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jnelson14-Alexandrite
14-Alexandrite
April 23, 2011
Question

Measure Tools

  • April 23, 2011
  • 29 replies
  • 10608 views

The TCs are working on providing feedback/information to PTC on Measure Tool in PRO/E.


Please send any feedback to the following questions...


Thank you for your time and feedback


Do you use the existing measure tool?


If yes



  1. What do you like about it?

  2. What could be improved?

  3. What types of measurements are you performing? For what purpose?

  4. How is this information used? Does this information get passed downstream? In what format? (email, parameter in the model, in a table on a drawing, etc)

  5. Would it be useful to display this information in a persistent note, annotation or other type of feature?

If no, why not?



  1. Is it too difficult to use?

  2. Is it not necessary for your job function?

  3. Any additional comments or information on how the tool is used is welcome. The more details we get the better we can design the new User Interface.


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29 replies

M
merrill.rosenow1-Visitor
1-Visitor
April 25, 2011

I use the measure tool very often, and for two main reasons:


1. To measure distances in parts/assemblies so I know how much to modify the related features to get the dimensions just right.
2. To drive flat pattern dimensions for sheetmetal parts. We create our parts in the flat, and need flat pattern dimensions (which dynamically update). The measure feature is the only way I know of how to do this without writing ugly relations.


Off the top of my head, if there was a button (like the right mouse click) that would remove the references for the measurement you just took, it would speed up the process of taking many measurements instead of having to press the button on the window each time. Or even another button that would keep the first measurement, but let you pick a second reference to speed up the process of measuring from one area would also be nice.


Going back to the flat pattern dimensions, we use these in family tables. The reason is, if there is only one instance you can just make a dimension in the drawing instead.


Sometimes when designing, and especially in tight areas where there is little room I make sketches. I reference certain features then make a reference dimension. This allows me to quickly view complex relationships between features to check critical distances. Sadly, due to the simplicity of the measurement command I do not think showing a small note in the model would be easy to implement for these complex relationships.


I personally find this utility useful, especially for design.

T
TedOtto3-Newcomer
3-Newcomer
April 25, 2011
Being able to measure the diameter and the radius of a surface and curve/edge would be nice. As far as I know you can measure the diameter of a surface but not the radius and you can measure the radius of a curve/edge but not the diameter. It'd be nice to do both for each geometry type.

Ted


D
dgschaefer21-Topaz II
21-Topaz II
April 25, 2011
My experience only goes to WF4 at this point.



1. What do you like about it?

That it keeps the source pick and you can repeatedly pick new targets
for many measurements from a single item.

That it recognizes planar and circular items so you can measure to the
center or the edge/normal or not.



2. What could be improved?

Little things:

Let me use the restart button even if I've only picked one item.

Give me the ability to measure to the far side of an arc or circle.

Built in copy-to-clipboard function, or better yet build in multiple
clipboard 'containers' to allow us to temporarily store several lines of
texts or numbers.

Though I like the persistent 'source' function, a way to toggle that off
for repeated new measurements might be nice.

Built in units conversion. We design more and more in metric, but
frequently need to understand the measurements in English units. Having
the option to display the measurements in dual dims would be nice.



Big things:

Revamp all the tools into one. Give me a single measure tool where in 3
clicks (measure tool - item 1 - item 2) Pro/E will display everything it
can about those two items. Angle, min distance, max distance, normal
distance, dist to center, perimeter, area, curvature, radius, diameter,
distance along X, Y and Z axis, etc. Work would have to be done to
display all this info in a way that's useful, but having a robust tool
like this would be quite helpful. Take a look at the SW measure tool.
It's close to this, but not quite there. The biggest thing it misses is
the persistent 'source', but not all possible measurements are displayed
and getting to non-default measurements is painful as well. A
config/settings dialog where I can choose what types of measurements to
display would be nice.



3. What types of measurements are you performing? For what purpose?

General model inquiries to verify the design



4. How is this information used? Does this information get passed
downstream? In what format? (email, parameter in the model, in a table
on a drawing, etc.)

Typically written down or copied and pasted into another dimension or
application.



5. Would it be useful to display this information in a persistent note,
annotation or other type of feature?

Maybe, but not often. Can't this already be done by saving it as an
analysis feature and displaying the results in an annotation?



Hope that helps,



Doug Schaefer
    T
    TrainStopper12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    April 25, 2011
    Although the measure tool was improved, it is still inferior to
    competing CAD software.



    I've been asking since 2005, Please Please Please look at the Solidworks
    measure tool, its that good.

    With a click the Measure icon (only one icon needed) select whatever
    geometry you want, it automatically lists all the measurements that can
    be made that are relevant to your selection(s).

    Make it object-action, select something and have Measure available in
    the right click menu.



    Being able to save a measurement from one window and recall it in
    another would be great - a clipboard thingy that could be copied and
    pasted to/from.



    My uses for measure include verifying alignments, clearances, diameters.



    Regards,

    Walt Weiss






      W
      wattsteam1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      April 25, 2011
      Ditto on praise for the Solidworks measure tool. PTC should definitely look at it for improvement ideas on their measure tool.

      While we're at it, how about finally incorporating easy direct interface of Excel spreadsheets to ProE instead of ancient table tools that ProE uses now. Solidworks for years has been able to drop in Excel spreadsheets easily and they can be edited and modified easily as well. Tables are a real pain in ProE detailing.

      Also, being able to apply draft to a protrusion during feature creation has been possible in Solidworks for years. It saves a lot of time on simple parts modeling for moulded parts. Why can't we do this in ProE?

      Jeff Dayman
        V
        vloos1-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        April 25, 2011
        Also, if it's possible to make the 'Smart' block in the lower right of
        the screen stay on the same selection until I change it would be nice.



        It changes back to 'Smart' all the time whenever you exit the measure
        command.



        One has to select surface or edge or axis, etc. every time you enter
        measure, or query to infinity.



        Vinson A. Loos

        Mechanical Engineering

        DRS Tactical Systems - Melbourne, FL

        (321) 727-3672 Ext. 3409

        -

        www.drs.com
        B
        bj6031-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        April 25, 2011
        It is great PTC is inviting input - thanks.

        1. When saving a measure as a feature, and then displaying the results in the Model Tree: ... one can add a column, and select "Feat Params" for the type, but then one needs to remember the parameter name(s), & manually type them - - would be nice to have a list of available selections instead.

        2. Would be a big improvement to be able to display units of parameters (and for other info types also, like density/etc.) in a Model Tree column.

        3. For measuring Draft (which is an excellent tool by the way), one can save multiple analyses, but apparently can not have each one display with a unique color scheme. (If you modify the color scheme of the second draft analysis, the first draft analysis takes on the same color. The use case is when you have multiple pull directions, and need to distinguish what surfaces of the model are drafted in the various directions - there is not a convenient solution presently.)

        4. There is a tool to measure model wall thickness in the mold analysis menu (if using the hidden config setting: "3d_thickness_check yes"). It looks very promising, and would be of great value, but it has some issues. Any chance this will see improvements, and make it into "unhidden" status?

        5. It was concerning to learn that the accuracy of some measures is controlled by a config setting (clearance_triangulation none/low/medium/high ; this "specifies the quality of surface triangulation used to obtain initial guess points for clearance and interference calculations"). It is unclear how one is to know:
        - when they need to change from the default "none" value (if the value reported is not obviously wrong)?
        - what is the best value to use for the setting?
        - when the result is "not accurate enough" for the conditions their users will encounter?

        Thanks for the opportunity to input. It would be good if PTC could post follow-ups, since there are many changes that do not make it into the "what's new" documents.

        Regards,

        Terry Partridge




        From: "Loos, Vinson (SA-1)" <->
        To: Jeff Dayman <->, "Weiss, Walter" <->, Joel Nelson <->, -
        Date: 04/25/2011 03:55 PM
        Subject: [proecad] - RE: Measure Tools



        Also, if it’s possible to make the ‘Smart’ block in the lower right of the screen stay on the same selection until I change it would be nice.

        It changes back to ‘Smart’ all the time whenever you exit the measure command.

        One has to select surface or edge or axis, etc. every time you enter measure, or query to infinity.

        Vinson A. Loos
        Mechanical Engineering
        DRS Tactical Systems - Melbourne, FL
        (321) 727-3672 Ext. 3409
        -
        www.drs.com
          P
          ptc-19327451-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          April 26, 2011
          Also, please look at the 'order' of entity selection for most things. I
          would expect selection process that selects from high level entities to
          low level entities. Other that proximity to the selection arrow point,
          there doesn't seem to be much order to the selection process now. I
          would expect something like this:

          complete solid, solid faces, complete quilts, quilt faces, complete
          curves, solid edges, quilt edges, curve segments, etc...



          I agree that the Solidworks measure tool is light years ahead of the
          current PTC tool.





          Christopher F. Gosnell



          FPD Company

          124 Hidden Valley Road

          McMurray, PA 15317
          D
          dgschaefer21-Topaz II
          21-Topaz II
          April 26, 2011
          I agree that the selection order in measuring needs help. Why does it
          differ from the general selection order? In general, with the 'smart'
          filter engaged, Pro/E will highlight features first, then when a feature
          is selected entities of that feature will highlight. Could that be
          adapted for the measure tool? Perhaps not as you don't often select
          'features' for measuring, but PTC needs to start thinking about similar
          situations that occur across different parts of the software. As it is,
          the main UI folks set up their own selection scheme and the measure
          folks have theirs. There ought to be some commonality.



          Personally, the frustrating part is that the measure tool feels somewhat
          random in what it selects first, although there is a hierarchy.
          Unfortunately, that hierarchy starts at edges, which in other parts of
          Pro/E are down the priority list for selection.



          I like Chris' high level to low level concept, but I also like the idea
          of toggling through the model as an arrow would pass through the model
          where the cursor is, regardless of what type of entity it is.



          Selection order needs attention, but it must be done with respect to the
          selection process in other parts of Pro/E.



          Doug Schaefer
          P
          ptc-19327451-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          April 26, 2011
          No to gripe too much, I agree that finding the balance between selecting
          the 'proper' features and in the proper area is a balancing act.



          But also griping, I would like to know why, in drawing mode, the
          selection filter is not more selective to 'outline' edges vs. tangent
          edges, and why pro-e will happy let you dimension to edges not visible.





          Christopher F. Gosnell



          FPD Company

          124 Hidden Valley Road

          McMurray, PA 15317
          Show more replies
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