Critic

[janttila]

Thank you for the workarounds on bugs and so on.

But what i really want to know is when is the bug fixed?

filed to R&D does not help me, should i wait for a fix or find another way around the problem.

 

When will i be able to trust that the print or export (for example) will be as it is in ironcad, all lines are printed, all bubbles and so on.

When can i use the functions i payed for?

 

I cant use ironcad to be productive, it is more like i am working like a beta tester than working with construction. (Maybe i should send you my CV to start working at your Q&A department

My boss is getting irritated and i am finding excuses for not moving to another cad system.

 

Any one else feel like this?

 

[wgrein]

Yes

 

Learning from my past mistake of updating from IronCAD 7 to 8 right away, I have stuck with Version 9, as I know the bugs & how to get around them. There are some new features in 10 that I would like to use, but I don't have time to learn about new bugs & work arounds at this time, as I have work I need to do. We have excellent support from our reseller in Sweden, so I ask them when I have a problem that I cannot find a solution from this users forum. I usually get a quick answer that is a solution, a work around, a known bug with no work around, or a new bug that they will file to IronCAD.

 

The printing problem I have had in IronCAD 9. No solution, but sometimes works better the next time I print. I had a problem where a sheet metal part was shown in the folded & unfolded configuration at the same time on the drawing. Switched from shaded rendering to non-shaded and then it showed only the folded configuration as it should.

 

Might be better if you start talking/complaining to your IronCAD reseller. Maybe they can help put some pressure on IronCAD for solutions.

 

Good luck,

Wayne

[janttila]

I agree about our support in sweden, and ive been nagging them as well.

the printing thing is just an example, had it been a 30$ software i could have accepted the fact that i cant trust a print.

But this is a expensive product and you really think that you should be able to use it.

 

[tlehnhaeuser]

Hi Johan,

I understand your position and agree with you in many aspects. I am a reseller in NY and I have many customers that have the same issues and rest assured I'm sure everyone is trying their best to resolve them.

 

"Off-the-record" I HAVE lost some customers that have decided to switch to another CAD application (to be bold to say it was SolidWorks). Feeling that all the problems would go away. The "funny" thing is they have since contacted me and tell me they are in worse shape then they ever were with IronCAD. In fact so bad that eveyone starts pointing fingers at each other stating who's idea was it to switch to SWX!!!

 

Unfortunately for me, they have decided they cannot afford to switch back to IronCAD so now they are stuck in a very bad situation.

 

Just FYI.

Tom

 

[Cary OConnor]

We understand your statements and are trying to solve as many reports as possible in a timely manner. As you can imagine, there are reports that come from many different areas for many different situations.

 

Some issues are directly IronCAD caused issues and some are 3rd party issues (for example the print where lines are missing is due to the ACIS Kernel provided by Spatial due to the way it calculates the hidden line algorithm). When the issues are 3rd party related, we file a record to the provider and have wait for feedback on that issue and data on whether it can be a patch fix or needs to be fixed in a full version change. Once we have the information and the fix, we incorporate these fixes in to Hot Fixes, Product Updates, or releases.

 

When an issue is critical, it is best to contact your reseller to get them involved. They can work directly with the IronCAD team to see if we can address the item in a more urgent manner. We have to make sure the priority of the item is high among the community users and insure we have available resources to shift onto a critical issue (which would mean that we would have to shift development from other items -hence the critical nature of the issue).

 

I hope the IronCAD team has shown that we make efforts to resolve critical issues in a timely manner. Of course there is room for improvement and better ways to help track and display reported issues. We are always looking to improve these processes.

 

Cary

 

[Guest bmodi]

I hardly write or post comment on our community. At this point I thought that I should.

 

Tom., I do agree that most of the 3D designing tools today have flows, few or lots of them. It depends on how we look at it, leave with it or resolve it in timely manner.

 

There are still so many places till version 9.0 that we have not yet got the problem fixed or enhance the tools we already have. Thats the reason; I am reluctant to load ver 10.0 on my computer as to avoid adding new problems.

 

In todays cut troth business market, it has become important to design product, send the drawings to fabricators, get parts, assemble parts and launch product/s before time. Otherwise all your efforts are wasted.

 

3D modeling software such as IC people use for better productivity and not for fun or pass time. As we agree, some of the designers livelihood depends on how fast the designs are made and sent to get it made. No wonder they get frustrated and complain. Just like other jobs/positions, they also work under lots of pressure.

 

Having said that, in my opinion, the wise approach for IC would be to rectify/resolve old problems 1st rather than coming out with new goodies and add more problems in what we already have. Its not going to make any difference if we delay adding new goodies as long as resolve old problems. This was already being informed to our IC guys last year, not thru community but by writing them directly (sure to add, got +ve response from them).

 

Carry, I also do agree with you that whenever I had/have problems, most of them are resolved till date.

 

Lets work together and make IC a better productive tool.

 

Bimal

 

[Cary OConnor]

Just one comment.....

 

New goodies are also answers to problems...in many cases big problems.... For example, one of the largest complaints we had from customers was large assembly performance (in a couple of areas). One is the interaction and rotation with large data. The introduction of the Advance OpenGL/Direct3D Rendering was in fact to solve this large significant problem and not a new feature. Since this was a significant change by introducing a new rendering engine, there is bound to be issues due to the many areas it touches (everything). In our QA, we test the most common and hit areas but some areas may have slipped. That's why we are aggressive in releasing the hotfixes.

 

Even the UI in V10 is part of a problem we are solving (not fully introduced yet). Most of the items in V10 are foundations to solve significate issues reported in IronCAD. Once we get past these major road blocks, it leaves more room for us to address the smaller (yet critical) issues - although we do address these in parallel. Keep in mind that we do have a plan for why we implement items and they are not all just for looks.

 

Just a comment and not meant to make issues reported smaller. I'm just stating that the V10 and planned PU1 are releases that are targeting some big reported issues that were causing significant road blocks for our customers to move forward in their designs with these larger assemblies.

 

Cary

[Guest bmodi]

I didn't intent to write just to win any contest or to say/judge who is right and who is wrong.

 

What was suggested, first to create the construction tools that we have asked for many years and after that the nice things (or goodies) which will be helpful/more productive at present time. I am sure others also see the same way.

 

What I have observed over 9 years of association, tried to put it in words.

 

Constructive criticism always helps if taken it in right sprit.

 

From me no more to say..

 

Bimal