Trouble selecting what to extrude in Alibre Atom

[LJLamborn]

Hello all,

I decided to give Alibre atom a go with their sale over this last weekend, and have run into my first issue/question. I'm trying to do a simple extrude cut with two concentric circles upon an existing extruded rectangle. The smaller circle cutting all the way through my design, whilst the outer circle I only want to cut in a little (to fit a screw head).

When I exit the sketch, it won't let me select what I wish to cut. I can do this pretty easily with Solidworks or Onshape. Can I not pick what I would like to extrude from my sketch? I like to do multiple extrusions from one sketch.

Any and all feedback is appreciated. I also am a CAD novice so I could be missing something simple.

- Logan


Photo 1: Can't select my sketch for extrusion. Highlights solid blue as if I'm trying to select the part surface. I've tried hiding the previous rectangular extrusion with no luck.





Photo 2: When I extrude cut, it only gives me this option. I'm used to being able to select what features I can extrude. I just want to extrude cut the inner circle, then separately extrude the outer circle slightly in.

 

[Max]

Welcome!

In Alibre products, entire sketches are consumed at a time. You cannot pick a subsection of a sketch to perform a feature operation. So in this case, you would need to create 2 sketches to perform 2 extrusions.

 

[LJLamborn]

Max,

Thank you for your swift response and the welcome! That's good to know as I'm used to drawing multiple sketches and selecting. Will this ever be a feature in Alibre? Is there an advantage to consuming one sketch at a time? I'm assuming it might be easier on the back end/software side of things.

Anyway, thank you for the response and I'll get back to drawing!

-Logan

 

[Max]

Hey Logan, it's always been like that. The plumbing to change it is non-trivial, which is why we have tended to prioritize other things. It's a good idea, just a lot of work, and it doesn't tend to get prioritized in user feedback as something people care deeply about. Though your mileage may vary on that.

 

[LJLamborn]

Totally understand that, thank you for your thoughtful response. I think this will help me clean up my sketch practices anyway. Already was able to quickly do what I intended.

Thanks Again!

- Logan

 

[JimCad]

I'm an ex Inventor user and was confused by the same thing. Just use reference geometry for the unwanted bits. Once you've done it a couple of times it's quite normal.
Jim

 

[Ex Machina]

Hey Logan, it's always been like that. The plumbing to change it is non-trivial, which is why we have tended to prioritize other things. It's a good idea, just a lot of work, and it doesn't tend to get prioritized in user feedback as something people care deeply about. Though your mileage may vary on that.

I think that everyone would love that feature as it seriously speeds up the workflow when sketching. In my opinion, it's just one of those things that people thought "Could not be done in Alibre"®, as with so many other things. But it's a workflow tool that has proven its usefulness in other CAD software time and time again. A poll would be interesting on this.

 

[Ken226]

I sometimes wonder how much Alibre's simplicity is the reason it is a 600mb dowload and can install in about a minute.

Whereas Inventor back the last time I used it in 2016, was like 6 gigabytes. I seem to remember Inventor requiring a separate installer program, that installed a half dozen subcomponents in a specific order one after another.

 

[JimCad]

I'm VERY happy with my purchase.
Jim

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Idk if Alibre Atom has the project to sketch function but in a somewhat recent version of Alibre Design the function was enhanced to allow selecting a sketch (with maintain association) and projecting it into another sketch.

 

[languer]

I just started using it this last week as well and it is quickly growing on me. After watching a few videos it became very clear that each feature is associated with one sketch. And if one needs multiple features then the mean separate sketches (one per feature). Sort of like building something out of Lego bricks. I am very mechanically challenged; but I am coming to appreciate the simplicity of the workflow.

 

[HaroldL]

Idk if Alibre Atom has the project to sketch function but in a somewhat recent version of Alibre Design the function was enhanced to allow selecting a sketch (with maintain association) and projecting it into another sketch.

I think that it has always been possible to select previous sketches from the DE for projecting into the current sketch. And as long as sketch visibility is turned on you can select individual figures from a sketch in the work area for projection.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I think that it has always been possible to select previous sketches from the DE for projecting into the current sketch. And as long as sketch visibility is turned on you can select individual figures from a sketch in the work area for projection.

I admit maybe much longer ago than I thought, but I don't think it was always.

 

[MilesH]

I admit maybe much longer ago than I thought, but I don't think it was always.

I think it was more than 10 years ago. Alibre 2012?

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I think it was more than 10 years ago. Alibre 2012?

 

[dwc]

I have had several projects recently that ended up using single basis sketch with all sketch figures reference figures.,
I then projected that sketch to another sketch, changed the figure necessary to normal, did my extrusion or cut to create a feature, and continued on,
Quick and easy where the sketch isn't too complicated.
In general, however I try to keep sketches simple, that make making changes later easier.

 

[JimCad]

+1 for simpler sketches.
I just find it works better.

 

[HaroldL]

I have had several projects recently that ended up using single basis sketch with all sketch figures reference figures.,
I then projected that sketch to another sketch, changed the figure necessary to normal, did my extrusion or cut to create a feature, and continued on,

IIRC, that's called a skeleton sketch in SolidWorks.
It can be used pretty effectively when recreating a model from a 2d drawing.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Yes! Being able to select regions when extruding would make short work of turning floor plans into 3d models.

 

[Weekdayweekend]

Being able to extrude multiple times from a single sketch would be very time-saving and useful.