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mvprodoti
2011-02-09, 01:01 AM
Is there any information on when, and if, we will enjoy the option of creating 3D Dynamic Blocks?
john.gray
2011-02-09, 06:04 PM
That's a great question. The sooner the better I'd like to hope. I've created many company dynamic blocks that are made up of 3D objects, but it's real limiting to only be able to add actions and parameters in one plane. They work for me for now, but it would be a whole lot easier if I could assign dynamic constraints to the 3D solids, as well as using actions and parameters in more than one plane.
mvprodoti
2011-02-09, 09:02 PM
J.J.G.
I spent the longest time trying to take 5 seperate solids union them/join them/region them and any cobination there of, until I read that we can not take a 3D Block and Stretch It. I am trying to create my own 3D Kitchen Cabinet Blocks and I thought it would be nice if they had intellegence.
JLHConsulting
2011-02-09, 09:12 PM
Yeah, I need 3d Dynamic blocks....

I design and draw Aquaculture facilities, so I use alot of piping - Cylinders.

soooo for a parts lists - i have all my pipe fittings, and equipment blocks made. The hard part - and time consuming is the piping needed for the project.

Currently I am putting in cylinders, then I have to go back after all of them are put in and all the adjustments are made to length etc, I have to put in a dynamic block for the length.

for a few hundred individual pipes - it's not fun.

making each a block is not an option since any changes would again be a nightmare.

If anyone has a suggestion to fix this I am all ears.

P.S. Everything we make *IS* 3d. why do we not draw everything in 3d then.

john.
mvprodoti
2011-02-09, 10:46 PM
I think also: Having 3D Contraints would be an additional feature to enhance the ease of drawing..
dgorsman
2011-02-10, 07:50 PM
No such thing as a free lunch, guys. The price for this is performance.

JohnH, I'm somewhat surprised; are you doing all that piping manually? Have you looked into low-cost piping design software yet? There's a few out there which might suit your needs.
john.gray
2011-02-10, 09:33 PM
For the purposes I need, I don't need to change the shape or sizes of the 3D objects themselves within the dynamic block, but I need them all to act as an assembly that I can manipulate on the fly.

Dynamic constraints work wonderful with 2D objects, and I'd love to be able to use them on my 3D assembly.

Due to the nature of my 3D assemblies (pipe swaybrace), the actions/parameters need to be manipulated in a different UCS plane than our normal World plan view. I cured that by creating a toolbar button that sets the UCS to an existing brace for editing, and another UCS reset button. This lets me manually edit the 3D dynamic block without ever changing my view.

I'd like to think someone at AutoDesk has already thought about the idea of 3D dynamic assemblies for those of us who don't use Inventor as their design platform.
JLHConsulting
2011-02-14, 06:30 PM
No such thing as a free lunch, guys. The price for this is performance.

JohnH, I'm somewhat surprised; are you doing all that piping manually? Have you looked into low-cost piping design software yet? There's a few out there which might suit your needs.

David,

Can you point me in the direction of a few low-costs options? I just trialed CADPIPE and it's not what I would call low cost. but it does work nicely.
dgorsman
2011-02-15, 06:49 PM
David,

Can you point me in the direction of a few low-costs options? I just trialed CADPIPE and it's not what I would call low cost. but it does work nicely.

CADWorx gets my dollar for being cost effective and easily customizeable. That might still be a touch expensive but the tech support is worth it IMHO. If you don't *need* ISOGEN or database backing the standard CADWorx version can save you a few dollars too.

Cheapest of all would be to visit someplace like theswamp.org and inquire of some of the programmers what it would take to automate your size-changing system.
JLHConsulting
2011-02-15, 10:35 PM
CADWorx gets my dollar for being cost effective and easily customizeable. That might still be a touch expensive but the tech support is worth it IMHO. If you don't *need* ISOGEN or database backing the standard CADWorx version can save you a few dollars too.

Cheapest of all would be to visit someplace like theswamp.org and inquire of some of the programmers what it would take to automate your size-changing system.


I just started trying Mech-Q. so far I am happy. does 3d piping well. I will have to give CADWorx a look too.

Mech-Q seems to be the best bang for your buck. it's 1/4th the price of CADPIPES and 1/10th the cost of CADWorx.