Why doesn't Move in the timeline remember the amount moved?

[juliangall]

Am I the only one that finds it frustrating that, when you do a Move, the amount moved is not remembered? i.e. If you click Edit Feature on the Move in the Timeline, you're presented with zeroes for XYZ distances and angles, and have to start your move again from the new position.

I quite often need to make an adjustment to a Move I have made. e.g. To adjust the relationship between two bodies. It would be great to be able to enter new values for the values I originally entered.

Also, it would make the Timeline a better representation of the design history if it worked this way. If you move the History Marker, it undoes and redoes the Move, so it obviously has the numbers recorded. Please can they be populated into the dialog when you edit the Move.

Julian

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

Move is complicated.  Are you referring to Component Move, Body Move, or Sketch Move?  Triad Move, or Translate Move?

Some very basic info to start off with:  Component Move is very different from Body Move.  Component Move is not captured in the timeline at all, unless you do a Capture Position.  You mention the timeline, so I assume that you are referring to Body Move.

For Body Move, there are multiple kinds of move available.  The default is Triad move, which allows you to transform or rotate the body in many different steps, all in the same command.  Because the triad rotates when you rotate the body, these transformations must be applied in the same order.  This makes it very difficult to record those movements in a way that can be edited (you would have to end up with kind of a sub-feature list for each movement in that one Move feature, and repositioning the triad makes it even more complex).  So, that is not supported.

However, if all you want to do is translate the body, there is a Translate mode in the Move command:

This mode works, I think, exactly like you are describing.  Because there is no rotation in this mode, we can record the X, Y, and Z translation in a single Move feature in a way that can be edited.  Give it a try and see if you agree.  Similarly, the Rotate option next to it, can capture a rotation in a way that can be edited.  The other two are also editable.

So, for Body Move, it is only the default, Triad Move, which is not editable.

I hope I've understood your question correctly, and that the answer is clear.  Please let me know if this is not the case.

Jeff

[juliangall]

That's very clear and explains what I need to do to get my moves "remembered".

I think I understand, in one way, why a triad move is more complicated. You can rotate, then move, then rotate again etc. This is a complex sequence but surely the end result could be represented as one vector transformation, and therefore a single triad move. Fusion must have effectively done this, as you can roll the history marker backwards and forwards. i.e. Fusion knows what the move was. If the history marker records it, it seems that the developers could make editable what Fusion has recorded.

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain.

Julian

[HughesTooling]

If you use components, joints and joint origins that problem goes away.

Mark

[tedbradley314]

I want to jump on and say that I appreciate the explanation of why it's difficult, but nonetheless request the feature that move remember the values applied. See attached video. I need to reference this angle but it's gone forever. This is a frustrating experience as a user.

If nothing else, I think the default should be the translate mode and then when you switch to Triad mode there should be a popup warning that your values will not be remembered, and you should instead consider a combination of translate and rotate moves. Or the triad should create a series of translate and rotate moves in my timeline so I can access the move values. Thanks

[jeff_strater]

if you use the Rotate tool here, instead of the Free Move, the angle is remembered, and is fully editable

[tedbradley314]

Thanks, Jeff. It's very helpful to learn about this from reading your reply on 7/19/2018. But I think the user experience in the software could be improved. See my comment in the second paragraph of my post above. 

[jeff_strater]

I can see your point of view here.  If you are a person that does intend to edit the Move and adjust values, then certainly defaulting to Translate could be beneficial.  However, that as a default might be annoying to another set of people - those that want the freedom of doing translation and rotation in one go, and don't have the requirement of wanting to edit the feature with values recorded.  A better enhancement, IMO, would be to detect that, if in free move, you have only done translations, turn that into a Translate Move.  Or, if only rotations, convert to a Rotate Move.  That might have a slight chance of making a larger group of people happier.

[tedbradley314]

Regarding the default, what is a greater frustration - discovering and clicking over to the free move feature, or discovering that a key value you thought was stored doesn't exist and having to go back in your timeline and rebuild a significant portion of the model over several hours with the value written on a post-it note and no way to save it for future reference.

I still think it would be ideal if the free move feature dropped multiple rotate and translate events in your timeline each with the value stored and editable; you could auto collapse them into a group so it doesn't take over the timeline if that was a concern. 

Per @juliangall's comment, Fusion can re-create the model so surely the transformation date must be there.