NX9 Colours - I like the old blue from NX2

[Bugie]

Hi All,

I understand that they colors get changed from time to time to give the product a fresh look but personally I am not a fan of the NX9 scheme. I would like to use the old NX2 blue if I can, I can see that the background can easily be changed but what about everything else? If we just change the background colors then the sketch colors need to be changed as well as they are hard to see on blue. Is there a simple way to change this, maybe a cdf file? or a template part that somebody can share?

Regards
Greg

 

[JohnRBaker]

The Sketcher colors are all set in Customer Defaults and are stored in the part file which means that any existing file will still be the same as when you last file it before you opened it in NX 9.0. And if you're creating new files from scratch they're whatever you've set in Customer Defaults. So it's really up to you. Nothing changes unless you want it to.

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.

 

[Bugie]

John,

OK that makes sense, If I choose to change the colours where do I need to change it, Customer defaults, template parts, anywhere else?

Regards
Greg

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you have existing templates they should retain whatever colors were set when they were created and any changes to Customer Defaults will have no effect whatsoever. However, any NEW part files created using the File -> New -> Blank option will inherit the Customer Default settings, for both the default '.cdf' (Color Definition File) and for any specific object color assignments including sketcher colors. Now if you would like to go back to what was the out-of-the-box settings for some past systems, it is true that over the years we have changed the overall color definition. At least since the advent of NX (and since you specifically mentioned NX 2.0 I assuming that we're NOT talking about going back to UG V17.0 when the we made the first significant color default changes), there has been two big recent changes, one at NX 3.0 and second one at NX 6.0. Now up through NX 5.0 we supplied both the current default '.cdf' file as well as the NX 2.0 version of that file for anyone who wanted to revert back to the previous 'standard' colors. Starting with NX 6.0 we stopped supplying the NX 2.0 '.cdf' file and started to supply the NX 5.0 version of the '.cdf' file instead, as well of course the new 'standard' '.cdf' file. And up through NX 9.0 we've continued to supply the NX 5.0 '.cdf' file (you can find the file, titled 'ugcolor_nx5.cdf' in the UGII folder).

Now if you really want to go back to what colors there were being used with NX 2.0, if you've got NX 5.0 or earlier version of NX installed you can go to the UGII folder and simply copy over the 'ugcolor_nx2.cdf' file and place it in your NX 9.0 UGII folder. Now if you don't have any older versions of NX still available to you, I've attached a copy of the NX 2.0 '.cdf' file as well as a copy of the '.dpv' file (Customer Defaults) which covers just the Customer Default color settings. So if you really want to revert back to what the colors were set in NX 2.0, extract the files from the attached '.zip' file, place them in the UGII folder and then open a session of NX 9.0, go to Customer Defaults and select the 'Mange Current Settings' icon in the upper Right corner of the Customer Defaults dialog and then select the icon on the Right side of the dialog labeled 'Import Defaults' and select the file 'ugcolor_nx2_defaults.dpv' file and hit OK. Now the Customer Defaults color 'settings' have reverted back to NX 2.0 settings. Just restart NX and they will now be in effect for any NEW part files being created from scratch.

Now if you do have an existing file, either a template or a legacy part file which when you are using, this will not effect them. You will need to make changes to those files manually to get them to comply with your now NEW (actually the old NX 2.0) color standards. The best way to do that would be create a new part file from scratch (using File -> New -> Blank) and when the file is open go to your Resource Bar and if there is a user defined tab/palette, select it, place your cursor over some 'white space', press MB3, select 'New Entry -> Visualization Template' and enter or accept the default name and hit OK. Now open any of your legacy files that you wish to update, got back to the Resource Bar tab, select this item they you just created and drag it over the NX display window of your part and let go. This will update all of the display settings, including color assignments, to the new Customer Default settings. Now just save your part file and you good to go. Now if you do NOT have a user defailt Resource Bar tab/palette, you can create one by going to...

File -> All Preferences -> Palettes...

...and create a new one.

Anyway, I hope this helps you get what you're looking for.

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.

 

[Bugie]

John,

Thank you very much for the files and your detailed solution. That is exactly what I needed to know. My eyes will be loving the old new colours.


Regards
Greg