CAD Forum

Jim Elias

I completely agree about dividing the complex project into multiple sketches, but it will not work in my case. Here is an example of my ordinary project: https://ibb.co/dPdzWQ5. It is a drawing of a gear that is fully adaptive. Whenever I change a single dimension, the whole thing changes - this pr...

Jim Elias

Hi, everyone, I work with drawings that have to be fully adaptive. For this, I commonly use numerous constrains and parametric dimensions. For several years, I used Autodesk Inventor (as was taught in university). However, when dealing with 300+ constraints and dimensions, Inventor starts lagging a...

Jim Elias

Well I do know one thing. Yes the saving to previous versions is a blessing but it is also a painful bind. Saving 2024 files to 2023 you have to be really careful with the hole wizard or it won't be compatible. It's so easy to trip up every time you use hole wizard, you forget to untick one box and...

Jim Elias

If you have to work with SolidWorks files, created by other companies, it is wise to check the history of these files. Often we experience external files have been based on existing files of almost 20 years old. And you loose time by solving all kind of strange effects, you never see with fresh tem...

Jim Elias

Then everything breaks, starting with VarFillet6, which is failing for no apparent reason. I tried this several times, and in one instance it didn't fail, but then Surface-Fill5 failed, losing it's edges. When it comes to Fill, I can't really use the 3D sketch approach, since it does require tangen...

Jim Elias

5. Roll forward - everything in the Feature Manager fails to rebuild, starting with Surface-Trim73, which swapped which piece of the surface should be kept. There's no point in rolling forward of Surface-Knit33 if it's failed (in fact, it's better if you stay rolled back there and don't give the tr...

Jim Elias

I only created one 3D-sketch each, but that shouldn't make a difference. After making these changes and rolling to end: Model should rebuild ok. Surface-Trim73 didn't have an issue. -> Sketch144 will go yellow (point needs replacing) -> Sketch183 will go yellow (point needs replacing) -> VarFillet5 ...

Jim Elias

Thank you for your suggestion, I'd like to clarify on several things: 1. If I use 3D sketches for Boundary/Loft, I won't be able to create C1 / C2 continuity, which is essential here. In some cases it can be approximated with a tangency vector (for C1 only), but not with more complex surfaces where...

Jim Elias

The best way to figure these things out is to roll back to the point you want to change, then roll down the tree step-by-step after changing. If you change the parameter in your screen-shot ("Wing plan"), the following errors occur: 1) Sketch86 under Surface-Trim22 throws a tangency unsolv...

Jim Elias

@doobes

https://cadforum.net/viewtopic.php?p=36558#p36558

would however contradict what I said. YMMV...

Jim Elias

AFAIK, can't work. Your SN is locked in the SW central brain to the last version and SP that were available when you went off maintenance.

Jim Elias

When was the last time they actually added a feature? I mean one that people use? Really. It's a weak argument obviously decorating over the fact that the "reverse compatibility" mockery is at root a crass financial trap. Subterfuge - even crass and obvious subterfuge - is easier and more...

Jim Elias

To be clear, I am not trying to defend nothing here. I was stating what happen in the light of all the BAD practice sw devs used and use. NX used to introduce new command keeping the old one hidden for maximum compatibility. SW just add and modify existing feature, the latest in 2024 with hole wiza...

Jim Elias

I've worked in 2023 in a model that was saved from 2024. No butchering present. It was a surface model. There's been 2/3rds of FA development on surface features in recent years which means it is now possible to pass a model from a newer date code backwards. So apropos my last post, if 2024 perform...

Jim Elias

I've been thinking about the addition of this feature and I concluded that a reason we are seeing this now is because the addition of new features (not just new ways to achieve the same thing, ie, SW2025 sketch colour change etc...) is definitely slowing down. Has anyone had an issue with saving to...

Jim Elias

As a company who's hardware is useless without software, and as an owner who sees the bills for that software, I understand where they are coming from. DSS is by far the greediest company I know of. Worse than MS, Adobe, etc, but software isn't cheap, and I don't begrudge a company wanting to gener...

Jim Elias

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2024 3:57 pm Don't give them any ideas.

But maybe there could be Business Development Consulting in my future...

Jim Elias

Rather than overlaying a separate sketch object, try editing the section line sketch directly (right-click on the section line, then "Edit Sketch"). You'll then be able to explicitly constrain the line.

Jim Elias

At least they didn't implement it as SW-premium only.

Jim Elias

Because I was sent step files. I didn't know anything about the project until that point. The files were sent to one of the engineers, and he forwarded them to me. I sometimes have to do interfacing between a Creo-based team on one side and an SW-based team on the other, and the Creo-generated STEP...

Jim Elias

with 3d interconnect turned on, it uses a more powerful algorithm, so it is almost always better (followed by immediately breaking the link). In this particular case though, with the number of items being imported, I was spitballing that maybe it was causing a problem. Ha! Now if SW would just tell...

Jim Elias

The STEP probably has ZTG. I've open STEP in SW that took a few hours. Usually do it overnight. Make sure the STEP name is short. Make sure it's not in a long path inside lot's of folder. Check Windows Page file/Virtual Memory setting. Make it auto and system manage. Opening STEP will use lots of v...

Jim Elias

I have some step files from a client. I rarely need to do that, so it's not a process I'm familiar with. It looks like it's trying to open the files, but then I get the messages about too many windows open and SW is running out of memory (though I don't have any files open), and then it crashes. Th...

Jim Elias

I have sometimes had better luck with 3D-Interconnect turned on... not always, but it's worth trying with and without.

Jim Elias

I did some injection molding project in the past and the imported surfaces are the bible. at least for aesthetic components for vehicles. you can thicken them add ribs on the hidden side and propose a design modification with a well argumented reason. Having a dummy body was easier to identify our ...

Jim Elias

I'm not called upon to do ID. When I do projects involving ID, I'll almost always get a CAD model from the industrial designer, and I'll incorporate what I can within the confines of what the optical/mechanical stuff will allow.

BTW, almost all the industrial designers I work with use SW.

Jim Elias

On SW2024 SP3.1

So we're now able to use the "pieces" of a Coordinate System (i.e. the planes and axes).

But I can't pick them directly off the screen symbols. I have to right-click on the Coordinate System and do a Select Other, then I get the list of bits to pick. Is this usual?

Jim Elias

Finally took the time to update to NX2406. There are still a couple of little things I would like to get back from the older days, but once you get used to the newer workflows, the update makes a lot of sense. The "new" sketcher needed some time to get used to, but with the addition of the...

Jim Elias

You can toggle OFF the new sketch environment and continue to use the legacy sketching on the newer versions if you need or want to. Go to FILES>UTILITIES>EARLY ACCESS FEATURES and at the very bottom you can turn off the new solver & UI for sketching . I do see that 2306 seems to allow you to c...

Jim Elias

Still does most days. There are some things it does really well and some really cool features that'd be sorely missed going back to SW - Copy Design feature, smoothness of large assemblies and/or drawings, etc.... but in some ways SW was lightyears ahead of IV. Even SW 2015 is way ahead of IV in 3d...

Jim Elias

<snip> And you wonder why, at least here in Japan, many companies that use SW use a 2D CAD do make their 3d data 2d drawings exporting some views from SW I've just started seeing that directly because I'm interfacing with an Asian supplier who models in SW... I was surprised to see that the prints ...

Jim Elias

When I used Inventor, I realized it was a skin-deep copy of Solidworks. As much as we tend to rag on the company, the product of Solidworks was pretty good, and had a lot of functionality. Inventor only resembled SW in the first layer. SW has/had many layers, but Inventor only bothered to copy the ...

Jim Elias

I tried the new sketcher and see the value, but I'm still mostly using NX1872 because I prefer to use the Direct Sketch environment, which got dumped before the new sketcher got introduced. If they would bring Direct Sketch back, I'd upgrade to latest version immediately.

Jim Elias

Jim, your VAR is either misinformed or is trying to mislead you. You can still get perpetual licenses; it is just that Siemens is mandating that the VAR's put forth subscription quotes unless the customer explicitly asks for perpetual. Thanks, I'll ask if the topic comes up again. My VAR told me th...

Jim Elias

Which package do you use? Or do you buy it piecemeal? I have a perpetual "NX Mach Designer" (NX10101) bundle. As I remarked elsewhere, in terms of capabilities, it's not far removed from SW Professional (which I also have). For the work I do (opto-mechanical design), it's inherently more ...

Jim Elias

UDFs not being part of the core NX package is a travesty.....library features is a basic thing. There's a lot of "basic" stuff which isn't part of the bare-bones package. On the other hand, if the lowest tier was the Mach 1, it would be priced out-of-reach for many independents (including...

Jim Elias

NX user here. I think it's a great idea... there are times that I would really like to use things like WAVE control and the User-Defined Features module, but I wouldn't get enough added overall utility to justify buying them. Unfortunately, the NX lowest-end bundles such as I have, are not compatibl...

Jim Elias

I started transitioning from NX to SW in 2016 and I didn't notice any appreciable differences between the available sketch tools, but maybe going that direction I didn't realize what I was missing. They're very similar. What makes the NX sketcher rock for me is the "Edit" function, especi...

Jim Elias

Yes and no......stability is worse in some areas.....but functionality is much better. We started on 98 and I can think of so many things it was missing....no way I'd go back to it. NX, I'd love to get my hands on to see what they improved. I had little problem picking it up and feel its workflow i...

Jim Elias

Creo and NX are on another suite/cost level... imho, this is really about SE (SW should not be here imho). NX, (with my limited exposure is NOT that easy to use) for the skilled user it has many ways to go, it has an impressive tool set but still trying to catchup with todays UI's and out of reach ...

Jim Elias

I haven't use NX since NX4 but my experience with it wasn't as good. We had CAD workstations but assemblies in it were dog slow at times. Luckily we only had about 50 parts max in an assembly with the average being about 10 (medical company). Where as my current company runs SolidWorks with thousan...

Jim Elias

Agreed. I would dump SW tomorrow and switch to NX/TC, but I can't justify the added cost, which is significant. Understandable, and I doubt that I will actually ever go off SW maintenance, as tempting as it is every time that yearly invoice from my SW VAR shows up. (I like my VAR fine, no beefs the...

Jim Elias

At the core of the problem, IMO, it the companies philosophy. Siemens has prioritized stability and robustness. DSS has prioritized marketing and cramming in new features that don't work and very few people wanted in the first place. To be fair, NX is pretty merciless when it comes to costs. There ...

Jim Elias

I feel your pain. The first time I reached out to your IT department to spec me a new computer (I do my own now and just tell them what to order, but back then I didn't know any better) I specifically told them what I needed it for, foolishly thinking they'd research what I needed. They sent me the...

Jim Elias

Coming from using Solid Edge for a few years: - modeling (sldprt): I don't know that I notice a difference for most of our stuff. My complaints are still mostly around unlearning the SE UI. Configurations might be better than part families in SE, depending on usage. - assemblies: SW is slower for w...

Jim Elias

Again, I'm not defending the software, but I rarely have to wait on it when I'm working, and all my files are on a network drive. Is it possible that you're working on a network drive with a poor connection, or your computer could use more horsepower? And please understand that I'm trying to help, ...

Jim Elias

And I believe NX is in the process of a UI makeover to modernize, make it consistent, and align with the other Siemens products (guessing they didn't 100% complete it in 2306). yes, 2306 has some new icon arrangements, but it's still pretty far from a makeover. In any case, I don't think the UI nee...

Jim Elias

Oh and don't get me started on how generally left-behind-in-the-dust SW drafting is. Every so often I see a post saying something like "you can't beat SW drafting" and I am at a loss to understand why anyone would think so.

Jim Elias

A typical SW day for me is 3 crashes. I've never had the feeling that I was doing anything particularly complex CAD-wise when they happened. But the crashes aren't really the deal-breaker for me. The main thing that makes SW never my first choice is the lack of speed. SW is simply slow. I am not an ...

Jim Elias

DavidWS wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:41 am
(snip)

... the plethora of bugs and instability ...

I am not a regular Inventor user, but when it comes to bugs and instability... the SW pot shouldn't be talking smack about anyone else's kettles.

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