UG color definition file 1

[cadmantools]

In the NX6 color definition file:

White 1.0000000 1.0000000 1.0000000 59

What is the last number '59' that appears mean?

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, you will find that there are a total of 60 colors, each with an extra number, from 0 to 59 (this is how computer programmers count from 1 to 60), next to them. This number indicates which one of the available 60 positions in the so-called 'Favorites' palette that this color will occupy, as shown below...

...and since we call them 'Favorites', we allow you to change which ones you would like to include by editing your .cdf file and selecting your OWN 'Favorite' 60 colors among the 216 available colors.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[cadmantools]

Thanks John for the reply. I also noticed that the earlier cdf files color definitions were using intergers 0-255 for the red, green & blue colors. The later NX file use the floting point number pertencage of this number 0-1.
Any reason for this and how can I get a copy of the origional files released for Nx2 - Nx6 cdf files. I am in the process of writting a program to convert part files to the Nx6 color pallet. I need to determine which color pallet is being used in the part file and then convert it to Nx6. I saw your pre-NX 3 color conversion program.
I have included an excel file with the color definitions using the 0-255 numbers but want to verify them.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I'm sorry, but we (at least on the Unigraphics side of the NX equation) have never used a 0-255 scheme to designate the RGB values in the .cdf files. We have always used the 0-1 'parametric' format.

Attached is the .cdf we used in UG V16.0 which was released 10 years ago this coming September, when we still only supported 15 colors (this was expanded to the present 216 colors, although there have been changes over the years to the actual colors themselves, with UG V17.0). Note that in the .cdf file attached that there is a reference to the original formating date which goes back to 1993, so as you can see, this 0-1 'parametric' scheme has been our standard for a very long time.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[cadmantools]

Thanks John:

I got the 0-255 numbers by running the information command after switching to an older color definition file. This made it a lot easier to see the difference between the files. I have attached the NX2 wireframe file as a reference. I was not sure if I have all the original non modified versions of these files. I thought I read somewhere that the administrator can choose when upgrading to convert the part files to the latest color definition file parameters. Not sure how this is done. Also I believe the UF_DISP_ask_closest_color() open C API may help.
I could just compare the current parts color definitions and convert them to the closest NX6 cdf pallet. Any thoughts that you have would be helpful.

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, I've attached a zip file containing all of the default .cdf files from UG V16.0 thru NX 6.0, plus a few more that you may find interesting, as well as some other material which may help you figure out what's going on with the changes we made in NX 6.0.

Also, if you are really into color, particularly how they are used on the Internet, may I suggest that you look at the website...

http://www.visibone.com

...as this was the reference site which we used back in UG V17.0 when we first implemented the 216 color scheme (note that I was the product manager for that project). This where we got both the RGB values of the colors as well as the names. Basically this was our standard until NX 6.0 when we hired a color consultant to make some recommendations as to how we could improve the pre-NX 5.0 color standards.

Just as a side note, you will find 3 extra .cdf files named:

wireframe.cdf
deutanopia.cdf
protanopia.cdf

The 'wireframe.cdf' was something which prior to NX 3.0 we recommended people who worked primarily in wireframe (non-shaded) displays to use as it provided a better set of colors when shading was never going to be an issue.

As for the other two, these can be used so that you can see what your models will look like to someone who is color blind. Now it's NOT to be used to make the model easier to be seen by color-blind people (about 8% of men are color blind whereas only 0.4% of women are) but rather to show non-color-blind people what something will look like to a color-blind person, so that if it's critical that ANYONE be able to distinguish one part from another you can verify whether that will still be the case by temporarily replacing the default .cdf with one or both the the other two listed above (note that these .cdf's are only relevant when comparing them to pre-NX 6.0 default .cdf files as we have not updated, nor am I aware of any plans to make them compatible with the current NX 6.0 color scheme). And if you wish to learn more about the issues of color-blindness and how this applies to computer displays and designing websites and users interfaces, at the bottom of the web-page at the address I provided above, there are links to other reference sites dealing with subjects including color-blindness.

Anyway, have fun and let me know if any of this stuff was helpful or not.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[uwam2ie]

Thank you John
...for history an lots of information. For your information, here is an colorcoding standard attached for machining used at most of automotives. Please take a look at it , for me it is easier to find the RGB values in the pre NX6 dialogs(an other click away). Maybe you deliver a cdf file in your Software with colors of the so called RAL Standard.

 

[uwam2ie]

... forgot the RAL link:

http://www.ral-digital.de/english/ralclassic_namen.htm?content2.shtml

 

[JohnRBaker]

The RAL standards look like an auto-body paint scheme. If so, perhaps this would be better served using material assignments for rendering with NX Studio. The normal NX .cdf file is intended for object color when performing normal modeling. Rendering is done using a different scheme, sort of along the lines of manufacturing items based on some arbitrary color scheme just to make it easier to distinguish parts from each other, but then before you ship it you 'paint' it the color that the consumer wishes, which might be any one of many different colors so that's left as a separate task, thus the idea of assigning rendering materials and textures which would give you that final 'showroom' appearance, irrespective of what the parts looked like when they were going through the factory.

As for the Manufacturing colors, that's something that the CAM people will have to respond to as they control their own defaults.

One question though, you mention something about preferring the pre-NX 6.0 method of funding out the RGB value. Could you expand on that comment please?

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[uwam2ie]

... Could you expand on that comment please:
In NX4 for example is the workflow: edit object display -> select body -> the edit object display dialog clicking the color field the old color table display-> more colors with color name and id and the RGB values. In Nx6 I must right click the color click a warning away then I got the wanted information with RGB values.
Another question to new color display NX6, when I selecting sorting by color id the colors get sorted /categories, gey, principal,... your pictures above. What controls this categories, can I define those categories for my needs, for example - the (v5) machinig colors.
thx in ad

 

[cadmantools]

Thanks for all the valuable information John

In NX6 you can get the RGB values:

Preferences > Color Palette > Options > Information: Will list the "Current Color Palette Definitions"
Color name, number and Red, Green and Blue values.

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, I'll admit that it takes ONE extra pick in NX 6.0 versus NX 4.0 to find out what the RGB values are for the color of a selected object. However, since the function you were referring to was 'Edit Object Display', I contend that unless you actually select one of the 30 'favorites' on the palette where you read the RGB values at, that it will would take at least one or more extra picks to select your desired color or to edit the current color if there wasn't anything suitable available. Therefore, in terms of using the 'Edit Object Display' function to edit the color of the object selected, that long term you will be saving many unneeded menu picks using the NX 6.0 dialogs then you would have using the older workflow, so having to make an extra pick once in awhile when you need to find the RGB values of a color is a small price to pay.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[uwam2ie]

thank you John,
... what about the color categories?

 

[JohnRBaker]

Sorry, those are hard coded. You only have control over the content of the 60 'favorites'.

However, you do have an option to have NO categories at all, but rather a single list with the colors displayed in order by ID number (1-216). Just go to the 'Selected Color' section of the Color Palette dialog and select the icon next to the sample color field labeled 'Sort by ID', as shown below:

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

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

 

[Dave K]

John: Interesting about the color blindness cdf's, I always thought they were to make things easier for color blind people. I never dreamed they were there to show the non-colorblind, what it would look like. Thanks.


-Dave
Everything should be designed as simple as possible, but not simpler.