Using Driven Dimension in other calculations etc

[teknoel]

I'm just wondering if there is a way to use Driven Dimension values in other calculations and such... It would be very handy. I use F360 to do the heavy lifting trig and math in sketches, but sometimes it would be good to get the precise value without a manual copying by typing the values... Breaks the concept of parametric. LAST resort is that I must do tons of trig algebra by hand to mimic what F360 is doing in sketches.

- Noel

[jeff_strater]

@teknoel - not today, unfortunately.  See the IdeaStation post here:  ability-to-reference-driven-dimensions

[chrisplyler]

To be accurate, driven dimensions can already be referenced. The problem is that any reference to one immediately evaluates to the hard value.

Any explanation for WHY this Idea, which is three years old and has over 600 votes, hasn't made it in yet? Is there some giant technical hurdle? It sure SEEMS like it ought to be easy. Another table in the database (and another category in the Parameters window) for driven dimensions, right?

As a workaround, one can manually figure out what other dimensions must be driving the driven dimensions in question, and create a User Parameter with an expression referencing those to calculate the driven one, and reference that new User Parameter instead.

It's dumb, because now you're asking the software to calculate the same thing twice, but it will work.

[jeff_strater]

@chrisplyler - yes, there are explanations embedded in that IdeaStation post.  See pages 8 and 10 of the comments, where I try to explain that, although this sounds like it is simple (I won't get into what people saying that does to my blood pressure), it is not.  The short answer is that there has always been something that is a) smaller, and b) benefits more people that ends up taking priority.  It will get done eventually, I am certain of that.  When, I can't say.

Deciding on what to do next is trying to solve a very complex set of equations.  I don't envy Product Management, to be honest.  We all have an "If I Ran the Zoo" (for those of us raised on Dr Seuss) opinion of what projects we would fund and not fund, but I know that my personal pet projects, if I were to fund only those, would probably make me happy as a user, but would not optimize for happiness and productivity across the wide spectrum of design styles in the Fusion community.

[chrisplyler]

@jeff_strater  I definitely appreciate the challenges of project management. I have been a commercial/industrial construction project manager for the last twenty-seven years.

I don't mean to make your blood boil over this item specifically. But I would like to make it boil a bit over a generalization. Something a project manager learns on the very first job is that when you're behind and the customer is complaining, the most effective contributor towards rectifying the problem is usually putting more manpower on the job. Autodesk obviously has thought about the cost/reward ratio of committed resources versus development timeline, and seems content with the current pace. And certainly they do turn out product improvements on a regular and even frequent basis. But they've got to know that we users have a lackluster perception of the current pace, right?

Do they have some particular time frame regarding the completion of some more finished state? I mean, for example, that we all make the excuse for F360 - as compared to Inventor or Solidworks - that it's a lot younger so of course it isn't going to be as complete yet. Is there some future target date that Autodesk expects to reach that level of completeness? Have they estimated the amount of work to be done and divided it up over a ten year window, or a three year window, or what?

And do they divide all the Ideas into, "That would be nice," and, "Hey, this is basic functionality that ought to be done already?" Things like finishing the Joints list, and like this driven dimension deficiency, ought to be placed within the latter category, and as such ought to outweigh a lot of stuff in the first category, regardless of development ease and number of votes.

An analogy in building construction would be, "The concrete foundation is a lot more work, and nobody is ever going to appreciate its architectural beauty, but its got to be done right before we worry about picking window treatments." Know what I mean?