SolidMap – My Thoughts

SolidMap My Thoughts

For me, this review was a little daunting. After Matt Lombard’s review from a few weeks ago, I had all but decided to not do it. I mean, c’mon, Matt is the author of the SolidWorks Bible! The guy is nothing short of brilliant. His review was well thought out, thorough and well written. How could I, a mere hack, even consider writing another review; one that could possibly offer a differing view? Well, after careful consideration, I decided that I would. Ok, maybe “careful consideration” isn’t quite what occurred, but I’m pretty sure a few brain cells were involved in the decision. So, without further procrastination, here are my thoughts on SolidMap:

For the most part, I liked SolidMap. Is it easy to use? Yes, for the most part. A little time with the help files will get you going. There is also a video on SolidMap’s website. Does it do what it’s supposed to? Yes. I can definitely see how helpful it would be, especially when you inherit someone else’s files. If you’re in a part file, you can see how various features are interconnected. This allows you to know ahead of time what you’re going to screw up if you change a particular feature. (I can’t tell you how many times I wish I’d had that sort of insight.) You can see the parent/child relationships at varying depths. In this first shot, you can see the first level relationships:

View_1_2

In this shot, you’re two levels deep:

View_2

Now three levels:

View_3

You can also see what assemblies the part is used in. This can obviously be helpful if yourre planning on making a change to the part.

When dealing with assemblies, you can view file relationships, mate relationships and external references. This, like the part views above, are shown graphically.

I see a drawback though. As you can see, the screen can get pretty crowded and small. Irm running dual 21″ monitors set at 1600×1200. Were I to only have one monitor, it would be even more crowded and hard to read as the SolidMap screen would be on top of the SolidWorks screen. I, honestly, am not sure how to overcome this though. That’s something that is definitely beyond my brain’s ability. (Prior to posting, I heard from Dan Schmidt of SolidMap and they are actively working on a “compact mode” to address this very issue.)

Is it worth the money? For me the answer is no. But that pertains strictly to my duties at my full-time job. I used SolidMap’s ROI calculator and determined that it would take almost 2 years for SolidMap to pay for itself. Again, that pertains strictly to my job. Now, if my duties were different, perhaps doing more redesign, then the ROI numbers change significantly and can easily justify, money-wise, the purchase. I guess I’m kind of torn here, which is unusual for me. I tend to see things in black or white, with no gray area. SolidMap has a good product that has the potential to be great. Where it was just released in February, it has some time to mature. I’d recommend trying it out as they offer a free 30-day trial. Just go to their website and download it. Use it for a while and then let them know your thoughts on it. From what I can tell, they are very customer driven and love feedback. I, for one, will be monitoring their progress.

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March 28, 2007 · Posted in Software Review  
　　　　

Comments

  • After reading both Matt's and your reviews I will not be rushing out to buy SolidMap. Especially after entering what I thought was reasonably accurate data into SolidMaps ROI calculator and getting a payback period of around 27months.
    At the current price it's just not worth it. It would be a "nice to have" but it's not essential to someone who has been using SolidWorks for a number of years.
  • First, I want to thank everyone for the time spent on reviewing SolidMap. Your input has already positively impacted SolidMap. There is significant value in SolidMap today and we will continue to enhance the product going forward.
    The SolidMap build with the compact mode option is in testing and will be available for download next week.
    Response to Steve's comment - SolidMap does not provide any information that is not already available. SolidMap just makes it significantly easier to understand this information.
    Dan from SolidMap
  • Hi Steve!
    I'm glad you enjoyed the review and congrats on winning a free license. SolidMap isn't a worthless product, but I think it still needs to mature somewhat. FYI - you might want to download their latest offering. I believe they've added the 'compact' mode.
  • Steve Calvert
    Greetings, Jeff. Loved your review and I guess I didn't expect any different answer than you gave us. Two nights ago, at our Central Texas User Group meeting, we saw Solid Map along with a small review from one of our users. His thoughts were the same about price and ROI. He also said that any good modeler could find all this info now without SM. The only good side to all this is the ability to graphically see what links go where.
    I'm goning to try this myself mainly because SM gave away 2 licenses during our user group and I won one but also, because as you've said, it would make things easier when you inherit someone else's part file.
    Steve
  • Hey, Jeff,
    Don't build me up too much, I'm as human as anyone.
    Anyway, good review! I was hoping you'd disagree with me a little to show the other side of the product. I may have been a little harder on them than I needed to be. I guess I was just comparing it to functionality that already existed.
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