Alibre - A First Attempt

Ian -

TurboCAD's 2D/3D mode switch toggles between them, and is called Toggle 2D/3D.

It does not turn them off as such. A TC drawing is one or the other according to how you start it, so you must never use that control on an active drawing, in either mode. If you do it plays havoc with the co-ordinates and work-plane system for the drawing, and from the TC Users' Forum I gather more people come to grief on that than anything else!

It is a small, rather obscure button likely to be along the bottom between the Inspector Bar and the co-ordinates meter, and its symbol is a plain square and a wireframe cube with a '/' sign between them.

Next to it in in 2D is a button with a finger on a square, called Selector 2D Properties. This shows what aspects of the drawing field are on or off.

I have not investigated it but I suspect if you want to transfer a 3D drawing into another package to become a 2D generating Sketch you'd certainly need use the viewing cube function. You might also need go via Viewports to give 2D elevations, and Save As those as appropriate.filetype. (Find out what standard types SE wants, then look to see if TC offers those types.)

Don't try using Toggle 2D/3D. I think that could just wreck the drawing, as a TurboCAD 3D drawing is not simply a set of extruded sketches, and its generated solids come in two flavours with different properties.

Best to experiment on a harmless copy under a new name before risking losing anything!

.

Don't worry too much about keyboard short-cuts. They make life more efficient, but are not essential.

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Thank you David.

I will wait patiently....

Remaining concerns.

I think my main one is knowing when not to use Grid Snaps and when I should.

Personally I would say NEVER use Grid Snaps.

I have come across woodworkers for example, who work on the basis that all measurements are multiple of 1/4" or 1/8", and they only ever use right angles, so they find grid snaps can speed up their sketching. Grid snaps do allow you to be rather lazy about defining dimensions, as you are unlikely to accidentally drag a line end (say) away from a grid snap. Maybe helps with making sure lines ends meet, but the non-grid snaps can also do that.

As you've found snaps can cause unexpected problems - so I'd turn them off. If you do come across a case where you decide they'd be really beneficial, you can turn them back on for that project.

Thank you David. That's cleared my confusion over those!

I wouldn't go so far as to say NEVER, but my experience on other 3D-CAD software is that grid-snaps are mostly counter-productive. They're much more useful in 2D-CAD, where it often doesn't matter whether or two lines join correctly as long as the drawing looks OK to the human eye. 3D-CAD is different; it's vital that lines join correctly, because solids can only be generated from valid 2D loops.

Snaps automatically create or enforce accurate connections of various types. Worth practising for an hour or two with them to understand when they're useful, and when they're not. Snaps are tools, and using the wrong tool by accident always causes trouble. Most software does a good job most of the time selecting the appropriate snap automatically, but not always. The operator may have to override the computer's choice.

This example from QCAD illustrates 4 different ways a line might be snapped to a circle. QCAD offers a few more, but the point is which of several snaps is correct depends on what the operator is trying to achieve. If the software makes the wrong choice one or more times and the operator doesn't notice, his sketch won't do what the operator expects, no matter how good it looks!

All CAD tools allow the operator to control which snaps, if any, are active. For example, when a line has to join a circle at a tangent, which can be tricky, it's useful to temporarily turn all the other snaps off. Doing so ensures the line can only join correctly at a tangent, and not just look like one!

Zooming in on sketches is one way of detecting otherwise invisible connection errors. When CAD tools refuse to work, despite everything looking right, it's often because the sketch has a tiny mistake, perhaps because the wrong snap engaged. Snapping to the grid caused me more trouble than all the other snaps put together, but it's well to understand other snaps can also cause trouble.

Snaps are simple enough once understood, but have the potential to cause much confusion. On a drawing board, the draughtsman has to know how to draw tangents. A computer deskills tangent drawing by creating them with a few clicks, but the operator has know when to tell the computer exactly which snap is required when there's any ambiguity.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 14/05/2023 12:16:11

Have you never had the need to send a DXF or DWG file off to anyone Dave? in those cases it DOES matter if the lines join crrectly.on your 2D. Even if just for your own use if lines don't meet and you use thos elines to produce working 2D drawings what will the computer put as the dimension? the drawn line length or the length of the line it is meant to meet up with.

This is a square of equal sides, 90deg corners but the line on the left was drawn a bit longer depending on wher you click to generate the dimension you may get the 100mm of the squares side or the 100.02 of the line

Only by zooming right in can the difference be seen, may be OK for you in the "near-e-nuff" workshop but could affect which way your pendulum swings

I like to be the one designing not letting the 'puter put the lines etc where it wants so never use the grid or snap to it.

Edited By JasonB on 14/05/2023 12:31:34

As I've said before - no single 'correct way', and people have their own preferences.

The question related specifically to Atom3D, where toggling grid snaps on/off requires a diversion into System Options, it isn't easily doable from the workspace.

The question was also specific to GRID SNAPS, not other types of snap.

Hi Nigel,

Any progress with Alibre? I tried it for a few days, and as good as it is, it isn't for me, so I have un-installed it. I will continue to do my main work with Design spark, and wander into Solidedge when I need serious text design.

Good luck.

Shame about that Lee. It's never easy finding the thing that suits you best.

You have got me wondering what you'll be doing in Solidedge with regard to text design though - something like nameplates

Martin.

That nice Austin logo probably

Martin,

Solidedge is very good at text manipulation. I was surprised at what it could do, so yes, nameplates mainly. If it's just plain extruded text with draft for casting, then Designspark can do that. I didn't get into text with Alibre. I could see why so many recommend the programme though.

Lee.

Text tool in Alibre Design / Atom3D is relatively basic. There are some extra abilities being added for the next release due later this year. Should help with doing things more complex than straight lines of text.

That will come in handy if I have any more like this to do

Those name plates are excellent Jason. Very difficult to do in Designspark, but a bit easier in SolidEdge. What programme did you use?

Alibre what else!

Ahh, but which version?

I'm told that 'text along a path' should be available in all software levels in version 27. There's perhaps a small chance that could change before release.

Jason did all those nameplates the laborious way, placing each letter individually.  He uses Alibre Design Professional, but text tools same in all levels.

Edited By David Jupp on 16/05/2023 21:32:20

Lee -

Making slow progress, thank you!

The trial licence has just ended - try opening a file and you see all the tools have been switched off. I'd started drawing my engine's cylinder-block, which I've part-made so far, from a rectangular block of cast-iron.

It took me a few attempts to work out how to do it, and I doubt it was the best way anyway, but it was a chance to experiment with the Mirror and Array tools.

The drawing is not finished, but then the trial ran out! The Alibre files are are all still there though. It's the CAD programme itself that's turned off.

Alibre told me that but I wasn't clear what to do next if I want to buy it.

I think Mintronics are your next port of call. Phone or email, not sure which. It will be interesting to see your progress if you ever feel like posting a screenshot sometime.

Did you eventually find it easier, more productive, than Turbocad?

Thank you Nigel, I'm travelling at the moment, so not too much 'free' time to dig into things...

I found the "Selector 2D Properties" and set it for "2D for Model and Paper space" (which would seem to be exactly what I need) but it still drops into 3D mode if I use the wrong mouse button, which is both annoying and hard to understand why? I guess it will need more time to investigate.

With regards 2D to 3D - SE has a "Create 3D" feature (you need to load a 'Draft' document to activate it) which allows a (3D) 'Part' file to be generated from a DXF which has been loaded into a 'Draft' document. Details here if anyone is interested:

"Create 3D" (2D to 3D in Solid Edge)

Regards,

IanT

Thank you Lee.

Mintronic's web-site should clarify how to contact them.

A bit early still to judge it fairly but so far Alibre Atom does seem a lot easier to learn TurboCAD's 3D mode.

TurboCAD has a lot of extremely powerful tools - among other things it is intended for architects as well as engineers so has to accommodate very high-grade rendering - but also has a lot of traps for the unwary. It does not work in a Parts and Assembly way openly, though I expect you can drive it like that. Nor is it easy to produce printed elevation drawings from the 3D models. It 2D mode though, is fairly straightforward and allows quite complicated geometrical constructions.

"Productive" , for me, would mean my being able to use CAD to a useful level. I do have quite a few orthographic TurboCAD drawings and have printed a few for workshop use. So it would be a matter of pursuing Alibre to where I can do similar with that system.