How do I set a perminent change to the BG color in NX5?

[Zrob]

Hi,

How do I set a perminent change to the BG color in NX5? I would like to model with a black back ground where do I change these settings? I have tried Preferences -> Visualization but only gray seems to work? But I would like to have every new model the we make come up defaulted to black.

Thanks

 

[JohnRBaker]

For existing parts, go to...

Preferences -> Visualization -> Color Palette

...and select the 'Edit Background' button at the bottom of the dialog and then select the colored rectangle labeled 'Plain Color' and set the RGB values to all ZERO's. When you leave the Windows color-picker dialog, toggle both view options to 'Plain' and hit OK.

Now if you wish to change all future new files created (that are not done using a template), you have two approaches you can take. If you truly don't ever wish to work in a graduated background, just go to...

File -> Utilities -> Customer Defaults -> Gateway -> Visualization -> Background Color

...and set all of the color RGB values to ZERO and toggle both the Shaded and Wireframe views to Graduated.

Now if you use template files, changes to the customer default will have no effect so in that case you will need to open and edit the template masters using the first procedure (using Preferences) outlined above.

However, just so that you know that the ACTUAL default background color is NOT controlled by any dialog but rather is 'hard-coded' into the CDF (Color Definition File). Now you can go into the NX system UGII folder and copy the 'ugcolor.cdf' file to some local location, open it and edit the first record labeled 'Background' so that the 3 records (RGB) are again all ZERO's. And then go to...

File -> Utilities -> Customer Defaults -> Gateway -> Visualization -> Color Palette

...and provide a path to your customized version of the .cdf file. Again, this will only effect new files created without using a template.

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

 

[Zrob]

John,

I succeded with the:

Preferences -> Visualization -> Color Palette

But had trouble with the other method, only because I never noticed the Blank drawing option.

So all is good now,

Thank You.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Actually we would encourage you to use the Templates (if not ours, then yours) so it would be best to decide what other default conditions you would like to see in your part files, perhaps pre-loading some default attributes, layer categories, viewing options (I have Perspective ON by default in my templates), and any number of other defaults, particularly those whose scope is the 'part' file and not the 'session'.

And since you can define Model and Assembly templates as well as Drawing, FEA, CAM, etc, templates, you can have different initial set-ups for each type. This can go a long way in helping to enforce standards as well make the creation of part files more efficient if the repetitious tasks can be eliminated by pre-loading certain data or format information.

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

 

[jkcone]

Hey guys
I have a question along these same lines.
When I create a new drawing in an old model file (which was probably imported into UG years ago) I'd like the line attributes of the views & annotation settings to be per my preferences not the old files defaults.
Do you know how I can change the system settings to drive this for any file I'm in?

Thanks,
James

 

[Zrob]

John,

I will look into setting up some template files because I do agree with that.

Thanks

 

[JohnRBaker]

When I create a new drawing in an old model file...

You should really try and avoid doing that. The preferred approach is to use the Master Model approach where the detail part, or assembly, is a component in the Drawing file. This way the part file is not burdened with drawing information and it allows both the detail parts and the drawings to be worked on at the same time by different users thus offering the opportunity for an enhanced workflow which allows work to be done in parallel instead of in a purely serial manner. This also applies when creating manufacturing files where you need to include fixturing or where tool-paths are being created. You can also work this way with the FEM/FEA applications (in fact that IS the built-in behavior since it is totally impractical to try an carry either mesh and load data to say nothing of the results in the same file as the actual model) where models are part of a simulation to verify the performance of either individual components or complete systems.

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

 

[jkcone]

Hi John
Thanks for your reply. That makes sense.
The problem is, even when I create a new drawing sheet & view in my template file the line attributes aren't as we want them, i.e. Visible= white, solid & thin, Hidden= gray, dashed & thin, Smooth edge= white, solid & thin. Is there a way to drive this no matter what file I've created the view in?

Thanks,
James

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, the displayed part determines how items appear, be it color, font, width, whatever, so you will need to make your changes there. If you're using template files, you will need to open these file, make the changes desired using preferences, and then re-save them. If you're using brand new parts (using the File -> New -> Blank option) then you only need to make your changes to the Customer Defaults.

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