[jevs]

Anyone have anything to say about Alibre being gone and now it is Geomagic?

I was considering Alibre. Glad I waited a bit I guess. Now I have to research it all over again to find out what is different.

Is there anything better about it now, or is it the same thing? I know the name sounds a bit cheep. Something about having "Magic" in a design software name sounds cheesy.

Is the current version anything different than what I was looking at a couple months ago?

[Dr.Fiero]

I just upgraded from 2012 to 2013 (which got adorned by the new goofy name).

There's a PDF of the changes, and it's about 5 pages, so I won't even try to paraphrase it here. But on the surface there's not a huge change. So if you learned on the old one, don't worry - its not night and day.

Would love to know who put the stamp on the name though. I mentioned elsewhere that it sounds like something an Atari or Amiga program in the 80s would have been called.

[jevs]

Is this PDF online somewhere? I cannot find it.

[Dr.Fiero]

Sorry - just assumed it would be on their site!

Here you go.

[t300]

Would love to know who put the stamp on the name though. I mentioned elsewhere that it sounds like something an Atari or Amiga program in the 80s would have been called.

A name isn't everything... but wow I agree, 'geomagic' is pretty cheesy! Pretty sure if someone does a poll on that name here it would get blown out. Hopefully the new features that 2013 brings weren't suggested by the same person who came up with that name lol

[gerritv]

Reading the updates document leads me to think that the move to full 3D systems organization is a good thing. There is a lot of attention being paid to usability which is a sign of a mature organization as it is resource intensive. It can only result in Alibre/Geodesign staying around and at a price we can afford.
The name; who cares, it is the tool and support that count.

Gerrit

[Dr.Fiero]

I admit, it's the product itself that counts the most.

But... If you were coming in from the outside, and had never heard of this product. You see a name like Autocad. Eagle. Bobcad (ok, bad example). Then you see "Geomagic" - first thing that would go through my mind is "wtf is that?!".

Should start a poll.
Question: if you knew nothing about it, would you buy something called;
A) Alibre CAD
B) Geomagic

[mecheng10]

As a professional using using Alibre as my primary CAD tool I hate the new name. I never felt bad about advertising that I used Alibre Design. The name sounded professional. I would never advertise that I use a tool called Geomagic. The name sounds like freeware that only an amateur would use - which obviously isn't the case for this product.

[rwskinner]

They fixed a ton of stuff and added many of the little things in the UI and Property editor that should have been there. Version 12 used to run fine under a VM however the new version is very slow and sluggish under a VM, but runs fine on a regular XP or Win 7 PC.

Too bad they will not finish the project and let Motion & Parts work on 64 bit. Good thing is that the new folks are spending time on a lot of the little things, Bad thing is now product lines merge and stuff that used to come with it are phased out and you will have to pay for their "other" product lines.

In Expert you used to get the Basic Cad, but that is no longer updated and has been discontinued. Motion has been updated and I'm sure that will get merged into one of their other 3D products for $$$.

Still doesn't handle DWG imports or Exports very well although they said they worked on it some.
Still a great product, just the merging and changing makes me nervous.

We will see what happens. Hopefully they do not hack off their existing users.

Richard

[MichaelHenry]

In Expert you used to get the Basic Cad, but that is no longer updated and has been discontinued.

Did you mean Basic *CAM* above? The CAD is still there with improvements in some areas.

Mike

[rwskinner]

Yes, used to basic CAM. Sorry, typo. LOL, Alibre Expert with only basic CAD. Don't give them any ideas!!!

Richard

[photomankc]

They sent me an email about GeoMagic and I had no idea what it was or why I was being emailed about. Sounds like map software not something I use to design parts.

[blowlamp]

GeoCAD would have sounded better.



Martin.

[zool]

Another case of illogic and hyperactivity in the marketing department.

Obtaining data that correlates these types of changes with increase in sales, if any, would be interesting. Or correlate the expected increase in sales with actual increase in sales, again, if any, would be interesting as well.

What every happened to: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This constant changing of names of packaging is a phenomenon that is evident from one end of the consumer spectrum to the other.

Maybe the object of all the changes is just to create a "buzz" in the relevant realms. Maybe if everyone quit responding to all these obtuse entreaties it would put an end to them.

One needs only to look at insidious forms of "communication" such as Facebook and Twitter, and the like, to realize that constant jabbering is now the norm. Obsessive infatuation with trivial forms of technology.

[dmerrll]

geo- combining form

1: Definition of GEO- earth : ground : soil
2: Definition of MAGIC noun (Concise Encyclopedia)
Use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces. It constitutes the core of many religious systems and plays a central social role in many nonliterate cultures.

So charming dirt for illiterates. Great name like NOVA for mexican car. Alibre was a lot easier to type!

[Ray C]

Hi... I just upgraded 2012 Alibre Pro to Geomagic 2014 moments ago (fortunately my service contract didn't expire yet). I opened several assemblies, each containing about 8-10 parts, and everything worked fine! A new feature I'm really looking forward to is the more convenient way to share a dimension label across many parts. The old method was a nightmare that required exporting to Excell -and jumping though several flaming hoops -backwards. The first thing I'm going to do is experiment with that new feature -which by the way, I had many conversations about with them when I first purchased Alibre 2012 when it came out. I dare say they picked my brains pretty well about how I thought it should work and why it was useful to me...

I'll let you know if a couple days if some of my more complicated assemblies are working OK with the new version.

Ray

[voltsandbolts]

With a Name like “Geomagic” you’d think they would have to lower the price… Do you remember when Alibre was looking for customers years ago and you could buy it for $99.

[cpy911]

I would buy Cubify Design (AKA Alibre PE) for $99. Right now it is $200. Cmon where is the discount?

With a Name like “Geomagic” you’d think they would have to lower the price… Do you remember when Alibre was looking for customers years ago and you could buy it for $99.

[keith20mm]

Good luck installing Cubify Design if you already have Alibre installed.

You'll receive this message: "Another version of the program was detected on your computer. That version cannot be automatically upgraded. Please uninstall it from your computer and try again."

Message I got from Cubify customer support is to delete all Alibre entries from your Windows registry, then install the Cubify Design product.

Little did I know that Cubify Design (some part/all of Geomagic Design?) really is Alibre with a different skin, but generally same internals, including registry key strings/values.

Ha.

[rwskinner]

Yeah, what until you see their pricing. Motion came with my Alibre Design Expert and now I guess if you ever want the Motion support for the 64 bit version you may have to go over to GEO's other package from what I gather which is another hefty expensive. I hope I misunderstood all that but I feel like yet another software package were I get left in the cold for half the stuff I use. No 64bit parts database unless you use their online version or external parts like TraceParts. No longer supports the basic CAM add on without yet another purchase.