Solidworks Project: Learning the Ropes - Entry #14/14: Analysis and Conclusion

 

This entry is a the conclusion of the basic theory conveyed in SolidWorks Project: Learning the Ropes - Entry #1, where a 3D model of a pressure plate was created. As stated in Entry #1, the theory being tested in this blog series is based upon the internal tutorial program embedded within Solidworks, which is rumored to be all that is needed to reach intermediate to advanced level understanding of the software, with additional sources only needed for specialized uses or integration with other programs such as Blender for 3D printing. This series will document the progress of a first year engineering student with no prior experience with computer aided engineering design to weigh the theory based on outcomes. 

The process demonstrated followed the tutorials presented through the software itself, with minimal external assistance from other instructional sources.

Entry #14 is the final entry in this series, and will cover the analysis of the project. I will break this up into three sections, the pros, the cons, and the overall verdict of whether or not the outcomes of the project demonstrate that the user would need to achieve intermediate to advanced proficiency in Solidworks. 

PROS-

There is great benefit in having well-made tutorials within the software itself. Experience denotes that this is not common to hefty programs in general, at least to a meaningful degree.  While many do include getting started guides, tours, or other very basic tutorials, SolidWorks is exceptional in that it provides many different tutorials to cover greatly different aspects of the software, all within the software. 

Because the tutorials are embedded within the software and updated to the extent humans can manage, users are spared from the biggest problem with software tutorial books - they very quickly become unreliable due to not updating along with the very quickly evolving software. Many books have large sections which become obsolete upon the first update after the software is released, while others take a while, but eventually meet the same demise. In some cases, books have been rendered obsolete prior to being released for purchase. SolidWorks updates so frequently that the best option to remedy this issue is the embedded tutorials.  

CONS-

The most glaringly obvious drawback to SoldWorks’ tutorials is the lack of comprehensive introduction to the workspace and a tutorial specifically on how to navigate through the menus, palates, toolbars, and useful functions. Attempting to do some basic projects without the tutorial was difficult due to the difficult to navigate toolbars.  Even having experience with using the tools and knowing where they should be did not make it easy to find the tools.

Many processes were reliant upon successive steps building upon each other. Meaning the tutorial would only go as planned if each step was done without doing anything else in between. Something a simple as clicking the wrong tool would take the software out of a certain mode, so to speak, making it impossible to complete the next step without going back numerous steps to where the process began. Even using the undo tool didn’t actually undo the problem, since the process would often result in properties/layers being added to the mix that prevented the corrected steps from being viewed or executed properly. Without instruction on how to remedy issues such as this, tutorials would often have to be scrapped and started over from square one.

Despite the tutorials being updated somewhat regularly, there were many instances where the information was out of date. This sometimes meant tools being in different places or having different names, and in some cases stopped the tutorial process in its tracks.

CONCLUSION-

There’s no decisive way to conclude from this project whether or not the embedded tutorials within SolidWorks can enable a user to achieve intermediate or advanced proficiency from the tutorials alone. This research would need a user dedicated to “playing” within the software by utilizing the lesson learned and applying it, not simply doing the tutorial and leaving it at that. This is how other digital design programs experienced by the researcher on this project have gained proficiency in those programs. Alas, the researcher was unable to further explore SolidWorks beyond the tutorials. This is necessary for becoming acquainted with the tools and features of SolidWorks.

However, without the constraints of limiting oneself to not seek outside information, I do believe these tutorials can do a really great job of generating beyond-novice experience with the software, which, combined with applying the information regularly to progress the skills learned, I do believe that one can achieve intermediate to advanced proficiency in a manner more convenient, cheaper, and without fear of their reference sources (books) becoming obsolete. Being in more frequent contact with the U.S. SolidWorks distributor and their tutorial guru would amplify this even more.

More or less, the success of this tutorial program is totally dependent upon the users willingness to explore the software as they’re working through the tutorials in order to apply what was learned. While the issue of these tutorials lacking focus upon the basics as previously mentioned, most of that issue can be overcome with experience, which is why play is what would prove the hypothesis of this project to be successful, while lack of play leaves the hypothesis inconclusive.