Alternative to Stahl's Cadworx Live? [Timeout, Server Disconnects, etc.]

3046 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Amw, Nov 6, 2017

FLEXYOURFAITH

Discussion Starter · Nov 3, 2017

Hey all,

Over the past few months Stahl's Cadworx Live cloud-based vector design has become more and more unreliable and slow to respond to commands, uploads, conversions/edits and saves. Today has really encapsulated the platform's weaknesses, with frozen loading pages, "server lost" error pop-ups, "failed to load color palette" warnings, and ultimately about 2 hours spent trying to vectorize a single-layer logo (and we're still not done because the program keeps freezing.

We've tried multiple laptops, browsers, logging out and back in, turning laptops off/on, clearing cache, even running the Cadworx Live in a Chrome incognito tab to see if less cookie tracking would speed up the responsiveness. Nothing has helped...it's on the server-side of Cadworx, not our local machines.

I sent an email in a few weeks back to their tech support address but haven't heard anything back.

Today, ironically, was a hard-deadline for final design approval for a huge conference in Florida we're working with, and we haven't been able to get any work done.

Are there any alternatives similar to the functionality of Cadworx Live, that is downloadable, and not dependent on "cloud" services that are unstable? I know there's the usual Draw, Photoshop, etc...but does anything else exist that's created with the apparel industry in mind? The bummer is after months of 20-30 hours a week on Cadworx Live we've gotten very efficient with it and learned all the workarounds for some of the flaws/shortcomings.

Whether the software is free or paid, we just NEED to find something reliable and user friendly so we can avoid all the frozen screens, errors and failed-or-slow loads...all suggestions are very welcomed!

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dcbevins

· #2 · Nov 3, 2017

The fashion factory plug-in for CorelDraw comes to mind by AdvacedArtists.

https://www.advancedtshirts.com/product/fashion-factory-3-5/

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FLEXYOURFAITH

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 3, 2017

dcbevins said:
The fashion factory plug-in for CorelDraw comes to mind by AdvacedArtists.

https://www.advancedtshirts.com/product/fashion-factory-3-5/

That sounds great! I'm going to check it out right now. The bummer is, although I know Cadworx is dated and has it's limitations, overall we really enjoy it and you can produce fantastic results with it.....when it's working. But as the brand grows, we really need something dependable and responsive. Thanks so much for your suggestion!

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into the T

· #4 · Nov 3, 2017

as i recall you are mainly vector-based designs (ie no raster images)

i would look at serif's drawplus x8, easy to use and stable (~$25) (info here, trial download here)
serif discontinued the drawplus line (but it does have over a decade of improvements behind it) to release the new affinity (~$50)
this is a vector and raster program rolled into one (larger learning curve than drawplus)

so you might want to start with drawplus and then if rasters come into play pick up affinity (info here, download trial here)

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FLEXYOURFAITH

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 3, 2017

into the T said:
as i recall you are mainly vector-based designs (ie no raster images)

i would look at serif's drawplus x8, easy to use and stable (~$25) (info here, trial download here)
serif discontinued the drawplus line (but it does have over a decade of improvements behind it) to release the new affinity (~$50)
this is a vector and raster program rolled into one (larger learning curve than drawplus)

so you might want to start with drawplus and then if rasters come into play pick up affinity (info here, download trial here)

I know Serif very well, actually used their website building software for a fitness forum and supplement store back around 2003! Very cool, I forgot about them. I just live-chatted with Stahl's, and offered to pay them for a single download license to install the Cadworx Live on my laptop rather than continue fighting with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform it runs on, and they weren't willing to help out.

We missed out on a huge order because we couldn't submit a digital rendering to the client in time, even right now as I type this Cadworx is hit-and-miss. I'm headed over to Serif right now

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into the T

· #6 · Nov 3, 2017

if you need some immediate help let me know and i will do what i can for you

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FLEXYOURFAITH

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 6, 2017

into the T said:
if you need some immediate help let me know and i will do what i can for you

THANKS AS ALWAYS! I looked around for a long time last week after getting your suggestion along with dcbevins, and I couldn't find anything that was meant for apparel that didn't need another platform (Corel Draw) to piggy-back off of.

Have you personally used DrawPlus? It's an unsupported software now, which is fine, but it was so hard to find information on. The bummer about it all, is that WHEN it's working, Cadworx Live is pretty solid overall, especially after using it almost daily for the better part of a year now. I'm willing to overlook the shortcomings no problem, but when we can't use it, it creates a big issue for us since we're always trying to fulfill orders.

Thanks for all your help!

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into the T

· #8 · Nov 6, 2017

FLEXYOURFAITH said:
Have you personally used DrawPlus?

yes, that is my go-to software for designing

i have/had about a dozen programs, incl. illustrator, photoshop, inkscape, karbon, xara, even some manga programs, etc.
(the only one i have not used is coreldraw)
and drawplus is the best of the bunch for me and how my my mind works

for raster i use gimp

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Amw

· #9 · Nov 6, 2017

You could try out sign industry software. Like Signlab...It is "sign" software, but it works to design anything really. Once you get the hang of it, it is really fast.
Flexi is another option but I dont personally like cloud based software (Plus it is $$$$). I like to know that if the internet is down etc. that we can still keep working.

We mostly use for design:
Illustrator
Photoshop
Signlab
Indesign
Engravelab

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