Shadow out line

[hegdedin]

Hi,

How to get the out line of the part . I tried 'shadow outline' but it asks ' invisible hidden line view required' and even if I put that view it never works!

I am on NX 4.0.4.2.

Thanks in Advance,

 

[JohnRBaker]

You are confusing your 'Hidden Line' Views. What it is talking about is the old wireframe hidden line, which you need to go to Preferences - > Visualization... to set that up. The 'hidden-line' you're using now is the dynamic surface-shading-based version. You want to go to the Static-Wireframe mode and turn it one there. Then run the shadow curve function.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

NX 4.0.2.2 Initially did the same thing, and so I will describe what I found.

If I create a part in NX-3 with the view set to what was called "Invisible Hidden Edges" then it works in NX-3. I knew this I just needed a more familiar starting point.

See also

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=199202

you need to read it really carefully because things have changed a little.

If I try the same thing in NX-4 setting the view to "Wireframe with Hidden Edges" then I get the same error message as you did. Note that the setting "Invisible Hidden Edges" doesn't appear to exist any more, post NX-3.

But if I set the view back to static wireframe, then I go into Visualization Preferences, find the Visual Tab, and then under that tab are two more tabs, General and Edge Display. You'll find the settings you need under the Edge Display Tab. To get the right kind of display I turned off Silhouettes and then manually set Hidden Edges to Invisible. I think only the second of these is important, but I work with a spacepilot so I rarely display silhouettes anyway.

This was what I meant by reading John's instructions really closely. It isn't set to do what you would want it to using the icons, out of the box so to speak. Not to mention that once you mess about with the settings the icon actions appear to make less and less sense to me.

Anyway after that of course it worked just fine.

It is also pretty much the same in NX-5 by the way.

As a side note I saved my NX-3 file as set to what worked and then opened it in NX-4. Of course the Shadow Outline curve extraction worked just fine, but then the view was behaving strangely when I tried to use the Icons to change modes of wireframe display.

John,

Is there any way we can get the icon fixed to a setting that allows the curve extraction to work by default, or is there a downside to this that we don't know about?

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[hudson888]

John,

You typed faster and less then I did

 

[JohnRBaker]

Well this is a very obscure function, not to mention very old as well, and as such is pretty low on the priority list for updating or replacement. Besides, there are a couple of other functions that can be used in manys situations as an alternative, such as Silhouette and Isocline Curves (BTW, a zero degree Isocline is virtully the same as a 'Silhouette Curve' and it's also associative).

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

Yes John,

But I mentioned this last time the topic came up in the other post and it turned out that you correctly suggested shadow outline. When it comes down to it if you are looking straight at the edge of a face that is normal to the screen or the Z-axis for argument sake, then the isocline curve some is sometimes troubled to give a decent result, and the silhouette option leaves those edges out altogether.

You're right to say shadow outline is obscure, I would have used either of the others at first glance, had you not earlier mentioned it. On the other hand why did the hidden line wireframe view, as set by the icon at least, get changed between NX-3 and NX-4, as it seems for all intents and purposes to have taken a backward step, and given that the former case is still possible surely it could be easily rectified?

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[JohnRBaker]

As long as the Shadow Curve remains obscure, expect nothing to be done to make the old static wireframe hidden-line option easier to use.

And yes, we did make a change with NX 4 and that was to make Dynamic Hidden Line Removal the Default, with no reference to any other approach, period! And it was done in response to primarily competitive pressures.

The irony is that we had developed a working capability to display true dynamic hidden-lines of solid and surface models YEARS ago (long before any of our competitors), but ended up doing a very poor job of identifying where it was located and how it was to be activated, while leaving the old non-dynamic HLR in place and easy to use. But a couple of years ago, after we almost lost a deal based on this "lack of having dynamic hidden-line removal" (we did such a good job of hiding it that even our demo and sales people were unaware of it) we were 'ordered' to fix this situation. When this filtered back to development, particularly when it became known that we really did already have this capablity and had for several years, the decision was made that never again would we risk losing a deal just because we felt that if users wanted to use dynamic HLR that they would be able to find it on their own. To solve that problem, we sort of reversed the situation, making the dynamic HLR the default and the old wireframe-based stuff hard to find so as to make sure that it was used as little as possible. In fact, if it weren't for the Shadow Curve function and a couple of other considerations, I would have voted to remove it altogether.

Anyway, now that we're this far down this road, there will be no turning back so don't even ask ;-)


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

John,

I had a bit of another look trying to figure what you're getting at because when earlier attempting to understand it across the three latest version I have to admit I got a bit befuddled with the settings contradicting the icons and what not. Eventually I understood that the old way was static hidden line removal, whereas the new way is not. Yes I do remember when it was brought in, perhaps I ought to demo NX to some of your customers then.

Probably the best way around the problem would be to write a macro that changes the settings extracts the shadow curves and then puts the settings back to the standard mode. Having said that I reckon that the software could do that internally if it were considered worthwhile to get the shadow outline to work properly.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[JohnRBaker]

Probably the best way around the problem would be to write a macro that changes the settings extracts the shadow curves and then puts the settings back to the standard mode. Having said that I reckon that the software could do that internally if it were considered worthwhile to get the shadow outline to work properly.

Actually, if it ever comes up as a topic of discussion concerning what to do about the current function, I suspect my recommendation would be to implement something along those lines since in all honesty, I think it would be the easiest thing to do and would provide exactly what any user would expect.


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

I tested it under NX-4 using a macro and it worked fine, so I think for the number of times it gets used I just keep that little piece of knowledge in my kit of tips and tricks .

Just thought that dinni might like to know....

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[hegdedin]

Thanks you very much guys,
shadow curve is working for me now.