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lightbulbjim  
#1 Posted : Saturday, February 29, 2020 9:43:48 PM(UTC)
lightbulbjim

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I'm in the process of evaluating ViaCAD and I quite like it so far for my hobby needs. I'm mainly interested in parametric solid modelling but I like to tinker with a bit of everything.

One thing I've found a bit confusing is the entity tree in the concept explorer. It seems to be a combination of a linear history and a hierarchical tree.

Take the example below, where I created three connected curves and then extruded them into a surface. The top level consists of each operation in the order I performed them, but then the children are a mix of dependencies and reverse dependencies.

UserPostedImage

This gets especially confusing when I model a more complex part, with multiple sketches, dozens of constraints and various solid operations going on. Even when I try and keep each sketch, body etc in separate layers it becomes very unweildy if I try and make changes to early objects and have the changes propagate through the tree.

To be honest, for my needs it would be more useful with just the dependency tree (ie the last item in the example starting with "Sweep_63".

Any tips for making this thing more understandable for newbies like me?
UGMENTALCASE  
#2 Posted : Sunday, March 1, 2020 3:32:17 AM(UTC)
UGMENTALCASE

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Yeah it's a crazy tree. Any new thing is put under the last so don't expect to mod something 3, 4 or more tree layers deep without heart ache.
I've learnt to do final booleans last on the list otherwise it falls apart a lot.
The comedy numbering doesn't help. Dev don't seem to have an answer as to why it's so weird. I've started renaming sketches and sketch axis in the tree. Only because _02983736 means literally nothing to me.

I don't believe there is an answer to be fair. It's a little weird, you sort of get used to it and figure you're own way around things. I layer everything. I have a part, sub layer as Sketch_1. Sketch_1 has two sub layers Construction and Dimensions. I split everything onto these layers and you can at least track down to a few points.

If you do end up 3 or 4 tree layers deep trying to change something. Say its a extrude you want to mod. At top layer you have right click options. 3 or 4 deep in the tree you have to select it then use the inspector to change its sizes etc.
murray  
#3 Posted : Sunday, March 1, 2020 5:41:49 PM(UTC)
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Extruding the three together - and they don't have to be connected if there's no geometric relationship or necessity - simplifies the tree. I use constrained path sweeps over extrusion because their path length/vector is more accessible, obvious and configurable through variables than ferreting through inspector. Unconstrained path sweeps can be configured through the path data, and that can be got at through inspector, or through the data boxes in the header for point coordinates, or you can even use a group as a path, and edit the path using each group entity's context, ie length of line segments, point coordinates for curves. Admittedly, these methods don't give you a nice panel with all your entities neatly structured and the data accessible through them, like the usually recognised CAD big dogs, I for one don't use it with that in mind. Even FreeCAD's more inclined that way.

Edited by user Sunday, March 1, 2020 7:10:40 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

thanks 1 user thanked murray for this useful post.
GARLIC on 3/2/2020(UTC)
lightbulbjim  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, March 3, 2020 11:31:31 PM(UTC)
lightbulbjim

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Thanks for the feedback and thoughts. I've been experimenting by modelling the same object in both ViaCAD and Fusion 360, and, to be honest, the ViaCAD entity tree is starting to drive me a little nuts. Between the timeline and the tree, Fusion makes it really easy to go back and edit something you did at the start of the project. Plus, no need for layers to exist at all as a separate concept since the entity tree categorises everything automatically.

ViaCAD comes so close for me but navigating the history is making me pull my hair out. I'll keep an eye on v12, you never know...
UGMENTALCASE  
#5 Posted : Wednesday, March 4, 2020 5:48:04 AM(UTC)
UGMENTALCASE

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I know and it'll be the same! Ha ha. Tested version 12 and the tree etc is the same. They have added some wrap function, think moved a few other things about. Best fit circle and line is no longer in power pack.

You get used to it. To be honest I work all day in NX and every sketch, linked curve whatever needs to be on a layer so I'm used to doing things that way (customer preference) I use Catia as well and that doesn't need layering at all. Sketches auto hide and all that
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