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Need Mid Plane for all CC Structural Beams

Need Mid Plane for all CC Structural Beams

We are finding when we create structural frames that the need to have a mid plane in the exact middle of the beam or pipe to be very useful.  What we are having to do is bring this piece in as custom and then add this mid plane.

This is even more of an issue when it comes to frame generator.  Smiley Mad

Why is the default configuration of these CC parts with the plane on the end when there is already a flat surface there

and not smack dab in the middle of the structural member?  My suggestion is to move this plane to the middle.

16 Comments
MDS-MQ
Advocate

Great suggestion. I would like to see the origin planes at the center of the structural member. The beam profile should be extruded symmetrically rather then in one direction.

Cadmanto
Mentor

That is the same way we felt as well.

dan_szymanski
Autodesk
Status changed to: Under Review
 
kevinb
Advocate

When the Content Center is used to generate a structural member, the most common reference point I use isn't the ends, but the center.  While I could use the frame generator, I find the workflow for the general assembly environment to be easier to work with as I'm frequently working with outside dimensions instead of inside dimensions.

 

Alternatively, make the origin the center for all three dimensions instead of just two, and make the start/end planes be symmetric around the origin.

 

While a midplane can be manually added, it's something of a workflow disrupter when I have to go in and open the individual file so that I can 1)add a midplane 2) rename the new midplane to Mid plane 3) set visibility to off.  It's not a huge deal, but it's annoyingly tedious.  All that needs to happen is a few quick changes to the Content Center source files and we'll have this done.

Tags (4)
kevinb
Advocate

I re-added this under something else:

 

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-IdeaStation/Midplane-in-Structural-Members/idi-p/4644459

 

If Mods would delete the other idea, that's good.

kevinb
Advocate

Well.  This is a duplicate of another idea.  Already called in on the other post.

Cadmanto
Mentor

As long as they both get implemented doesn't really matter.

Thanks for incorporating it and linking it here.

 

laptop_geek
Advocate
kevinb
Advocate

I suspect that the code is set up in such a way that you cannot extrude symetrically because of the way that the frame generator works, purely on guess work.  The only reason I can think of that you'd use start and end planes (which is what the files contain if you look at one) is that you make it so that you can bind the start/end planes to start/end points on a wireframe in the frame generator.  I suggested the change I did (add a "mid plane" plane) because I think it's a simple "one bit of code added" to the content center files and you wouldn't have to change any other code.  If the frame generator needs to know the end points, that may require more coding work.  But, I'm not a code monkey, I've just done enough to know basic coding logic.

Cadmanto
Mentor

You might be right that it might be written more for FG, but for a programmer, I am hoping this is an easy fix so this can be used through out the entire program instead of just for FG.

kevinb
Advocate

Well, if they added the default midplane feature, the FG wouldn't need anything changed and it would make it easier on the rest of us.

alex.haerens
Collaborator

As a way of good conduct I always extrude my profiles symmetrically from XY, which is the contour plane. However, my experience with IV says that when you change extrusion from one-sided to symmetrical then the internal identification of the faces changes. Meaning that assembly relations to the ends of the profile fail when you change from one type of extrusion to the other. This could make it a bit more difficult to program.

dan_szymanski
Autodesk
Status changed to: Gathering Support
 
r.vanderend
Enthusiast

Like the idea, doing this manually now..

 

Mid plane.png

jingyi.liu
Alumni

Please refer to below screencast. Copy structure frame to a writable library, and replace its CC template, you will have the Mid plane.  

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/cec0ff9f-4cbb-42b6-8e90-316f60418185

 

 

Regards,

Jingyi

basnederveen
Advocate

An option to have the frame generator also generate midplanes would be great. Now we have start and endplanes, but the origin is also at the start.

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