Thanks! I saw this one earlier. I was optimistically saying… if they can do this (keep drawings linked to model) maybe they have a shot at true parametric translation someday.
Parametrics and associativity are two different things.
Synchronous models can use parametrics. I think you’re confusing parametrics with history-based modeling.
Associativity - (good) links between documents, for example, a part document drives a drawing document.
parametrics - (good) geometry driven by parameters such as dimensions, equations, relationships. Synchronous models are parametric
history-based modeling - (way over rated) features depend on the order in which they are displayed in a list or tree and may be dependent on one another in a specific order, like steps in a recipe or lines in a program. This includes sketch-driven features.
Solid Edge and IronCAD allow you to do both direct and history style modeling. Solidworks only does history.
How many times am I going to have to split this thread because it keeps veering off topic?
I’m not confusing anything. I concerned about the loss of parametrics in a translation and how bad solidworks needs to get before we think its worth it.
Ahh, that can-o-worms. We gave up on Edrawings for viewing drawings (reliably) quite awhile back.
The obvious question here is: why not neutral formats? Can’t SWX PDM automatically translate files to .PDF, .STP, .X_T, .JT, etc., etc., upon check-in?
I wonder how many Solid Edge users still use PrintDFT.exe. Any Edgers out there using it? So Solid Edge has the best drawing view ever IMO. The zoom pan function sucks, but it opens drawings faster than any pdf. It’s a viewer that draws the embedded EMF from the .dft file that is generated on each file save. The EMF is a vector format, not raster image, so the lines scale and such. The best thing for us was the viewer was 100% guaranteed to display the drawing exactly as it was last saved, every time, always, no references needed. We miss that so badly. If Solidworks would just embed an EMF in a similar manner and give us an .ocx or API call to extract it we would use that for drawings. I digress.
Never seen it. Is it for batch printing from .dft?
Yeah we switched to publishing pdfs, but mostly because we couldn’t keep doing like we had with the viewer after going to SW. Everyone just goes to pdf, but it’s so slow compared to the PrintDFT viewer. PDFs for drawings are way over rated
I don’t know why they originally made PrintDFT, it came out before my time. Back around version 4 (not ST4). It hasn’t been “supported” for years. Typical, make something that is so effective and simple it just works then kill it a few years later.
Anyway, we kept using it, best darned 2D viewer ever. At least for what we needed, which was show the drawing exactly as it was last saved.