I am disappointed. <\/p>\n
We are Spaceclaim users for 10+ years now, since I introduced it ty my company in 2007, with up to 10 seats, slightly varying over time. I recommended Spaceclaim to a few other companies in our area and some bought it. We even made the change to discovery live (for some) about half a year ago. <\/p>\n
When introduced, Spaceclaim represented new thinking in CAD, was evolving fast and both the development and user interface team did an amazing job. The user interface was intuitive, with a good learning curve, modeling was fast, tools were added and enhanced on a regular basis, and even though they apperaed overly simple at first glace, tools were in fact quite capable. The overall speed was improved gradually with each update, though faster is never fast enough, of course. Updates were usually very well tested and not risky to install. We were quite satisfied and Spaceclaim has been a valuable asset in our workflow all the time, allowing us to tackle quite a few time critical projects. <\/p>\n
That changed quite some when ANSYS acquired Spaceclaim. <\/p>\n
The rate on which modeling tools were improved dropped. Some inconsistencies within the UI were introduced. More work was apparently done under the hood, for examplae the scripting interface and such. That did not help the average user very much, even if it was celebrated as a big step ahead, since no adeqate interface was delivered with it, and poor documentation, not to mention a non-existing ecosystem to handle the scripts. It could have been powerful, but wasn’t done right. Still, the overall package worked reasonably well until this year. <\/p>\n
Now, the system formerly known as Spaceclaim is obviously moving in the direction of becoming a mere pre-processor for simulation. Overall speed is going down. Maintanance appears to be on low priority, improvement of modeling tools has obviously been slashed and instead of improving tools or processes that were unclear regarding UI, they are simply dropped. Example: Mirrored components. They were important for product developers, now they are gone, without notice. That was a stab in our back. Assembly handling has not been improved, instead in lager models, users need to hover the mouse pointer over a face for up to 30 seconds until it highlights for selection. That is a no-go (and we use powerful PCs). <\/p>\n
Now we move to Discovery Live. The new interface is a mess. Stability is poor. Speed decreasing. Updates less stable. The interface is going back to old thinking, pre-millennium, with lots of redundancies and clutter. Oh, and the black icons on dark grey background, almost invisible. Who approved that? They were perfect before.
How can we talk interactive changes in the simulation model when half of the tools have been stripped off the interface? Open a component in it’s own tab for modification? Gone. Replace components in the tree? Gone. Interaction between a Spaceclaim model and the simulation? De facto nonexistent. Modify a sheet metal part in a fluid simulation? Impossible, there are no sheet tools. What does ‘live’ mean in this context? Then there is that Keyshot tab in the ribbon. Oh, great! Don’t think you could do a nice render of your fluid or stress simulation, though! There is no ‘live’ here, too, you only get them ole solids. Instead, when we run both applications, Spaceclaim and Discovery Live, on one PC at the same time, settings of one override the other. That is sure somewhat ‘live’ but should not happen at all. <\/p>\n
Why can’t I no longer move tool pallettes out of the modeling window? Why can’t I resize the model tree? Why does scrolling in the solution tree not work properly? Why must parameter studies float over the model window? They clutter the whole place. Why is no simulation I saved one evening working properly anymore the very next morning after I open them? Why are changes I made to the model during simulation in Discovery Live not available when I open it in Spaceclaim next time? <\/p>\n
I could go on like this for hours on end. From my point of view, ANSYS Discovery (live) is heading in a dangerous direction, because it is becoming a bug loaden confused niche product that has nothing to do with predictability any more. That is not what you’d expect of a conceptual CAD and simulation program. Such an app should be on a wide base instead, and remember it is MOST important to a user to foresee how the planned workflow is going to run. Take predictability away, and you put the whole business at risk. Discovery is loosing the target group of conceptual designers, because these are not experimental designers. Don’t mess that up! <\/p>\n
I have proposed our management to drop Spaceclaim\/Discovery live and switch to another system.
I have been given approval to research and evaluate, then make a new proposal. <\/p>\n
It’s a pity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-256696","topic","type-topic","status-closed","hentry","topic-tag-concept-modeling","topic-tag-discovery-live-2","topic-tag-keyshot","topic-tag-mirror","topic-tag-spaceclaim"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"custom_fields":[{"0":{"_bbp_subscription":["278593"],"_bbp_likes_count":["0"],"_btv_view_count":["1975"],"_bbp_topic_status":["unanswered"],"_bbp_status":["publish"],"_bbp_topic_id":["256696"],"_bbp_forum_id":["27789"],"_bbp_engagement":["126","278593"],"_bbp_voice_count":["2"],"_bbp_reply_count":["11"],"_bbp_last_reply_id":["271822"],"_bbp_last_active_id":["271822"],"_bbp_last_active_time":["2019-10-23 10:39:52"]},"test":"martin-kopplowvolke-kd-de"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/256696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/topic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/256696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}