Save Rotation Point with template? 2

[CNSZU]

Hi all,

Is it possible somehow to save a rotation point with a template part document? Otherwise, for every new document I need to manually set a new rotation point at the datum coordinate system in order to force the rotation to behave nicely, which is a hassle.

Thanks.

 

[uwam2ie]

afaik it is a session setting.
It would help to create/record a marco controlling this setting.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Exactly what 'rotation' point are we talking about here?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

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

 

[CNSZU]

John, it's the rotation point that you access by right clicking the graphics view and selecting "Set Rotate Point".

uwam2ie, this is what worries me. I've already created a macro out of desperation which simplifies the process, but nevertheless necessitates clicking the macro every time when creating a new part or opening an existing part. However, the macro doesn't set the rotation point exactly at the coordinate origin every time so sometimes I have to click the macro several times to make it work.

The default rotation behavior is completely uncontrollable (part disappears off the screen), so I MUST set the rotation point at the origin to make the rotation behave nice and consistent.

 

[JohnRBaker]

That rotate point is temporary in that nothing is actually saved with the part, which immediately answers your original question. If there is no such things as a rotate-point 'object', then there's nothing that can be added to a 'template' model.

BTW, do you own a 'Spaceball'?



John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

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

 

[CNSZU]

I don't own a Spaceball, although I have been considering to get one, however in the end I've decided to continue using the mouse. The reason is that I use the keyboard to enter values and shortcuts, the mouse to manipulate the model and access commands. A spaceball would be an extra device to clutter up my desk and because I don't have three hands, I would have to constantly switch from one to the other when manipulating the model thus slowing down my work speed.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Trust me, based on what you've shared with us in this thread, if you bought a 'Spaceball', you'd never look back. The space it would take on your desk will be worth it's weight in gold.

I currently have 3 Spaceballs, one for the office, a 3Dconnexion 'SpacePilot Pro':

One for home, a 3Dconnexion 'SpaceNavigator', and one for when I'm on the road, a 3Dconnexion 'SpaceNavigator for Notebooks':

While it is true that the first unit above is a bit pricy (~$400) and it does take-up some desk space, the second two versions are much smaller, with the regular 'SpaceNavigator' available from Amazon for around $92.00, with the smaller 'Notebook' version going for about $30 more.

Take my advice, buy one of those $92 units and you never regret it.

DISCLAIMER: I have no personal interest in 3Dconnexions or any distributor of their products.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

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

 

[moog2]

very wise words.
CNSZU,Forget about not having enough hands....
When you get a spaceball, it's like you've just grown an extra one.
When you've got used to one, if you're forced to work without it, it LITERALLY feels like you've had your left arm chopped off !!
(my oppologies if you're the drummer from Def Leppard)

 

[SiW979]

I'll add my 2 cents and totally agree with the others, once you have used a space ball life without one is unthinkable.

Best regards

Simon NX7.5.4.4 MP5 - TC 8

http://www.jcb.com

 

[CNSZU]

Although it's slightly off topic, I'm really curious. You seem to imply that you use the "spaceball" with the left hand and the right hand is still on the mouse.

Now consider I get the SpaceNavigator. When I use the keyboard, my left hand is constantly pressing the alt key (in full screen view) to access a predefined toolbar. Also, I often press ctrl+shift+MB1/MB2/MB3 to get access to radial popups. All done with the left hand. Does the SpaceNavigator have 2 buttons that you can customize to act as the alt key and the ctrl+shift key combination? If not, I would have to constantly switch from the SpaceNavigator to the keyboard and this is what I want to avoid.

 

[MickyV007]

Not the space navigator, but the spacepilot pro does have the ESC CTRL ALT SHIFT button on it. It's not clearly visible on the picture in John's post but they are on the top left corner.

Best regards,

Michaël.

NX7.5.4.4 + TC Unified 8.3
Win 7 64 bit

 

[cowski]

If your model runs away when you rotate, perform a view fit (cntrl - F, or icon in the view toolbar). This will bring your model back into view and reset your model bounds to something reasonable.

http://www.nxjournaling.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

Does the SpaceNavigator have 2 buttons that you can customize to act as the alt key and the ctrl+shift key combination?

Yes, as shown below in the SpaveNavigator's Button customization dialog:

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

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

 

[CNSZU]

Thank you John, that's impressive.

 

[SDETERS]

Or if you want to use the Function Keys F1 F2 F3 to rotate pan and zoom your model you can set this in the following file or your custom files. We used to use these in I-Deas and they work well if your a keyboard person.

C:\UGS\NX 6.0\UGII\ugii_env.dat

UGII_FKEY_DYNAMICS = 1


I have a spaceball pilot pro and I find it difficult to press the buttons and trying to remember all of the buttons. I switch from the spaceball to keyboard a lot.

Also They have new one out that has a good review Please click on the link below. I hope this is ok.

http://solidsmack.com/software-hardware-reviews/3dconnexion-spacemouse-pro-review/#more-18787

Thanks
Shane

 

[CNSZU]

As part of my research on the SpaceNavigator, I have a question: how do you guys deal with the rotation point? I assume it automatically finds the rotation point based on mass or the origin, but how easy is it to specify a rotation point, if the model still flies off the screen? Lets say you want to rotate around the end of a long cylinder. Can the rotation point be set maually? Can it be based on a selected surface or body? What are the steps for setting a rotation point using the SpaceNavigator in NX?

 

[SiW979]

right click in space in the graphcs window, then click set rotate point and pick a point on the model if you want to use a specific rotation point.

Best regards

Simon NX7.5.4.4 MP5 - TC 8

http://www.jcb.com

 

[cowski]

If your model runs away when you rotate, perform a view fit (cntrl - F, or icon in the view toolbar). This will bring your model back into view and reset your model bounds to something reasonable.

This works whether you are using a spaceball or not.

http://www.nxjournaling.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

Unless specified otherwise, as Simon has outlined for you, when doing a general rotation using a Spaceball, the initial rotation point is the center of the theoretical 'bounding-box' which the displayed model is contained in. Once you start to rotate along with combinations of pan and zoom, that 'point' may migrate a bit, but once you've become skilled with the Spaceball you will find that getting the feel for the rotation point and how to massage it to where it behaves as you would like it to becomes second nature. Like most anything, a little practice and experimentation can result in increased skill levels until you get to the point where you won't even think about these sorts of things and when you do you'll wonder why you ever worried about them being a problem

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

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

 

[CNSZU]

Thanks for the answers. I'm trying to compare the SpaceNavigator with a mouse with regard to rotating a model. It seems to me that this aspect is the biggest weak point of the SpaceNavigator or Spaceball, so I'm trying to find out exactly how big of a problem this is.

Simon's suggestion is the same as for using the mouse, except that when using the mouse, depending on the delay specified, the rotate point will automatically set itself to whatever the cursor is over when pressing MB2. In this regard, the mouse if faster.

cowski's suggestion does not apply in this case because we are talking about rotating around a detailed part of a larger object, so zooming in and out is not an acceptable solution.

John, I'm still skeptical. Consider a situation where we have a long, thin cylinder and we zoom up close to one end if it. Now we want to rotate around this area. Would this be possible at all with a Spaceball without setting the rotate point first? With a mouse, if the delay is set to zero, you'd simply press MB2 on the part, then you can start rotating immediately without the part disappearing off the screen.

I'm going to have to find a demo to test one out first to understand fully how the SpaceNavigator works.