Solid Edge Viewer for the iPad

Sometime during every design review it is necessary to send a CAD file to someone who may not be an everyday CAD user. When this happens it is important to have an easy way to view a file without having to buy multiple seats of an expensive software. Solidworks has their eDrawings viewer, reviewed previously, that works very well. Siemens Solid Edge also has an iPad app for viewing native files. Recently, after reviewing Solid Edge ST 5 extensively, I downloaded the viewer to see how it stacks up.

Getting files onto the viewer can be done through emails or web accessible shared drives, like drop box. The viewer works well for simple things. Rotating and zooming are straight forward and you can even hide individual parts within an assembly, but beyond the basics the viewer leaves much to be desired.

There is no way to save different views, go into a section view, or markup a file. Without any additional features the Solid Edge viewer is little more than just a viewer. 3D PDF’s and screen captures can do everything the app does, and do not require any special downloads. Luckily the viewer is free, as is the desktop version but if you’re looking for a tool for design reviews the Solid Edge viewer comes up short.

For more information on Solid Edge check out the rest of the 3D Engr reviews.

Solid Edge Viewer for the iPad

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