I'm a little reluctant to enumerate issues I've had or seen. I've kind of put ST on the backburner as I can't really be productive with it and have been monitoring the UGS group to revisit the pgm after there's been an update an hopefully cleaned things up. I think I like ST, certainly its promise; however, it's not close to being productive for me at this time. I believe that I've given it more than a fair shot.
Ok, here are a few (from memory). Please don't beat me up point by point. I'm just trying to give others my impression. Yes, I might not be entirely accurate and there might be workarounds, but these are my impressions after using/researching ST for over a week. I would encourage others to add to the list. Maybe a new post would be in order?
- No Divide Part. One could probably workaround with Slice.
- No Inter Part Copy (Part)
- Many operations, esp. forming new solid shapes are not undo-able. There's often no way to get back to the previous condition before your last function. MAJOR time burner.
- Several other functions are not undo-able that need to be. I find my self frequently looking at the undo icon (with a hopeful look) and being pissed that it's greyed out after performing a function that didn't do what I thought it would.
- Dimension anchors (1 side is fixed) aren't sticky.
- Pattern input boxes flash and cycle and severely lags input response. Apparently uses a different user input mechanism than every other function.
- Data input boxes are not consistent. Some don't respond to RMB for Accept. Entered values are not sticky. Round in particular.
- Interface is BIG and needlessly waste screen space. It's poorly designed requiring many more clicks than v20. Autohide is supposed to be the solution but it doesn't automatically re-expand on invocation. See ASM below.
- In Part, HOME tab has most sketching functions but not all. I still need to switch to SKETCHING tab to locate remaining functions (include, move, convert to construction, etc.). Extra clicks.
- In ASM, you can be in a function like Assemble and the active tab doesn't automatically come to the front. This happens even when the pgm is waiting for user to input data in a box within. Again you must CLICK to see it, after you're realized where it's hiding.
- PMI dimension size is proper for only a pre-defined (not by the user) model environment. They don't scale with user zooming. Yes, one can create several new Styles but again, extra work. Click, select size; zoom, click select new size.
- Dimensions are difficult to reposition. It's not clear where to click to move in some cases. Sometimes I've tried 1/2 doz times or more to find the secret spot. Then give up and use the Pathfinder. Pattern label in particular.
- Clicking on items in the model doesn't always highlight the item in the Pathfinder.
- Quickbar doesn't seem save me much time, if any. You still have to move down through the list to find your selection. The functions options are already display (taking up more screen space) on the left side. As all the rest it's not sticky -- doesn't remember your last selection. Why a requestor for something that's simply bi-modal (ie. Add/Subtract)? If you're in Add, a click should switch you to Sub.
- No apparent way to modify (edit) solid constructed by using curved profiles. You can stack, either Add or Cut, another solid to the existing model, however, now you have additional complexity (more items in Pathfinder). The material you just added can not always immediately be detached/deleted. (Probably why Undo is disabled.) The curve nodes show up but there's apparently no way to select them, and therefore modify the shape.
- Misc modeling/display bugs.
Bottom line is it seems to take forever to perform simple tasks. Click, click, click...click. Yes, it's great fun to stack and cut a bunch of cubes and circles, move coplanar faces, etc., but I need sticky dimensions, sticky relationships, editable shapes, Inter Part relationships, Divide Part, UNDO!!, dimensions I can see and manipulate -- these things aren't refined at this time and end up taking much more time than the old methodology. Just my opinion.
Greg