Is it possible to use portions of sketch for Feature inputs? 1

[mjcole]

Hello,

I was wondering if it's possible to use part and not all of a sketch for inputs when choosing paths or profiles fro sweeps and Lofts? In many cases I've found this hard to do or am not able to pick on what I want. Yesterday I was building a feature that should only require 3 basic sketches, however I was forced to make two more sketches that extracted the entities I wanted from my original sketch so I could pick them.

Is this the only way to control different guide curves from one sketch. I'm used to being able to select chains or individual curves from sketches on UG to choose what I want to use for extrusions or sweeps without having a ton of sketches. Is there a way to do this on Solid Works?

Thank you,
Michael

AETD - LYNN, MA
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[TheTick]

As a former UG user, I empathize. I miss UG. I was a dual UG-Pro/E user for a while. I summed it up like this: Pro/E lets you play doctor; UG lets you play God.

Anyhoo...
Now I'm on SolidWorks. Not bad, it's suitable for what I'm designing nowadays.

Enough with the nostalgia, already! Real advice follows:
When working on designs with a number of complex sweeps and/or lofts, I lay down a few control line sketches first. These control line sketches are independent and precede an solid geometry.

When I need to use part of the control line geometry, I create a new sketch and use "Convert Entities" to extract the parts I need.

I also find copying entities into sketches is effective when working with a helix. For some reason, once a helix curve is used to drive a sweep, the helix endpoints are no longer selectable for future feature references. Now I'm in the habit of copying the helix to a 3D sketch and using the copy to drive helical bodies.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[Arlin]

>>I was wondering if it's possible to use part and not all of a sketch for inputs when choosing paths or profiles fro sweeps and Lofts?

YES YOU CAN!!! Just look for the contour selection tool. I think this was introduced in 2003. The contour selection along with shared sketches should let you do what you want.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

UG lets you play God

Lets hope the models you made with UG turned out better than the "models" He made!

Hmmm ... wonder what program He used?

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have

 

[ctopher]

CBL,
AutoCad!

 

[mjcole]

Arlin,

Thanks for your response, I finally tried out the contour selection tool using the RMB pop-up menu shortcut. It's a great tool and is a lot easier than the other method I was using. It's also way easier than selecting all the lines or chain selecting on UG because it can search for closed contours.

The only thing I noticed was that The contour selection option is that I wasn't able to select portions of sketches for Lofts, if they were not separated by construction lines.


Michael

AETD - LYNN, MA
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Belcan "Advanced Engineering & Technology Division"