composite curve

Harry,you can still create composite curves in Pro/e Wildfire. Select a curve segment. Use the copy surface/curve tool as you were doing. The intial segment will be highlighted in red with handles, the arrow, all that good stuff. Now, the trick is selecting the other curve segments. I thought that the control key was the collector. But, in this case, it is the shift key. Hold it down and click on the other segments you want to add to the composite curve.

David Janes

Yes I tried it. You can hold the shift and can pick the second curve till hell freezes over and it won't pick it. For some reason known only to PTC you have to hold the shift and pick the first curve A-G-A-I-N and then you can pick the second curve. Harry

Did you try the control key to pick the second one? The thing that seemed strange to me was using the shift key at all. It isn't the usual accumulator key, unless you have a chain and want to pick the first, last and everything in between. Control key, as accumulator, is usually for just two or randomly selecting individual entities. Or maybe this is just a bug. Talk to PTC about it?

Good luck, David Janes

Just thought I'd add (newbie observations) that what happens when you press the key also depends on what is or isn't highlighted at the time.

If the mouse is positioned to cause the one-by-one to highlight (preselect ON, color turns from red to cyan on my system); (1) the highlight changes, (2) you "lock in" one-by-one mode and can (holding ) add or remove curve segments.

If the original one-by-one isn't highlighted when is pressed it dumps you out of one-by-one mode and into one of the "loop" modes which can be cycled through with rmb.

According to Help > Fundamentals > Working with the Model > Selection >

...Chains.... you can initiate another one-by-one by pressing and picking an edge. I couldn't get this to work, but maybe it's only available while some other function (other than copy) is active (?).

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One of the cool things about new revs is that, it doesn't matter how long you've used the software, you get bumped out of the safe and familiar, into unknown territory. We all become newbies again. It can be quite disconcerting, IMO, depending on how much you valued your safe and familiar ground, the one where you were confident, competent and had most of the answers. It's hard to leave that but I'm enjoying the progress the software is making.

: If the mouse is positioned to cause the one-by-one to highlight (preselect ON, : color turns from red to cyan on my system); (1) the highlight changes, : (2) you "lock in" one-by-one mode and can (holding ) add or : remove curve segments. : You're right about the selection process being key to everything in those functions that have gone object/action.

: If the original one-by-one isn't highlighted when is pressed it dumps : you out of one-by-one mode and into one of the "loop" modes which can be : cycled through with rmb. : Here's the only way I could get a composite curve created with 'Edit>Copy':

1) Preselect (highlights cyan), then select (highlights red) one curve segment. (More than one selected and 'Copy' stays greyed out.) 2) Pick menus 'Edit>Copy', selected segment shows thick red with t=0, chain, t=0 on arrows. 3) With shift key held down, pick next segment. End point (t=0) jumps to end of second segment. 4) Continue until all segments picked. End point of approximate composite curve keeps jumping to end of new segment. 5) Click the green check to finish.

If there's another way to do this, I'd like to know.

: According to Help > Fundamentals > Working with the Model > Selection >

: ...Chains.... you can initiate another one-by-one by pressing and : picking an edge. I couldn't get this to work, but maybe it's only available : while some other function (other than copy) is active (?). : This may only apply to surface/solid edge chains, not curve chains.

David Janes

---------------- With you so far.

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-------------------- Here's where it diverges. I was / am picking solid / surface edges, though, and that's probably the reason.

What I have to do at this point, if I want a 1x1 chain is hover over the selected edge (first chain segment) so it turns cyan and a "One-by-One Chain" tooltip shows. Then I press and pick the next edge segment. I had thought, as did Harry, that it was then necessary to re-pick the original segment. That's no so, but it works if you do.

If the initial edge segment / 1x1 chain isn't highlighted (cyan and the tool tip) pressing will kick you into a mode where Surface Loop, Surface Loop From To or Tangent Chain are the available creation options. You can cycle thru the modes with the rmb screen menu (or just by right clicking, I think).

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I think if I had my druthers, I'd prefer to see slider menus in the dash panel for creation options. It would be easier for the uninitiated (that's me) to fathom and not rely so heavily on graphics feedback that can be a problem with some video cards. But, this'll work....... 8~)

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Ok, now I understand. It's (Ctrl key) usage is demonstrated in a PTC Suggested Technique for boundary blends. If, for instance, the blend is to be between two datum curves (each containing multiple curve segments) the collector is used to define the 1st Direction / first chain, is pressed to start the 1st Direction / second chain, to collect the segments .... and so on.

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The only thing I'm sure about with the new selection process is this:

a) you could use a whole damn course on it.

b) it seems to vary from one function to another (accumulator keys, order, cycling through selections) so it doesn't work the same when making a composite curve and an edge chain of surface edges or when selecting boundary curves of a surface by boundary.

c) prehighlighting is key: if it will prehighlight, you can select it, whatever key you are using for an accumulator. In other words, you need an accumulator because there's more than one segment to select; you press the ctrl key, but it doesn't prehighlight ~ well, then, that's not the accumulator key. Try another one.

David Janes

You said that right! Overall, I really do like Wildfire much, much better now that I've used it more. But I have to admit that the selection process has taken some 'getting used to'. :-)

S.T.