Draft Intellishape Comments and Feedback

[Cary OConnor]

Hi All,

As we move into our next phase of development for IronCAD, we want to get some feedback on new feature items we are currently involved in. One in particular is a new Draft Intellishape feature to help aid in design. We are looking to get user feedback on how you would like to use the Draft Feature and what are the minimum requirements needed to make the tool useful. Below are examples and questions that we would like feedback on. Any additional comments are welcome.

Definition:

Draft Intellishape taper faces using a specified angle based on a reference location (Face/Plane/Edge). Draft Intellishapes will behave similar to Blend Intellishape where they appear in the Scene Browser and are editable at later stages. You can apply draft to solid or surface models.

Questions:

1. What are the minimum types of Draft options needed? For Example: Are the following types a minimum set that will aid in design?
   1. Neutral plane -You can create a feature that tapers selected model faces by a specified angle, using a Neutral Plane to determine the direction of pull.
   2. Parting line -The parting line option lets you draft surfaces around a parting line. The parting line can be non-planar. In a draft using a parting line, you can also include a Step draft.
   3. Step draft -A step draft is a variation of a parting line draft. The step draft creates one face rotated about the plane used as the Direction of Pull. This results in small faces, representing the steps.
   

    

2. Additional UI enhancements can be added to help aid the user in draft commands. Are there any specific or desired UI enhancements that would help aid in the use of the tool? For Example: Highlighting of Faces used in the draft - Preview of Draft Amount - Handles for conceptual push-pull changes in the draft - etc.
3. What type of selection options do you feel are needed when using the Draft? For Example: Do additional tools for selecting loops of faces or loops of lines for parting lines need to be added?
4. When using the Neutral Plane, is it useful to have an associative connection if a face is selected (only if the face selected is on the same part selected for draft)? For Example: If there is associativity, if the face changes orientation, the draft would automatically change due to the neutral plane changing to match the Face orientation?
5. Does the Draft Angles need to be accessible for parametric relations?
6. With the addition of a Draft Feature, is it mandatory that a Draft Analysis tool be added in the same release or can it be added in a later release?
7. With the ability to create parting line drafts, is it a requirement that a Split Face command be added?

Any additional requirements or UI ideas are welcome. These comments are suggestions that we will review and investigate during the development (These are not guaranteed commitments at this point in development). Please post ideas in this thread or email ideas to support@ironcad.com.

Thanks,

Cary

 

 

Draft.gif

[tlehnhaeuser]

Hi Cary,

Some Modl tools right off the bat, more to follow:

 

- Core/Cavity Auto Creation - see http://www.ironcad.com/support/community/index.php?showtopic=1203

 

 

 

 

Tom Lehn...

Magnacad Design Inc.

http://www.magnacad.com

[don_temple]

With respect to the draft tool, parting line draft as shown in the second image would be most desirable but please note that parting lines are often more complex than a few lines or even a few arcs. Any draft tool should be capable of working with 3d spline parting lines all the way around the perimeter of the part. That brings us to the really critical features needed for mold design:

* Automatic parting line creation (Silhouette curve in Rhino)

* Create parting surface from parting line

* Draft analysis / detect undercuts

* Auto cavity & core separation. For lack of automated tools; easy ways to patch holes and Boolean cavities & cores would be a huge improvement. The current procedure to do this in IC can be quite tedious and time consuming.

 

 

Plastic product & injection mold design.

www.PlasticMoldDesigns.com

[mmccall]

This is exactly the sort of stuff I was getting at...

 

 

http://www.ironcad.com/support/community/index.php?showtopic=678

 

 

I say we need it.

 

 

[Guest tcooksey]

1) I agree with Don. Number 2, Parting Line draft is the most critical from my standpoint.

 

2) Perhaps an exaggerated arrow showing direction/#degrees of taper. Push / Pull is probably not necessary as the draft angle is usually not a touchy feely thing, but a fixed amount. However, you might pop up a Triball at the edge of the parting plane and be able to rotate in the direction you want, by the amount you want.

 

3) This is a tough one. Selecting multiple faces would be tedious. Pehaps define the parting plane by the Silhouette of the intersection of the part to parting plane or the silhouette defined by a given pull direction.

 

4) Associativity is always good, but not absolutely necessary. It might be as simple as editing this like the Edit Shelling command when a shell needs to be fixed or changed ( this was a real nice addition ).

 

5) Again, this would be good, but not absolutely necessary. It is typically not a variable that relates to formulas. As long as you have the ability to change the value ( like you can with shelling ), this would be sufficient.

 

6) Draft analysis is not necessary, but would be cool. I would like to be able to see where undercuts occur.

 

7) I think you could utilize the existing split part command. There may need to be some associativity if this is the case. For example, both parts are linked to the parting plane and all of the shapes in the browser above the plane would need to linked between parts.

Proper updating could be tricky. For example, what if you have a shape on one part but not on the other, but the rest shares the same parting line.??