Suggestions for Pro/E user moving to SW? 9

[engrnick]

hi all,

I'm learning how to use SW, and was wondering if any of you had any suggestions on how to become a better modeler. (or any references to learning how to be faster)

anyone?

 

[TheTick]

Something I wrote to another Pro/E expatriate some time ago. Someone else once thought it useful enough to requote.

The biggest challenge is letting go of all the stupid things that Pro/E makes you do. SW is much simpler.

Things you will miss:
•variable section sweep
•"trajpar"
•coordinate systems that are actually useful
•control of planes
•control of sketch horizontal reference

Things you won't miss:
•million-mouseclick features
•inability to salvage a sketch after a feature is deleted (circa 2001)
•Pro/E's cryptic layer scheme
•zoom-specific sketch constraints

Add to the "Miss" list: Pro/E's tools for editing and reimporting imported geometry and reconnecting downstream references.

 

[GRF]

To stop creating lines, double left click. This works for what ever sketch tool you are using. You can then start a new line the next time you left click.

If you have a higher end mouse with some extra buttons you can program them to act similar to the other functions you use to be able to do with the center mouse button. It will take some time to remember the new mouse commands though.

 

[Enginerd9]

My suggestion: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the smart decision you have made! It will make your life so much easier!

Also, get ready to click less, design more, and get distracted less by rediculous fail loops, and non-intuitive feature generation. Be prepared for more design freedom!

 

[engrnick]

Thanks! the double click is a good one. I don't use a mouse due to Pro/e's old method (pre-Wildfire) need of a million clicks. Now it's not as bad, but my hand is damaged, so I have to use a tablet.

Take care of your hands, fellas!

There are things I like about SW, things I like about Pro. Whatever, some things are easier to do in Pro than SW, and vice versa.

We could get into the same argument about Android vs. Iphone, or Mac vs. Windows.

Thanks for your help guys. I'm surprised so many people liked TheTick's comments. He must have a fan club haha

Cheers!

 

[SteveJJH]

TheTick is a handy forum member here, but I'm on the side of rollupswx in terms of constraining things. Undefined assemblies and sketches just cause major headaches down the line, especially if work gets handed on to different people.

F16's don't have torque steer

Remember that you can continue to use the RMB to remove surfaces when using select other.

I tend to have one hand on the keyboard, and use a lot of custom shorcut keys, some of which fire up custom macros, remember you can record common sequences of commands.

Don't set up too many shortcuts at once though, you'll just forget them.

 

[TateJ]

I have a SpaceNavigator for all my zooming/panning/rotating, etc...
And I have a mouse with 2 programmable buttons... one set to CNTL, one to ALT.
Also, I recently reprogrammed the middle mouse wheel/button as the ESC keystroke... LOVING IT..! I wish I could reprogram the wheel/zoom as something useful too.

Speed in modeling is a deceptive goal, once you become proficient and efficient... speed happens.

Jack L Tate - Xtreme Tower Products - SolidWorks 2011 SP2.0 - Windows XP Professional - RocketFish Mouse - SpaceNavigator - Pandora Radio - Swingline Stapler - Pop Tarts - [COLOR=red yellow]C₈H₁₀N₄O₂[/color]

 

[mjcole]

Relax you are no longer forced into an Object Action mode where you have to select 2 Quilts (joined surfaces) to get the Merge icon to become available.

SolidWorks can use a single sketch with multiple profiles where you don't need to use the entire sketch for a feature you can select which portions to use. Probably my biggest gripe with ProE.

SolidWorks is one word not 2 as I originally thought take a look at my early posts.

Hey check this out buddy you can float toolbars in SolidWorks.
From "ProE Help"
You can drag a toolbar by its handle and place it in a docked position on the top, left or right side of the main window. You cannot float a toolbar as a separate window. MASSIVE UI FAIL
Unigraphics now NX did this on UNIX so what's PTC's problem.

Be happy that any line can be used for a mirror or symetry constraint not just infinite centerlines. Construction geometry can be used as centerline.

You can create ellipses at any orientation which is only available in Wildfire 5 and later ProE versions where ProE added a lot of things missing from ProE including constraints based on selected items.

VSS Variable Section Sweeps can be done using guide curves and the Pierce relation in sketch.

Forget about using Copy Paste as it works for little to no feature types in SolidWorks except Sketches and Extrudes.

You can stop having to hold down your CTRL key when a selection dialog is available.

QuerySel >> Use Select Other option in Right Click or Application (apps key) pop-up menu. This does require a few extra clicks since tapping the Right button doesn't cycle to next available selection. It also gives you a Selection Menu like Sel from list in ProE.
After Sel Other is invoked you can right click on surfaces to remove them from display Shift + Right Click to re show.

Rectangle Selection will actually work outside of drafting mode.
Direction Objects included
Left to Right Selects items inside rectangle
Right to Left Selects items inside of and crossing rectangle.

Invert Selection is usefull. To select all surfaces you can
1. Pick a single surface
2. Use invert Selection I suggest CTRL+I as shortcut key I use Alt+I for Isolate
3. Pick the original surface again with single press of CTRL.

Middle button is great in ProE but it's basically like the Return key in picking the default option. Esc isn't really needed just select your next icon like Arc or Dimension.

Return will repeat last command activated.

You can stop using underscores in file names because you are allowed to use spaces even in the Model Tree or SolidWorks ripped off Feature Manager.

Wait a few years and maybe you'll be able to detach the Feature Manager like ProE has allowed almost since it's its inception.

ProE does allow you to customize the columns of the Feature Tree a lot better than SolidWorks.

There are way too many things for me to suggest so I think I'll stop here but may add additional things later on.

Relations in sketch can be configured unlike (Constraints) in ProE

Where SolidWorks still fails:
Configs or System Settings ProE does not require special registry permissions and uses simple to edit text files.
ProE can load a diffeerent Config.pro Options or Config.win Window settings in session SolidWorks requires exiting program loading settings then restarting SolidWorks.

Multi key shortcuts like
11 = Line
12 = Line 2 tangents
13 = Centerline Construction
14 = Centerline Geometry

Autocad can do this and does it well
SolidWorks restricts a lot of buttons from being used as shortcuts. However simple keys like CTRL and Alt cannot be used easily for mapkeys cause it's based on key presses mainly alphabetical as words not symbols or specialty keys.

Michael

 

[TheTick]

Re: sweeps

What is missing in SW that is in Pro/E VSS:
•Tangency when using edges for guide curves (very handy!)
•"trajpar" variable to control a parameter w.r.t. relative position on a sweep path

 

[engrnick]

Really useful stuff Michael!!

This is exactly what I was looking for.. Thanks a lot for this, I'd give you more stars if I could..

 

[mjcole]

Engrnick The two Exclaimation points above help in showing your appreciation. I'm glad you liked my post.

"The Tick" You are absolutely right.
Why do you think my ProE twitter name is @trajpar?

Yes Variable Section Sweeps are powerful and trajpar can be used to evaluate areas or dimensions in terms of Sketched Graphs or Relations. I agree with you fully in regard to the VSS fearure.

However the SolidWorks sweep does a reasonably good job if these aren't necessary. V.S.S.does give much better orientation along sweep control instead of the follow path, path and first guide path and 1st and second guides etc.

SIEMENS is making an NX version for MAC and hopefully SW can do the same without requiring clouds. When I was an AE I hated the way MAC users were treated because their Hardware was unsupported and had a lot of Macbook users that I still went out of my way to help.

Another thing that annoys me about SW is their new UI forces black text in status bar and Measure dialog so if you use a dark background you can't read the text. The SolidWorks name is displayed in white or light blue which are the colors I use for text with black window background. Many webpages suffer the same problems. ProE has a System colors dialog where you can set your own colors instead of the Graphical Command Manager Gradient from Bright to Brighter.

Michael

 

[willsb]

TateJ,
You stated that you are using a SpaceNavigator spaceball in Solidworks. I am using 3DConnexion Spaceball which is pretty much the same thing that is used to rotate/zoom/pan. My question is: is there a way to pin the rotation points in Solidworks 2010? For example, if you have a long part and you rotate that piece it may fly off the screen or out into space. If one could pin the rotation point to say an area that is being worked on like the end corner or something of that nature so it rotates about that point, it would make life alot easier. Hate to revert back to using the mouse seeing that it helps reduce mouse clicks and moves some of the work to the other hand. Any tips here?
Thanks,

Regards,
Will

 

[fcsuper]

Will, quickies: (there are others, esp since you have a spaceball thingy)
-Hold down the ATL key while pressing MMB for locking the axis temporarily.
-Click the MMB once on a feature or other element, then click and hold the MMB and move the mouse round to rotate your part about the feature you selected.

Matt Lorono, CSWP
Product Definition Specialist, DS SolidWorks Corp
Personal sites:
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion

 

[TateJ]

Will...
The latest drivers have altered my methods a bit.
But yes you can do what you want. but you definately don't want the latest drivers. You want the drivers specifically written for your device. I used a SpaceBall untill 2/1/10... then got a navigator. I had to find the older drivers that worked best for my SpaceBall & they were not the latest.

Jack L Tate - Xtreme Tower Products - SolidWorks 2011 - Windows XP Pro - RocketFish Mouse - SpaceNavigator - Slacker Radio - Swingline Stapler - Pop Tarts - [COLOR=red yellow]C₈H₁₀N₄O₂[/color] - Rental Bowling Shoes - Titanuim Spork - And that's all I need!

 

[davidinindy]

This is making me miss Solidworks...
Been using Pro-E for the last 8-9 years... sigh...
Nobody even mentioned the better drawing environment in solidworks... Ballooning, dimensioning, etc... All much better.

David