Are there no "configurations" in Alibre?

[moyesboy]

Are there no "configurations" in Alibre?

In other cad systems it is possible to create a family of parts, such as screws with different lengths and head sizes, in one design file.
You have a part family in the one design file.
The design variables such as head diameter, screw length etc are in a table either inside the design file (proE) or in a linked spreadsheet (sldwx).
When you add this part into an assembly you can choose which "configuration" of the part you want to show - and change it later if you want.

Similarly in an assembly file you can have configurations that show different types of assembly.
for example you might have an assembly file for a paper trimmer that includes configurations for similar designs for A4, A3 and A0 paper sizes, calling up different parts (or differnet sizes of the same part using the functionality above).
Also it is possible to show different configurations of the assembly in a drawing - such as simple door open and door closed. There is this dedicated "exploded view" but I want to show the same assembly with the parts moved into different positions as well as an exploded view.
Typically orient and offset constraints can be allocated different values or suppressed in each assembly configuration, and different parts made visible or invisible.

I can find no similar functionality to "configurations" in Alibre. The design layers do not seem to offer the same thing.
The lack of this functionality will mean a lot of extra work for me. I will need to think hard if I can use Alibre for my needs.

Perhaps I missed something?

Moyesboy

 

[fitzbond]

Nope, no configuration and it had been requested and yes it's more then double my work. :cry:

 

[moyesboy]

maybe this could be written as an add on using the API?

autogenerate extra parts based on a parent part using variables driven from a spreadsheet.
The child parts to have new descriptions and part numbers for the auto BOM.

Child assemblies to have mate offsets driven by spreadsheet.

And what I will miss from proDesktop:
Iterate intermediate positions of the parts between their different positions in the assembly configurations to animate the assembly movements. Offer to save an avi file of the animation.

 

[gregmilliken]

Configurations are coming

Thanks for posting on this topic, this type of feedback is extremely valuable.

Configurations are coming. We know the importance of this capability and have a design ready to implement.

I am hopeful we will get this into version 9.0 due out in Q1 of next year. As we get closer to release I will confirm it.

Regards,
Greg Milliken
Alibre, Inc.

 

[swertel]

Yee-hah!

If I can probe, will it be MS Excel based? I hope not!

Not to compare to the competition, but will it be more like SolidWorks' all-in-one-file configurations or will it be like Solid Edge's family-of-parts?

 

[moyesboy]

Sounds good!

 

[fitzbond]

Thank you Greg for listening

 

[rlee]

Configurations / Animations

Configurations are greatly needed. Also, the way Pro/Desktop could make an animation simply by specifying the number of steps between configurations and the time increment is a very powerful feature to have. If I remember correctly, I could also use some relations between parameters to some effect within the animations.

Richard Lee

 

[leeave96]

V9 Q1 next year?????

Good grief, how about Q3 this year!

Bill

 

[swertel]

Actually, version 8.2 is slated for Q3 of this year.

Some things that should be addressed in v8.2.
* Editing parts/subassemblies in context of top assembly don't always update - that's fixed.
* Being able to search for files in the repository
* 5x performance improvement for parts and assemblies
* Support for new drawing views including partial views and auxiliary views projected from sketch lines
* User interface improvements for common tasks including a toolbar for controlling the visibility of reference geometry, markup and sketches
* Share drawings without sharing 3D models
* Folder path for the Windows File System (so if a same-name file is in two different folders, you know which one is in your assembly)

Slated for v9.0
* Configurations
* Hopefully intranet repositories - I heard rumor that Alibre, Inc. had a "hacked" version of the repositories working over the intranet. I say hacked because it wasn't production ready. Hopefully by v9.0 if the rumor is true.

 

[MilesH]

I believe that "Plane Normal to Direction of Curve" will be in V8.2, as well. That's great for me....

Miles

 

[Gaspar]

Thanks for the sneak pick Scott

I can add that we sent one of our big assemblies (500+Mb ADB file). V8.2 is said to have performed significantly better with that babe.

Hey Miles, I like your signature. Specialy the V9 stuff. I seems so easy and yet so useful. I absolutely second that:

:idea: On The Fly Rotation Points and Cursor Centered Zooming :idea:

(I wish I could make the light bulbs flash)

 

[gregmilliken]

Configurations in Alibre Design

All,

I wanted to jump in on this post about configurations. If you note the date of my last post I indicated that configurations were planned for Q1 of "next year," and the date of that post was December of last year. I also noted a subsequent post saying asking, "how about Q3 of this year?"

Indeed, we had configurations on the list for the upcoming release, but we ended up spending more effort than planned on performance improvements we had also prioritized. As a result, we were only going to be able to get a very partial implementation of configurations, so we decided it was best to hold off and do it right. We would have only been able to get in only part configurations rather than full support for parts and assemblies had we held to the original plan.

We renamed the release 8.2 from 9.0 as a result of dropping out configurations. v8.2 will be released this month, rather than in Q3 of this year. One other point, Scott W. mentions above that repository searching will be in 8.2; it won't, so sorry if someone at Alibre miscommunicated that. There will be an enhancement when using the file system to store files to Show Constituents tool to locate parts and assemblies used in assembly and drawings files.

Back to configurations: the v9.0 release is planned for Q4 of this year that will include the full configurations implementation, parts and assemblies. In addition, we have some other very important new capabilities planned, but I don't want to mention hem at this stage. ;-)

We have already done a lot of work on configurations so I am confident we can make it happen. As always, it is a risk to talk about features in a future release, my post last December being an example, but we are committed to delivering configurations and are aligning ourselves to get it done.

I hope this helps clarify things.

Best Regards,
Greg Milliken
CEO
Alibre, Inc.

 

[jemmej]

Thanks for posting (I've heard rumor of one addition to v9.0 that my company is eagerly awaiting as its our main use of AD).

Glad to know AD still reads these forums and is actively involved in improving the software. Kudos to you and your staff.

I have a post in the AD maintenance fee thread that you might be interested in as well.

Sincerely,

Jim

 

[swertel]

FYI:

The list I posted about 8.2 came from the maintenance upgrade price notification and posts in these forums by Alibre personnel. I tried hunting down where I found the searchable repositories info and I can't off hand. My apologies for the error. If I come across it again I'll point out where it was from.

--Scott

 

[swertel]

Found it. Typo on my part. In the "Searchable Repositories" thread in the enhancements forum was a post that searchable repositories should be in v9. I just put the bullet under the wrong heading. Sorry.

https://www.alibre.com/forums/viewtopic ... 9&start=30

I talked to an assistant yesterday, and I was told that the soonest a search function for the repository would be available is V9.0. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[cclark440]

Since I was the one that posted that quote I feel an obligation to clarify something.

I probably should have said "MIGHT be available is V9.0" . The assistant wouldn't say for sure when that feature would be implemented.
Hence I started my own.

 

[moyesboy]

Those looking for configurations should read Kirk's post about using layers in assemblies:
http://www.alibre.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461

I'd like to here the phrase "family parts" used by alibre in connection with configurations. I have worked with prodesktop's configurations which work well but have some annoying limitations.
Specifically:
A part that has several configurations should be able to have different descriptions and part numbers in the BOM (but should default to have the same data for all configs).
An assembly that has different configurations, specifically, different parts callout for each config should be able to generate a BOM with a separate qty column for each config.

These are some things about configs that quite a few CAD systems still have wrong or have only just put right!

As mentioned elsewhere in this forum prodesktop had a really nice feature where you can animate between the assembly configs (it generates the frames inbetween) which is a really easily understood and quick way to make an animation. It will even output to an mpeg file of the animation!

 

[Gaspar]

Hi all,

AD is the only 3d CAD system I've used, so all this talk about configurations is new to me.

I've been following with interest (same as Kirk's suggestion about using layers).

So my question is: When you have a mechanism, say a pneumatic cilinder with a bunch of stuff attached to it, and you need to show the whole thing in your assembly in its 2 end positions (retracted and extended) for design reasons. How do you manage that? So far we have been inserting things twice.

:arrow: Would configurations help?
:arrow: Would you use a second layer for one of the positions? Would this still show on the BOM as two sets?

Thanks in advance for any comment.

 

[swertel]

When talking about assembly configurations, there are two distinct differences. The first is alternate position and the other is families.

For your example of the cylinder, alternate positions is what you need. With flexible assemblies, though, the need for alternate position assemblies is drastically reduced because you would model you cylinder as a subassembly and then make it flexible along it stroke. Mating components to it at a higher level assembly would move with the cylinder as you adjusted its stroke.

The families is where you have an assembly with Part A and replace it with Part B, or C, or more. Each instance of the assembly with a different part is a different configuration. This is where you need the columns in the BOM to match each configuration because Assembly A-1 uses Part A and that needs to be shown in the BOM. Assembly A-3 uses Part B and must be shown in the BOM with B but without A. Assembly A-5 uses Part C, and so on. Since all the other parts in the assembly are reused, they must show quantities in the BOM for each configuration. Have multiple BOMs and therefore the potential for each reused part to have a different balloon callout it TOO confusing for a drawing and must not be done. I'll put an example in the Binaries.