Items UG needs to fix!! 6

[HellBent]

I just posted in another thread how I'm always telling myself I need to write down the minor "annoyances" I have to deal with everyday while running UG but I just never seem to do it. For some reason I think having a thread dedicated to just that may help. At some point maybe these items will get the attention they deserve by UG. So I'll start it off with a couple that immediately come to mind:

#1. Fix the darn 2d translators!! Why does making a DXF or a DWG of my drawing have to be so difficult? It has never worked right! Why am I forced to run it through CGM in order to get reliable results?

#2. Let me fix errors during feature creation rather than having to start all over again. I.E. "Through curve mesh" intersection errors force me to fix the intersections and then start all over again. Let me edit the intersections from within the creation menu so I don't have to re-select all of my geometry again! Apply this mentality to all feature creation...give me the ability to fix mistakes on-the-fly.


I think I'll be more likely to add items to a thread on a message board than write them down on a notepad so let's give it a shot!

Take care...

 

[hudson888]

Dimo,

You do mean in sketching, rather than drafting?

For sketching diameters for turned parts I just type 18.23/2
Maybe these other systems won't accept a mathematical formula when you're inputing the parameters. I probably wouldn't bother switching modes or selecting a different dimensioning tool to achieve that result. It seems cool but it doesn't add a lot that you can't already do.

You do know that in drafting if you create a symmetrical centerline and use it in your dimension selection that it will provide the result shown in your image. This is standard practice and has been supported in NX for some time.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[realmagicracer]

Hudson,
1) I mean sketch as a sketching in Modeling application (and Drafting app. in NX5). A kind of 2D geometry which could be extruded, revolved, etc...
2) I've just made the applied picture in Drafting app. and I know that there is some kind of feature, like I've described in drafting for geometry dimensioning.
3) Really?! I'm disappointed of that NX does not support some kind of functionality yet. I think it could be usefull for creating axisymmetric shafts, axles, etc...
4) In addition it good to add in measurement feature - diameter measurement. The radius measurement is not so handy for holes or shafts.

Regards: Dimo Urumov
Aircraft Engineer
Plovdiv, Bulgaria

 

[MCGNX]

I would like more 2D funtionality in the Drafting portion.

I'm talking basic "autocad" type stuff. It should not be so hard to draw a basic 2D line.

 

[ewh]

It isn't. Just add the curve commands to your drafting toolbar.

Believe it if you need it or leave it if you dare. - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[BOPdesigner]

It certainly is, circle and line creation in AutoCAD is done with many fewer clicks and picks than in NX.

 

[Rich944]

Can UG please give me the ability to assiciate multiple text/notes to a drafting view, I'm wasting time having to orientate each note seperately! I have previously started this thread ref: thread561-207995 apparently it cant be done :-/

If anyone knows any different please let me know.

 

[JohnRBaker]

In NX 5, select ALL of the notes of interest (either one at a time or you can set the 'Type Filter' to 'Note' and use rectangle/area select to get them all at once), then over ANY of the highlighted notes, place your cursor and press MB3 and from the list of options select 'Associate to View' and then select the view that you wish to associate the selected notes relative to.

Can't get much easier than that.



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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

 

[Rich944]

Thanks John,

I'm on NX4 and unfortunatly I don't have the same MB3 options, but nice to know this has been addressed on NX 5.

 

[realmagicracer]

It would be good to add (optionaly) some kind of "Auto detection of rotate point", considering with initial cursor point during rotation. So when you start to rotate the view, auto-snap the rotate poing to the part geometry.

Regards: Dimo Urumov
Aircraft Engineer
Plovdiv, Bulgaria

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you're talking about Mouse rotation, we've already got you covered. Just place your cursor over the point, be in on some aspect of your model or just in 'space' if you wish, and hold DOWN on MB2 (Middle Mouse Button) until you see a '+' (point) appear at or near the cursor location. Now while still holding DOWN on MB2, move the mouse and the display will rotate about that 'point' until you release MB2.

Now if you would like to set a more presistent/permanent rotate point, just press MB3 over the display screen and when the view pop-up menu comes up select the 'Set Rotate Point' option and then select your point of interest on the model. Once set, this point will be used as the center of rotation for either Mouse or Spaceball rotation. When you wish to cancel that rotate point, either select another point, or using MB3, select 'Cancel Rotate Point'.


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

 

[realmagicracer]

Oh! Sorry John!
I should start with that I use the I-deas style functional keys F1-F4. And I think that is good to add (optional) during the rotation of model (F3) to autodetect the initial rotation point, just like Zooming of the model view. I see that there is autodetect of zooming point, tracking the initial position of mouse cursor.
I know about "Set Rotate Poin". And maybe it could be some kind of "Auto Set Rotate Point", with no MB2-clicking.

Regards: Dimo Urumov
Aircraft Engineer
Plovdiv, Bulgaria

 

[JohnRBaker]

I doubt we're going to be looking for a THIRD way of doing this since we already support TWO ways to define a rotate point. Note that the F1 thru F4 display control buttons are OPTIONAL, in that they are NOT enabled out-of-the-box and will in all likelyhood be used only by a portion of the former Ideas users as they move to NX.

As a side bar, when we first started to look at Ideas and what features and functions the Ideas user community placed a high priority on wishing to see in the new consolidated product, NX, this issue of having these 4 'hot-keys' to control graphics became a big issue. In all honesty, we over on the UG side could not really appreciate why this was a big deal until we discovered that very few Ideas users had purchased 3D controlers, i.e., Spaceballs. Amoung the UG community the Spaceball had always been a very popular add-on. In fact, UG was one of the first CAD products to support the Spaceball working with the original Australian inventor, John Hilton, nearly 20 years ago to create a software interface that could be easily installed on many different platforms while providing consistent performance and behavior.

Later when we were asked to consider implementing our Mouse-driven display control it was during that era when Spaceballs were still rather costly and this was only done as an attempt to offer a lower cost (actually a NO-COST solution since everyone already had a mouse).

When first introduced about 20 years ago, the original Model 1000 series SpaceBall sold for around $1,500. Eventually the price dropped to about $600 and then Logitech introduced a competitive product the Magellan 'Space Mouse', for under $400. Eventually Logitech acquired the Spaceball technology and merged that with their Magellan product line forming the subsidarary, 3DConnexion. Currently they offer a line of 4 different devices, priced from $399 for a SpacePilot to $59 for the low end SpaceNavigator (I use one at home and it works great):

https://3dconnexionstore.com/home.asp?CT=USR

Now remember John Hilton, the Australian who invented and developed the original SpaceBall back in the mid 80's, well he's still in businees and is now offering a low-cost full-function competitive product the 'Astroid 6000' for $199:

http://www.spatialfreedom.com/pages/content.asp?pid=1

Anyway, my whole point is that in the world of Unigraphics and eventually NX, the SpaceBall has generally been the perferred solution, even when the cost was higher, and now with the prices in the $100 to $200 range, almost anyone can afford a SpaceBall and once you've used one, you'll never want to got back. True, we do and will continue to support both the UG-Style Mouse-gesture and the Ideas-style F1 thru F4 hot-button functions, but only as secondary approaches. Our recommendation to people doing heavy 3D work is that they should seriously consider acquiring a 3D controller from one of the 2 supported vendors, 3DConnexion and Spatial Freedom.


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

 

[hudson888]

Dimo,

Don't be offened, but John's answer is so right that I had to smile at your expense. We had this discussion a while back about the merits of various spaceballs or space pilots on behalf of a user looking to buy one. NX is very much optimized for these devices, which used to be a bit of a problem where some users weren't willing to pay the high price of their purchase. I recently picked up a space navigator for something like $99 US. You question may be quite valid, but I can't think of a good reason not to buy one at these prices.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[MCGNX]

our company has also made the jump from I-Deas to NX. One of the first things we did was get spaceballs (we still don't have them for every usere but they are on order)

Spaceballs with NX makes users happy

you can get the SpaceNavigator for right at $100 and it is WELL worth it for NX, especially coming from I-Deas

 

[Rich944]

Quick thought, there may be a reason for this already, but here's my query;

Why cant UG default to the drafting application when opening a drawing file and modelling application when opening a model file? 95% of the time when i open a drawing or a model I have to change the application to suit. What do you guys think?

Im on NX5 btw.

 

[PhilJenkins]

Hi djkatt,

As a single .prt file can contain any combination of 3D part, assembly or drawing data how would NX determine what application to open it into? I think the current system where it opens in the application in which it was last saved is more suitable. If you are creating your drawings in separate files then, assuming they are saved in drafting, they will open back up in drafting. I therefore struggle to understand why your files open in the wrong application 95% of the time.

 

[Rich944]

Hi Phil, thanks for the reply, our current set up is to have seperate drawing and model files, we have a dwg file which includes the drawing (model imported as an assy) and a file that just includes the model. I think this is known as master document and non-master document.

I might be working in a drawing file and need to open a model (or vice versa), when I open the model all my toolbars still show drafting icons as i'm still in drafting. So I will have to manually switch applications. (Maybe i'm just being lazy here, it is only one click!)

If each company has a different way of organising dwg and model files I can see how this would be a problem to implement tho.

 

[PhilJenkins]

Hi djkatt,

I've been playing around and you are right. It seems that if you open a file from Gateway, it will open in the application it was last saved in, however if you open the same file from within a different application, then it opens in that application. I have never noticed this before but agree it doesn't make sense. I think it should open in the application it was saved in regardless of the application the user is in when opening it. Fingers crossed for NX6...

 

[Rich944]

Phil,
I can see my previous post may have been slightly confusing, my query isn't just about opening parts from gateway rather opening and switching between models and drawings within an application.

The way I see it this could be done in two ways:

1. Like you say, files open up in the applications they were last saved.

2. Parts contaning drawing sheets open up in Drafting app, otherwise they open up with the Modelling app, also assembly parts could open up with assembly app - isn't this the common sense way of working or am I missing something!??

 

[JohnRBaker]

Note that there are archtectural reasons for this behavior but I will investigate as to whether any work is planned in this area that might allow us to change this to be more consistent with File Open.

However, with respect to Assemblies, while it is true that Assembly Modeling is a separate module in the sense of how it's licensed, in the way it works it's really a mode. Either the mode is active or it's not. However, even if it's not active, you can still open an assembly and perform most all normal activities and tasks as long as you do not attempt to edit or modify the assembly structure in any way. In fact, most all of our customers have sufficient Assembly Modeling licenses that they operate with it turned ON by default, which can be set in Customer Defaults -> Assemblies -> General -> Miscellaneous. The rational for this was two-fold.

First as I mentioned, since most all of our users have sifficient Assembly Modelin licenses, we needed an option to just keep it ON full-time, as if it were part of the Basic product.

And second, since so many other applications depend on Assembly Modeling when working in the Master Model mode, such as Drafting, Manufacturing, CAE, etc., that we needed to make Assembly Modeling work as it it were a full-time capability (the only reason we even provide for this approach to be disabled is for those few customers who do not have sufficient Assembly Modeling licenses so that all of their users have access to it full-time).


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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