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Sketcher dims turns to ref dims in WF4

M

m-d-e

New member
Sometimes when I'm in sketcher mode, some or all my dimensions turn into reference dimensions. So far it has only happened a couple of times. That's why I'm not sure exactly when it happens. It could be when I lock dimensions and pull some of the lines or points. It could also be that I overdefine the sketch and delete dimensions from the dialogue box. It could also be something entirely different.
smiley22.gif

This never happened in WF 3 and a colleague of mine has encoutered the same problem so it's not only me. Bug?

Edit:
It happened again! This time when I placed a tangent constraint. I placed the constraint at the top of the sketch.

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/5784/annoyingje6.jpg

Edit 2:
If I delete the part of the circle that's inside the sketch it works. Meaning that the ends of the lines meet with the ends of the remaining arc.

Edited by: m-d-e
 
The same happened to me yesterday with someone else's imported data I was working on...

When I modify dimensions I have the option set to lock them automatically, which made it even more bizarre. I would dimension an element in the sketch, and then when I applied a dimension somewhere else, it all went referential on me....

As best I can ascertain, there where some residual over-dimensioning issues with the imported data. The over-dimensioning was with unlocked/soft dimensions (maybe a lack of coincidental poits etc...). It was annoying, but I just killed all the dimensions and then did the group edit thing (something I do not use nearly enough....)

Sorry I can't offer anymore help than that.
 
This seems like a bug that needs to get reported, have any of you reported it to PTC?
 
This happens to me all the time, most recently about 15 minutes ago. As far as I can ascertain, it first came up in WF 4. It appears to be still be a problem in WF 5. The problem occurs randomly.

I put a call into tech support last February and an SPR was filed. The SPR was cancelled after PTC development came back with an explanation.

Here are the details:

Description Customer reports while constraining the sketch, some of the driving dimensions are geting converted to reference dimension without any warning message.

Resolution Informed the customer that sketcher has been designed from the beginning in the way to convert all strong dimensions that are not required for the solution, to the reference dimensions. As far as printing the warning message is concerned, customer was requested to file an enhancement request by referring the link mentioned below: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/misc/PTC_Enhancement_Proces s.jsp


As you can tell, this bizarre explanation doesn't resolve anything. Dimensions that aren't required get converted to reference and always have been. But this bug causes ALL the dimensions that are required to convert to reference. They also suggested to file and enhancement request to get a message to pop up along the lines of this:

"Warning, all the dimensions that you just meticulously created with great care will now get blown up and your sketch will be FUBARed. Yes/NO?"

Excuse the rant. Someone somwhere has seriously f-ed up Sketcher.
 
Same happens to me. It's definitely a WF4 problem. It's not even operating system specific as we use Solaris here. I always thought it happened when I add a constraint, it pops up with the dialog to remove a conflicting constraint, then when all done I'm left with a bunch of "Ref" dimensions and weak dimensions.
 
It does seem to happen most often when a constraint is added that conflicts with the dimensioning scheme, although I could swear it also occurs sometimes with dimensions conflicting. Hard to tell because it's random. Either way, it's a bug that PTC refuses to acknowledge.
 
I always thought this was something that would be fixed. How can they claim it's a feature. This has caused me a great deal of extra work to go around and delete all reference dimensions and add strong dimensions. What improvement has been added with this new feature?
 
Just when I thought it was save to convert to WF4 you guys find this! I can't believe PTC thinks it's proper behavior. Constraint Manager in sketcher is supposed to be one of the features that separates Pro/E from the unwashed hoards of midrange modelers.
 
I have been having this issue as well. I usually get it
in Sheetmetal while creating a sketch for the flat wall
feature creation.

I will call PTC to make another request to fix it.
 
I know it's not a solution but usually when this happens to me (again only in WF4) I can use the undo command to restore all the dimensions. Then I try to figure out which dimension or constraint to manually remove before placing a new one.

FWIW it only happens to me when I redefine a sketch.
 
I just got off the phone with PTC (call number 6963262).
I made him do a screen sharing session. He saw the model
I had and that all of the strong dimensions were
converted to reference and that Pro/E had created new
weak dims. I also showed him when it happened by undoing
and redoing. Then, I undid till the problem went away
and deleted the constraint that like I had done
originally. This time the problem did not happen. So, in
my mind I was able to show that the problem happened
randomly.

The Support engineer on the phone agreed that it was
random. Then, he found all of your other calls were the
response was that it was intended functionality. He
wanted to end the call right then. But, I forced the
issue. He said that he would let the design team know
about it and would tell them how I showed it was random
and converted all the dimensions and not just the one
that is not needed.

I told him I was going to be a squeaky wheel until I got
a reasonable answer.
 
I recently updated to M070 and I can no longer reproduce the problem in the original post. Maybe they fixed it? Can anyone confirm this?
 
If a PTC rep ever tells you something is "intended functionality", ask to see the documentation that shows that the behavior was intentional. They should be able to produce it. If not, they need to address the issue.

I was told to do this by the head of tech support at the 2007 user conference.

Intended functionality is used as a cop out phrase too often.
 
I have seen that in WF 3.0 as well m180.


I got the same cop out answer, "intended functionality". Next time I will ask to see the documentation on it, Doug.
 
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