Solid Edge - Community Edition 2022

Solid Edge 2022 was announced on October 6th and I've just been very pleased to find out that you can also now download this 2022 version under the free 'Community Edition' scheme.

It's a 3.6Gb download, which took a little while on my (non-fibre) internet connection. I also had to de-install SE-CE 2020 before I could install the newer 2022 version. However, everything seems to be working well with my existing SE drawings, which were drawn with the older version. There does seem to be some kind of adjustment happening on first opening them under the newer software though.

There seem to be a lot of "upgrades" (550 apparently) but I haven't had time to really explore them as yet. I've jumped a version (20 to 22) but generally the Ui seems very much the same at the level I'm working at (e.g. Dummy)

There was one upgrade I was hoping to see - 2.5 CAM Pro - which was announced as part of SE 2022 but which I don't seem to have. The CAM icon is there in 'Environs' but the CAM software doesn't seem to be installed.

Just to re-iterate - I'm running this on a Win10 (Home) i5 Laptop and older Windows/PCs will probably not be suitable. I would also strongly suggest you use this download page, as Googling may not find you the correct version.

Solid Edge 2022 - Community Edition

Regards,

IanT

I'm afraid I've some not-so-good news...

Looking around my new SE 2022 Community Edition, I've noticed that in "About" - the new license will expire in 1,145 days - a limitation that my earler version did not have as far as I'm aware.

Looking at the Siemens download page more closely earlier, it also seems that the term "Lifetime License" has been changed to "Has a License that does not expire" - although this seems to be contradicted by the expiry period given in "About". If this means that you need to upgrade every year or so, it won't be a problem if every upgrade comes with a further three years license - but we'll have to see.

I'm personally still very pleased with Solid Edge CE and I'm not going to step back to SE 2020 - but other folks concerns about potential future changes to the Siemens terms do seem to have some basis.

So, I thought I'd better point this change out to potential SE users here sooner than later...

Regards,

IanT

Just a quick update to this post.

I've just downloaded Solid Edge 2023 Community Edition onto my old(er) Win 10 Laptop. The screen was on the blink, so I had to get a new (Win 11) Laptop to replace it - but I've managed to get the old Win 10 PC running on a monitor, so it's still useful.

I had SE 2022 CE installed on the Win10 PC with 764 days left on it's '22' licence. I had to delete the SE 2022 version to install the SE 2023 one but it came up OK afterwards. I now have 1,129 days on the new '23' licence, so it does seem to be a rolling licence as you upgrade to newer SE versions. I've been using SE/CE for about two years now, so at this point I'm looking at five years use at no cost. Hopefully this 'roll-over' will continue again each year going forward.

I have other things to do this evening, so have not looked at SE2023 too closely - just opened a couple of my assemblies as a quick check. All worked OK. The UI seems to have changed slightly in appearance but the tools I normally use all seem to be the same. I elected to go straight to the new "Balanced" UI but there was a window that popped up during installation that suggested I could retain the old "Balanced" UI - without the "new" commands available in SE 2023. With hindsight, I might have selected this option and then moved to the "new" UI once I was settled in. I don't seem to be able to do this in retrospect but hopefully it won't be a problem.

Beginners Note - There is a 'First Steps' and 'Next Steps' UI avaialble whilst you learn the basic tools, these offer a simplified UI that you might find easier at first.

So in summary, I now have another 3 years Solid Edge licence on my Win 10 'Home' PC and it seems to be working just as before. I've not updated my Win 11 'Home' laptop as yet but I will do so once I've used the Win10 install a bit more.

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 28/11/2022 22:36:36

I guess by doing it like that, they limit the support needed for earlier versions. (Which is reasonable enough).

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 29/11/2022 01:35:06

The CE version of Solid Edge is usually pretty much the same as the commercial one, the main difference having been that you cannot open SE/CE files with a SE commercial licence and vice versa. So I guess Siemens find it simpler to just have a few iterations (3?) to maintain commercially and have decided that SE/CE will track this too.

A lot of the '23 changes seem to involve Cloud and integration with other manufacturing (CAM) products but they have made changes to the UI and workflow ( "Click Less, Do More" ) as well as improving the import of other CAD based designs. "Directly insert SOLIDWORKS, JT, STEP, and Parasolid files (part or assembly) into Solid Edge assemblies without translation" may be useful to others here (assuming it's also in SE/CE)

Very high level summary of commercial product here...

Solid Edge 2023 - Introduction

My use of Solid Edge isn't pushing any CAD performance or functional boundaries. SE/CE more than meets my current requirements but it's good to know that it's being actively developed and that my (free) licence has been extended for another 3 years in effect....

Regards,

IanT

Grateful if you could keep the reports coming Ian. I've been dithering on the brink of updating to 2023 since it was announced, two concerns being licence changes (especially expiry), and how much the workflow has changed. Workflow is of concern because I'm still learning, and although some of the ways SE does things are a bit clunky or inconsistent, I'm used to them. Changing horses in midstream is always risky. But from what you've said I'm much less concerned about both, ta,

Dave

Does this work on Win 10 home edition? Apparently it mentions Win 10 pro only.

I've just downloaded and installed SE CE 2023 on my laptop (Win 10 Pro) and my desktop (Win 10 Home) and both appear to work although I haven't had a chance to push them too far. I tend to use SE on my laptop since it has 32G of RAM whereas the desktop only has 8G.

The UI has changed a bit and I'll have to have a good session with the new setup to see what is on offer. It's not changed too much that I can't stumble my way around it at the moment.

Jim.

Would seem a bit of a contradiction anyway to put out a "community edition" that required a Pro version of Windows.

Thanks, Jim and Peter your comment does make sense. Just something that came up on the Gaugeone3Dcircle zoom call today ad a couple of people on it mentioned this forum thread.

I think the key issue is the difference between "Supported" and "Unsupported" Bazyle - which are not the same as "Works".

Commercial software producers are careful with their use of words. "Supported" means that they will pay attention if you have a problem (assuming you are entitled to their support that is). If you are using an "Unsupported" platform - then whilst it MAY work, the very first thing they will tell you (if you do have a problem) is to use a "Supported" platform instead - and they won't do anything else until you do so.

This makes good practical sense if you think about it. A supported platform is the well-defined set of software and hardware that they've used to test their software release on - so they know that it should work correctly.

I am using Solid Edge 2022 CE on Win 11 (Home Edition) and Solid Edge 2023 CE on Win 10 (Home Edition). I have not found any problems in doing so but if I did, Siemens would simply tell me to upgrade my platform before doing anything else. So in their parlance, I am running SE/CE on unsupported platforms - and therefore do so at my own risk.

It might also be useful to know that SE/CE seems to be the basic SE 'Academic' s/w module and I'm sure Siemens will be providing commercial support to some academic customers on this product. I'd guess that it makes sense to just use the same support definitions - even though I very much doubt 'Hobbyists' would get any help unless it was something very serious that was being reported.

Regards,

IanT

Ian may be able to put me right if this is wrong, but I believe the Community Edition isn't supported in the sense it gets regular bug fixes and feature updates like the paid for versions. Instead, the hobbyist downloads a snapshot and lives with it until a new major version is available. Then if you want it, the new version overwrites the old one. To get interim bug fixes you have to pay for a licence.

I don't think the limitation is a problem for singleton hobby users, but it would thoroughly annoy a team collaborating on projects.

I've not found any significant functional shortcomings in SE Community Edition. It appears to be close to the paid for version, the main restriction being CE can't interwork with professional SE. In contrast, hobby Fusion 360 has more gaps compared with the paid for product, but they weren't showstoppers when I last used it. Such as only being allowed to open a maximum of 10 parts at a time. But hobby Fusion does take bug fixes.

Dave

Perhaps off-topic, but i wonder can anyone help me with Text in Solid Edge Community edition.

I can place text on a surface or on one of the primary surface planes or I can create a new plane for the text and project to the surface . But if i put text onto the back of the surface or plane the text is a mirror and back to front. I can find no way to either orientate to the back of a plane or to change the direction of the text.

Not sure if I am explaining myself very well, but, for example, I can put text onto the top surface of an object but if I try to place the same text on the bottom it is still orientated as for the top and I end up with text which is back to front.

i am using Solid Edge Community edition 2020 ( which doesn't expire) and Windows 11

Any help appreciated. I have looked at YouTube videos but they don't seem to deal with this problem.

Can you post some screen shots and description Gerard?

I can't recreate this effect with CE2023 (which I've just installed), and don't recall 2022 behaving as you describe either. But the product may have changed since your 2020 version, or I'm doing something different. I can write a text object to any face, and it's the right way round. I can then Quickpick the text as a Sketch and move or rotate it with the wheel tool.

I'm finding 2023 rather more intuitive than 2022. They've tidied up how the tools are laid out and presented in a way that feels more natural to me. Possibly applying text is slicker than it was before; I remember struggling to get it to work when I started learning SE, but it may be it seems easy because I've got used to how SE does things. (A mildly painful process at the time!)

Dave

Thanks Dave

Below is print output of the sketch in SE. I selected to add text but it positions the text on the 'other side' of the plane and the text becomes a mirror image.

I have played around with a simple cube and can add the text correctly.

So it appears to be a problem with the particular sketch.

I need to go back and do a little more experimenting

I've never used it Dave - but if you click "About Solid Edge" - there is a "Check for Updates" button at the bottom of page....

Regards,

IanT

Tried that on 2022, but it took me to an account login asking for a password I don't have. Before downloading the install package, SE collect a bunch of data, but I don't think it sets up an account. I suspect the account needed to activate updates only comes with a paid licence. Or I'm doing it wrong. Have you tried it?

Having spent an hour with 2023 yesterday, I'm pleased with the look and feel improvements. They do reduce the number of clicks needed to get things done whilst remaining close to the original.

The product also feels quicker, not that 2022 was sluggish, but 2023 seems to have extra sparkle.

Dave

My successful experiment was with a cube just like yours, so it seems to work at least on a simple object.

You may be right that there's a problem with your sketch: it is possible to create damaged geometries that behave oddly. I did it yesterday with a dubious extrude, and had to go back a few steps to fix it.

Or maybe the way SE selects faces is the problem. SE doesn't just go for the one on top. Instead, whenever there are a number of nearby possibilities, SE presents a list, and the operator has to choose the one he wants. It's not always obvious. Possibly the back face was selected at this stage?

Dave

Agree with Dave that you effectively have the back face selected when inserting the text.

Being a powerful full on industrial CAD I suspect Solid Edge has a way of overlaying a transparent or semi transparent version on the front face of a feature you intend to apply to the back. A handy way to highlight inadvertent punch through or position interference issues. That sort of thing that can be very hard to spot when manually flipping back and forth.

Guaranteed major league confusion if you aren't up to speed with what's going on. CAD programmer rules state that such things should be invoked by an inconspicuous button hidden in an unexpected menu.

Clive