IronCAD vs Fusion 360 Lesson 13 3D Modeling Techniques Defined Streamlined Sketching/Feature Based Modeling
These articles started out as
product comparisons, but quickly turned into a study in 3D modeling
techniques. 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.
I saw the
following video challenges on linkedin and thought I would give it a
try on IronCAD. This will give you an idea how different
and flexible IronCAD is compared to the conventional Pro/e clone and
to the not so conventional Fusion 360.
I truly cannot believe
that a part this simple can be as complex as the Fusion 360 presenter
makes it. You can see it takes at least 10 times as long as I take
with what I have coined "Streamlined Sketching". If you model
this way I could not hire you. I can only imagine how long a complex
part would take with this heavy sketching and constraining.
Constraining is not necessary in any case, what every you gain in
modifying by editing the sketch is defeated by the time it takes to
set it up.
Watch how simple this part can be with
"Streamlined Sketching".
Here is IronCAD. My
default is inches, I will change it to Millimeters.
I will drag and
drop a block into the scene and size it.
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 Pro/e (Creo) clones.
We turn off the
catalog. It has an auto-hide option. We now will create one of the
lines to establish our plane. We have two ways to sketch the extrude
wizard which directly creates the extrusion and the standalone sketching
plane that allows free sketching for complex or reference sketches.
We will use the latter.
Now
the other reference line.
We
will now use the extrude wizard to create the remove extrusion by
selecting the top face of the block.
We
will now move the origin of the sketch to the corner utilizing the
Triball
You
will see a new way of modeling utilizing the triball. The triball
can manipulate any plane, feature, part or assembly. It is
incredibly powerful for moving, copying and linking items. This
feature alone moves 3D modeling into a new realm of productivity.
We will now use the inside handles to point the the ends of the
reference lines to establish our plane.
Now we
size a rectangle that assures we will cut the complete face.
Now just click okay and we have the correct shape.
Now to
create a standalone sketch plane for sketch for the rectangular
boss. I have never seen anything detailed this way.
We use
the standalone sketching feature and select the face.
I just
project the two relevant edges and create the offset lines. Go back
to the video and watch how the Fusion 360 fellow creates these
lines. I wonder if Fusion 360 even has a line offset. He arbitrarily
creates a line and then constrains it parallel then locates it. He
does it 4 separate times!
We
just trim the lines.
We now
use the extrude wizard to create a sketch plane on the bottom of the
block and set the function to add material.
We
will now project the existing lines on to this sketch plane.
We
will select okay and pull the extrusion to the relative corner of
the top sketch. No need to size the boss like they do in the Fusion
350 exercise. This is the basis of Feature based design, we use
existing feature when ever possible. I am not sure if Fusion 360 has
the capability or the presenter just doesn't know it is available.
We
will now add the 15 millimeters to the extrusion.
Now we
are done with this part of the shape.
Now
for the bottom cut we just drag and drop a hole block and size it.
We
just suppress our reference construction and we are done with the
part. You can see with the mixture of Streamline Sketching and Feature
Based
Modeling the creation of the part becomes much simpler and more
productive. Yes, IronCAD is a much more productive modeling system
also.
Here is the drawing. When creating a part from any drawing you
should do a completely detailed AID (Associated Information
Document) to make sure it is correct.
It is nice to be able to just define the
auxiliary view without having to do the related projections.
It is
very important that you look into how you or your engineers are
creating the parts. Streamline Sketching and Feature Based Modeling
is easy to learn and implement. It, alone, will increase
productivity 10X. Now, IronCAD with its unique integrated
history/direct edit functionality can increase your productivity
another 5X or more with changes! Again, time is money in
engineering.
More on Streamline Sketching and Feature
Based Modeling.
3D CAD Modeling Techniques To experience this increased level of productivity, please download
IronCAD for a 30 day evaluation. Legacy data is no problem, IronCAD
can read the native files of all of the popular programs. IronCAD is
a great replacement for the subscription only Autodesk and PTC
products. For more
information or to download IronCAD
Give me a call if you have any
questions. I can set up a skype or gotomeeting 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.
