Too Tall Toby Leaderboard

[Ex Machina]

Ok after a little mouse searching and pricing things here is what I found out. I am currently using a Logitech M510 mouse and am happy with it. However, like others I kept getting tired of the project to sketch routine I used often in Alibre (daily SW user at work and it has the imprint thing). So, as I was looking for mice after @Ex Machina told me what he was using I discovered the Logitech Options + download which contains Smart Actions. Basically, these are predefined macros that will work with my mouse. The gain is that you can create your own macros. So, I created a macro to do the project to sketch when I hit one of the buttons on my mouse. Yee Haw!!! Got me a quick hit button and didn't even have to get a new mouse. Thanks to @Ex Machina for the idea and the incentive to go looking for a solution.

This is exactly why I started my YT channel! Giving value to people without them having to spend any money!!! Some credit is due to Stu3D as well, for getting me thinking about macros to cut time.

But messages like this is what really makes me feel happy!

Thanks, Gary!

 

[gwbruce]

@Ex Machina you are most welcome. The thanks really go to to you and all of the other guys that take the time and effort to make the youtube videos and for posting the hints and tips here on the forum. Thank you all.

 

[gwbruce]

It's too bad that Alibre doesn't have a way we can write a macro and invoke it with a hot key.

 

[Stu3d]

It's too bad that Alibre doesn't have a way we can write a macro and invoke it with a hot key.

That is exactly what my 2d cad software can do with every command including entering values, extremely powerful & useful.

 

[Ken226]

24-07-10 seem kinda stupid. Its an assembly using two different materials.

It gives the units as mm, but appears to show the dimensions in inches, and askes for the answer in lbs.

I tried it in inches and mm both, and both are silly. A sub one gram amount, or multi hundred lbs for a small table.

What gives?

@HaroldL

According to the leaderboard, you've completed this one. Was it inches, or mm?

 

[Cator]

They are inches and pounds. I don't know if it is intentional or not but the indication of the assembly is also missing...

 

[HaroldL]

It's too bad that Alibre doesn't have a way we can write a macro and invoke it with a hot key.

If you have a Space Mouse you can create macros and assign them to one of the buttons on the radial menus.

 

[HaroldL]

24-07-10 seem kinda stupid. Its an assembly using two different materials.

It gives the units as mm, but appears to show the dimensions in inches, and askes for the answer in lbs.

I tried it in inches and mm both, and both are silly. A sub one gram amount, or multi hundred lbs for a small table.

What gives?

@HaroldL

According to the leaderboard, you've completed this one. Was it inches, or mm?

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. The title block states Unit System: MMGS but the note on the drawing has a tolerance of +/-2 lbs. Anyway, I modeled it in mm since I thought that was what it was. When I got to the final assembly and checked the mass it came in at 80,000 grams so I figured something was way off. When I reviewed the drawing I saw the tolerance note so I opened each part and converted and updated them to inches/lbs, rebuilt the assembly and then it checked out okay.

 

[Ken226]

That one was tough for me. In addition to the units being ambiguous, I did it several times using totally different workflows. Every time I came up with the same mass, which wasn't correct.

I was wondering if maybe they messed up on that drawing, even beyond the units.

 

[HaroldL]

I think the challenge is getting the legs of the table to join the top ring correctly. I found that if I started with the oval ring at the top then add the legs it worked out better. The drawing note states that the legs touch the ellipse at the point of tangency. I used a Midplane extrusion to make sure.

 

[Ex Machina]

If you have a Space Mouse you can create macros and assign them to one of the buttons on the radial menus.

Yeah, most gaming mice do that too and Windows has a utility that does that for Microsoft mice as well. It would just be helpful if you could do that with any hardware.

 

[Cator]

Yeah, most gaming mice do that too and Windows has a utility that does that for Microsoft mice as well. It would just be helpful if you could do that with any hardware.

The customizable macros are nice....it's a shame that Alibre in my experience has "tantrums" with the shortcuts...probably, I imagine, it's linked to the different language-system settings. Slowdowns, stutters, sometimes to make them work you have to close the part and restart! It seems to me that even @HaroldL about it some time ago

 

[Ken226]

I think the challenge is getting the legs of the table to join the top ring correctly. I found that if I started with the oval ring at the top then add the legs it worked out better. The drawing note states that the legs touch the ellipse at the point of tangency. I used a Midplane extrusion to make sure.

That's the same way I did it, about the 3rd and last try, in inches. I did a sweep around an elliptical path to create the top, then midplane extrudes for the legs.

My first attempt, in millimeters, I did the top with an extrude boss, then used angle/distance chamfer for the angled portion of the top. Obviously I was a little light on that one, since the table would have been too small for a dollhouse.

The 2nd try, I went to inches, but somehow when I tried to project geometry from the ellipse, onto a perpendicular plane/sketch, Alibre lost it's marbles. locked up and required a ctrl/alt/delete and reboot the entire laptop. Then halfway through doing it again after the reboot, the battery in my mouse died and I had to go dig through drawers to try and find a replacement. It definitely wasn't my intent, to have 2 and a half practice runs at it.

 

[Ex Machina]

The customizable macros are nice....it's a shame that Alibre in my experience has "tantrums" with the shortcuts...probably, I imagine, it's linked to the different language-system settings. Slowdowns, stutters, sometimes to make them work you have to close the part and restart! It seems to me that even @HaroldL about it some time ago

Actually, the Shortcuts not working only happens when you change them. Sometimes, when you change a hotkey, although it's saved, every hotkey stops working and you need to restart Alibre for them to work again. But I have only encountered when setting new hotkeys.

 

[HaroldL]

Actually, the Shortcuts not working only happens when you change them. Sometimes, when you change a hotkey, although it's saved, every hotkey stops working and you need to restart Alibre for them to work again. But I have only encountered when setting new hotkeys.

I had occasions when short cuts will just not work even though I hadn't made any changes to them or assigned any new ones. Alibre will just ignore the shortcuts until I close and reopen the file I am working on. One thing I haven't tried yet is resetting my user file since it seems to be a random issue and nothing notable points to it being repeatable. I've noticed it mainly when I want to turn off the display of sketches and reference geometry to clear up the model view. When I see that happen I know it's time to close and reopen the file or restart Alibre.

As a side note, when I was working our IT dept had a trace program they would install on workstations that had issues that couldn't be readily fixed. I think this was just a debugger and was usually done with new software installations or new workstations. The trace would record everything that happened on the computer and, after some careful analysis, IT could generally find and fix the issue.

 

[Stu3d]

I had occasions when short cuts will just not work even though I hadn't made any changes to them or assigned any new ones. Alibre will just ignore the shortcuts until I close and reopen the file I am working on. One thing I haven't tried yet is resetting my user file since it seems to be a random issue and nothing notable points to it being repeatable. I've noticed it mainly when I want to turn off the display of sketches and reference geometry to clear up the model view. When I see that happen I know it's time to close and reopen the file or restart Alibre.

As a side note, when I was working our IT dept had a trace program they would install on workstations that had issues that couldn't be readily fixed. I think this was just a debugger and was usually done with new software installations or new workstations. The trace would record everything that happened on the computer and, after some careful analysis, IT could generally find and fix the issue.

I have had the keyboard shortcuts stop working a few times. A trend is forming I think, they stop working after I have made a mistake with a feature, when I have deleted the broken feature in the tree and started again the shortcuts don't work until I close and reopen the part.
I am aware instantly they stop working as I rarely use on-screen toolbars.
On 3 occasions I have had the vertical and horizontal constraint shortcut keys swap although that maybe my error, they are assigned to F2 and F3.

 

[HaroldL]

I just reported an interesting issue I found with the short cuts. When I open a part or assembly the short cuts will work as expected. However, if I change the Rotation Points from Center of Volume to Center of Mass the short cut keys will stop working, I tried this on several parts and assemblies and the results were always the same -- Open the model and shortcuts work, Change rotation points and shortcuts stop working. Hopefully support and/or Development can repeat my results and find a solution in time for the next release. Although I doubt it will happen that fast it would be nice if it did.

If anyone else cares to check on their system to see if they get the same results and post them back here that would be interesting and good to know.