NX 11 SKETCHING

Creating and reusing sketches

What is it?

NX sketching is enhanced, so you can more easily place a sketch in a model and attach it to a different plane.

Creating a sketch

Sketch

The Create Sketch dialog box is simplified for usability and consistency. ·         There are now only two Plane methods: o    Use the Inferred method to quickly define the sketch orientation. o    Use the New Plane method to fully control the sketch orientation and origin. ·         You can define the Sketch Orientation using general vector methods. ·         The Sketch Origin options are enhanced so you can specify a point or project the work part origin. ·         The Settings group is removed.

Sketching on a coordinate system

You can now more easily sketch on a datum coordinate system. NX displays the create sketch commands on the shortcut toolbar and menu for the datum coordinate system.

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Reattaching sketches to different planes

The Reattach Sketch dialog box is enhanced with the same options as the Create Sketch command. When you reattach a sketch, the New Plane method is the default Sketch Plane method.

Initially scaling a sketch

What is it?

A common sketch workflow is to initially sketch a shape and then add driving dimensions to control the size. In previous releases, if the first driving dimension caused a large change, the overall shape of the sketch changes. NX now provides an automatic and manual scale method to sketches.

Scaling sketches automatically

When you add the first distance, radius, or diameter driving dimension, NX automatically scales the sketch to that value while maintaining the overall shape and inferred geometric constraints. The sketch is only scaled once. The next dimension you add or modify acts like any driving dimension. Prerequisites: ·         Your sketch must contain only simple geometric constraints, such as those that NX can infer. To find the constraints that NX can infer, open the Inferred Constraints and Dimensions dialog box. ·         The sketch preference Scale on First Driving Dimension must be turned on. ·         Drafting sketches cannot contain 2D components. ·         The sketch cannot contain geometric constraints to external curves, edges, or datums. ·         The sketch cannot contain recipe curves.

Modifying sketch curves

What is it?

NX sketching is enhanced so you can easily and dynamically drag and edit curves to shape a sketch.

Dragging curves

When you drag curves, you can see the actual curve being dragged in real-time. In previous releases, the actual curve remains stationary and you see the preview being dragged instead.

Dragging arcs

NX no longer flips arcs when you drag them.

Editing constrained curves

You can now edit constrained curves. If your edits can potentially remove existing constraints, NX displays an alert message. Double-click constrained curves to edit them. In earlier releases, you could not edit constrained curves. NX will retain the constraints that are still valid after the edit.

Auto dimension enhancements

What is it?

Functionality is added to make auto dimensions more useful.

Hide and show auto dimensions

If you find auto dimensions distracting, you can now hide and show them when you want to. To do this, use the Display Sketch Auto Dimensions option.

Auto dimension placement

When you modify sketch geometry, auto dimensions now move with the geometry. This reduces screen clutter, so you can better understand the sketch dimensions. In earlier releases, the position of these dimensions were static and NX displayed long leader lines.

Adjusting auto dimension values dynamically

You can right-click an auto dimension to edit it using the Edit Parameters dialog box. Also, you can now use a slider bar to dynamically adjust the value of the dimension. NX moves the sketch as you move the slider. Use the slider to do the following: ·         Check the design intent of your sketch. ·         Convert an auto dimension to a driving dimension.

Creating sketch splines

You can now better control spline points when you create or edit splines in a sketch.

·         Through Points  is the default type for creating splines.

·         When you create a Through Points spline, you can infer and preserve associative G1 (Tangent) continuity and associative G2 (Curvature) continuity at any defining point.

·         You can apply a Non-uniform Scale  sketch constraint to By Poles splines.

·         The Defining Point  snap option is added to the Top Border bar, so you can snap to defining points of splines and surfaces.

In commands that allow you to create or select a point, the Spline Defining Point  option is available in the point list. This allows you to select defining points on a spline

Where do I find it?

Application	Modeling
Prerequisite	You must be working in an active sketch.
Command Finder	Studio Spline

Scale Curve

What is it?

Scale Curve has been added to the 2D synchronous commands in Sketch.

Scale Curve

Use the 2D Synchronous Technology Scale Curve command to manually scale selected curves or all curves from a selected scale point. NX automatically adjusts adjacent curves as required. You can scale dynamically by a percentage or a fixed value, or based on a selected dimension. Like other 2D Synchronous Technology commands, this command deletes conflicting constraints or dimensions as required to make the requested change.

A Scale Curve command that performs similar functions on 3D curves, part edges, and points is also available in the Modeling application.

Where do I find it?                       

Command Finder

Scale Curve

Sketch Relations Browser

What is it?

A new browser is added to give you more information. New constraint types are available

Sketch Relations Browser

Use the Sketch Relations Browser command to interrogate sketch objects. In the browser, you can view their associated constraints, dimensions, and external references. Right-click the curve or constraint for edit options. Use this command instead of the Show/Remove Constraints command.

Where do I find it?

Command Finder

Relations Browser

Perpendicular and tangent to string

Constraining to a string of recipe curves

·         Perpendicular to String  ·         Tangent to String

You can create constraints to a string of recipe curves such as projected curves and intersection curves. NX retains these constraints across recipe curve segments.

Where do I find it?

Graphics window

Shortcut Toolbar→ Perpendicular to String Shrotcut Toolbar→ Tangent to String

Sketch features in the Part Navigator

What is it?

The display of sketch features in the Part Navigator and context menus are modified to incorporate usability enhancements to sketches.

Context menus in the Part Navigator 

The context menus for sketches in the Part Navigator are modified to support new sketch command enhancements.

·         Edit Parameters opens the sketch with the Edit Sketch Dimensions dialog box active to let you interactively edit dimensions

·         Make Datums Internal is removed.

Make Datums External is removed for new sketches

Displaying sketch dependencies

Where do I find it? These options are available in the Part Navigator                           Sketch Preferences enhancements What is it? Sketch Preferences performance and settings are enhanced as follows: ·         When a sketch becomes sufficiently large, NX automatically prompts you to switch the following settings to their high performance option: o    Create Inferred Constraints o    Continuous Auto Dimensioning o    Display Object Color o    Display Object Name o    Display Vertices o    Display Degree-of-Freedom Arrows You can also switch the settings manually. ·         Updated tooltips in the Customer Defaults dialog box indicate which settings are switched to the high performance option. ·         A Display Vertices option to display sketch curve vertices is available. Why should I use it? You can improve the sketch performance to more easily work with large sketches. Where do I find it? Command Finder Sketch Preferences Horizontal and vertical alignment Align points You can now directly create horizontal and vertical alignment constraints to points or vertices. Reference curves are no longer needed for alignment. You can also create constraints and dimensions directly to midpoints of lines and arcs. Why should I use it? In previous releases of NX a horizontal or vertical reference line was needed to create these constraints. Now you can directly apply the constraint to points without the reference curve. Where do I find it? Graphics window Shortcut Toolbar→  Horizontal Alignment Shortcut Toolbar→  Vertical Alignment

You can display detailed dependencies for sketch features in the Part Navigator even when the sketch is not active. Turn on the Detailed View option to list the sketch plane, reference direction, origin, and external references, if any, for a sketch feature.