Orienting the screen to an angled face. (NX4)

[DARYLCOLLINS]

Hi, I'm relatively new to unigraphics and i've found that i can orient the screen to model face using [F8]. However i have a 15 degree angle chamfer on one end and i would like to orient the screen so it is looking square on the angled face. How could i go about achieving this? Thank you.

 

[DARYLCOLLINS]

I'm not sure how to edit my post, so i would like to add that i'm looking at it at an assembly level, not at a component level. Thank you.

 

[MickyV007]

Place your cursor on the chamfer, wait until the 3 dots appear. Then click LMB, you get the quickpick screen, choose Face of the chamfer, and the press F8. It should orientate to the model face.

Best regards,

Michaël.

NX7.5.4.4 + TC Unified 8.3

 

[ewh]

"should" being the operative word.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[JohnRBaker]

It WILL orient your model, just that you don't have a lot of control when using the F8 approach as to what that orientation will be. The face WILL be oriented parallel to the screen OK but the final 'rotation' may not be what you were expecting or hoping for. In that case, after doing the F8 operation, go to...

View -> Operation -> rotate...

...and from the list of 'Fixed Axis' options, select the 'Z-Axis' (3rd icon from the left, the 'Blue' one) and then simply enter a rotation angle or use the slider to change the angle or if there is something that you can use as the UP direction, such as an line or straight edge, face or 2 points, you could use the 'View Up Vector' option.

Alternatively, instead of using the F8 command at all, you could go to...

View -> Orient...

...and just define the orientation of the desired view using the various view orientation options presented to you. Now while it is true the that using this last approach will allow you get whatever final orientation that you wish in a single operation, I think you will find that unless you are really experienced in using all the orientation schemes offered, that in the end it might be easier to just follow the F8 procedure even if you may have to perform a second operation to get the rotational orientation correct. And besides, there's always the chance that the F8 will give your correct orentation in the first place ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[ewh]

I generally use your last method, John... it only involves one or two more mouse clicks and I usually get what I expect.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[bigguy136]

Not to upset some but can NX do something like SolidWorks- click a face and a 'normal to' icon will appear, click it and you are done. If your part/ assembly is 90° off (surface A is horizontal and you want it vertical), you can use your arrow keys to quickly rotate your model 90° per keystroke. Very quick and easy to rotate/ spin your model as needed.

 

[JohnRBaker]

After performing the 'F8' command, try selecting the desired X, Y or Z axis of the RED/GREEN/BLUE 'Oreintation Triad' in the lower leftr corner of your display where you can enter an rotation angle that you wish, or if you select the small 'v' (down arrow) you'll be given a list of predefined common angular inputs.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[bigguy136]

That did the trick. I like that I can enter any degree I want to rotate.
Would NX consider using the arrow keys? Maybe have the user assign how many degrees per arrow keystroke and a different value when holding shift with the arrow keys.

 

[DARYLCOLLINS]

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on holiday, thanks for the help guys, that worked!

 

[kerbosos]

John,

Those are good tips on orienting views.

Thanks for posting.

On a related subject...Is there a link or other information with a Function key matrix that shows what the "F" keys do within NX?

Steve

 

[JohnRBaker]

The best way to do that is to go to...

Tools -> Customize...

...and when the Customize dialog appears, push the 'Keyboard' button at the bottom and when the Customize Keyboard dialog comes up, push the 'Report' button. This will give you a listing showing all of the hot-key and keystroke assignments, including the 'Fx' keys (you can either scroll-down or use the 'Edit -> Find...' to search out each one of them).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.