Is Mechanical separate or merged with Platinum? Pricing is confusing!
From the "mech head" side of things: V19 upgrade 420 + Mech upgrade 550 + All in 525 = 1495 (versus paying 645 last year). That's a BIG price jump from where I stand and I know relative to the other choices it may look good but my goodness. I'm confused by the pricing, thought instead of buying the usual Platinum + sheet metal I can buy Mechanical which has merged both? Is "All In"
mandatory now and no longer a choice? I'm sorry but this merger is looking to be bad news for us who work at smaller outfits.
Comments
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Yes sheet metal is now included in Mechanical and all-in is also mandatory for the first year but it can be cancelled for subsequent years.
You may want to check but it should be possible to upgrade from V18 Platinum to V19 Mechanical and that should be a cheaper route than the two-step upgrade you mentioned. If you already have Sheet metal then the upgrade is probably less than the 550 you mention. This is one of those cases where being on All-In works out well for this time.
I agree with your sentiment about this merger being possibly not so good for smaller outfits but this is to be expected with larger software companies providing for a specialist area vs general software for the masses, hopefully Hexagon will realise they have something to lose as I think the majority of Bricscad users are smaller outfits.
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@RSW said:
Yes sheet metal is now included in Mechanical and all-in is also mandatory for the first year but it can be cancelled for subsequent years.I am afraid some features removed from Platinum and pack in sheet metal module and rename as Mechanical module. I think upgrade from v18 Platinum to v19 Platinum will lost features like Assembly Design and Kinematic Analysis. Unfortunately I cannot afford the upgrade price of Mechanical.
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Here is an overview of our offering:
BricsCAD Platinum = Pro +
- 3D Constraints on 3D solids/surfaces and blocks/xrefs
- Automatic parametrization of 3D solids
- Design intent recognition
- Parametric components and arrays
- Deformable 3D modeling
- Search for differences between 3D models
BricsCAD Mechanical = Platinum +
- Configurable bill of materials
- Automatic ballon placement
- Assembly mass properties
- Automatic exploded views of assemblies
- Assembly/disassembly animation
- Sheet metal design from scratch
- Reworking sheet metal parts created in other CAD
- Simultaneous editing of unfolded and folded view
We will clarify this on the store as well.
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Thanks Sander.
I think, as well as what v19 Brics BIM and Brics Mech include in addition to what was in v18 Platinum,
we need to know what if anything is excluded from what was in v18 Platinum, in each of v19 Platinum, Brics BIM and Brics Mech.People are afraid that features they previously enjoyed in standalone v18 Platinum (without v18 BIM or Sheet metal modules) may no longer be there, in whichever of v19 Platinum, Brics BIM and Brics Mech they choose.
For example, as Release notes says "VIEWBASE command is designed to be used in mechanical context, a corresponding warning message had been added in the BIM profile". In that case it looks like it will still be in v19 Platinum and BricsBIM.
But are there any other v18 Platinum features (fredericklim says Assembly Design and Kinematic Analysis) considered only necessary for Mech, and so excluded from v19 Platinum and BricsBIM?
Or considered only necessary for BIM, and so excluded from v19 Platinum and BricsMech?Maybe we'll lose nothing - that needs to be made clear.
Of course no one is expecting that features in e.g. v18 Sheet metal modules should be available in either standalone v19 Platinum or in v19 BricsBIM.
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@fredericklim said:
@RSW said:
Yes sheet metal is now included in Mechanical and all-in is also mandatory for the first year but it can be cancelled for subsequent years.I am afraid some features removed from Platinum and pack in sheet metal module and rename as Mechanical module. I think upgrade from v18 Platinum to v19 Platinum will lost features like Assembly Design and Kinematic Analysis. Unfortunately I cannot afford the upgrade price of Mechanical.
One of the things I noticed when Mechanical was not activated in V19 was that Bill of Materials was not working in Platinum as it requires Mechanical. In V18 Platinum the Bill of Materials (BOM) does work in Platinum only. There was something else that also gave a message that Mechanical was required in V19 instead of just Platinum. So some things (not a lot) have been moved from being included in V18 Platinum into one of the V19 verticals (BIM or Mechanical).
I can't say if some things are now BIM only but I doubt that would be the case as Platinum to the best of my knowledge didn't contain functionality that was specific for BIM, unlike things like assemblies and BOM which are common in mechanical software. In my opinion having assemblies in Platinum would assume that BOM would be available in Platinum as well, as these are often used in tandem.
So I agree with @Tom Foster that it would be nice to have a list that shows which items that were in V18 Platinum have been moved into a vertical and are no longer part of V19 Platinum. That way people can see whether just Platinum is good enough for them or that they should buy/upgrade to one of the verticals. I'm in the "fortunate" position that I needed (and have) all 3 modules (Sheet Metal, BIM and Communicator) so it isn't affecting me that much at the moment when it comes to functionality. But for those having V18 Platinum and not using a module or only one module this may be important to know.
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@Sander Scheiris said:
Here is an overview of our offering:BricsCAD Mechanical = Platinum +
- Configurable bill of materials
Good that you mention the configurable BOM
I'm having a bit of an issue with the configurable part.... when I remove extraneous parameter columns from the BOM they will reappear upon updating the BOM. Maybe it is a good idea to have it behave like Solidworks where you can add columns to the basic columns (Item, description, number of items etc.) and upon updating the BOM those additional columns remain. It is a bit of a nuisance to keep adjusting the BOM after each update by removing the extraneous parameter columns you don't want to show.and I'd rather not explode the BOM to avoid this. Right now it is all parameters or nothing when configuring the BOM.
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@Tom Foster said:
Thanks Sander.I think, as well as what v19 Brics BIM and Brics Mech include in addition to what was in v18 Platinum,
we need to know what if anything is excluded from what was in v18 Platinum, in each of v19 Platinum, Brics BIM and Brics Mech.These are the commands that are now only available in BricsCAD Mechanical:
- BMBOM
- BMBALLOON
- BMMASSPROP
- BMEXPLODE (+BMEXPLODEMOVE)
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I tested v19 trial on another PC, with RUNASLEVEL set to Platinum.
It seems BMBOM and BMEXPLODE commands work in Platinum trial.
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Sander, are there similarly any commands that are now only available in BricsBIM?
fredericklim, maybe they're still in standalone Platinum, but removed from BricsBIM? Sander?
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BMBOM, BMEXPLODE, BMBALLON, BMMASSPROP can be run without complain and kinematic analysis works in v19 Platinum trial.
I am not sure that is glitch in trial or all command are available in v19 Platinum active license. But if those v18 Platinum features removed in v19 Platinum, what is the logic behind if I pay for upgrade but got less?
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@fredericklim said:
I tested v19 trial on another PC, with RUNASLEVEL set to Platinum.It seems BMBOM and BMEXPLODE commands work in Platinum trial.
You need to use the RUNASLEVEL on Mechanical and BIM as well. If you run the command you will see a pop-up dialog in the upper right corner showing Bricscad, Mechanical, BIM (and Communicator if installed). The levels are controlled separately for Bricscad, Mechanical and BIM.
When using RUNASLEVEL select Mechanical and set the license to none, do the same for BIM (and Communicator if installed) and set Bricscad level to Platinum (which you already did). Then you will be in pure Platinum only and find that BMBOM, BMMASSPROP etc. no longer work in Platinum once the Mechanical license level is set to none.
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After switch off Mechanical License the BMBOM and BMEXPLODE no longer work. If I need those command back I need to be forced to purchase the sheet metal function.
If I upgrade to v19 Platinum with all-in is $600.
But upgrade to "Mechanical" will be $1315, more than double but only additional sheet metal functions.Now sheet metal module "steal" some mechanical function from Platinum become Mechanical module. That is unfair to who buy all-in maintenance.
I didn't purchase all-in when I bought v18 platinum, now looks a right choice. If I purchase v18 Platinum with all-in in 2017, I will have v19 Platinum but lost some mechanical features.
What I am concerning is if I upgrade v18 Platinum to v19 Platinum with mandatory all-in, it looks risky to me as it could lost more mechanical feature in v20 Platinum.
The mandatory all-in looks evil to me. I feel not good about that. I ask myself, "upgrade" from v18 Platinum to v19 Platinum is an upgrade or downgrade actually?
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From https://www.bricsys.com/estore : although if buying a Perpetual license today, All-in Maintenance is mandatory, yet" You can cancel your All-In Maintenance at any time".
How does that work? do you get a refund or credit? (not that I personally intend to).
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I think you could delete the Maintenance from your cart before you press buy (?)
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We should not be losing capability when going from 1 version to another. They also need to be a lot more transparent in what they are doing. If they view features as trials that will be pulled from the product once they consider them fully debugged and developed then they should warn their users when they are added not go get comfortable using them since in the future, they may not be able to afford them. What did they just add to V19 that will be pulled and put into another product in the future? What is going to go away in V20, and V21?
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This is something that happened to the SheetMetal and BIM modules in the past too, first they were introduced in Platinum and once fully developed were transferred into modules. Fortunately those already on Platinum and maintenance were grandfathered in and got the module for free upon the new release of Platinum and could then get maintenance for it, so no high upgrade fees for the modules for those. The rest on Classic/Pro moving up to Platinum did have to purchase the respective modules.
I don't mind modules as they allow you to add (or drop or switch) functionality as needed so it does give some flexibility and avoids having to pay for functionality you don't need at all.
So if there are plans for new features that will eventually become a module of its own, then it should be made clear from the start that it will eventually become a to be paid for module.
However I do agree that functionality that is already in Platinum and not part of the module should not be taken away when creating a vertical based on Platinum and a module and be put in only that vertical. BoM and assemblies are basically belonging together. Now this is in no way to be considered a hint to take assemblies away from Platinum as they can be useful for other purposes as well than just mechanical.
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@RSW said:
This is something that happened to the SheetMetal and BIM modules in the past too, first they were introduced in Platinum and once fully developed were transferred into modules. Fortunately those already on Platinum and maintenance were grandfathered in and got the module for free upon the new release of Platinum and could then get maintenance for it, so no high upgrade fees for the modules for those. The rest on Classic/Pro moving up to Platinum did have to purchase the respective modules.I don't mind to only pay the v19 Platinum upgrade and Mech all-in and get the Mech module for free if they moved feature in Platinum to Mech module.
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I probably should have retired long ago. This is too confusing to me. We have been paying for Platinum, Sheet Metal, and All In licenses. BIM used to be included, but we don't have any use for it. So when it became a separate license, we didn't purchase the BIM license. But I HAVE been using assemblies and B.O.M.'s. So now I am losing that too? And will I miss out on the explodable assemblies that were promised in V19 if we don't purchase "Mechanical"?
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Ahm
I understand it so that if you had :
Platinum + Sheet Metal
and All In Support for both,
you will get that new "Bricscad v19 Mechanical"
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@Michael Mayer said:
Ahm
I understand it so that if you had :
Platinum + Sheet Metal
and All In Support for both,
you will get that new "Bricscad v19 Mechanical"
package.Thank you Mike. Is that a separate download? Or is it part of the normal installation of BricsCAD, and activated by keycode? We also subscribed to Communicator, but I can no longer find that download on their website. I wonder if they rolled it into the installer for BricsCAD?
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I sent a support request as I also only found a 2018 BIM Module
and a Platinum v19 in my account.
I don't know really if I had to just retry (deactivate/reactivate) or
if I got another Serial, but at some point my BIM Module was
activated in v19 too.
And Platinum in account changed to Bricscad v19 BIM.0 -
I notice that in V20 Platinum, DMDISTANCE3D does not work. In V19 Platinum it does. I can open and use old distance constraints that were saved with V19. I presume this means that 3D constraints have been removed from Platinum.
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DMDISTANCE3D is available in V20 Platinum, Mechanical and BIM - https://help.bricsys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006689234-DmDistance3d
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