N-sided option on Boundary

Has PTC included the N-sided boundary option in Wildfire's Boundary
Blend tool or anywhere else in the new interface.
The N-sided patch didn't really work for 2001 and previous versions. I
want to know if Wildfire has improved on it, or that you can do
n-sided patches using some other feature in WildFire.

Mark

 

: Has PTC included the N-sided boundary option in Wildfire's Boundary
: Blend tool or anywhere else in the new interface.
: The N-sided patch didn't really work for 2001 and previous versions. I
: want to know if Wildfire has improved on it, or that you can do
: n-sided patches using some other feature in WildFire.
:
: Mark

No, Mark, it's not in the boundary blend tool, per se. It's in
'Insert>Advanced>Conic and N-Sided'. Whether it actually works or not is another
matter. Very poorly documented features. What are they actually supposed to do?
I've taken surfacing, advanced surfacing, isdx (all PTC courses) and never ran
into a description, much less an example, of what these things look like or what
you do with them or what problem they are supposed to solve. Maybe I'm supposed to
pay them more money, and more money, and just keep feeding nickels into the slot,
for them to tell me what I should be able to find out from the Help files, i.e.,
what do you use an n-sided or conic surface for? what does one look like?

Well, they're in there. Maybe you can find someone to explain how they work. I've
never been able to figure them out and I do a lot of surfacing work. I'd sure like
to know. And, no, I don't want to pay another five or ten grand a year to find out
that it's something I don't need. I hope PTC gets a clue about this general hustle
of theirs, sometime before they see the blinding light ~ just as the train runs
them over.

David Janes

David Janes

 

I stumbled across this yesterday ......

http://www.ptc.com/cs/cs_24/howto/suf994/suf994.htm

====================

 

:
: What are they actually supposed to do?
:
: David, I like to refer to the n-sided patch as the "holy-grail" of
: surfacing. It is a non-coons type of nurb surface that doesn't require
: "1st" and "2nd" directional boundary curves. It has the ability to
: surface and closed loop of edges reqardless of how many there are,
: that how it gets its name "N" sided, for any Number of sides.
: A good rule of thumb for its use is any boundary 3 or 5 or more. Now
: the Proe Nsided starts with five (will not take 3 boundaries).
: Catia has a very good implementation of N sided surface which
: Solidworks has (called fill) ported over to there software since
: Dessault is there parent company.

Thanks, I guess I've actually kind of given up trying to master some of the more
obscure stuff since I started using ISDX. Though, yeah, if you've got a 'hole' in
something, say, some really nasty iges import, and you need to patch it, sounds
like an n-sided surface could come in real handy.

David Janes

 

Yes, this is what it is really good for, just don't count on using it
on the cavity side (aesthetic) of the tool.

 

Though, yeah, if you've got a 'hole' in
: > something, say, some really nasty iges import, and you need to patch it,
sounds
: > like an n-sided surface could come in real handy.
: >
: > David Janes
:
: Yes, this is what it is really good for, just don't count on using it
: on the cavity side (aesthetic) of the tool.

Why, doesn't it handle surface continuity very well? How about using cross curves
as guides?

DJ