FEBRUARY 2007

  Direct Dimension-driven Editing

Part 2 - Taking a Closer Look                                            (View Part 1)

Gloria Martel, Marketing Manager


In this month’s Feature Story, we continue our interview with Andy Beaupre, Sr. Applications Engineer and Product Evangelist as he discusses Kubotek’s latest technology developments. In part two of the technical interview, Andy goes into great detail to describe some of the unexpected results users may encounter with the new Direct Dimension-driven Editing capabilities.

Several movies also help to demonstrate the technology. You'll want to see these...

G Martel. Andy, the demos you provided give me the impression the new DDE capabilities operate like a parametric modeler. I know that isn't true, so what makes this functionality different?

A Beaupre. Well, you’re right, in its simplest implementation, it does “look” like parametrics. But remember, there’s no history tree. The files we are working with are “dumb” models, so there is no recipe to play back. And this technology works on faces. All of the dimension constraints we’ve placed are temporary. We can simply delete them when we are done.

GM. You mentioned that our users may encounter some unexpected results, can you elaborate?

AB. Yes, since this is just the first implementation of this technology, there are limitations. But KeyCreator software provides the tools you need to model anything, so you are never stuck. Let’s take a look at a situation in which Direct Dimension-driven Editing does not recognize tangencies using a classic teardrop part shown below. In the following videos, Wes Krol demonstrates how easy it is to combine the new technology with the more mature face editing tools.



[VIEW EXAMPLE 1]

GM. Andy, this looks like a simple part, can you show our users other examples of unrecognized tangencies?

AB. In the next two video examples, Wes demonstrates using alternative modeling sequences. As I’ve said before, by combining Direct Dimension-driven Editing technology with techniques such as suppression of the blends or removing and reapplying them, KeyCreator software is not just powerful, it’s extremely fast. Take a look at this example.

[VIEW EXAMPLE 2]  
[VIEW EXAMPLE 3]



GM. What else do I need to know?

AB. In the last example, we have a part that shows what to do when faces are not found through the discovery tools. In this case, Wes again shows how to combine techniques by using standard face edits with Direct Dimension-driven Editing technology. Take a look at the next video to learn more.

 (VIEW EXAMPLE 4) 

GM. Andy, those are great examples, do you have any parting advice for our users?

AB. Yes, Direct Dimension-driven Editing technology uses the Rotate Face, not draft face. Keeping that in mind will help to avoid the following issue.

 (VIEW EXAMPLE 5)