Obround Shape Tool

[jfleming]

Does anyone else find the Obround Shape Tool to be slightly confusing? I feel like it should state "Long Side" and "Short Side" because if you put in an "X" width that is shorter than the "Y" width, it just makes a funky looking shape. A simple renaming of these values would be beneficial, and then you just choose a rotation angle. This one gets me every time and I must go back in and re-enter the values.

 

[lamar]

I would agree, I always end up going back and changing the values.

 

[simonb65]

I agree. I think that any options that specifically refer to X and Y are very confusing because it really depends on the orientation of the plane or face your actually sketching on! It's a bit like trying to use the ...



... constraints after you've rotated the view round 90 degrees with !

 

[HaroldL]

Length and Width would make more sense.

 

[bigseb]

I agree but once you know that x is the long side and y is the short side it shouldn't be a recurring problem.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I agree. I don't recall ever seeing a slot detailed out by it's length first. It's always diameter/width first.
They could get rid of the names entirely and just make it smart enough to see that one value is greater than the other.

 

[simonb65]

They could get rid of the names entirely and just make it smart enough to see that one value is greater than the other.

Just like the hole tool, which graphically places the dimension edit box next to the dimension it's controlling.

 

[JST]

I find those to be such a nuisance that I do not use them at all. I think they are nearly worthless, since they seem to be "outside the normal rules".

 

[HaroldL]

"outside the normal rules".

Please explain.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Please explain.

• You can't explode, delete, or trim figures in sketch shapes patterns.
• Copying sketches with Alibre Script doesn't include text and shapes patterns.
• Manually mirroring sketches in Alibre Design looses the text and shapes patterns and can only keep the original in place.
• They move wrong when doing sketch moves.
• You can't rotate them with the rest of a sketch.
• Their nodes become loose when you edit them.

 

[HaroldL]

'nuf said. I don't use them very much if only rarely because of dimensioning issues. Another example of adding a tool/feature to Alibre but not taking it to it's ultimate capabilities. It seems that instead of fixing the issues there is just another tool/feature added that takes up Developments time and we have to wait for some update to get the fix, if it ever is.

 

[JST]

Yes, what NLG said.

Also what you said....... If there is going to be a tool, like the shapes tool, why bother with it if the use of it is hedged around by so many types of "yeah, well if you use them you cannot do U.V.W.X.Y, or Z anymore".

It's actually a waste of development time, because we cannot actually use it in ways that we would use the very same shape if made separately, So why even have it?

 

[jfleming]

• You can't explode, delete, or trim figures in sketch shapes patterns.
• Copying sketches with Alibre Script doesn't include text and shapes patterns.
• Manually mirroring sketches in Alibre Design looses the text and shapes patterns and can only keep the original in place.
• They move wrong when doing sketch moves.
• You can't rotate them with the rest of a sketch.
• Their nodes become loose when you edit them.

I did not even realize all of this, WOW! Jaw dropper for me. I agree with @JST when he says it's a waste of development time on such things, etc.

 

[DavidJ]

Though not used every day, I for one find the shape tools to be significant time savers for some tasks. I would not want to have to create some of them from scratch for every use.

The shapes tool has been in AD ever since I first used it at v8.1 (and probably before that) - it likely hasn't seen any significant development effort expended on it in years, so don't get too excited about 'wasted development time'.

 

[MilesH]

My memory is that the Feature was introduced as part of a commercial deal involving a Sheet Metal company?

 

[HaroldL]

My memory is that the Feature was introduced as part of a commercial deal involving a Sheet Metal company?

@MilesH , yes, and the company was Amada. I did a forum search on Amada, check out the list of previous posts on the subject.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

If you do use them and find a need to explode them - I did make a script function to make an exploded copy of ALL sketch entities (including Sketch Text, Shapes and Shape arrays).

Function Release: Sketch ConvertToFigures

Background: The current version of Alibre Script (build 343305) looses some sketch entities when doing a copy of a sketch using the built in functions. Specifically Sketch Text, Shapes and Shape arrays. Workaround: My ConvertToFigures function will make an exploded copy of ALL sketch entities...

www.alibre.com