• Support Packages
  
• Product Installation
  
• How to Contact Tech Support
  

• Register for Support
  
• Ask a Question or Submit a Defect
  
• Viewing Incident Status
  

Go directly to Spatial's Online Support Center (OSC).

Spatial Support Services offers a variety of package options designed to provide the support your individual assistance and budget needs. The following are brief descriptions; please contact your account manager for more specific details and definitions.

Basic Package - The basic package provides product support by allowing access to all major releases and service packs, online FAQs, five getting started quick questions via Spatial's Online Support Center web interface, and defect submission and certification.

Classic Package - In addition to the benefits of the Basic Package, the Classic Package includes unlimited quick questions, and up to ten product guidance incidents via Spatial's Online Support Center, e-mail, or telephone.

Select Package - The Select Package builds on the Classic package, and includes up to forty product guidance incidents, enhancement request management, issue escalation management, and the ability to request backports of defect fixes critical to your application.

Partner Package - The Partner Package includes all of the options in the Select package, as well as unlimited Product Guidance questions, consolidated incident and defect reports, and Hot Fix delivery services (as available). Additionally, Partner Packages can be customized to match your organization's specific needs.

To Install a Single Spatial Product:

• Download the desired version and configuration of the product you wish to install. The downloaded file will be a .zip file (Windows) or a .tar file (UNIX®).
• Unzip the archive (or untar the .tar file for UNIX).
• Run the setup.exe executable. On Windows, this can be done directly from the Winzip® file list when installing a single product.
• Follow the install program instructions, which guide you through the license agreement and directory selection for installation. After following each install program step, libraries and header files are automatically copied to the selected location in the appropriate directory structure.

To Install Multiple Spatial Products:

• Download the desired version and configuration of the products you wish to install. The downloaded files will be zip files (Windows) or tar files (UNIX).
• Extract the files as follows:
• For Windows: Unzip each file, and extract the archives into the same location. Ensure that you select the option to "Use Folder Names" in Winzip so that the required installer directory structure is maintained. Winzip will ask whether you wish to overwrite files with the same name because each installation pack contains its own copy of some setup files. Select "Yes" to continue extracting files.
• For UNIX: Untar each file into the same location. Depending on the operating system, you may be prompted about overwriting files with duplicate names. Files with duplicate names can be overwritten because each installation pack contains its own copy of some setup files.
• When the archives for each desired product have been extracted, run the setup.exe program in the location where the files were extracted.
• Follow the install program instructions, which guide you through the license agreement and directory selection for installation. After following each install program step, libraries and header files are automatically copied to the selected location with the appropriate directory structure.
• For questions about installation, please contact Spatial through the Online Support Center.

Service Pack installations require that a base installation of the major release version already be installed. This base installation may already have a previous service pack installed over it.

Service Packs contain all fixes cumulative over all earlier service packs for that version. For instance, R16SP4 contains all the fixes from R16SP1, R16SP2, and R16SP3. Therefore, it is not necessary to install interim service packs before installing the latest service pack.

The preferred method of submitting issues to Spatial is via the Online Support Center at [link], which is available 24 x 7. Issues submitted to the OSC are automatically placed in queue, and is therefore the preferred means of contact. After you have an OSC account, you may also send emails to support_spatial@3ds.com, but there may be some delays in registering your incident in the OSC.

You are also welcome to contact any of our Spatial offices to log inquiries during business hours.

Note that email messages to support_spatial@3ds.com are only accepted from customers who have obtained an account for the Online Support Center. To obtain an account, please submit your request to osc_accounts_spatial@3ds.com

Registering for support is a quick and easy process. Simply send a request via e-mail to osc_accounts_spatial@3ds.com. Please include the following information:

• Name
• Organization
• E-mail address
• Phone Number

Your account information will be emailed to you within one business day.

Questions fall into two categories - Program Guidance and Quick Questions.

Quick Questions require about 30 minute or less of a support engineer's time to answer. Typically, these involve product information or simple usage questions

Program Guidance Questions generally require up to two hours of a support engineer's time to answer.

To submit an inquiry to the Spatial team, simply:

1) Login to the Online Support Center.

2) Select the "Ask a Question/Log a Defect" Tab (Figure 1).

3) Complete the fields on the resulting page. Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are required. Please be as specific as possible when describing the problem to ensure the fastest response.

4) Include scripts, programs, screenshots, and/or test models by attaching them using the appropriate field at the bottom of the page. For multiple files, it is most effective if they are attached as a single zip file.

5) When you are finished adding information, be sure to select the "Submit Question" button at the bottom of the page to complete the process (Figure 2).

If you notice a problem with product functionality, we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.

Please submit issues using the Online Support Center. Our Support Services engineers will work with you to determine if the problem is a defect or a usage error, and will recommend a workaround when possible.

To facilitate this process, the following information must be included with defect submissions.

• A brief description of the problem being observed, including any error messages that result
• Scheme script demonstrating the problem. For most APIs, scripts can easily be generated using ACIS journaling.
• SAT or SAB models with which the problem was observed
• When the problem is that the result "looks wrong", screenshots showing the area of the problem are very helpful.

• A description of the problem being observed, including whether the file fails to translate or if there is missing or incorrect data, and including any error messages that result
• Log file from your translation attempt
• Connect options file specifying the specific options being set in your implementation
• File for which the problem has been observed

Viewing Incident Status

Customers can review all previously submitted incidents via the Online Support Center. To Review Outstanding and Previously-Submitted Incidents:

• Login to the Online Support Center
• Select the "My Support Account" tab
• Click on "Questions" button near the top of the resulting page

Note that you can organize this view to display your individual incidents or all incidents submitted by members of your organization. This can be controlled by changing the "Display" field in the questions page as follows:

• For individual incidents only, set the Display field to "My Incidents"
• For all incidents submitted by members of your organization, set the Display field to "My Organization Incidents"