Constructive Critisizms Part 3

[Anonymous]

1- Semi-Auto dim placement/alignment (yellow dot) is sketchy at best. Works sometimes, does not work many many times. This is for initial placement. (During realigning it seems to work always)

2-Quad finding is very hard to impossible sometimes, many times its fine. This makes it hard to establish this as a valid
complaint because when you post to point this problem out, you get all the guys trying it and coming back and saying..'works here'. Well for many of us many times it does not work. Major pita.

3- Mass still not available in idw. Have to use a customers workaround (iProperties) Just do a search for 'mass idw' in the news group and you will see how much this is wanted. I can not believe this is not done. I just can't.

4- Have reference parts get hidden in idw where appropriate. For instance a vehicle that rides of rails. In plan view I would like to see the rails where they are visible, but hide them where they are not. Right now the rail appears in its entirety. Why would we want ref parts always visible when behind an other object? Not very often I don't think.

5- In an idw 'find in browser' is not available on content center parts (bolts).

7- Just about everywhere, when prompted for a value, we can enter in any valid algebraic expression...even something like 6in + 2mm, this is very nice. Why in the scale box for drawing views do we have to enter decimals? (also, break the view alignment if the scale from base is turned off, you do not want your view aligned if it is a different scale!!)

8- Anyone else wish they could have say, the base view
populate a scale property, so we can put our scale in the title
block where 95% of us put it!!!! How did this one get over
looked? (My jaw is dropped.)

9- Auto project does not work in assembly sketches.
Cant retrieve dims from assy?????
Still have to delete and reinsert a BOM to see changes made to style.

10- When you place dims in an idw, there are these ref 'snap'
lines that appear as you move your cursor away from the view. These appear to be there so there is a way to space your dims out for an orderly looking drawing. This is a great idea, but it only works sometimes, other times the 'snap' ref you are given seems out of spacing. Seems to be determined by what you are dimensioning and how far into the view it is. This would be a really good feature if it were fixed. This seems to be a common problem with A/D. They only take you half way there. So many half baked, unpolished features.

11- When in a part sketch, get rid of those green lines that appear after you cross certain geometry, like a mid point of a
line, they make it look like if you click, a inferred constraint will
form. Better yet, make a inferred constraint!!

12- Very minor, but why do we see the shortcut cursor icon
(arrow) when we drag a part from the browser into the graphics area to create a new part. This should be the plus symbol for copy. I could see using the shortcut icon if we were dragging to create a derived part, but not a new copy.

[Anonymous]

1) I don't use that too often and when I do, it's to line up a dim with another dim

2) Autodesk is aware of this as it's been posted about numerous times and Autodesk personnel have replied, commented, etc. If you've got a centerline for the arc or circle in question, as you say, it *is* impossible to get a quadrant dimension. Those that say "works here" I'll bet do NOT have a centerline placed. I always move the centerline out of the way (or toggle off extensions), place the dim, then put the centerline back how it was.

3) I've been told R11 has this (finally).

8) Based on the options for this in iProperty Collector, (Are you familiar with this little app, by the way ?? It takes care of the mass problem too.) you can use the scaling of different views to place in the title block. I don't know about most people, but all of my 'main' views are ALWAYS the same scale. I might make an ISO view slightly smaller (because of space issues) and obviously detail views are larger. Autodesk just plays it really, really safe by not assuming the first view's scale is what you want for the drawing border.

10) Those snap lines are relative to the object you're dimensioning, not other dimensions. I think Autocad Mechanical works the same way, in fact, I'm positive it does. An enhancement might be to use the yellow dot to select another dimension and use it to create the new snap distance.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comeback Hall


1) I don't use that too often and when I do, it's to line up a dim with another dim
----Like I said, I use this when first placing dims to align them. Sometimes, if you go really slow with your picks, and the zoom is just right, and with a bit of luck, it lines up properly. When it fails, you have to realign as you mentioned you do, which always works.


2) Autodesk is aware of this as it's been posted about numerous times and Autodesk personnel have replied, commented, etc. If you've got a centerline for the arc or circle in question, as you say, it *is* impossible to get a quadrant dimension. Those that say "works here" I'll bet do NOT have a centerline placed. I always move the centerline out of the way (or toggle off extensions), place the dim, then put the centerline back how it was.
----- I hope they listen.



3) I've been told R11 has this (finally).
---Good.

8) Based on the options for this in iProperty Collector, (Are you familiar with this little app, by the way ?? It takes care of the mass problem too.) you can use the scaling of different views to place in the title block. I don't know about most people, but all of my 'main' views are ALWAYS the same scale. I might make an ISO view slightly smaller (because of space issues) and obviously detail views are larger. Autodesk just plays it really, really safe by not assuming the first view's scale is what you want for the drawing border.
---- Yes to be honest, I use it for mass, but I did not know it did scale as well. Surely A/D must see how much something is needed when their own customers have to make it themselves.



10) Those snap lines are relative to the object you're dimensioning, not other dimensions. I think Autocad Mechanical works the same way, in fact, I'm positive it does. An enhancement might be to use the yellow dot to select another dimension and use it to create the new snap distance.
---- I see. Relative is the keywaord I guess, I think it should be relative to one object only, otherwise your dims will never line up.


Half baked.... Inventor they great workaround to a reall 3d modeler. (Just kidding I like it)

[Anonymous]

See interlaced comments

1- Semi-Auto dim placement/alignment (yellow dot) is sketchy at best. Works sometimes, does not work many many times. This is for
initial placement. (During realigning it seems to work always)

DA- I find it best to tickle the dim I'm aligning to, then the yellow dot appears

2-Quad finding is very hard to impossible sometimes, many times its fine. This makes it hard to establish this as a valid
complaint because when you post to point this problem out, you get all the guys trying it and coming back and saying..'works here'.
Well for many of us many times it does not work. Major pita.

DA- I agree the cursor icon isn't very clear

3- Mass still not available in idw. Have to use a customers workaround (iProperties) Just do a search for 'mass idw' in the news
group and you will see how much this is wanted. I can not believe this is not done. I just can't.

DA- Isn't Material missing as well as some other useful iProperties ?

4- Have reference parts get hidden in idw where appropriate. For instance a vehicle that rides of rails. In plan view I would like
to see the rails where they are visible, but hide them where they are not. Right now the rail appears in its entirety. Why would we
want ref parts always visible when behind an other object? Not very often I don't think.

DA- You would have to create different Design Views for each view in the drawing - please explain if I've misunderstood.

5- In an idw 'find in browser' is not available on content center parts (bolts).

DA- I'm not sure why you'd need this. If you want to hide all CC parts you'd do this from an assembly and create a DV - please
explain if I've misunderstood.

7- Just about everywhere, when prompted for a value, we can enter in any valid algebraic expression...even something like 6in + 2mm,
this is very nice. Why in the scale box for drawing views do we have to enter decimals? (also, break the view alignment if the scale
from base is turned off, you do not want your view aligned if it is a different scale!!)

DA- This should be a Style with Ratio as the default and decimal if there isn't a simple ratio.

8- Anyone else wish they could have say, the base view
populate a scale property, so we can put our scale in the title
block where 95% of us put it!!!! How did this one get over
looked? (My jaw is dropped.)

DA- Title and Scale should be a Style. For Flat Patterns the title should default to FLAT PATTERN and be visible.

9- Auto project does not work in assembly sketches.
Cant retrieve dims from assy?????
Still have to delete and reinsert a BOM to see changes made to style.

DA- Still a lot of inconsistencies between part sketching and assembly sketching. I don't use BoMs, but Parts Lists were destroyed
in R10, they are currently the worst they ever been.

10- When you place dims in an idw, there are these ref 'snap'
lines that appear as you move your cursor away from the view. These appear to be there so there is a way to space your dims out for
an orderly looking drawing. This is a great idea, but it only works sometimes, other times the 'snap' ref you are given seems out of
spacing. Seems to be determined by what you are dimensioning and how far into the view it is. This would be a really good feature if
it were fixed. This seems to be a common problem with A/D. They only take you half way there. So many half baked, unpolished
features.

DA- I think this is controlled in the Styles. But needs improving as it can be inconsistant.

11- When in a part sketch, get rid of those green lines that appear after you cross certain geometry, like a mid point of a
line, they make it look like if you click, a inferred constraint will
form. Better yet, make a inferred constraint!!

DA- I don't know about green lines, but green dots will create coinicident constraints. These green dots are very good for nailing
down leader arrows, particularly from balloons. The arrow will stick to the green dot.

12- Very minor, but why do we see the shortcut cursor icon
(arrow) when we drag a part from the browser into the graphics area to create a new part. This should be the plus symbol for copy. I
could see using the shortcut icon if we were dragging to create a derived part, but not a new copy.

DA- Inconsistent with Microsoft Windows standard. The same icon appears when you drag a part into an assembly from Windows Explorer.



--
Duncan
"Humour ... is one man shouting gibberish in the face of authority, and proving by fabricated insanity that nothing could be as mad
as what passes for ordinary living."
(Terence 'Spike' Milligan K.B.E., 1918-2002)
www.autodesk.co.uk/inventorjobs

[Anonymous]

Duncan, thanks for your comments.

1- Semi-Auto dim placement/alignment (yellow dot) is sketchy at best. Works sometimes, does not work many many times. This is for
initial placement. (During realigning it seems to work always)

DA- I find it best to tickle the dim I'm aligning to, then the yellow dot appears


DL- I do not have a problem getting the yellow dot to appear. The problem is that it when I click to place the dim, the dims, less than half the time, line up.

2-Quad finding is very hard to impossible sometimes, many times its fine. This makes it hard to establish this as a valid
complaint because when you post to point this problem out, you get all the guys trying it and coming back and saying..'works here'.
Well for many of us many times it does not work. Major pita.

DA- I agree the cursor icon isn't very clear

DL- I have no complaint about what the cursor looks like, its the fact that you can not get it at all in many situations, someone said its when you have a center line crossing the area.

4- Have reference parts get hidden in idw where appropriate. For instance a vehicle that rides of rails. In plan view I would like
to see the rails where they are visible, but hide them where they are not. Right now the rail appears in its entirety. Why would we
want ref parts always visible when behind an other object? Not very often I don't think.

DA- You would have to create different Design Views for each view in the drawing - please explain if I've misunderstood.

DL - Its much simpler than that. Any object that is behind an other should show as hidden, or be removed from view if hidden line removed is on. I want this same behavior even for reference parts.

5- In an idw 'find in browser' is not available on content center parts (bolts).

DA- I'm not sure why you'd need this. If you want to hide all CC parts you'd do this from an assembly and create a DV - please explain if I've misunderstood

DL- Don't forget that the content center is not just nuts and bolts. There are many times you would want to find one particular item that is a content center part. This is a bit subjective, but you can't rule it out because you so not see a need for it. 🙂

10- When you place dims in an idw, there are these ref 'snap'
lines that appear as you move your cursor away from the view.

DA- I think this is controlled in the Styles. But needs improving as it can be inconsistent.

DL- I can not think of why this would be in styles. I did look however and did not see anything.


11- When in a part sketch, get rid of those green lines that appear after you cross certain geometry, like a mid point of a
line, they make it look like if you click, a inferred constraint will
form. Better yet, make a inferred constraint!!

DA- I don't know about green lines, but green dots will create coincident constraints. These green dots are very good for nailing down leader arrows, particularly from balloons. The arrow will stick to the green dot.

DL- The green dots are perhaps one of the most obvious inference tools Duncan. The green lines however appear useless to me. Perhaps someone else has got them to work?

[Anonymous]

10- When you place dims in an idw, there are these ref 'snap'
lines that appear as you move your cursor away from the view.

In the Style Editor open up the Dimensions option and select your chosen dimension style.

In the right hand pane select Display and in the bottom panel adjust setting D=Spacing and E=Part Offset.



--
Duncan
"Humour ... is one man shouting gibberish in the face of authority, and proving by fabricated insanity that nothing could be as mad
as what passes for ordinary living."
(Terence 'Spike' Milligan K.B.E., 1918-2002)
www.autodesk.co.uk/inventorjobs

[Anonymous]

10- When you place dims in an idw, there are these ref 'snap'
lines that appear as you move your cursor away from the view.

In the Style Editor open up the Dimensions option and select your chosen dimension style.

In the right hand pane select Display and in the bottom panel adjust setting D=Spacing and E=Part Offset.


DL- Duncan, these are for setting the spacings only. There is no adjustment for how they are placed. It appears to be base on part reference, not dimensional reference. The problem is not how big or small the increments are, but what they are based from. They way it works now it is impossible to get your views looking good using this feature. It is, like I said half baked.

Thanks though.

[Anonymous]

wrote in message news:5077106@discussion.autodesk.com...
4- Have reference parts get hidden in idw where appropriate. For instance a
vehicle that rides of rails. In plan view I would like to see the rails
where they are visible, but hide them where they are not. Right now the rail
appears in its entirety. Why would we want ref parts always visible when
behind an other object? Not very often I don't think.

Dave,

Edit the view. Under the Options tab, select "Hidden Line Calculation" and
set it to "All Bodies" instead of "Reference Data Separately". Is this
what you're looking for?

I agree that this should be the default, but at least they gave us an
option.

--Nancy

[Anonymous]

Nancy, thank you.

This is exactly what I want. Scratch no 4.

Dave.

[Anonymous]

1- Semi-Auto dim placement/alignment (yellow dot) is sketchy at best. Works sometimes, does not work many many times. This is for initial placement. (During realigning it seems to work always)


I found the problem. Just incase others are having the same problem I'll describe it.

When you have one dimension placed already, and you want to place an other right beside it (chain dimension) you want the two dims perfectly aligned for neatness. If you cursor over the existing dim, you see a yellow dot appear indicating you are about to have your dims aligned if you left click now. The only problem is if you click while the yellow dot is still visible (your cursor is still over the existing dim line) you have a very good chance of your new dim NOT being aligned. What I found is, that if you cursor away from the existing dim (after already cursoring to see the yellow dot appear) you will see a green inference line appear. Now you can left click and the two dims are aligned every time. (Note: I since have had problems even doing this, its better as I described but not perfect)

When realigning two dims after they have both been placed, you can click with the yellow dot visible and it aligns every time.

Just an other half baked feature, but at least I now can work around it. Message was edited by: Dave_L

[Anonymous]

With respect to item 1 in the list.

I was wrong. Its just plain flakey. It seems to have more to do what level zoom you are at. This I see on more than one machine. Different videocards.

Autodesk this is just plain flakey. Are you reading this?