Ready to get started with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform? This is your quick start guide.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform simplifies remote collaboration across departments, boosting flexibility, enhancing productivity, and empowering you to achieve your goals.
In five steps, you’ll have everything you need to streamline your design workflows with SOLIDWORKS. Let’s get your system up and running now.
What Are SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services?
SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services is part of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. It connects your SOLIDWORKS CAD data to the cloud, enabling you to better manage, share and edit your designs.
Cloud Services also equip you with new functionalities. This includes:
- Share and Markup: Quick and fuss-free designing collaboration
- Store and Revise: Anytime, anywhere access to your securely stored designs and simple revisioning to assure the latest information
- Manage and Control: Formal management of required design changes and lifecycle workflows
These capabilities are now bundled with every new SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD licenses or can be purchased for existing SOLIDWORKS licenses.
Let’s take a closer look at the features of SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services.
Share and Markup
Share and Markup makes the process of sharing and reviewing designs easier than ever. It installs within SOLIDWORKS as an add-in and creates a simple URL of your design, which you can send to anyone—colleagues, clients, stakeholders and external partners.
The link can be setup to allow anyone, or password protected for specific people, to view the full design within a browser. They won’t need to download anything to view the design, which can be a major point of friction. Viewing the design will require a simple and free 3DEXPERIENCE account, which the link will provide access to setup, this clarifies who is capable of marking up the design and specified who made which markup.
Users can view the 3D model. They can manipulate it and move it around, giving them different perspectives. They can even take measurements, mark it up and leave comments for review by all other stakeholders. Collaboration becomes easier because all feedback is stored together securely and tracked. This helps to mitigate the risks of misunderstandings or lost input.
Store and Revise
The Store and Revise capability allows you to upload your CAD files to the cloud through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This feature enables secure storage of designs and provides tools to track and organize revisions. 3DEXPERIENCE becomes a single source of truth—all team members get access to the latest versions of designs and can collaborate on changes in real time.
By using the cloud for storage, you and your team steer clear of common storage pitfalls. This includes:
- Not able to accesses files when outside of the office
- No control over permissions
- Last to save wins, when multiple people are responsible for a design or a design change
As a bonus, cloud storage is also extremely scalable and enhances accessibility. You can manage large volumes of data and access it from anywhere, at any time on any device.
Manage and Control
Manage and Control gives you access to robust tools for managing design changes, documenting revisions, and checking all modifications meet the required standards before final approval.
With these tools, you maintain a clear overview of all design activities. You can track issues and revisions, manage change requests and optimize the approval processes. This protects the integrity of the design process. It makes the project management cycle more efficient, which ultimately cuts down the time, effort and costs required to bring products to market.
How to Activate Your 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
Before you can take advantage of the features above, you’ll need to activate your 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Let’s walk through the five-step activation process.
Your Step-by-Step 3DEXPERIENCE Activation Guide
Follow these quick steps to activate your 3DEXPERIENCE platform:
Step 1: Check Your Email Inbox
First, check your inbox for an email with the subject: “Action Required: Your 3DEXPERIENCE platform is ready”.
Click on the “ACCESS your 3DEXPERIENCE platform” link.
If you don’t see the email, check your spam or junk folders as it may have been filtered incorrectly.
Step 2: Sign Up or Log in
Log in using your existing 3DEXPERIENCE ID or a SOLIDWORKS ID.
If you don’t have an ID, create a new one by clicking the signup link and entering your details.
Step 3: Accept the Customer License and Online Service Agreement (CLOSA)
Next, confirm that you are the designated Administrator for your platform. The Administrator is the person assigned to manage and control settings and permissions on the platform.
Read and accept the CLOSA to move on to the next step.
Step 4: Start as Platform Administrator
As the Administrator, you can invite new users, assign roles (more on this below) and manage app installations.
Use your administrative access to configure the platform according to your team’s needs.
Step 5: Bookmark Your Tenant Access
Once the CLOSA is accepted, your tenant will be activated, and a new webpage will load.
Bookmark this page for easy access in the future—this will be your entry point to the platform.
Need More Help
Want to see how to get started? Check out our short tutorial here or read the blog to see how to access the most powerful tool for cloud-based collaboration and data management. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected] and we will be in touch shortly.
What Are Roles?
3DEXPERIENCE roles are specialized sets of tools and applications designed to meet the specific needs of various users and job functions within an organization. Each role on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is tailored to streamline workflows and enhance productivity by providing access to a suite of integrated applications that support particular tasks or processes. For instance, a designer’s role might include tools for 3D modeling, simulation, and visualization, while an engineer’s role could incorporate advanced analytical and collaborative tools to optimize product development. These roles are structured to ensure that each user has precisely the tools they need, without the clutter of unnecessary functions, making the platform efficient and user-friendly.
The Final Note
You’ve learned how to install and activate your 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Now, you’re ready to get the most out of a powerful system that streamlines collaboration, uplifts efficiency, enables secure cloud-based data management and more.
So, what are the next steps? Start exploring the functionalities that each role within the platform offers. Test the features, assign appropriate roles to your team members and begin to see the improvements in how your projects are managed and executed.
If you run into any challenges along the way or would like personalized advice on integrating the 3DEXPERIENCE platform into your workflow, we are ready to help. Here at Hawk Ridge Systems, we are committed to delivering the support our clients need to get the most value out of their SOLIDWORKS experience. Contact us today.
