nice videos Ricky..hope they are rewarding you appropriately for your time you gotta know though when I read 'undocumented' I am tensing in my chair and trying not to crush my mouse..I will say no more for danger of launching into an uncontrolled rant...
Chris Chastine
· 1 year ago
Ricky, I agree with Neil - nice video. We are still on SW'07 here so seeing some of the new functionality presented in this way really helps me to understand it better - thanks!
Question though: have you found more errors in your designs because of the ability to move features around on the fly like that? Seems like someone could change a dimension they weren't supposed to without realizing it. Does that seem to be the case?
Jeff Mowry
· 1 year ago
Like Chris above, we've stuck with 2007 and skipped 2008 entirely. Your previews of 2009 have offered great insights for this new release, which we intend to run.
Ricky Jordan
· 1 year ago
Neil - I think no matter how hard you try there will always be a few undocumented features in a release. I know where you are coming from on this and I agree - the documentation needs to get better.
Chris - Most of the examples I shown in the videos where using underdefined sketches. While this approach is good for concept work, we go back and fully define almost all sketches as the design matures. (except splines)
If you have dimensions in a sketch that fully define it you have to click on the "blue dot" on the dimension leaders to adjust the size. This of course is only available when Instant3D is enabled. The blue dot is pretty small and requires much more precision by the user to use the Instant3D functions vs. an underdefined sketch which can be dragged around and resized across a much larger selection zone. Because of this I don't find Instant3D to be a problem when it comes to accidental changes. I now leave it turned on all the time in SolidWorks 2008 & SolidWorks 2009 and have not had any issues.
Thanks for the comments guys...keep em coming!
Ricky
*
· 1 year ago
How does Instant 3D work on imported geometry?
Ricky Jordan
· 1 year ago
Modification of imported geometry is best performed with a combination of tools in SolidWorks. When I work with imported data I often use a combination of Delete Face, Move Face, Surface Fill, Boundary Surface, and a number of other surface generation tools.
Instant3D is currently intended to be used primarily on SolidWorks models with parametric features. (The exception is Fillet recognition with FeatureWorks active.) Many in the SolidWorks Community believe that direct editing features added in future releases will fall under the Instant3D banner.
Ricky
Van Knopp
· 1 year ago
Ricky, it sounds like it's really a major hassle to work with imported geometry in Solidworks. For those who work mainly with imported geometry is SolidWorks the wrong tool to use?
Ricky Jordan
· 1 year ago
Van,
It's not a major hassle but I certainly would like to see some tools added in the future that would allow a little more freedom when it comes to modifying imported geometry.
A lot of it really depends on the geometry you are trying to modify and what specifically you are trying to accomplish. If you are making some basic tweaks such as adding/removing holes, adding draft, fillet reworking, & moving faces then SolidWorks is a very effective tool for the job.
There comes a point when the modifications become so numerous that you are often times better off remodeling the part from scratch.
The biggest improvement I would like to see in SolidWorks is some re-parametrization tools that allows for more direct editing when you get an imported file that has internal accuracy issues. This is where you see move face and delete face commands sometimes fail. I think the Move Face and some of the other direct editing tools could use some improvement in from a UI standpoint as well.
Ricky
tim
· 1 year ago
Ricky, Thanks for great blog posts+great comment replies. can you explain what "internal accuracy issues" are? + i have always wanted to know why there are flaws to imported/exported geometries although they are according to a Standard format (iges,step,...) and seemingly both cad systems support that standard?
All Comments
you gotta know though when I read 'undocumented' I am tensing in my chair and trying not to crush my mouse..I will say no more for danger of launching into an uncontrolled rant...
We are still on SW'07 here so seeing some of the new functionality presented in this way really helps me to understand it better - thanks!
Question though: have you found more errors in your designs because of the ability to move features around on the fly like that? Seems like someone could change a dimension they weren't supposed to without realizing it.
Does that seem to be the case?
Chris - Most of the examples I shown in the videos where using underdefined sketches. While this approach is good for concept work, we go back and fully define almost all sketches as the design matures. (except splines)
If you have dimensions in a sketch that fully define it you have to click on the "blue dot" on the dimension leaders to adjust the size. This of course is only available when Instant3D is enabled. The blue dot is pretty small and requires much more precision by the user to use the Instant3D functions vs. an underdefined sketch which can be dragged around and resized across a much larger selection zone. Because of this I don't find Instant3D to be a problem when it comes to accidental changes. I now leave it turned on all the time in SolidWorks 2008 & SolidWorks 2009 and have not had any issues.
Thanks for the comments guys...keep em coming!
Ricky
Instant3D is currently intended to be used primarily on SolidWorks models with parametric features. (The exception is Fillet recognition with FeatureWorks active.) Many in the SolidWorks Community believe that direct editing features added in future releases will fall under the Instant3D banner.
Ricky
It's not a major hassle but I certainly would like to see some tools added in the future that would allow a little more freedom when it comes to modifying imported geometry.
A lot of it really depends on the geometry you are trying to modify and what specifically you are trying to accomplish. If you are making some basic tweaks such as adding/removing holes, adding draft, fillet reworking, & moving faces then SolidWorks is a very effective tool for the job.
There comes a point when the modifications become so numerous that you are often times better off remodeling the part from scratch.
The biggest improvement I would like to see in SolidWorks is some re-parametrization tools that allows for more direct editing when you get an imported file that has internal accuracy issues. This is where you see move face and delete face commands sometimes fail. I think the Move Face and some of the other direct editing tools could use some improvement in from a UI standpoint as well.
Ricky
Thanks for great blog posts+great comment replies.
can you explain what "internal accuracy issues" are? + i have always wanted to know why there are flaws to imported/exported geometries although they are according to a Standard format (iges,step,...) and seemingly both cad systems support that standard?