Displaying Constraints in Assembly Navigator 4

[Finglas]

Is there any way of displaying constraints in the assembly navigator for individual components? i know they are all listed under the descriptive part name but i only want to see the constraints for individual parts.

Also know i can display constraints in graphics window but not gone on this either.

 

[phillpd]

It's a painful process ...

Highlight a component in the Assembly Navigator
Expand the Dependencies Panel
Click the Magnifying Glass icon (Detailed View)

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[Finglas]

Haha. you make it look so easy but I spent ages trying to figure it out with no luck. Thanks.

 

[JohnRBaker]

You can also try this. Pin open the Assembly Navigator, expand the Constraint listing and then go to...

Assemblies -> Component Position -> Hide and Show Constraints... (or select the corresponding icon on the Assemblies toolbar)

...and in the Settings section of the dialog set the Visible Constraints to 'Connected to Components' and toggle OFF 'Change Component Visibility' and toggle ON 'Filter Navigator'. Now you can select one or more Components and when you hit Apply the list of Constraints in the Assembly Navigator will be 'filtered' to only show the relevant ones.

And if you want to ONLY see the Constraints BETWEEN two Components, set the 'Visible Constraints' option to 'Between Components'.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[phillpd]

John,

Are we ever going to see an "improvement" in the way we can interrogate constraints (it was so easy with Mating Conditions) ?

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you have any good suggestions, please feel free to contact GTAC and open an ER (Enhancement Request).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[phillpd]

John,

Yes, adopt the same behaviour as with Mating Conditions.

Right-click on the component, choose Mate (or maybe Constrain) and the dialog gives you everything you need. You can see how the component is constrained, suppress constraints and you can see the DOF. It's all there, you had it once

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[JohnRBaker]

As long as you make your selections from within the Assembly Navigator, for-all-intents-and-purposes you can do the same thing today from the Dependency panel. This is the current solution since we NO longer use a separate mini-constraint navigator INSIDE the Constraint dialog. Our intention was to consolidate the various navigators over to actual Resource Bar navigators where they no longer depended on what would now be a non-standard style dialog.

And one other thing, starting with NX 7.5 you can once again select a Component (from inside the Assembly Navigator) and ask that the system display the DOF (Degrees Of Freedom) on the screen in a manner virtually identical to what you saw in the past.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[phillpd]

John,

Using 7.5.2.5

The DOF is NOT virtually identical, as it's not dynamic !

Also, when I attempt to suppress/Unsuppress more than 1 constraint, everything disappears from the Dependency panel.

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[JohnRBaker]

Does something like this look more usable:

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[phillpd]

Well I'd have to say, that certainly looks better than what we currently have.

Now, please tell me there's a "need-to-know-basis" environment variable for NX6 that I can enable ;-)

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[cowski]

Set the environment variable "ANNOY_PHILLPD = FALSE".

just kidding!

 

[JohnRBaker]

Sorry, but that image was from an early copy of a future version of NX. I was just hoping to get some feedback.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[edgray]

The image of the future dialogue seems to have disappeared. Did you have to pull it?

 

[JohnRBaker]

I still see it.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[phillpd]

John,

I'm hoping it's NX8 ?

My assumption is based on the image name, although, it could also be NX80

NX 6.0.5.3
Windows XP32

 

[cubalibre000]

Hi Jhon,
I tested as you suggest (Assemblies -> Component Position -> Hide and Show Constraints... ), but the behavior is different from NX3.
With this setting, NX7 show all constraints connected to the connected selected (one) component, not the constraints used to mate the component selected.
On the image of the NX8, the enhancement not respect the NX3 behavior.

Thank you...

Using NX 7.0.1.7 MP1 and TC8.1

 

[JohnRBaker]

We are NOT trying to duplicate the so-called NX 3.0 behavior, rather we are looking at how, when using Assembly Constraints and how they are applied and work, to get the maximum usability within the primary tools available, in this case, the Navigators.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[cubalibre000]

Hi John,
there is a solution to show only the mates used for positioning a part ?
For example I used 3 mates to position a cover, but now I need change some of the 3 mates.
It's possible to show this 3 used mates for the cover ?

If I use your solution I see all mates used for the cover and the mates of the connected components.

Thank you...

Using NX 7.0.1.7 MP1 and TC8.1

 

[JohnRBaker]

But you don't understand, with Assembly Constraints, unlike with Mating Conditions, there is NO sense as to WHICH constraint is positioning your component versus other components being constrained relative to it. There is NO parent/child relationship, only peer-to-peer, or as we say (and you can see it in our use of terminology) 'Between' components. Any one of those constraints listed, since they are all referencing your component of interest, are JUST AS VALID as any other constraint when it comes to positioning the component. The sense of which comes first and which is primary or which is doing the biggest job, those ideas are all irrelevant. As far as the system if concerned you could have assigned that series of constraints in ANY ORDER that you wished, and the constraint solver would treat the solution exactly the same. This is the same situation you see in a 2D Sketch. It does not make a difference which curve was created first or which constraint/dimension was assigned first or what order, the Sketch behaves exactly the same. With Assembly Constraints, it's the same situation. There is no order, there is no hierarchy, there is no 'from-to', there is ONLY 'between'.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.