3D Modeling Techniques IRONCAD vs Solidworks
Lesson Eighteen Drag and Drop Design Streamlined Sketching/Feature Based Modeling
When I introduce IronCAD's very
flexible design paradigm I have a hard time to get the Pro/e clone
users, like Solidworks and other programs, to understand the drag and
drop design paradigm.
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I saw some Fusion 360 exercises online and I decided to compare
IronCAD. It quickly turned into a study in modeling techniques. I have created
many comparisons to Fusion 360, Onshape, Solid Edge, NX, Creo,
Catia and Inventor
lessons to show the difference between
IronCAD and my modeling techniques. I found the presenters working
identically wasting massive amounts of time
with overly complex constrained sketching procedures. I was so unimpressed that
I decided to model the parts or assemblies showing my modeling techniques plus IronCAD's superb design system.
3D Modeling Techniques Defined
Many of these modeling techniques can easily be implemented even
within their existing system. I call it Streamlined Sketching and
Feature Based Modeling. Please review a few of the above IronCAD
comparison lessons, there are some very stark differences.
While creating 3D models from drawings is the very best
way to learn 3D CAD and maybe some design techniques it does not
expose the designer to the design flexibility necessary in design. IronCAD is all top down due to the single model environment.
Creating mating parts is a cruise. But modeling is just one aspect of a
well designed productive 3D CAD system.
IronCAD vs Solidworks
I would do a
video, but I really am not good at it. So I will show you step by
step. I will try and get IronCAD support to create one. They are
very good.
As with my Ironcad vs
Fusion 360 and other major CAD systems, I have found the same problems with Solidworks. The modeling
technique is hugely responsible for the level of productivity. Those
of you that are only trained in the constrained sketching world are truly limited by not using the freedom of
Streamlined Sketching and Feature Based Modeling, that is available in even the most Solidworks-ish of CAD systems. If your
designers are designing in these very unproductive and time
consuming processes it might be time to review your standard design
processes. Don't have any do you?
This IronCAD exercise took a few minutes and allows
for faster and much easier modification. Again these exercises turned
into a study of modeling techniques even though most of this model
is Feature Based Modeling not available to most of the Solidworks clones.
Here is IronCAD. My default is inches,
so we will set the units to mm. Let's get started.
I put the cursor in the scene and right
click and select show and pick show the size box dimensions it makes
it much easier to work with setting the dimensions. You can save your custom
configurations if you want.
I am
going to drag and drop a "block" from the shape catalog into
the scene, select the ISO view and turn off perspective!
It automatically drops to X0Y0Z0.
Note: Why does IronCAD
call it a scene instead of a workspace? IronCAD was first released
as a graphic design program called Trispectives. It still has much
of the graphic design functionality. It truly is a wonderful mixture
of professional 3D CAD and graphic design, which puts it in a much
more flexible category as compared to the very mechanical
engineering focused Solidworks clones.
IronCAD has levels of operation, as you
select the part/assembly they will change colors, assembly - yellow,
part - blue, feature - yellow and face - green. We will select the
feature level. You can seen now that the size of the feature is
shown.
We select one
of the handles and edit size box. With the size box dimensions on
you can see which dimension set up the feature. We 300 x 120 x 20
We drag and
drop a cylinder on the front face of the block!
Using
the Triball we lock in an axis and located it 100mm from the edge.
We will size the cylinder and
pull/push the handles. You hold the shift button down and you can
select the feature you want to align it! You can use centers, edges,
corners and mid points!
We now drag and drop a hole block
on the front face and size and fit it!
We
are designing with very smart shapes. You start thinking
differently. You see basic shape and use the to design the part. We
are going to add the hole. We drag and drop a cut cylinder to the
center of the existing cylinder size and fit by pulling/pushing the
handle to the appropriate faces.
We drag and drop a cut block to onto
the bottom face and push/pull it to eliminate the bottom features!
We drag and
drop a cylinder to the mid point of the face, size it and using the
triball move it to the correct distance from the center of the other
cylinder.
We drag and drop our last cylinder
to the front face of the block, size it and locate it with the
Triball.
We first drag and drop to the face of the part so
IronCAD knows this is feature is a component of the part. If we just
dropped it in the scene it would become a new part.
We
now are going to create a sketch for the rib. But we need to fix the
front cylinder first. All intellishapes are based on sketches. We
will edit cross section to create the correct feature.
We
delete the construction entities and trim the circle.
You can see
the cylinder is correctly trimmed ready for or sketch!
We have two sketching features:
The extrude wizard the directly creates our feature!
The
standalone sketch that takes another step.
I will use the
extrude wizard and move the rib into place when I am done. I would
have to create a standalone sketch plane locate it and then set it.
I will set the face of the upper cylinder! The extrude
wizard will ask if I want to add, subtract or crate a standalone
part. I will select add and set the width of the rib.
We
are moved to the sketch and add the feature by projecting edges and
creating the lines. We see the raw sketch before we trim.
You can see that the sketch is ready when all the red dots are
gone.
The standalone sketch can be saved in any stage of
development. It is used to import dxf/dwg to use to create shapes
from electronic drawings. It can be used to conceptual sketching on
assemblies!
You
can now see the rib.
We
just move it into place with the Triball.
We
add the two holes by dragging and dropping two cut cylinders to the
center of the cylinders and size them.
We add the corner fillets!
I
will use the custom hole tool instead of the cut cylinder. The
custom hole feature is in the Tools catalog. I will drag and drop it
on the center of the blend and the custom hole dialog box will
appear. I will set the the type of hole and depth!
I
will now link copy the hole using the Triball. You just select the
center of the Triball and place it at the center of the blend. You
can see they are linked by referenced feature. You can now change
either feature and the other will reflect that change.
We
are now done with the part. I could easily have used sketching to
create this part. You have the option. But as you play with IronCAD,
designing in shapes is much more of a real world design paradigm!
IronCAD was originally based on Trispectives an early solid
modeling graphic design package and includes realistic rendering and
animation.
Give me a call if you have any
questions. I can set up a skype or go to meeting to show this part
or answer any of your questions on the operation of IronCAD. It
truly is the very best conceptual 3D CAD system.
If you are interested in adding professional
hybrid modeling capabilities or looking for a new solution to
increase your productivity, take some time to download a fully
functional 30 day evaluation and play with these packages. Feel free
to give me a call if you have any questions or would like an on-line
presentation.
