Large Assemblies 1

[ug2prog]

Hi all,

I am working in turbine assemblies. To make a good study, i assembled all the components from inlet to exhaust. But the pain here for me is could not even able to rotate the model as i wish. Then I came to know about proximity, but not having a enough knowledge to use it. Someone here try to explain me the way it needs to be used, also is there any alternate solution to handle the large assemblies.
If i change my model in proximity, i feel it affects the drafting output.

Thanks

 

[J-C]

How big is the assembly? Number of unique parts? Numer of total parts.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[ug2prog]

Almost 560 added components and the assy file size is 80MB.

 

[J-C]

560 individual files or are some them instanced more than once for a total of 560?

Regardless, do you have an advanced assembly license? It has some tools for creating simplfied, warpped assemblies, representations which can speed things up.

If not, I would look into creating reference sets for sub-assemblies which have small parts like fasteners turned off.

I'm not sure if there is a way in UG to turn off features in a part. In Solidworks we would create a configuration in the part called "simplified" that had stuff like fillets and small cosmetic features turned off. The create simplified configs in the assembly with those simplified parts and other small parts turned off.

Basically you have to reduce the stuff you're loading through ref sets or the advanced assembly license tools.



Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP0.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[UGperson]

The best way to work with larg assemblys is with a Lightweight or Facet reference set.

To se if it is avalible in your customer Default go to

file -> Utillites -> Customer Default

next search for this line "Assemblies_FacetReferenceSet:"

the value sould be "FACET" if it is blank then it is not enabled.

 

[ug2prog]

Advanced assembly license i dont have, but Assemblies_FacetreferenceSet is turned on with FACET.
So I can use Lightweight option, using proximity.

Can u post the way it should be used. And also can u make sure that if i use lightweight or facet reference it should not affect my drafting views. Which means if i place the new trimetric view after applying light weight option in the model, the view with hidden lines visible even after it is turned off in the view style.

Thanks

 

[cbrn]

Hi,
from what I understood about lightweight, it won't affect drafting results because during the creation of any new view, the model is regenerated from the "whole geometry" database. It would affect view creation performance, though, because until you don't create a view or operate upon the geo of an existing one, the model is loaded with a minimum information (the "lightweight"), so that at first operation which involves topological manipulation you have to wait for the full info to be loaded into memory.
But I don't know sufficiently the deep mechanisms of UG to be sure of that...

Regards

 

[Azrael]

Are you using a rep set on the parts?? Check your visualisation preferences, turn off fixed frame rate and etc to make the assembly easier to work with

 

[HellBent]

What hardware are you running on?

 

[ug2prog]

Intel CPU 2.80GHz, 2GB RAM.
I turned off the frame rate and other options in it, but still the same result. So I started to remove most of the components which are in array, like bolts and nuts. And also trying to simplify the features. Hope this will give some breathe for me.

I will be thankful if someone posts the exact way of using the proximity and also the advantage and disadvantage if any of using this option.

thanks

 

[HellBent]

What graphics card?

 

[ug2prog]

NVIDIA Quandro NVS with AGP8X

 

[HellBent]

That card is your problem...it's only 64mb and it's not intended for CAD. There's not much you'll be able to do about your issues with that graphics card.

Take care....

 

[HellBent]

You'll want to look into one of these cards:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_family.html

 

[ug2prog]

Thanks Hellbent,

Your words sound better now!!
you can suggest me to increase my graphics configuration.

 

[ug2prog]

Hellbent,

But how this is related to the speed of the processing of the files. When i try to update the view, it shows modeler error, view didn't update. Some times memory access violation.

 

[HellBent]

UG is extremely graphics dependant. Everything you see is crunched by that card....whether in 3d or 2d. You will see all kinds of problems go away with a better card.

Just for grins...try updating again but with your task manager open. Put it on the performance page. Watch your cpu and particularly watch the "commit charge". Off a fresh reboot let me know what your commit charge "total" and "limit" is....then what "peak" it hits when attempting your update.

You'll need a new card if you want to run UG....that one will only work well enough to open simple parts. I'm just curious to see how your system is performing.

 

[ug2prog]

Thanks bent, Here I am with the performance information of my machine.
Commit charge

Total : 1301518
Limit : 4034556
peak : 1356988

CPU usage: average of 50%

All this parameters while updating my file after reboot.
And I remember last time when i check these parameters, the peak is reached up to ~2200000.

 

[HellBent]

I'll assume you were crashing or locking up when it was getting up over 2gig. I've never had luck on 32bit Windows of getting much over 2gig of commit....even with the operating system memory modifiers set.

But at a peak of ~1.4 and ~50% cpu usage it appears your "system" is handling the load. You should definitely start with a new card and see if that resolves the problems.