Sketches hidden in bodies
Sketches hidden in bodies
(OP)
thread561-244099: Sketch Visibility
This thread describes that sketches are invisible when created inside a body and that the only way to make them visible is to make the body transparent. This was NX6. In NX8 the problem persists. Is there a single good reason for hiding sketches inside a body? It is extremely irritating that when creating a sketch it disappears, leaving me in the dark as to whether it was created successfully or not and what it looks like. Then when making an extrude based on the sketch I have to click in the part navigator instead of the graphics view which is the more intuitive way.
This thread describes that sketches are invisible when created inside a body and that the only way to make them visible is to make the body transparent. This was NX6. In NX8 the problem persists. Is there a single good reason for hiding sketches inside a body? It is extremely irritating that when creating a sketch it disappears, leaving me in the dark as to whether it was created successfully or not and what it looks like. Then when making an extrude based on the sketch I have to click in the part navigator instead of the graphics view which is the more intuitive way.





RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
there are some settings from customers default controlling this behaviour. customers default -> search for internal...
hope it helps
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
And if you don't want this behavior where the Sketch is made internal automatically you don't have to go to Customer Defaults to change that as it can also be set in Preferences -> Modeling.
And one other thing, this is NOT a "problem" which persists in NX 8.0 or any other release. We explicitly changed this behavior several years ago at the specific request of a large number of users, particularly those who were transitioning from I-deas as well as some other Sketch-based modelers where this was already the default behavior. At first we made it only an option that you had to turn on, but we soon discovered that most people who tried it liked it, so it's now the default behavior, but you can still change it as has already been mentioned. So, it's NOT a problem, but if you don't like, simply turn it off. But I would stick with it a while since this cleans up your part navigator and in the end, when you actually NEED to see the Sketch it will be there for you to access it without any extra steps on you part. After a while, you'll wonder how you put up the old way (I had to go though that transition myself).
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
If you're talking about seeing the the complete highlighted sketch when in a fully-shaded view, there's on icon on the selection bar labeled 'Highlight Hidden Edges'. Toggle this icon ON and then selected curves/edges of objects will be visible even through a shaded model.
Now if you're looking for something where you can see the sketche curves even if they're NOT selected, try toggling ON the 'See-Thru' mode (it's an icon on the 'View' toolbar). There are 3 styles of 'See-Thru' and for this situation, you best bet will be the 'See-Thru Shell' mode.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
While this is not quite what you asked for, it just might work for you. When in the 'See-Thru' mode, activate the 'View Pop-Up' menu (press MB3 over some 'white space' on the screen) and select...
Rendering Style -> Wireframe with Hidden Edges
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
Actually, it seems the philosophy of NX is that anything inside a body should be hidden as if it was a real object. So the way to make sketches inside the body visible is to make the body transparent, which can be done by applying transparency to the object or toggling see-thru mode. However, this creates an unrealistic shaded body. What NX should do is add a mode where the body continues to have the exact same appearance as a shaded model, but makes the sketches inside the body "overlayed" on the shaded model.
In the attached image from Solidworks the sketch circle resides completely inside the body, but is still perfectly visible, allowing the user to click it to create an extrude, cut or leave it for future reference.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
John Lackowski
NX Support
Win 7 64bit NX 7.5.4.4 TC 8.3.1.1
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
Another thing to keep in mind is that sketches are not features. They do not in themselves influence how a part looks. Therefore, different visibility rules should apply. For example, a cut that resides inside a body is invisible and this is how it should be. But there is no reason that a sketch that resides inside a body should also be invisible, because the sketch itself does not affect the appearance of the part. The sketch is there for future operations, therefore it should be visible at all times!
Now, if the part has too many sketches that clutter the view, simply press ctrl+w and toggle off visibility for sketches.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Sketches hidden in bodies
"Another thing to keep in mind is that sketches are not features." - really???? last time I've checked they are
I just prefer keeping my files organized, named sketches on separate layers (categorized), feature groups, etc...A little organization goes a long way and I've never had an issue with not being able to see sketches...would that be nice...could be, but then for people who don't want every sketch visible through a shaded body they would have to hide/show all the time.
John Lackowski
NX Support
Win 7 64bit NX 7.5.4.4 TC 8.3.1.1