Is 3D any good ???. I’m losing the faith

[Pommares]

Curiouser and curiouser;


This house was done entirely in Word.


One day I was in a hurry and modelling tools were really klunky back then, and I had to design a house for a friend. So I thought I'd see how far I could push the drawing tool in Word. The wordprocessor everybody has on his desktop. This is part of what came out. For the complete project, open the zip file.


2005-04-03_230948_Casa_ines.zip


Talk about compact files. That's a full set of plans in 100k.


The rendering comes complete with projected shadows and Bezier curves for the vehicles. You don't have to take my word that this can be done. Go ahead and take those drawings apart yourselves directly from within Word. Just unzip and hack around.





View attachment 800


Guy



Edited by: Pommares

 

[CADSTATION]

I have used AutoCAD from its conception and it is a good 2D package. (we used xrefs and what a disaster that was. If you dont provide the xref components it all falls over.)It is not a good 3D package nor have I seen a3d package from autodesk.It all came unstuck developing a 3d variable sweepedcomponent for a clientwith various surface features. We tried fora week to achieve it before giving up in disgust. We ended up getting 2000i which was a fairly difficult beat to master but we ended up with what the client wanted and more work to follow.


We use WF2 with additional licences of mechanica and assy. It forces you to maintain good models which will reflect in your drawings. You can provide extensive x-sections quickly without double guessing if it is correct. The work flow has increased as a result as machining shops can get step or iges files.


Autocad is only used for wiring diagrams. Inventor is a bloated pig in comparison.

 

[CHIVERS]

Many thanks for all the comments,


Does anybody have a top ten list of streamlining pro-engineer to reduce the whole modeling and drawing process. e.g fancy map keys, config changes, template creations etc.


Also, when creating a new part in 2001 you have the option of 'copy associate drawings' what does this do?.


My hope would be that pro-engineer automatically creates a drawing 'from a template' as you create the part.


Does anybody have any tutorials on creating drawing templates with standard views etc. ?. or post some examples I seem to be getting rather confused.


This is my last chance to prevent me from going back to the dark side.

 

[james.lynch]

Chivers,


I have been trying to do just that for the last while! I haven't managed it yet! but it is possible..


check out this post to see the responses I got..


According to Ankarl, "If using templates you can link your template drw to your template prt and have ProE to create the drw at the same time as the prt or assy. (If working without link to a workspace)"


now unfortunately, I simply don't know enough about Detail to tell you how to do this, maybe you'll have better luck with the info, I must be a little too dumb to follow it

I anybody does in fact know how to link your template drawing to template prt, could you please post it here in baby steps.. please!


James
Edited by: james.lynch

 

[robertib]

To create a template part & associated drawing, ensure that you create the views you want to show in the template part (eg TOP, FRONT, RIGHT). and save the template in your template directory.


While it is still open, create a new drawing, using the template part as the part model.


Put in the views you want to show on the drawing and save in the same directory as the template.

 

[deepakbhat_nie]

Hi,


Friends,one thing I noticed abt autobuildz is it is not yet mature.we can use it for the modeling of some of the features in proe.

 

[james.lynch]

robertib,


so I wanted touse that template part asa start part, and say EVERY TIME, I created a part using that start part, if I click "copy associated drawings" will that automatically create a drawing with the same name and include any information defined by the template?


Also when you create your initial template drawing, I presume you can add a format at the same time, and also specify it to "show" dimensions etc?


Thanks,


James

 

[Heathbn]

You could be the best cad guy in the world if you don't get support from management then forget it. If you cant forget 3Dthen get a new job where you have support.


Best of luck with the job hunt

 

[rcamp]

Just remember chivers:The problem is not 3D. The problem is that your company has used 2D FOR TOO LONG! Now you a trying to single-handedly redo the result of years of dead-ass people post-poning the inevitabledecision to go with anundoubtably better choice: REAL modeling in 3D with easy and accurate 2D representations.

 

[Nsubv]

The best argument I've heard is:


How many packages can go from 3-D to 2-D and how many can go from 2-D to 3-D. Flexibility in your options is always an improvement.

 

[robertib]

robertib,


so I wanted touse that template part asa start part, and say EVERY TIME, I created a part using that start part, if I click "copy associated drawings" will that automatically create a drawing with the same name and include any information defined by the template?


Also when you create your initial template drawing, I presume you can add a format at the same time, and also specify it to "show" dimensions etc?


Thanks,


James

If you click copy associated drawings, it will create a drawing with the same name as the part with all the parameters of the template.


Unfortunately, it may not advisable to put the format on the drawing template unless all of the details are parameters - eg. in the format we use we have the &todays_date system parameter which inserts the date that the format is added to the drawing, and deletes the parameter afterwards. To get the date the drwaing was created, you would need to manually type in the date, or replace the format to get the date.


Other than things like that, there is no reason not to insert the format. I don't know how to get the drawing to auto-show all dimensions without opening it, and manually showing them.

 

[james.lynch]

Thanks for clearing that up


much appriciated,


James

 

[proed]

If you wantto auto-show dimensions like you mention, you can set up drawing templates to show them.


In the template, double-click a template view and tick the "dimensions" line. There are various other options in there - like showing cross-section arrows, hidden line display, etc..


(plus a bit more about start parts here: http://www.cadmin.co.uk/proehelp/admin_st-prt.htm)

 

[james.lynch]

Ed,


I had a start part, set up with the units, parameters etc.that I wanted, then what I wanted to do was to create a drawing template that would would be used when I click "copy associated drawings" so I simply created a new drawing based on the start part and used the existing A3 template and added an ISO drawing view..


is this the correct way of going about it? I haven't played around to much with templates.. when I click to get the properties of the view, I get the drawing view properties (obviously wrong..)


I did switch to the Template under the applications menu and then insert template view where I saw the options you were talkingabout, I then inserted a view as a test and saved the template.. then after creating a drawing using the template, I could see the view template icon or symbol but no part view was inserted.


any idea as to why this is? I had all the views set up in the part... when defining the view in the view template, the "View Orientation" was "General" and the model "Saved View" name was Front


Thanks, and sorry for the bother.. it's Monday morning (well almost) and my head is refusing to work!


James
Edited by: james.lynch

 

[proed]

what you describe sounds OK... maybe someone else can spot what's up?


to get a drawing working w/ "copy assoc.." - just ensure it's in the same folder with the same name as the part, eg:


start_part.prt
start_part.drw

 

[rgs1]

The only benefit I see in using 2D CAD softwares such as AutoCAD is that there are more job openings available. Have you looked in the "help wanted" adds lately? Nearly 80% are for 2D AutoCADpositions. (SolidWorks is a close 2nd, and Pro-E......well look far and wide.....not many available) (Aslo, SolidWorks and Pro-E jobs seem to pay more). I have designed electronic/telecommunications enclosures for the past 15 years using Pro-E and have alsohad many drawings pass by my desk created in 2D softwares. Either the 2D designer/draftperson never took a beginners drawing class or the 2D software is just that bad. Sure, it may take a bit longer to design using 3D software, but the benefits are much greater. Iam fortunate to have neverdesigned using a 2D software and hopefully will never have to. We live in a 3D world, don't we? On the other hand, there are some really good 2D designers out there, and it is unfortunate, due to costs, that a company chooses to purchase 2D software over 3D, but that is life, and we have to live with it. We are all making do with the best we are given. But all-in-all........3D is the way to go.