Is there a quick way to change a dimension in a distance mate without going to edit feature. When working a big assembly the amount of time it takes to do the edit feature, and then exit out has a delay with each part of that process. I notice you can flip alignment, and reverse dimension by right clicking, but you have to open the mate to change the dimension.
Depending on the complexity of the sub-assembly, you can do a single click and select the "view mates" in the pop up menu
Steve C
If you have Instant 3d turned on then single-clicking on the Mate in the tree will show the Distance value in the graphics area. Double-click on it and enter the desired value. The model will update automatically.
I've never done it this way, but I just tried it and it works. No clue if it would be faster for you or not, but worth a try.
Enter the "Manage Equations" form the tree. You may have to "unhide" it through Hidden Tree Items.
Then click on the "Dimension View" icon. This will list all dimensions in the assembly.
If you do this with a part, you actually get a list of every dimension in the part.
I changed the Distance1 in the list and my model changed right away, although it was a small one.
Andy,
That may be the best thing I've seen here in months. I can see this being a tremendous help when editing models, especially if the Mate or Dimension was named.
By the way, you said "I've never done it this way, but I just tried it and it works." I don't know how many times I've done the same thing here trying to solve a problem for someone and wound up learning something myself.
Yea, I was kind of surprised when I looked at a part. Every dimension showed up in a nice list. You can even specify configs.
Done!
Andy Sanders - Wow - that's awesome - this is going to go places on this end, just amazes me how little I do know. I'm going to mess with this... Did you notice you can actually rename the dimension name - like Glenn Schroeder mentioned a definite must to post on the Tricks Thread...
Isn't it awesome to stumble across something like this
Thanks for teaching me
I think this is a better way:
Click on a part of two in tree
Click on Property Manager, can highlight mates in model and change names there:
Better then what ???
The bad side of this list is that if the dim isn't named yet, you're kind of flying blind. There's no feedback that I can tell when you click on a dim in the list where the heck it is buried in the model.
I understand that - but when I use a Skeleton Sketch part all the sketches have names so they are easy to find. The only time I have ever named the dimension name is when they're going into a Design Table or just the basics for a quick visual etc..
Another observation: If you don't like the change, use the undo button built into the manage equations box.
So far, if I tried to undo after I hit ok to close the dialog box, it refuses to undo the dim change.
Tom Hickerson wrote:
When working a big assembly the amount of time it takes to do the edit feature, and then exit out has a delay with each part of that process.
I think the operative word here is big assembly. BIG can be cumulatively slow, as some of us are all too familiar with. If you include a few poorly imported STEP files with unresolvable errors from a vendor that doesn't care about your workflow upon their parts, then the effect will be entirely pernicious to your performance (I suppress those until they NEED to be shown for relations or drawing, regardless of its primacy or design intent importance).
Others' suggestions work well.. until it gets big. Even so, I would first Zoom to Selection upon the distance mate. If it's distance from a primary reference plane, then it'll uselessly zoom to whole model anyway (proportion depending). If it's more discrete, but buried among other objects and visually obscured, consider Isolate upon the mate, which will isolate its relevant parts & objects. Then, a single click or double click may be useful in a big assembly. I always have difficulty clicking on tiny interactive dimension within BIG assembly, so I skip all that mess and just Edit the Mate Feature.
I think you're looking for a workaround for something which is straightforward but potentially slow. If editing a mate is slow, then I believe the Zoom to selection, Isolate, click, accept, and restore view processes will also be fairly slow. This has been a nicely educational discussion in the thread, but I don't feel that OP's question has been addressed in context of the issue as presented.
Or just use Mate Controller. Click/Right click and choose Mate Controller.
I appreciate everyone feedback on this. I tried them, and learned a few new ways in the process. In the end they are all painful for my large assembly. I was hoping for a quick way to type in the number without any delay, and then be able to let it churn away. The equations way seems to be best way to have only one long delay rather than several small ones and then a long one. I timed each method making the same change in dimension. The edit feature method took 29 seconds, and the equations method took 33 seconds.
The edit feature method game me a preview once I changed the dimensions (however it does not preview the change if you change it again without reopening it, but then I had to click the check mark and then wait for a while to be able to click it again. Its not always clear when its finally ready to be click again so I usually click several times.
The equation method requires less time waiting on the check boxes, but takes a tad longer over all. Also one time when doing this I changed the wrong dimension by mistake. That is easier to do using the equations method.
Using the equations method requires naming the sketches to avoid selecting the wrong dimensions...
How about you ctrl-select each of the distance mates you want to vary in the feature tree, right-click, Mate Controller?
Each time you increment the distance dimension in the Mate Controller, it immediately moves the model accordingly. You don't have to rebuild to find out what it will look like.
It looks pretty useful to me.
John
You're so right John! I'm sure everyone knows that you can rename the D1 or D2 to anything else as well. I found it very easy to do this while entering or changing dimensions by just clicking in the "D2@Sketch12" field and typing my new name. I do go back and rename the sketches from the feature tree when needed.
In reply to the OP, looking at the Distance Mate example as shown above. I may have done that type of mating in a different manner, of course I'm referring to the bolt-nut example whether or not it is applied in your use. It would be simple to mate the nut at a different point in the assembly not using a distance mate. Since I might use a configured (various thickness) part in an assembly I apply the mate to the surface so that the nut mate is resolved after the configuration of the bolted part has (if) changed. In one specific case I have 4 stud/part/nut assemblies that 'floats' based on the 'thickness' configuration chosen.
I was able to look at the dimension number on the feature, and then find that dimension number in the equation table without having to rename the dimension.
That's fine - for me driving dimensions are named others left alone... It's your model not mine
That is a great trick I didn't know about. Works great when you name all your mates that are going to be changed. I have to pass this on in my engineering group. Thanks,
John
So glad that you commented on this - somehow I missed the original thread, and didn't see any of this until just now - great info!
I was going to chime in about breadcrumbs -
Click on a part, and all of the mates associated with that part will be in the top row.
If you hover over the mate symbols, it will give you the name (handy for tracking it down to rename).
You can edit the mate by clicking on the mate symbol and selecting edit.
(The "D" key will bring the breadcrumbs to your cursor.)
todd
Double click on the Distant mate feature and look for the dimension double click it and change..