will the license fine print and lack of backwards compatability mean that those users who wat to upgrade to Inventor 2015 are stuck?
Glad I droped subs in 2013. 2014 had nothing for me and reported bugs were not fixed, 2015 has nothing of interest but also removes what I need. No point even looking next year.
I guess 2014 will the last for many others.
Rumor has it that Showcase will be back in. Check with your reseller or watch for more information later. I think the point is that Autodesk does listen.
If true, it's an okay knee-jerk reaction this time, but it doesn't help me as I use Sketchbook and Alias as well. In fact, I spent literally hundreds of hours in 2013 learning to use Alias which has now been unceremoniously ejected from the "Tools I Own" account.
Losing 3 of the 4 applications I use in PDS in one fell swoop with zero prior warning from AD or my "VAR" has convinced me that subscription is no longer worth it for me. Good thing 2014 does everything I need for the time being.
Your posting shows you are on Ultimate. Doesn't that mean your subscription still includes those applications?
@cbliss wrote:
Your posting shows you are on Ultimate. Doesn't that mean your subscription still includes those applications?
Charlie,
Check out the image at the bottom of this post http://designandmotion.net/news/autodesk-product-factory-design-suite-2015-released/
All the editions are affected.
Scott Moyse
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Hey all,
Charlie is not wrong... we're working on it. More details soon.
-Janna