teebarr
Mechanical
- Feb 1, 2008
- 88
Up until now I have only been playing with ST in an attempt to learn the new methodology. I liked it but couldn't really see that it was going to be that much quicker, infact some things looked like they would be harder.
This week I have been busy on a project and have started to use ST for real. The first thing I had to do was to take a manufacturers dumb parasolid of a bearing housing and do some mods to make it a different size. Normally I would just redraw it. No longer. ST starts to shine - and save time!
But I already knew it should be good at this sort of thing. The real question is "do I want to use it to model?"
I need to edit some SE (trad) parts. The build sequence of the part meant some frustration in getting it to do what I wanted. I decide to convert it to ST. Now I can apply dimensions to the faces I need to move - frustration fades.
I get brave and decide to convert an SE (trad) assembly. During the conversion it tells me one of the parts is sheetmetal and will not convert, as sheetmetal is not yet supported in ST. I decide to remodel the part in ST to give me an ST assembly (I don't need it to flatten the part).
Modelling the part probably wasn't that much quicker, but there is a greater degree of freedom - I like it.
I am not saying that ST can do everything SE trad can. I am not saying that there aren't shortcomings. I am not even saying it is quicker.
But I like the freedom it affords in the design process and not just creating the geometry. But there are major benefits from being able to decide on-the-fly how the dimensions are applied.
Once you get used to this way of working it is hard to go back!
Even with the current limitations I am glad SE has taken this route. Modelling is just that bit more enjoyable - most of the time.
Tony
This week I have been busy on a project and have started to use ST for real. The first thing I had to do was to take a manufacturers dumb parasolid of a bearing housing and do some mods to make it a different size. Normally I would just redraw it. No longer. ST starts to shine - and save time!
But I already knew it should be good at this sort of thing. The real question is "do I want to use it to model?"
I need to edit some SE (trad) parts. The build sequence of the part meant some frustration in getting it to do what I wanted. I decide to convert it to ST. Now I can apply dimensions to the faces I need to move - frustration fades.
I get brave and decide to convert an SE (trad) assembly. During the conversion it tells me one of the parts is sheetmetal and will not convert, as sheetmetal is not yet supported in ST. I decide to remodel the part in ST to give me an ST assembly (I don't need it to flatten the part).
Modelling the part probably wasn't that much quicker, but there is a greater degree of freedom - I like it.
I am not saying that ST can do everything SE trad can. I am not saying that there aren't shortcomings. I am not even saying it is quicker.
But I like the freedom it affords in the design process and not just creating the geometry. But there are major benefits from being able to decide on-the-fly how the dimensions are applied.
Once you get used to this way of working it is hard to go back!
Even with the current limitations I am glad SE has taken this route. Modelling is just that bit more enjoyable - most of the time.
Tony