solidworks license

i’m working with an i.d. consultancy on a consumer electronics product. we developed some sketches for the client and they picked one of the concepts for development. so our next step is to refine it in solidworks (the product is being manufactured in new york so we are skipping sending sketches to china for them to develop 3d). the problem now is neither the consultancy i’m working for nor i have a solidworks license. does anybody know if it’s possible to rent or lease a solidworks license for a short period of time ? is it legal to buy a used license of solidworks ? or is it just bite the bullet time and pay the full price for a new seat of it ? i’ve sent the solidworks people an email on this, i’m waiting to hear back from them, i’d be interested in hearing your comments and suggestions on this too…

send me the sketchs and i will provide you a price for me to model it up!

watkinson@mpe-inc.com

Ha! I was thinking, “find a freelance SW designer.”

Otherwise, bite the bullet and buy your own license ($3-5k). You could also use other software, like Rhino ($800) or see if AutoCAD is still available for free. Sure, it isn’t sexy, but the result is the same.

As a consultant, the incremental work I was able to bill using software I bought allowed me to pay it off in the first two months I owned it. Something to think about…

thanks for responding, i already have a copy of rhino but i need a part modeler with history and analysis capability. apparently a solidworks license cannot be transferred once purchased although they do have a monthly plan to purchase a new license. so it looks like i’m going to have to do some more freelance this year to make up for the cost of solidworks, oh well.

If you are a freelancer in the US, at least the software is something you can write off on your taxes.

Solidworks, pre '10 release, had a floating license option using their network licensing. Essentially, you could use the software on any computer in the network it was installed on, but the same license or ‘seat’ couldn’t be used at the same time.

Cyberdemon is correct, you can write off the software expenses, and you should. Not 100% of it, but a nice chunk of it. As a freelance designer, you should learn about that.

If you are a freelancer in the US, at least the software is something you can write off on your taxes.

Provided you are in the US, you can probably write off the entire thing (the actual IRS wording is “all or part”) this year (2013) if you use the IRS Section 179 Deduction.

For a project I had the company buy a copy and SolidWorks paid me a referral fee, which I jokingly called a “kickback.” :laughing: (I ended up using the money to take my co-workers out to lunch anyway)