Parametrics

Hey
I'm wondering about the term "parametric". I get that it's has
something to do with being able to change a parameter/dimension in a
part, and have the other dimensions related to change with it.

But is it a function that I need to apply to the part when I start
drawing and throughout the modelling, or is it just a term used about
the general concept about being able to change parameters in a solid
and have the solid change accordingly.
I'm a bit embarrassed not knowing this.

Thanks Charlotte

 

Since this is a SW forum I'll answer in the SW way. Every dimension on
a model is changeable and when changed other things related to it
change. In this sense SW is parametric. The user must therefore impart
some knowledge of how the model should look by specifying relations of
which dimensions are one.

Unlike dumb CAD, aka ACAD, in which lines are drawn in specific
positions defined by the locations of endpoints, in a parametric
modeler like SW a line is defined by how it connects to other lines at
vertices and how it is oriented with respect to other geometry.

For example let us say you are arranging your office the ACAD way. You
would tell your help to move the desk 30 inches north, 60 inches east
and rotate it 180 degrees from where it is now. In SW you would tell
the desk to be flush to the north wall and 24 inches from the east wall
with the side without drawers against the wall. In SW if the walls
moved then so would the desk.

 

The main point I make sure that new users understand is that with ACAD, you
put lines on the paper and then put dimensions on them to tell you what you
just did. With SW you put "lines" on the "paper" and then put dimensions on
them to tell them what you want them to do.

WT