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NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension
2

NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Hello,

I'm having a go with NX9 drafting today, having trouble with finding the manual placement option for dimensions.
i.e. in linear dimension, all dim values are in the centre of the leaderlines, and I can't move them.

Could anyone tell me where the option to switch from automatic placement to manual is?

Thanks in advance, Carl

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Same question for radius to centre dimensions, I can't drag them into position as they seem to be locked on auto-placement.

Any help would be much appreciated!

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

Try this:
Dimension settings -> Line/arrow -> arrowhead -> workflow -> uncheck the "automatic orientation" option.

www.nxjournaling.com

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

Strange, this does not happen in my OOTB NX9 session, have you imported your NX7.5 customer defaults ?

Regards,
Tomas

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

I suspect that you will find that it's best to leave the 'Automatic Orientation' option toggled OFF and simply drag the origin of the dimension as you will note that it will SANP 'centered' if there's room to do so, but you can also drag it off to either 'side' without having to switch modes like you had to do prior to NX 9.0.

With NX 9.0 we're using the 'inferred' modes to a much greater degree and once you learn their behavior we think you will find it to be very productive while making it easier to get exactly what you want without having to be constantly changing settings or modes of operation.

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: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Morning, that's the one Cowski, don't think I'd have found that on my own! The help files refer to manual vs automatic placement and the snap that John mentioned, but don't say where the setting is.

Completely agree with you John, I've just recommended that's switched OFF in the defaults.

So far the only difficulty I've found is creating a radius to centre as in the second picture I posted, which seems to only be possible using radial dimension, with radial selected in the options - inferred won't do it, neither will rapid dimension (with any setting).

But I will have a good practise with drafting today and see how I go.

Thanks, Carl

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
And also, the dim needs to be placed initially between the radius centre and arc, then moved outside the part once it's been placed, in order to keep the leader to centre.

Has anyone found a better way to do this?

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Hello,

So, I've had a go with drafting, am struggling a bit with the "automatic orientation" setting.

In NX7.5 we had 3 options for placing dimensions:
Automatic Placement
Manual Placement (Arrows Out)
Manual Placement (Arrows In)

As I understand it, NX9 can only have "automatic orientation" ON or OFF.
This means in some situations when arrowheads are wrong, you need to turn automatic ON, but then lose the ability to position the dimension manually.

Is there any way to de-couple these two effects, or another setting I'm missing?

I've uploaded a PDF to illustrate.

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

Irrespective of whether you had set the 'Automatic Orientation' ON or OFF, you can change the Arrows IN/OUT status by simply double clicking on a Dimension and selecting the 'handle' on the Arrowhead, as shown below, and you'll get the option to toggle the Arrows IN or OUT status.



Note that this can also be accessed while creating and placing a dimension by simply waiting a bit and then selecting the 'Edit' icon (shown as a 'wrench') which will appear near your cursor.

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: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Thanks John that's perfect, can't see the picture but I had a go from your decription.

Lot's to learn on drafting I think but it's looking good so far.

A couple of further questions:

1. creating a radius to centre dimension from outside the radius - as per previous pics
I still can't find any way in rapid dims to do this, it only works with radial dim, and radial (not inferred) selected
and then the dimension has to be placed between arc and centrepoint, and then dragged outside the arc afterwards
Is there something I'm missing here, or is radius to center no longer really an option?

2. I'm having a bit of trouble with rapid dimension to multiple-hole centrelines, from an edge thats' parallel to the centreline
It seems to default to an angle of zero, rather than a distance dimension. I've tested with a very basic part - screenshot attached.
Again, is there something I'm doing wrong, or does anyone see the same result.

Thanks in advance for your help.

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Hi, did anyone have an answer to the two queries above?

I've run up against something else this morning, can't figure out how to turn off the scale part of a view label in NX9.
All the settings seem to be there except "off", for scale and also view label as whole - 7.5 vs 9 picture attached.

Think I need a lot more practise with drafting!

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

Carl

Don't forget we have Siemens on site next Wednesday for and NX9 show and tell, so we'll get Mark Barrow to answer these questions then. winky smile

Cheers

Si

Best regards

Simon NX 7.5.4.4 MP8 and NX 8.5 (native) - TC 8 www.jcb.com

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Si,

I had in fact forgotten, excellent will see if Mark can re-educate me!

See you next week, Carl

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

Simon and Carl, - You guys don't have email, right ? smile

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

At least in NX 9.0.1.3, the View Scale and View Lable ON/OFF toggles appear to be there, as shown below:

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: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Thanks John, as normal I can't see the picture but I'll make a note to check when we go to the next version, I'm on 9.0.0.19 at the moment.

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Thank you John, apologies that I can't see those - in future I won't mention it and will just look again when I get home!

That is the setting I'm looking for, I found out today that apparently 9.0.1.3 isn't released yet. Not a problem though, at least the option will return.

Thanks again, Carl

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

NX 9.0.1.3 should be available for customer download near the end of January or the first part February, 2014.

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: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

John's pic seems to show the settings for a detail view.
Do you want the scale label for a non-detail view?
If so, look at view settings -> Base/Drawing -> Label -> Scale, show view scale option (when checked, more options will appear to control the appearance).

www.nxjournaling.com

RE: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

I just assumed that you were talking about Detailed views as those are the only ones for which I've ever added a scale notation to. And as for the NX 9.0.0 versus NX 9.0.1 issue, I was only qualifying my comment since I no longer have NX 9.0.0 installed on my laptop.

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: NX9 manual placement (non-centered) dimension

(OP)
Morning,

That's interesting.

John is correct I am only trying to turn off the scale label on an existing detail view, which doesn't seem to be possible (in current version).

However, the general prefereces you've mentioned cowski do include a check box for detail view scale label, so I can switch it off for newly created detail views!

Thank you both for your help.

www.jcb.com
NX 7.5 with TC 8.3

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