Observations regarding VW 2009 Machine Design

[BruceT]

I have been a user since the MiniCAD days. Over the last few years I have had less work that required me to perform my own design and drawing but now I am working on a new mechanical design project so I updated to VW 2009. The last version I had was 12.5 and that did not get much use. I was hoping that by now a lot of the usability issues and drawing issues in VW would have been resolved. I was particularly excited that VW switched to the parasolids engine because now I can exchange files with high end CAD systems.

Today was the first day that I really had to do 3D modeling and drawing creation and I ran into a number of what I consider serious problems. I would like to list these problems and get feedback from Nemetschek. If my problem is one of training, please tell me, otherwise consider this a list of bugs and feature enhancements.

1. The 3D hole and 3D tapped hole tools are almost useless. They create a hole in the ground plane which then needs to be moved and oriented in 3 dimensions to position it properly.

2. Extrudes do not work properly when your working plane is parallel to your ground plane. All extrudes are drawn starting in the ground plane even when you are set to work in the working plane.

3. The Create Multiple Views command sounds powerful but it is lacking a number of important capabilities. Because of these missing features the viewports are not useful.

a. If you create a viewport in a different scale from your drawing all of the dimensions tools are scaled also. In other words, if I use a 1/2 scale on my viewport and I have a 10" object the dimension tools report this is a 5" part. This by itself makes viewports totally useless for all objects other than those which can be drawn at 1:1 scale.

b. If you create associative dimensions on objects in the viewport and then change the original object and update the viewports the dimensions do not update. they need to be re-created.

4. Holes cannot be dimensioned for position or size in viewports or on 3D objects in general.

5. Fillet radii cannot be dimensioned on 3D objects.

I am sure I will run into other annoyances, these are only the ones I discovered on my first day of real 3D modeling use.

[Guest Tomu]

Hi Bruce,

1. Here's a trick that may upgrade 3D holes and tapped holes from "almost useless" to "somewhat useful." Insert a 2D hole in the drawing and then switch the view and/or rotate and move the 2D object such that it is located where you want the 3D object to be. Now use the Machine Design command Create 3D Object From 2D and the 3D object will be inserted at the correct orientation. You still may have to move the 3D object in one direction, but you will not need to rotate the 3D object.

2. This sounds like a bug. I agree that if you are in Working Plane Mode, extrudes should start from the working plane even when the working plane is parallel to the ground plane.

3a. This should definitely not be the case. A viewport can be any scale and the dimensions will always be true, not scaled. If you have a case where a dimension which should be 10" is showing 5", please send me the drawing and I will take a look at it.

3b. This is a feature enhancement.

4. To dimension holes for position, do this: Double-click on "Snap to Objects" in the Constraints palette to open the SmartCursor Settings dialog to the Object category and click on "Nearest Point on Edge." This will allow you to snap to the center of holes.

Dimensioning the size of holes is a feature enhancement. The work around, obviously, is to use the center and edge snap points to draw a circle, dimension the circle, and delete the circle. (Hopefully, you don't have too many holes to dimension.)

5. This is also a feature enhancement.

[GWS]

Hi Tom

I am also a Machine Design user and run into similar problems with 3D holes and the like so the tip you give could be a help, many thanks. If you have any more please could you pass them on.

On the feature enhancements, do you have any insider knowledge as to when these might be implemented. They would make my life so much easier and quicker.

Many thanks for your help

Guy

[BruceT]

Tom,

Here is a file which has the the viewport dimensioning problem. All I did was to create a rectangle and extrude it and then use the Machine Design command Create Multiple Views?

Bruce

[BruceT]

Hi Tom,

Glad to see you are still at Vectorworks. I do not know if you remember me but I did some beta testing of some early Machine Design stuff with you probably 10 years ago.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried your suggestion for #1 and but it still is not very convenient. You cannot put in a top view hole which is really the way I would like to work. I would like to set the WP to the surface I am working on and be able to place a hold which goes down into the object. If I create a 2D hole in top view mode and then create 3D from 2D what I get is a side view hole laying in the working plane, not perpendicular to the working plane. For now I have resorted to just placing circles on the surface doing and extrude and a subtract. This does not allow tapped holes or drill point bottoms.

2. Hopefully this bug will be fixed soon.

3a. I sent you a simple file in another post.

4. I tried this and it works. Thanks. Now I which I could put center marks in 3D holes (I guess this is another feature enhancement). To dimension the size I do just as you say, create a 2D hole by snapping to the edge and dimension the 2D hole.

Bruce

[Guest Tomu]

Hi Bruce,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on vacation for a few days. In your file, the dimensions are the dimensions of the viewport boundary, not the part. Dimensions should be applied to the part within the viewport annotation. Double-click the viewport and select Edit Annotations. Now when you apply the dimensions, they will be the actual size.

Tom

[BruceT]

Got it. Thanks Tom.