The SOLIDWORKS Composer, DriveWorks Live Overlap

SOLIDWORKS Composer and DriveWorks Live both have modules that give you the ability to easily publish your 3D SOLIDWORKS models to the web -allowing you to give your customers a very rich web experience so they can really get to know your product.

There is overlap in their web functionality; what are the differences?

Generally, think of SOLIDWORKS Composer as an on-line catalog generator. You can give your users the ability to see your product in 3D, play with different options (What would it look like if it was red …or had this optional $20 extension?), rotate and zoom into your product, find part numbers of components simply by picking on their picture.

This is a screen shot from SOLIDWORKS Composer

DriveWorks Live can work as an on-line catalog too, but its strength is that it also has the ability to create new documents. Your users can define exactly what they want…”I want this hole at that location at this size…” DriveWorks Live can first ensure the inputs are valid, perhaps recognize that since that hole moved some other parts need modified as well, then generate, for you, all the engineering documentation (drawings, parts, assemblies, BOMs, etc.) required to manufacture the request. This functionality is oftentimes called “Manufacture to order.”

This is a screen shot from DriveWorks Live

In short, Composer may be the best choice if you have the product line fully defined: “Here are your choices, tell me what combinations you want.” DriveWorks Live may be the best if you need engineering documentation to be created on-the-fly as users define their own designs.

These are generalities, as I said they both have overlap and the topic is really too broad to cover in a blog. Additionally, web publication is just a small part of both products’ capabilities. Before making a decision, go to the “Contact Us” section of the 3DVision web site and we can help you choose the right product.