NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
(OP)
I have just started a new job where I will be using NX4 to do all of my solid modeling. I have roughly 5000 hours experience with Solidworks and am very comfortable with that CAD software. I have been doing a few small projects in NX4 and am getting very frustrated at the interface and how unfriendly all of the commands are. Does anyone have any tips or pointers on what I can do to make NX4 a little bit more like what I am used to? Has anyone made the switch from SW to NX4 happily? What are the advantages to the NX4 software? Thanks for your information





RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
I am still on NX 3.0 and probably won't see NX 4 or NX 5 til GM upgrades.
Justin Ackley
Designer
jackley@gmail.com
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
I could run circles around the fastest UG users here with Solidworks. Both have advantages and disadvantages but I feel Solidworks has more advantages than UG....of course that depends on the work you do. NX5 looks a lot more like Solidworks so who knows.
I miss configurations the most. But on the other hand..UGs equations are really good.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
UG NX4.01.0 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1 on WinXP SP2
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
I also have some SW experience and would choose it in an instant over NX if it were my call.
I appreciate the help and support I have received from those on this forum, but frankly, I can't understand why anyone would ever *want* to use NX. It is just no fun.
Ed
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
With an attitude like that, you probably won't get as much help as you could have.
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
On the other hand, NX can bring in models created 30 years ago with no problems. It can also bring in solids from any system and work on them with direct face modeling, even though I never use it. I know of only one other system that can do that, from CoCreate.
I just want a robust, easy to use modeling/drafting/assembly package for small to medium sized designs. SW would fill the bill nicely and probably save my company a fortune in the process. NX is waaaaay overkill for our business.
Ed
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
to Cadkey, Catia V3 to V4, Autocad , Intergraph , Solid Edge ,
Caddie, Microstation , UG v18 to NX4 , and a few not so well known packages.
It always comes back to the operator. They are all extremely competent packages, it's just a matter of applying yourself.
To call UG a mickey mouse package is extremely short sighted.
I find it one of the better modelers out there.
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
We all were very competent with Pro/E without ever taking training. We put out great products with a very lean design team. Our products kicked ass. Everyone could always figure out exactly what they had to do to get the models and drawings out.
Last year we got acquired by a competitor (an I-Deas shop). We are the first group to transition to NX, and we all all fully committed to this product, but we struggle much more than I would have ever imagined possible. We can get the work out, but we struggle.
If you have not used Pro/E or SW in the last few years, you may not be able to imagine how easy they have made this job.
Ed
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
ewh - aahhh, those were the days. :)
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
We were always told that Pro/E was very difficult to master, but everyone here picked it up very quickly. Yes it was (and is) very rigid, but once you learned it's rules it was very straighforward. I actually liked the cascading text menus.
When PTC released Wildfire, which was an obvious move to staunch the defection of the smaller accounts to SW, we didn't spend more than a week acclimating to the new interface. The same old functionality was underneath the new interface.
I think part of the problem, if you will, with NX is that it is extremely capable. With increased functionality comes increased learning curve. You have to make a lot more decisions. It also incorporates every modeling technology known to man. I would assume that this is a lot of code to carry around.
NX5 is supposed to be a big improvement in usability. We'll see. I like my job, and I would like to see UGS be successful (have you ever dealt with PTC? They are devils). So I have every reason to strive to make NX work at this site.
PS: The best CAD interface ever invented was the Techtronix 4014 with the PFK box on the left and the small message monitor above the main vector display. God, could we fly with that setup.
Ed
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
This same thing applies to sketcher as well...just seems faster to select stuff and add sketch relations in swx.
I hate layers.....Solidworks doesn't need them.....but in UG you have to use them. Doesn't help that we have no layer standards here.....and the long time experienced users here always vote "no" to setting up a layer standard. They say they don't want to be told how to model...there's no benefit. I disagree but I don't get as much respect since I've only been on UG a little less than 3 years (Even though I have years of Autocad, Catia, and Solidworks experience and have setup standards for each one). Done ranting.....for now.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
UG NX4.01.0 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1 on WinXP SP2
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
And you're right about standards - an organization really has to have them. It has a big payback for such a small investment.
FWIW, we do not use layers in NX. Reference sets pretty much handle all the things you would have used layers for in the past. Your mileage may vary.
Having said all that, any CAD vendor who does not watch SW very closely to see the innovations that they bring every year does so at their own peril. For the money it is an amazing tool. We put one guy, with no training, on SW and in hours he was creating production quality models and drawings. It really is that easy. The online help is fabulous, and the software prompts you every step of the way. It's like dying and going to CAD heaven.
Ed
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
RE: NEW TO NX 4 FROM SOLIDWORKS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
You can "blank" stuff much like hiding in Solidworks which works ok in the part mode...but I seem to have trouble when creating drawings when I need to show a sketch in a view or don't want to see everything. Or an assy when I need to use planes for mating. Solidworks is as simple as expanding the part or drawing view in the tree, find the sketch or plane in question, right click and show.
As for layer standards, I just want to get everyone to put solids on a certain range of layers and origin planes on another. Its frustrating when there are solid on many different layers, like some on "1" or "10" or "237". Makes assembly work not fun.
Jason
UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
UG NX4.01.0 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1 on WinXP SP2