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Show "Changed Dimensions" when Opening Drawings

Show "Changed Dimensions" when Opening Drawings

If a model is changed after the creation of it's paired drawing, user should be presented with a "dimensions that have changed" dialog showing every dimension value that has changed since the last opening of the drawing.  This is to warn the user or potentially unnoticed model changes.

13 Comments
DRoam
Mentor

I love the concept of this idea. I think it could be refined/expanded to be even better. A couple of thoughts off the top of my head:

 

  1. Similar to Assemblies, don't update a sheet until we hit the Update button. This way we can first see the un-updated state, and only update when we're ready. It also lets us see a good snapshot of the before and after.
  2. After updating, highlight all annotations that changed so we can easily see them.
  3. In addition to highlighting changed annotations, be able to hover over them and see what their previous value was.
  4. Also add a button to automatically add a Revision tag to each changed annotation. Or, select specific highlighted annotations and just tag those.

This is maybe encroaching on a different topic entirely, but it would be great if at any point in time we could mark a sheet as "Current Revision Released" to indicate that we have released the current revision to whoever it's going to. For example, let's say we're at Revision 0. Inventor then stores the current drawing state as "Revision 0". From this point, any changes that happen will follow a process similar to what I described above: anything that changes relative to the stored previous revision (Revision 0) will be highlighted and considered part of the next revision (Revision 1), and we can easily add a Revision tag to those indicating such. When the time comes to release the drawing again, we again say "Current Revision Released" and Inventor stores the current state as "Revision 1". And now, if anything changes, it will be considered part of "Revision 2". And so on.

 

This is basically the same as what I suggested for tracking what changed due to an update, the only difference is it's comparing the current state to a stored previous Revision state instead of the previous un-updated state.

 

It would be really handy to combine the two. Maybe use some icon or highlight color to indicate changes since the last update, and a different icon or highlight color to indicate changes since the last revision.

 

This would be really handy for monitoring recent design changes, as well as tracking and recording Revisions.

 

DRoam
Mentor

Actually looks like some of this has been requested before: Track what has changed on drawing - Improved design doctor. Consider voting for that one as well to help bring this topic some recognition.

 

vandoren.david
Advocate

DRoam - youre on the right track.  Ive seen this feature before and it has saved my butt plenty of times over.  Upon opening, you'd get a dialog box with a grid list view that resembled this:

 

Dimension d10 was:10.25in; now:10.375in

Hole h20 was:.1/4-20 x 1.00in; now: 3/8-16 x 2.3in

Item was: #10; now: #15

Dimension d104 removed

 

And if you selected one of the line items, it would highlight it on the sheet.

 

 

From a coding standpoint when opening, it would defer updates, read all dimension values, allow update, read dimension values again, compare and display non matching values.  I have been bitten a few times recently due to this hidden auto updating.  It's getting to the point where I'm about to create a plugin myself to do this, but it would be nice to see as a stock function.

P-D91
Enthusiast

When you delete a feature, it shouldn't automatically delete the dimensions, they should go pink/red.

 

swalton
Mentor

Should this idea be extended to Parts Lists on assembly drawings?  Have Inventor track added/removed components, changed revision levels of sub-components...

asiu
Advocate

Great idea!

 

You can take a look at SolidEdge version 15, they had this working great. This was more than 15 years ago. Not sure if they still have it, but I see no reason not to.

[It is very close to DRoam's suggestion, actually his version is better.]

 

It is about time and it will be appreciated.

vandoren.david
Advocate

@P-D91 - this isnt always the case and this suggestion isnt just for deleted features.  Its also about changed features.  Sometimes thing can change unexpectedly (either by accident, or by another user).  Its extremely important for whom ever is working with the drawing to know that something has changed and is able to determine it as a good change or go back and correct it.

 

@swalton - Yes i agree.  I prefer to have too much information than not enough!

 

@asiu - Yes, thats where I last used it, SE.  It was fantastic and saved me from some serious issues.  Now in SE I did alot more associated designs, so it was paramount to have this feature and in IV its a bit more "design parts one at a time" method, but issues still happen and I could have used this feature plenty of times in my IV work.

P-D91
Enthusiast

@vandoren.david I wasn't implying that it was just for deleted features. But when you delete a feature from a model then the drawing surely will change, no? Sometimes they do however go pink, and often they dont, but i bet you, not many people notice as they have zero feedback when they disappear.

vandoren.david
Advocate

@P-D91 Sorry for the confusion there.  But I totally agree.  This can be achieved by including "disconnected dimensions" in the report.  One could say if you didnt dimension it, then it wasnt important, haha.

steve.west
Advocate

Cracking idea!!

steve.west
Advocate

It would also be helpful to highlight (perhaps in a different colour) dimensions that have been overridden.

JelteDeJong
Mentor

This can be done with an iLogic rule. you can find a blog post about it here.

Kunal_Bhansali
Contributor

Very good idea. It was really very helpful while I was using Solid edge. It helps to find out what is changed in drawing. 

 

Presently we are totally clueless if something happens to drawing. Dimensions are deleted, baloons missing etc etc.... So providing list of such changes whenever drawing is updated, and then providing a selection one by one in that list can be very useful for all users.

Autodesk please look inti this.

 

@vandoren.david  and @DRoam .. thanks both of you. I hope this idea gets maximum votes

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