CAD Collaboration

[umer936]

Our CAD team primarily works from their own computers, so we use a Version Control system. We use SOLIDWORKS for our CAD software.

What we've done in the past is use a SVN repository hosted on one of our mentor's servers and use TortoiseSVN for each member's computer.

Unfortunately, last year our robot assembly broke and we lost time tracking down why it broke.

One thing that I noticed is that we were not using the "Lock" part of SVN to lock another file from being edited while someone else is editing it; however, I'm still uncertain what would happen if one person is editing a part while another edits an assembly with that part in it. Would it break the assembly?

I know SVN and Git are great for code (I have many years of Git experience), but I feel like there could be a better tool for CAD files since they cannot be merged like code files.

I was wondering what other teams use to keep CAD files in sync between collaborators. I read through old threads but they haven't been responded to in years.

Reading through the old threads gave me alternative methods such as using a Google Doc where people list what files they are working on or alternative collaboration software like SOLIDWORKS PDM or PTC Windchill.

Does anyone use SVN, PDM, or Windchill for managing CAD files? What are the pros/cons of each?

Thanks!