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Negative dimension in sketch to flip dimension

Negative dimension in sketch to flip dimension

As the title says: make it possible to flip the direction of a dimension in a sketch when you make the dimension negative. I used this feature a lot in SolidWorks in the past.

66 Comments
g.vanbommel
Enthusiast

Entering a negative value in a sketch dimension

brad
Advocate

I have looked through the forums for this suggestion so if I missed it, I apologize. I reuse a lot of fairly complex parts and sketches. By that I mean, parts with hundreds of features and solid bodies. For the most part, this workflow works well, however, there are many times that I modify a sketch and the dimension will flip on me. My suggestion is simple, have a right-click option that allows you to flip the direction of the dimension. That way you don't have to lose the dimension and anything associated with it. Also, you don't have to delete the dimension, move the geometry, and apply a new dimension.

jtylerbc
Mentor

This does not negate the potential usefulness of what you are asking for, but there may be a better workaround in the meantime than what you have been doing.

 

Instead of deleting the dimension, make it Driven (Reference).  Move the geometry, then make it a driving dimension again.  This will let you resolve the problem without having to delete the dimension, so it doesn't mess up any parameter equations, exported property settings, etc. that are tied to the errant dimension.  It's not as nice as what you're asking for, but it may ease some of the pain.

brad
Advocate

Thanks for the tip and thanks for voting.

andyDKFUQ
Contributor

A negative dimension in Alibre Design also flips the dimension to the other side of the reference.  One of the few good things about what is otherwise a dumpster fire of unfinished software.  This would be great to see in Inventor too (or a flip button as suggested above, or both).  

Raygn
Contributor

My procedure to achieve what you are looking for...

1. Toggle driven dimension on for the dimension.

2. Drag dimensioned object to negative side.

3. Toggle driven dimension off.

4. Input positive value.

 

Downside to this is you have to reapply value, referenced dimension or equation.

gert-leonvanlier
Collaborator
That is exactly how I do it right now, but I find it a bit of a hassle compared to a negative dimension.
Raygn
Contributor

@gert-leonvanlier 

Or maybe a flip dimension button (placed near the driven dimension button), much like flip normal for planes.

The current dimension values could be retained

This would eliminate having to edit the current dimension field to add the negative sign as in your suggestion.

A faster method again perhaps?.

gert-leonvanlier
Collaborator
@Anonymous
That would also be an idea.
MoshiurRashid
Advisor

Flip dimension button would be good in my openion. I also used it in solidworks.

filippo.toniello
Enthusiast

flip instead of negatice is even better

AlexZW28B
Advocate

Yup agreed with all above - this is a helpful feature to have, especially when concepting and laying out rough sketch ideas.

DRoam
Mentor

Sometimes a model change will cause a sketch to re-solve in such a way that a dimension gets flipped, with the left side geometry moving to the right side, even though the direction could have been maintained. This can be a serious problem if it goes unnoticed. It's also a serious problem when trying to build robust configurators.

 

Because there are some situations where a dimension should be able to flip, I propose a per-dimension option to "force direction" or "prevent flipping". If this option is checked, the dimension's direction would be forcibly maintained during any sketch re-solve. If the direction can't be maintained, the sketch would become sick, alerting the designer of the problem.

DRoam
Mentor

Related idea: Force sketch dimension to maintain direction (prevent flipping). Consider voting if one of the reasons you need to flip dimensions in the first place is because Inventor sometimes goes rogue and flips sketch dimensions during model updates.

DRoam
Mentor

Related idea: Force sketch dimension to maintain direction (prevent flipping). Consider voting if one of the reasons you need to flip dimensions in the first place is because Inventor sometimes goes rogue and flips sketch dimensions during model updates.

DRoam
Mentor

Related idea: Force sketch dimension to maintain direction (prevent flipping). Consider voting if one of the reasons you need to flip dimensions in the first place is because Inventor sometimes goes rogue and flips sketch dimensions during model updates.

FINET_Laurent
Advisor

I agree 100%. I encountered this issue many times when using 3D sketches.. 😣

AlexZW28B
Advocate

Really, this shouldn't be required at all - The sketch should be stable enough to maintain with the changes. Granted there may be odd instances that cause something to go weird, but I agree that there needs to be some improvements in sketch stability and having some way to better control dimensions would be really good. I am not a huge fan of having the negative/positive dimensions. Would be nice if the software would automatically recognize the set dimension direction - and only permit moving IF it is a driven dimension.

DRoam
Mentor

@AlexZW28B great point, I agree. If the sketch solver can be improved such that dimensions never flip unless they HAVE to to satisfy all dimensions/constraints, that would eliminate most of my undesired flipping scenarios. That's really just how it should have been from the start. If that change can be made, then I really hope Autodesk does so.

 

But there's also the case where you want to explicitly say, "This dimension should NEVER flip, even if doing so is the only way to satisfy all dimensions/constraints", and for that I think we need an option.

 

I would be happy with this being done in stages. First fix the solver so dimensions never flip unless they have to. Then provide an option to say a dimension should NEVER flip, period.

brad
Enthusiast

This had sabatoged many of my designs as well.

I've never ben able to figure out the what triggers it.

 

I've made tens of thousands of sketches with no issue, but maybe 15 or 20 times this bug has gotten me.

Often I'll erase the offending dimension and create a new one using a slightly different datum.  Sometimes that helps, sometimes not. 

 

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