Reading spline points from a file

[Clauson]

thread561-344906
I understand, sort of, John Baker's reasoning for removing the old method of inserting a spline by reading a set of points from a file, but my entry level CAD students still need to do it. We had been creating airfoil profiles from ascii *.dat files with the old method. It was simple, quick and productive, and it showed off NX very well. Given that it's no longer there is there any work-around that is still easy for newcomers to do?

 

[FrankSwinks]

For some 15 years I had CAD students using UGII (1984-1999). My approach was entry level student were set execises and projects that used out of the box methods. For later students I had, in the beginning, GRIP programs to combine commands and in later times UFUNC programs. The reason for this was that, I thought, the use of more complex models was important. Now if the use of airfoil sections is more important than the creation of a spline using points from a file then I would suggest creating a simple vb journal/program to ask the user for the data file, read in the points as point3d, and create the spline.

Regards

Frank Swinkels

 

[kapmnit123]

Hi Clauson,
i have worked for some of my customers who are into turbine blade mfg. Agreed that using the spline (by reading text files) came a s quite handy option but we used knowledge fusion for doing the same just to ensure that associativity with the excel/notepad (we normally used excel) formats is maintained (i know it may not be a requirement as such but still it was a requirement from the customer end and besides this we can tweek the code to do some more customizations too).
Thanks and Best Regards
Kapil Sharma

 

[Clauson]

Thank you for the responses, gentlemen. In my entry level course I am purposely using only off the shelf commands and practices, so writing a program to do what used to be a simple task in earlier releases seems inappropriate. I'll adjust my content and move along. There is so much other powerful stuff in NX that it won't be a problem.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I think that if you're teaching a class where the idea is to introduce your students to the 'out-of-the-box functionality' of NX, then you should go back and reread the forum thread that you referenced in your first post and modify your curriculum so that you're now teaching the new recommended workflow for this sort of task as it would be based on the now out-of-the-box functionality. After all, there is little hope that we will go back to imbedding the reading of point data files back inside of either the Spline or Surface creation functions so introducing to your students a workflow where you first use an Import command to create a named group of points from a text file and then using the Fit SPline ot Fit Surface to create a Spline or Syrface through these points, that this would be the appropriate way to go since this is how they will be expected to use NX 8.5 or later versions of NX once they are using it in production.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

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

 

[Clauson]

Thanks, John. Haven't seen you since I retired and left CAUG. I tried the import and fit method, but hadn't found a way to automate point selection the way the old method did. I'm hoping I missed something, but if not oh well.

I do understand that you folks make such decisions on very solid grounds, and that no matter what you do, someone will be affected in a way that might make them unhappy. Based on the incredible product you have, I'm fine with your judgment.

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you go back and reread that original thread that you referenced you will note that when you use the new Import -> Points from File function that the points created are part of a Named-Group which will make it very easy to select the points later on. For example, if you do use the new Fit Curve function all you have to do is use QuickPick when selecting one of the points and you'll be able to select the entire Group of points. Or you could simply open the Part Navigator and select the Point group after expanding the 'Group' folder that you will find there. Granted, it may not appear to be as 'automated' as having both functions, import and creation, inside the same function, however it does provide a very flexible and general purpose workflow common to both Curve and Surface creation, which from a education point of view, means that you could now teach fewer basic principles that can then be applied in multiple situations.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

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

 

[Clauson]

Selecting the group does work far better, except that the spline crosses back and forth at the trailing edge of the airfoil shape, possible due to the proximity/density of the points there. I'll play some more and see what happens.

 

[pilina]

If I use the old feature (spline trough points) with my profile (airfoil) dat file, it respect the order of points in the file (each point on one line in the dat file). However, if I use the Import points feature and than Fit curve with selected group, I cannot get the right curve I want (with the order of points). It is doing somethong wrong and crosses itself etc. I know I can use the old one through the Command finder but I do like the new sequence, but it is not working fine. Can I make my own order of selected points somehow?

 

[Clauson]

pilina, you said you "use the old one through the Command finder." What are you entering in the Command Finder?