Does geometry creation and editing still matter?

I think I remember PTC CEO Dick Harrison saying at one point that geometry creation is a solved problem. Or something to that effect. This was of course when he was originally pitching Windchill, probably to lower expectations for Pro/E software, which was beginning to see less development in the face of declining CAD revenue. Seems to be the trend when CAD companies get distracted from their main mission.

There are some of us that actually bought CAD for its ability to create and edit geometry. And regardless of marketing and media fads, we continue to make our livings doing so. I still can’t figure out how CAD-in-the-Cloud is gonna help me do that in any way. At least the other major recent fad, direct editing, ismainly concerned about geometry.

So what do you think? Do you have all of the geometry creation tools you need in your CAD software? Are new versions of the software you use coming out with new or improved ways to create and  edit product geometry? Or is geometry creation a solved problem for you? Maybe you need a new way to change colors every release, really need your CAD program to double as a web browser, or you need to manage meta-data within the CAD file more than you need to create the geometry itself.

Just for reference, the CAD web is all waiting for confirmation that Solid Edge ST3 is going to incorporate Synchronous Technology (direct edit) into the history-based side of the software. SE ST is still mainly about prismatic shapes, which still limits its value in my eyes, but I can see this being very valuable to the bulk of machine designers, or machined metal designers. Solid Edge made a miscalculation with the original release of ST, then listened to their customers and critics and bounced back with a tool that is focused on geometry – job one for a CAD program. They did not thumb their nose at their customer’s main mission and start writing iPhone apps, or some other similar tangential off-focus distraction.

What geometry creation or editing tools do you need? I’ll start off with some of my favorites – stuff I will need long before I need another web access panel inside my CAD program:

1. Move between Edit Feature and Edit Sketch without exiting the sketch or the feature. Wow. This would be such an improvement in workflow, instead of having to rebuild the model to move from the sketch to the feature, just change from one to the other. And while were dreaming of geometry/edit enhancements, why don’t we ask for editing a sketch while a feature propmgr is active?
2. More and more powerful tree management tools. This is not directly geometry creation/edit, but it is essential to editing in a history-based model. Freeze the tree. Show the tree in straight history. Don’t block reordering. More control over parent-child without the need to explicitly delete relations. Anything that is implemented in the software that does not advance geometry creation to me is wasted effort.
3. Conic sketch tool. C’mon. Just do it. This is needed to make smooth non-arc transitions between other sketch entities. A conic is more structured than a spline, and more variable than an arc.
4. Splines in general I think have taken a step backwards. Since a couple releases ago,SolidWorks started predicting the curvature on the end of a spline for you, which results in silly looking splines when you transition between small and large curvature. The old way was better, where it didn’t apply any curvature to the end.
5. I’d like to see the ability to continue splines from an existing endpoint. Making a spline longer is far more complicated than it needs to be.
6. Splines with internal symmetry. I can’t believe that in a piece of software where they seem to be stretching limits, something as basic as this is left undone.
7. When extending surfaces (or splines), it would be great if you had an option to continue the edge curvature. Right now the options are continue tangent from the current edge or some strange curvature extrapolation that always results in something completely useless if you let it go far enough.
8. Curvature controls for sketches and 3D surfaces. Being able to visualize areas of tight curvature is one thing, but being able to control the curvature so that it doesn’t become a problem is something else altogether.
9. Inflection point control. Ever make a fill surface and get an egg carton? Was an egg carton what you were trying for? Could you make an egg carton if you wanted to? If you intend for a spline or a surface to have no inflection points (points where the curvature direction flips from one side to the other), there is currently no way to do that.
10. And I’ve got to say that the Freeform feature has been a disappointment. It has so much potential, and the examples of that kind of editing abound in the other software around the industry, but the current method for this feature is barbaric, and ghastly. I recently did a project modeling a child’s baby doll, where this type of tool would be quite literally ideal. But I couldn’t get much of value out of it. The requirement to first lay down curves, then points, and assign boundary conditions that aren’t maintained very well is just really disappointing. Think Rhino, or SolidThinking. That’s how it should work.

Leave a comment and share what your favorite geometry creation/editing enhancements.