News coming soon. If your interested in joining the Wiki as a early adopter and want to be involved early let me know in the comments or by the contact page and I’ll send out the URL.

Example would be to have optional many arguments:

Defun: Average (Number … $nums)

This example if a function called “Average” with optional arguments of
type “Number” that can be one or many stored in a list called “$nums”.

One way to access the $nums is by creating an expression block:

@{
$total << loop {
for $num in $nums;
sum $num;
};

So in Knowledge Fusion it is possible to have a function with optional arguments and it is possible to have a function to allow one or many arguments. The design patterns I try to stick to does not have a need for variable arguments but the optional feature is nice if you can have default values then override if necessary.

There is also a save button that will create associative expression. In the expression dialog change the Listed Expressions to “Measurements”. You will have 5 expressions, Surface area, volume, mass, weight, radius of gyration.

set IMAN_SLOW_SQL=1

When running Teamcenter and something takes longer then there will be some eplaination in the syslog of what is going on. It probably won’t be really clear what to do but it will explain the area and what it is trying to do in some cryptic way. In this case i set IMAN_SLOW_SQL=1, 1 being seconds, this may register a lot of issues depending on your environment, set it to 2 seconds to filter out the syslog and narrow down the major performance issue.

File -> Utilities -> Customer Defaults -> Assemblies (section) -> Site Standards (sub section) -> Part Name Versions (tab). There you will see five sections.

I would suggest this type of version control go into the Site defaults file, but I’m showing the user defaults file just because I had this set when I was doing my testing. Now the syntax is pure Regular Expressions with no short cuts. This is a simple one, that expects a number 0 -> 9 and it has to be 8 digits long, seperated by a ‘.’ (dot) then a number 0 -> 9 that has to be 3 digits long. The part name match is just the ending four characters. Should have put the dot in its own group but this was just a test, to get it working this needs to be seperated. Then the last setting is the type of version. So NX knows what is the oldest or newest. This would be set to numeric for this example. Another fix I need to do for this to work. Again this is just a test.

Now that this is set. Apply the customer defaults, close and reopen NX. Now in the load options the “load latest” option is available. Also “Allow Substitution” should be enabled, otherwise this is all useless. And the Load Method should Not be “As Saved” but instead one of the other optons.

Now you can have a part file 12345678.001 & 12345678.002. When you open the assembly that has this component added it will use the latest version.

Pretty cool for those not using Teamcenter.

Personally i would never do partially transparent just because of the additional maintence. This format only works for menus and toolbar icons. The styler images still do not use this alpha mask and size standard yet. Perhaps NX5 everything will be the same image.

Where do you put these images for your custom menus and toolbars? One option is to put it in the application folder, or put it in the bitmap folder defined by the custom bitmap, or use set the custom directory environment variable but append each directory where a folder is located at using the custom bitmap environment variable=environment variable; new path.

UGS is offering a free 2D drafting tool. This free tool offers a way to to transition from 2D AutoCAD (which has a recuring cost) to the free SolidEdge 2D drafting tool. This not only saves companies from the cost of AutoCAD but also opens up the available products in Solid Edge. When the company is ready you can upgrade from SolidEdge 2D to 3D. It has the same interface with additional capabilities to make the transistion to 3D. If you out grow SolidEdge 3D you can upgrade to NX. NX and Solid edge can read each others file types, so there is no need to translate data. Preserve your investment in user training in the interface when you upgrade to SolidEdge 3D. It is truly a remarkable approach they are doing. I just wish you could download the software without providing all the information. There should be a mechanism in the product to request upgrade, then get the companies information.

From UGS’s web site

Solid Edge 2D drafting demonstrates UGS’ commitment to helping companies control costs. Whether you are using 2D company-wide or for specific 2D design processes, you will benefit from Solid Edge 2D Drafting. Solid Edge 2D Drafting capitalizes on 10 years of production-proven capabilities developed for Solid Edge, and offers excellent drawing layout, diagramming, annotation and dimensioning controls that automatically comply with a wide range of drafting standards – including ISO, ANSI, BSI, DIN, JIS and UNI. And it is absolutely FREE to download and use.
Solid Edge 2D Drafting includes a wealth of tools designed to ease the transition of 2D AutoCAD users updating to Solid Edge, including import wizards, WYSIWYG of imported files (matching of AutoCAD fonts and color schemes) and many other capabilities that make it a compelling application for AutoCAD 2D users looking for more value and productivity from their 2D CAD seats.

Go to Solid Edge Free 2D Drafting for more information.

UPDATE
Starting with a Spline

I used the studio spline available under “Insert -> Curve -> Studio Spline”. Picked four points and ok on the dialog.

Now we have one spline. To break it up into arcs and lines, use the “Insert -> Curve from Curves -> Simplify” option. Pick the option you want to have happen. In this case I’m selecting delete the original curve and only leave me the new simplified spline. Select the spline and ok. What you are left with is a line that is made up of lines and arcs depending on what is the simplest geometry to get the same curve.