tips backlog - part and assembly section view

I've always hated the section view in parts and assemblies because I never
knew for sure which way it was going to section (note that I am not talking
about the drawing section view, which is differnt) The model section often
takes a while to generate, so when it goes in the wrong direction it chews
up precious time (and I swear, despite the odds, its made the wrong choice
over half the time).

I only just noticed that if you change the offset of the section view or
flip the direction, SW will show an arrow that indicates which way the
part/assembly will be sectioned. I wish the arrow were there from the
beginning, but getting it to show through a simple toggle of the dialog is
at least a step in the right direction, and has made this tool useful for me
again.

I know others that have had similar trouble, and use assembly cuts instead
of section view. Suprisingly, when I tested this, mates to edges that get
cut away by the assembly cut are still respected as if the edges were still
there. I do not know if this holds true for all cases. I just thought it
interesting....

BTW - Section view has gotten to be pretty cool in the couple of years I
have not been using it much. You can do work in section view, measure the
sectioned edges, and, if the section is from a plane, start sketches on the
faces of the section and even make relations to the sectioned edges and SW
will cleverly attach these relations to the section plane and the silhouette
edges (though I would not recommend the last one - it seems to be asking for
trouble).

 

The zero thickness geometry error is a real bummer - I remember the string
of profanities that came out of my mouth the first time I saw that error,
back before I had my first understanding of what was happening behind the
scenes on the section view. Thank goodness most of my models are not
rectilinear!

I agree that a simple view-clipping plane for fast access to a section view
would often be superior to the actual, physical model cutting that (I
suspect) happens currently. I want to see what's going on inside, darn it -
let me get there as fast as I can! If I invoke the measure command, or
otherwise indicate that I want to make the section non-lightweight, then
(and only then) will I happily take the hit on performance.

As always, thanks for your thoughts, Andrew
-Ed

 

I hear you guys on this one! We do a hulluvalotta sections (our
products are big boxes with lotsa junk inside), whether in the
assembly or of the assembly on a drawing, and the performance/results
are pretty disappointing. I think Ed's lightweight section is a great
idea and hope everyone will submit and ER.

There are some improvements in 2004, but I can't say anything 'boutem
'cept that there only a little better than what were using now.