creating an array of an array
creating an array of an array
(OP)
Fellow NX users. In NX8, is there a new and improved way to perform this function we have done many times in the past as described below? The computer really has to think about this for some time when performing this action and hoping there are alternatives.
We continue to have occasions where we have to create a pattern of a pattern. For example, we have a hole that we need to create a circular pattern of said hole next to each other 15 times over a certain angle. We then need to duplicate this pattern many times around a diameter to create a repeating pattern of these 15 holes. So we end up creating the first circular pattern, then we create another circular pattern selecting the first pattern and the parent hole as the input. It works slowly and not very associative if things change.
Have tried pattern faces which is faster but not much different.
Any other methods anyone has used for cases such as this?
Thanks
We continue to have occasions where we have to create a pattern of a pattern. For example, we have a hole that we need to create a circular pattern of said hole next to each other 15 times over a certain angle. We then need to duplicate this pattern many times around a diameter to create a repeating pattern of these 15 holes. So we end up creating the first circular pattern, then we create another circular pattern selecting the first pattern and the parent hole as the input. It works slowly and not very associative if things change.
Have tried pattern faces which is faster but not much different.
Any other methods anyone has used for cases such as this?
Thanks





RE: creating an array of an array
That being said, could you provide at least an image of what it is that you're trying to model since this might help us understand what you're doing and if there might be an alternative workflow?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: creating an array of an array
RE: creating an array of an array
RE: creating an array of an array
First I measured the update time of your model in NX 8.0.3.4 and then again in NX 8.5.1.3 and as I mentioned earlier, with NX 8.5 we've improved the performance of the Pattern Feature particularly when using the 'Variational' method which in this situation it was necessary. In the case of your example, the time to playback the entire model was decreased by about 30%, on my laptop going from approximately 10 seconds using NX 8.0 down to 7 seconds using NX 8.5.
However, looking at your model I decided to remodel it from scratch taking a different approach. See the attached model, which I created using a combination of Pattern Feature and Instance Geometry. Not only does this model update much faster, 2 seconds versus 10 seconds, it's also 75% smaller in terms of the size of the Part file on the disk.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: creating an array of an array
however, updating on your model using the geometry instance takes ~2 sec as you mentioned. Thank you for the feedback. Will will have to investigate rebuilding our models to utilize the geometry instance approach.
RE: creating an array of an array
John can attest to the fact that I was quite a squeaky wheel about certain things in the past, particularly Mirroring and Arraying bodies and I do not believe I've griped about these two since Instance Geometry was added to NX.
That's the nice thing about NX - usually more than one way to accomplish the same task. I'd encourage all users to try different approaches to achieving the same end result with a model.
Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 7.5.4.4 MP8
WinXP Pro x64 SP2
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB