Auto extents to dims

[mstevens]

This would be a great feature to implement in Alibre.

Ok If I draw a rectangle (first entity in a sketch), and say it is 10 x 11 mm,

If I dim the 10 side to 1000 then the other side should auto dim to 1100 and the figure should not change in the viewport.

Does this make sense. It is a very nice feature in Solidworks.

Thanks

 

[VoltsAndBolts]

This would be a great feature to implement in Alibre.

Ok If I draw a rectangle (first entity in a sketch), and say it is 10 x 11 mm,

If I dim the 10 side to 1000 then the other side should auto dim to 1100 and the figure should not change in the viewport.

Does this make sense. It is a very nice feature in Solidworks.

Thanks

I know what you're saying and agree 100%

 

[DavidJ]

What happens if you don't want the second side to change length ?

I'm not clear - is your description above for the case before any dimensions have been placed, or after initial dimensioning (or maybe both) ?

Let's have as full a description/specification as possible... (so we are all discussing the same functionality).

 

[dwc]

This would be a great feature to implement in Alibre.

Ok If I draw a rectangle (first entity in a sketch), and say it is 10 x 11 mm,

If I dim the 10 side to 1000 then the other side should auto dim to 1100 and the figure should not change in the viewport.

Does this make sense. It is a very nice feature in Solidworks.

Thanks

For my work style this would be a disaster.
I do lots of tweeking of dimensions and if every dimension that I tweeked resulted in some other dimension being changed "automagically" I would never find the light of day.
Too much automatic is not a good thing.
Don

 

[sz0k30]

If every dimension that I tweeked resulted in some other dimension being changed "automagically" I would never find the light of day.
To much automatic is not a good thing.
Don

X2

 

[bigseb]

For my work style this would be a disaster.
I do lots of tweeking of dimensions and if every dimension that I tweeked resulted in some other dimension being changed "automagically" I would never find the light of day.
To much automatic is not a good thing.
Don

Agree

 

[HaroldL]

If I dim the 10 side to 1000 then the other side should auto dim to 1100 and the figure should not change in the viewport.

Does this make sense. It is a very nice feature in Solidworks.

In SolidWorks the adjacent side does not auto dimension, as in place a dimension on the entity. The sketch will auto-scale to keep the entire sketch in view. By auto-scaling the remaining sketch geometry does take on the new size but no dimension is applied leaving it up to the designer to apply whatever dimensions are needed for the design. Here is a video that explains and demonstrates it quite nicely.
I don't recall if this is a user option but it is nice to be able to keep the entire sketch visible after placing the first dimension instead of having to zoom way out/in or pan to find the rest of the sketch in order to constrain/dimension it.

 

[mstevens]

Agree

Ok, Then make it optional. Have a configuration setting to do this auto-scaling and those who find it useful can use it and those who do not can disable it. Perhaps some cannot really appreciate this feature until you use it. This should also be a very simple feature to implement.

 

[mstevens]

X2

For my work style this would be a disaster.
I do lots of tweeking of dimensions and if every dimension that I tweeked resulted in some other dimension being changed "automagically" I would never find the light of day.
To much automatic is not a good thing.
Don

Watch the video Harold posted. It shows the feature. Further, this really is a "scaling" feature for the "first entity dimensioned" in the drawing; it helps keep the scaled of all other entities relative in size. If you draw a rough rectangle say 2 x 8 and you did not realize that you were in mm when you should have been in miles well when you resize the small side 2, the other side will disappear and you have to do all the zooming etc to get the other side right; trust me once you use the feature you would wonder why every CAD would not have it; at least as a configurable option.

 

[VoltsAndBolts]

Auto scaling based on the first dimension you drop in a sketch is a very VERY good thing in my book. I miss it when I switch back and forth between Solidworks and Alibre.

 

[DavidJ]

Thanks for explaining the functionality further - that is much clearer now.