Best way to learn Alibre, just do it??

RC99 · Mar 15, 2010

I have finally splashed out on a 3D CAD program...Alibre Design Standard V12.1 being $99 appeared to be the best value CAD program out there for my requirements other then pirating solidworks or something expensive like that...

But what is the best way to learn it?? Just get in there and do it??

LowEnergyParticle · Mar 15, 2010

There are 2 sets of tutorials available. Either can be accessed from the main splash screen (the screen shown when you first execute the program).
1) The pull-down top menu bar includes a category: "Tutorials". These are local tutorials that have been loaded by the installer to your computer.
2) A button towards the bottom of the main splash screen is labeled: "Online Tutorials". Pressing this opens a web browser that shows another set of tutorials, and a link to some video tutorials as well.

Doing tutorials is always a bit boring, but if you do at least a few intro ones you'll really save a lot of time on your first actual project.

Dave

Kev h · Mar 15, 2010

Hi RC

Just 3weeks into trial myself and am feel that i am gettin there already. :typing:

Started with a couple of the tutorials then played a bit , then sketched up a simplish press tool !!

(with assembly and 2d drawings.)

Have used the alibre forum and in and out of the help files too.

Great software (fantastic for the money!!) as far as i can see

Cheers Kev :cheers:

Clive603 · Mar 16, 2010

Have something(s) that you actually want to make in mind and on back of the envelope sketches before you fire up the tutorials. As you go through the tutorial apply what you are learning to tasks on your own examples. I need to make notes, you might be happy doing things mentally.

A big problem with tutorials is that, of necessity, you learn things in the context of the tutorial not in the "my work" context. If you don't make the effort from the start it can be quite difficult to transfer the proper way of working from tutorial context to my work context. I have a fair history of more or less getting some, but not all, aspects of a program and resorting to convoluted work arounds to achieve things which could easily be done if I'd properly understood the context of the program commands. When the penny drops I invariably discover that the correct way of going about things has been nicely covered in one of the dutifully worked through tutorials.

Clive

RC99 · Mar 18, 2010

Thanks everyone.... I have been failry busy with other stuff lately and by night time my mind has turned to mush and don't feel like doing any tutorials...

I have worked out how to extrude though

The 2D drawing is a bit different to the Solidedge I am used to, maybe even a bit inferior...

scudzuki · Mar 18, 2010

.RC. said:
Thanks everyone.... I have been failry busy with other stuff lately and by night time my mind has turned to mush and don't feel like doing any tutorials...

I have worked out how to extrude though The 2D drawing is a bit different to the Solidedge I am used to, maybe even a bit inferior...

Oh crap software you got for a fraction of what competing software woulda cost you is "inferior"? Oh the horror...

Joe

Michael Moore · Mar 18, 2010

The thing that stymied me at first was not realizing that everything in the sketch was going to be affected by the 3D command (extrude, rotate, etc). I kept trying to do a big 2D drawing and then selecting just a couple of lines and hitting extrude. Since it would let me do that, but then failed on the extrude, I was pretty puzzled for a while.

I'm convinced that with this 3D stuff (as with many things) it pays off to sit down and try and come up with some sort of plan of action before starting. I've managed to wing it and suddenly find myself stuck down a blind alley so that I need to back up a few steps or shuffle the order of sketches in the tree.

cheers,
Michael

The real Leigh · Mar 18, 2010

parts is parts

Michael Moore said:
The thing that stymied me at first was not realizing that everything in the sketch was going to be affected by the 3D command (extrude, rotate, etc).

That's quite true. However, it's not a limitation.

You can have any number of sketches in a part, and any number of parts in an assembly.

In Alibre's view of the world, a part really is a part, i.e. a single component created from a single (conceptually) piece of material. It's an item which would get a fabrication drawing. It is not any grouping of two or more such items.

For example, a hinge consists of three parts, two plates and a pin. You would create each part as a separate file (.AD_PRT extension), then combine them into an assembly (.AD_ASM extension).

- Leigh

Michael Moore · Mar 18, 2010

Leigh, I've got no problem with that concept now that I know it. I'd originally though that the idea was to do one big 2D drawing and then pick different elements out of it to extrude. Since I didn't get an error during the process, but rather at the end, it wasn't immediately clear where I was going wrong.

Once I was told "no, you need to do it this way" the sailing was much smoother.

cheers,
Michael

The real Leigh · Mar 18, 2010

Michael Moore said:
I'd originally though that the idea was to do one big 2D drawing and then pick different elements out of it to extrude.

Yep. Same thing happened to me.

I started using Alibre in December, so I'm hardly an expert with it.

But I'm pretty pleased with the designs I've done so far. I particularly like the drawings that it produces from the models.

- Leigh

RC99 · Mar 18, 2010

scudzuki said:
Oh crap software you got for a fraction of what competing software woulda cost you is "inferior"? Oh the horror...

Joe

Solidedge2d is free... :rolleyes5:

Not everyone is obviously rich like you and can justify $7 000 for Solidworks for use in a very small farm workshop..

scudzuki · Mar 18, 2010

.RC. said:
Solidedge2d is free...

Not everyone is obviously rich like you and can justify $7 000 for Solidworks for use in a very small farm workshop..

Actually I own Alibre Design Expert and AlibreCAM Expert, with a total of $4600 invested.

I only upgraded to CAM Expert (more than half the total price) when Alibre could not properly advise me on the use of cut arc fitting and informed me that I would need the advanced toolpath editor to resolve my toolpath issues. If they knew the product that they sell I'd be almost $3000 "richer" (as you put it).

I bought it rather than continue to use pirated but fully functional SolidWorks and EdgeCAM.

It works great when I need to design and manufacture a new titanium pig feeding trough

SolidEdge 2D does solids? Assemblies? BOMs?

Alibre Standard does all that for less than $100.

Send me a PM if you want more training materials for Alibre.

Joe

Michael Moore · Mar 18, 2010

Leigh, I like the 3D PDFs that can be zoom/rotated/panned. I just wish I was more adept at making cool 3D models to send to people in the PDFs.

There are some things I find a bit handier to do in Rhino, but Alibre's parametric design is generally waaaaaay easier for me to deal with as I have to backtrack at times. Deleting one sketch or fixing it and then regen saves a lot of time. I also do better with "draw and then dimension/constrain" than I do with "draw it right the first time when I don't know the dimensions".

I do have VM configured so I can also run it as RhinoCAM and I suspect if I can ever get to doing any 3 or 4 axis CNC that will be very handy. But a lot of these tools seem so powerful they can only be used for good or evil.

cheers,
Michael

The real Leigh · Mar 19, 2010

Hi Michael,

I agree with everything except the Rhino comments (I've never used Rhino

).

The interactive PDFs are wild. I'd never seen that before. Really neat. :smoking:

I just put in a new computer for Alibre. The model I'm working with takes longer than I like to move and such. Of course it has about 100,000 faces, so I can't gripe too loudly.

The new machine is a 64-bit quad-core AMD @ 3.2 GHz with 16 GB of RAM and 2 TB of hard drive. Works pretty well.

I was pleased to find that Alibre gives you three licenses with the basic product, so it's still installed on the XP/Linux machine, put it on the new Windoze 7/Linux machine, and can put it on the laptop. Pretty good for <$100. :cheers:

- Leigh

forrey45 · Mar 21, 2010

Hi.
I do not know if it is just the way my brain works or not but just over a year ago our company was politely asked (forced) to get a seat of Catia so we could read our costumers files, of course that has not worked as planed. I figured that I could also use it for design work also, rather than designing in MasterCam.
Three weeks ago down loaded Alibre demo, and now have more work done than in a years worth of frustration and confusion, so will be putting in our order tomorrow.
Forrey.

Mcandrew1894 · Mar 21, 2010

I've been using Alibre for some time now at home. I use Solidworks at work.

Alibre, for the money, is really tough to beat. The tutorials they have for it are fairly well written......from there it's just work.

Dave

Muffler Bearing · Mar 21, 2010

Where can you get Alibre Standard (for US) for $99?
The website has it listed at $199.

scudzuki · Mar 22, 2010

Alibre has been selling Design Standard with no maintenance for at least a month for $97.
It is still listed here
Alibre, Inc. - Alibre Design product comparison
for $97.
If you called them, I bet you could still get it for $97. They like selling their product.
Even at $199 it's an excellent value.
If you call them to order I would ask about the $10 installation DVD.
Ask if it comes with all the training materials.

Joe

RC99 · Mar 24, 2010

Have had some spare time so have been practicing.. I am finding it not that hard to make simple items...

Here is some stacked bricks for a prelimenary furnace design

pak · Apr 17, 2010

.RC. said:
But what is the best way to learn it?? Just get in there and do it??

When I was working for a living my staff would say to me, “Chief, we don’t have time to go to training, we have too much work to do.” My response, “you don’t have time not to.”

You don’t know what you don’t know and you don’t have time left in your life to figure out what you don’t know unless you do the tutorials. If you want to get down to serious CAD design, you need to at least know what the application has to offer. Otherwise you are pointing and clicking when you could be turning and milling, especially if you are doing CNC.

I use Alibre Design Expert with the basic CAM program. I found the program to be very easy to learn and to use. However, I went through every tutorial before I began to actually create drawings. If someone tells you differently, they are ill advising you.

Good luck,

Drew

Best way to learn Alibre, just do it??

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