hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
(OP)
I've searched around and couldn't find anything else pertaining to my question. I want to 'erase' some hidden lines in a drawing view but can't because the edge continues around the part and becomes a solid line that I don't want erased. Picture the threads on a beverage bottle. I want to get rid of the line(s) on the back of the thread, but because the sweep that created them winds around the top of the bottle (sometimes multiple times) that line is considered one whole entity.
Is there some way around this? I need to have hidden lines on in the view because there are other lines that I need to show. I've been searching around trying to find some way of 'splitting' the lines so I can erase the ones in back, but haven't had any luck. I've been using View Dependent Edit to Edit Objects.
Any help (or sympathy) appreciated. ; )
Is there some way around this? I need to have hidden lines on in the view because there are other lines that I need to show. I've been searching around trying to find some way of 'splitting' the lines so I can erase the ones in back, but haven't had any luck. I've been using View Dependent Edit to Edit Objects.
Any help (or sympathy) appreciated. ; )
Mike





RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but my problem with that is I can only select one line at a time. I pick Edit Object Segments, then change the line style to be Invisible, and then Apply. I can select one line, and when I try to select another I get a Point Is Not An Object error. I get the same error when trying to select any other line. So I could keep doing that over and over again I guess one line at a time.
I did just find that I can divide the faces in Modeling, and then when I go back into Drafting I can select all of the hidden lines I want to erase all at once.
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
On reading through and spotting ewh's post the point is well taken. In fact should you be having too many entities that you need to view dependently edit in this fashion, then you're probably doing something wrong with the hidden line removal settings. If you think that may be the case by all means ask or even attach an image it may be that something as simple as toggling a switch or change a tolerance here and there could save you a certain amount of extra grunt work.
Best Regards
Hudson
www.jamb.com.au
Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Trying out the various hidden line settings either all of the hidden lines in the view disappear or all of them stay. Remember that there are some hidden lines that I want to keep, so I can't just turn them off for the entire view.
So far dividing the faces seems to be the quickest way to do this. At least as far as I have found so far.
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Suresh
www.technisites.com.au
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Best Regards
Hudson
www.jamb.com.au
Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Best Regards
Hudson
www.jamb.com.au
Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Sometimes they're simple like a dome, in which case I have just used an intersection curve and changed it to dashed lines and then showed that layer in the view, keeping hidden lines off for the whole view. And sometimes the pushup is complicated, like a water bottle where it may have numerous flutes. Those are the cases where I need to have hidden lines on for the view, but also need to erase all the other hidden lines.
In the previous CAD software that I used I could turn on hidden lines for the whole view, then select the lines I wanted to keep as hidden, then turn the rest back off. That was real easy. When I started using NX I had hoped that I could do somewhat the same thing, but I can't. Oh well.
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
What you're asking to do is something that you could I suppose request as an enhancement, because it sounds pretty cool. Before you do that you probably need to understand is that it simply isn't standard drafting practice to support such a method, so your request may be politely declined. In fact I probably wouldn't support it myself.
If I'm right then anyone reading the drawing as you have shown it in your attached image might be entitled to presume that the bottle was solid and not a hollow shell. Even if I'm off in this case then you could possibly imagine other circumstances where the design could be misrepresented for convenience sake in ways that are simply incorrect. From a draftsman's point of view you may be confident that you know what you're doing, but from a drafting supervisor's standpoint I'd prefer to adhere to standards and know that my people were going to stick to representing the design in the most reliable fashion. That's why I'd rather see the detail views or section used, because the intention is clearer.
I don't mean to say that drafting standards should not perhaps adapt to what the technology is capable of supporting, but it is important not to overlook the potential to discard clarity in doing so. Some would disagree and insist that the draftsman be qualified to decide how and when to use the tools. I tend to think that if there is an equal but clearer method then the better judgement was to use that anyway.
Best Regards
Hudson
www.jamb.com.au
Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
The layout of our drawings was established long before I arrived. In the interest of confidentiality we show as little information as possible on our drawings; especially drawings that customers will see. I don't see that changing, although I think we may have to tweak the way we do things once everyone here starts using NX. I'm told there are some things that Ideas will do that NX won't, particularly in Drafting. I'm taking such comments as truth simply because I know next to nothing about Ideas.
It would be great if hidden lines could work the way I described in a future version but I'm not holding my breath. Even though it makes a lot of sense I'm sure it's nowhere on their radar screen as far as enhancements.
Mike
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
I can only advise you to use NX as the system was designed to be used not as some other system happened to accommodate. Otherwise you're just making a rod for your own back. We've given you a couple of options already and explained best practice, so the rest is up to you.
I can only speak for CAD systems that I know and if by offset you mean shell (formerly hollow) or thicken or simply offset surfaces then these geometries are all pretty much equivalent. If you create a design with any concave elements then there is going to be a point beyond which it cannot offset without self intersecting. NX does a good job of producing those offsets which are possible. You can't honestly blame the system when your model includes small elements that it cannot reproduce.
CAD systems are even getting to the point of selectively excluding elements that cannot included in solving how a shape is shelled out. They don't do everything but they do a lot.
Best Regards
Hudson
www.jamb.com.au
Nil Desperandum illegitimi non carborundum
RE: hidden lines (drafting) in NX5
Actually, at the place I previously worked they had Imageware (I think) software. It had come with the laser scanner they had bought quite a while ago back. That program would shell out our models very well. If it found a surface it didn't like, or one that would disappear because of the offset, then it would throw it away and approximate that area based on surrounding surfaces. It almost always worked very well. We used it to shell out models to make prototypes. I've been trying to put a bug in someone's ear about it here but these days no one wants to spend any money.
Mike