Any one know UG NX5?

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by kborer22

A guy i work with here used to be at GM and Bell Helicoptors, and have heard all of his experiences with Katia, and Ug, and finally NX when it was created. It has apparently lost "user friendlieness", and continues to do so with each revision. I had used solidworks and Inventor through other internships and FIRST, and getting started on UG NX5 was not fun. Everything seemed to be several steps longer than using SW, so i am greatful when i go back to use it.

My co-worker also said that NX5 would be the last version released, but who knows?

They do seem to move around the UI pieces with each rev... It's like they are hiding things. I think the "user friendliness" piece is inversely related to the amount of control that you can exercise over an entity. The more nuances that you can control yields more pokes which yields to each of us hunkering down with the 5% of the controls that we really use to get our jobs done.

btw... I checked with a UGS friend and he has NX 6 on his windows laptop, but says that NX 5 is the last version that is being supported in Unix.

Originally Posted by kborer22

Ok well here is my situation, i am working at Textron Defense Systems and am currently modeling circuit boards to check for interference with housings and other borads. For most I would model the board, import a .dxf, place that on the correct side of the board, and extrude the component outlines. (I think the .dxf is coming from PADS)

So this next board i have to do is something like 1800 components(compared to 200-300 that i usually deal with), and extruding each of these components would be a giant pain in the $@#$@#$@#. I have access to a VALOR file that has all of the X/Y coords for all of these components. I was wondering if there is a way to read in that excel file and basically plot a grid of points.

Of the 1800 components there are only like 50-100 different types, so obviously there will be many 1 ohm resistors (for example). Since i have the centroid X/Y coord for all of the 1 ohm resistors, i want to make a model or the resistor (a simple 3d rectangle). I had an idea of possibly plotting a grid and then being able to place/copy that model of the resistor on to the grid points.

(let me know if that made sense!)

I am still waiting on the final design of the board, so i would imagine some components will still be moving. Depending on the layout i would be able to pattern a component, but it usually does not work out in a nice circular or rectangular pattern.

If you have any suggestions how to do this, or possibly another idea, it would be much appreciated!

I don't do electrical, but this seems like a fundamental import problem. If you have a sample of the input file I'm willing to look at it and see if there is a way to automate the import. I've had to create similar things in the past so hopefully <crosses fingers>, I'll be able to reuse something. I'm thinking import as grouped surfaces and you can select the 1 ohm resistor group to extrude. We'll see once I get the file.

Andy - Any better suggestions? (I realize that you no longer have NX to reference.)

Note: I'm on forced vacation next week and won't have NX access.