AutoCAD MEP

[#1]

I finished creating a parametric part yesterday of a type of vertical fan
coil unit. I must say that the interface for creating these parts is quite
clunky, but after a little while I got used to it. I went about creating my
part and now have numerous variables and such that need to be defined to
create each part size. I would like to create some organization in my
variables so that they are more easily understood and less bulky. It
appears that you cannot change the names of dimension variables. This
completely stupifies me, since the variable name is just a reference to the
data, and if you've ever coded, then you know it's easy to redefine a
variable in pretty much any language. That being said, it would be great if
I could redefine these names for organization. I see that you are able to
give the variables a description if they are parameters in the "Model
Parameters". This helps, but when you define part sizes you do it in the
"Edit Part Sizes" dialog, which does not display these descriptions, leaving
you with a table of seemingly randomly named variables with no reference as
to what they define. This is close to useless for anybody except the person
who created the part. Guys at Autodesk...what gives? The idea of the
parametric part is great, and the process to model each one is relatively
easy once you get it, but it seems to me that very little time was put into
the result of the parametric part creation, which is a table of program
defined variables with no descriptions. I'm sure somebody taught you to
program with comments, a little "%" or ";" or "/*" is needed here.

--
Kyle Bernhardt
Mechanical Engineer
Dagher Engineering
29 Broadway
New York, NY 10006

[#2]

Hi Kyle -

You can't change the names of the variables, because there are many times
that the application needs them to be named specifically to work correctly.
If you changed the name of the width of the connector from RW1 to JRI#& then
the application wouldn't know to look at the variable called JRI#& to get
the width of the first connector.

What you can do is use the default names of the dimensions the drive the
model, but set their visibility to hidden and make them equations, then
create some "custom" variables that are named the way that you want them
named to drive all of the dimensions.

Create a variable called UnitWidth Set L3 (or whatever dimension drives the
overall unit width) = UnitWidth and turn the visibility of L3 to False. Now
when you change UnitWidth it will change L3, but you don't have to show the
user that L3 is actually the unit width.

You don't need to redefined the names of the dimensions that are "forced" on
you. Just hide them and use your own.

jason

"Kyle Bernhardt" wrote in message
news:F9A6909C884B5DDDB2A8025B970E0020@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I finished creating a parametric part yesterday of a type of vertical fan
> coil unit. I must say that the interface for creating these parts is
quite
> clunky, but after a little while I got used to it. I went about creating
my
> part and now have numerous variables and such that need to be defined to
> create each part size. I would like to create some organization in my
> variables so that they are more easily understood and less bulky. It
> appears that you cannot change the names of dimension variables. This
> completely stupifies me, since the variable name is just a reference to
the
> data, and if you've ever coded, then you know it's easy to redefine a
> variable in pretty much any language. That being said, it would be great
if
> I could redefine these names for organization. I see that you are able to
> give the variables a description if they are parameters in the "Model
> Parameters". This helps, but when you define part sizes you do it in the
> "Edit Part Sizes" dialog, which does not display these descriptions,
leaving
> you with a table of seemingly randomly named variables with no reference
as
> to what they define. This is close to useless for anybody except the
person
> who created the part. Guys at Autodesk...what gives? The idea of the
> parametric part is great, and the process to model each one is relatively
> easy once you get it, but it seems to me that very little time was put
into
> the result of the parametric part creation, which is a table of program
> defined variables with no descriptions. I'm sure somebody taught you to
> program with comments, a little "%" or ";" or "/*" is needed here.
>
> --
> Kyle Bernhardt
> Mechanical Engineer
> Dagher Engineering
> 29 Broadway
> New York, NY 10006
>
>

[#3]

Hi Jason,

Am I misunderstanding your post or are you saying that it is possible to
drive a Model Parameter with the parameter value from a Custom Parameter?

Is this new behavior in ABS2004? I haven't had time to install ABS2004 yet
but I have tried several different methods in the past to make this work in
ABS3 and have never been able to accomplish it. The Edit Model Parameters
dialog will only allow variables that represent other Model Parameters not
Custom Parameters. The Edit Part Sizes dialog will not allow Custom
Parameter variables to be used for Model Parameter equations unless you are
in the pfAdvanced mode and even then they do not produce the desired
results.

Am I missing something here or is this a new feature of ABS2004?

Thanks,

Shane

"jason martin [Autodesk]" wrote in message
news:61CBF33D4A93C3B70EFD7DF7A7BBA413@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

> What you can do is use the default names of the dimensions the drive the
> model, but set their visibility to hidden and make them equations, then
> create some "custom" variables that are named the way that you want them
> named to drive all of the dimensions.

[#4]

Don't use a "custom" param, use a model param, but you don't have to have a
dimension control a model param. You can just use the New box to create one
and you can call it anything that you want. Then use the equation to set the
LenA1 = jason. See the part that I posted to CF with the name Creating
Parametric Part.

jason

"B Fry" wrote in message
news:86D440A9B171DEC69FFDEAA1FF73A9F0@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Hi Jason,
>
> Am I misunderstanding your post or are you saying that it is possible to
> drive a Model Parameter with the parameter value from a Custom Parameter?
>
> Is this new behavior in ABS2004? I haven't had time to install ABS2004 yet
> but I have tried several different methods in the past to make this work
in
> ABS3 and have never been able to accomplish it. The Edit Model Parameters
> dialog will only allow variables that represent other Model Parameters not
> Custom Parameters. The Edit Part Sizes dialog will not allow Custom
> Parameter variables to be used for Model Parameter equations unless you
are
> in the pfAdvanced mode and even then they do not produce the desired
> results.
>
> Am I missing something here or is this a new feature of ABS2004?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Shane
>

[#5]

Jason,

I can't believe I haven't noticed the "NEW" button before. I can not believe
the workarounds I have used in the past to get around this problem. I have
gone as far as to create unneeded geometry just so I could dimension it and
have that dimension parameter available to create a list for use in Model
Parameter calculations. Now I need to decide if there is any benefit to
revising a multitude of part families to take advantage of this feature.

Thanks for the info.

Shane