Transitioning to Enventive

"Enventive is turbo-charged Mechanical Advantage... and more." - Jeff Gabalski, BAE Industries

Following are some considerations that particularly interest users switching from Mechanical Advantage (MA) to Enventive. If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Training

MA users find that transitioning to Enventive is quick and easy. Although many MA users have made the transition without training, a 2-day training class helps MA users become proficient faster, provides an opportunity to update modeling skills, and teaches the best methods for using Enventive's new features.

Enventive offers a 10-seat, 45-day evaluation period that includes training. Many customers find this a cost effective way to get started with Enventive.

See Training for more information about Enventive's standard training agenda.

MA Model Conversion

Enventive provides an option for converting MA components to Enventive components. Most MA components can be converted in just a few minutes. MA geometry, constraints and dimensions are converted to corresponding Enventive objects, resulting in a usable Enventive part without hours of manual conversion work. See MA Converter for more information about this optional tool.

Enventive also provides conversion services for a fee.

Data Management

Because Enventive components are stored in individual files, users can work together as a team, and common components can be shared by different assemblies. Enabling a team approach introduces significant benefits and value, as well as important considerations for effective data management.

It is important to consider data management carefully before embarking on a team project. Many users find it useful to designate a folder on a shared disk drive for each project, as well as a folder for common components shared by multiple projects.

It is also helpful to formulate rules for component naming conventions. For components associated with existing parts, users sometimes use the drawing number as the file name, perhaps with the part description included as well.

Contact us if you wish to have your Enventive data managed by an existing PDM system.

Many designers and mechanical engineers who previously used Mechanical Advantage (MA) for modeling and analysis have switched to Enventive with outstanding results. What makes Enventive a superior tool? A side-by-side comparison of MA and Enventive features is given in the following chart. To see for yourself the vast difference Enventive offers, contact us to schedule a demo.

The MA Converter is an optional add-on tool to the Enventive software.

You can use the MA Converter to automatically convert MA components to Enventive components, easing your transition from MA to Enventive. Most MA components can be converted in just a few minutes. MA geometry, constraints and dimensions are converted to corresponding Enventive objects, resulting in a usable Enventive part without hours of manual conversion work.

In some cases, additional work may be needed to fully replicate an MA component in Enventive. For example, Enventive does not support scaled dimension constraints, so users would replace these MA constraints with appropriate Enventive alternatives.

Enventive uses a data structure in which each component resides in its own file, and is referenced from external assemblies rather than residing within the assembly file. For this reason, MA assemblies cannot be converted directly to Enventive, and must be manually rebuilt from imported components. Generally, the bulk of the work in building an assembly lies in creating the components, and the cost of manually rebuilding the assembly is minor compared to the benefits of having the model in Enventive.

Enventive also provides conversion services for a fee. Contact us to find out more about the MA Converter.