Decal editor

Ed Eaton can:

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems

It should be that hard, the interface sucks!

In the old PWx, mapping decals had an ugly, ugly interface. But, with perseverance, you could get your mind around it. We finally worked it out and put together our findings in a tutorial that can be found at

- with that info, there isn't a single decal that I couldn't nail really quickly (except, of course, ones that would require pretty complex UV mapping, and even then the steps required for the workarounds were fairly easy to figure out because the rules were known)

The Pwx-2 interface appears to be, believe it or not, worse. I've got a lot of it worked out, but there is stuff that is still baffling, and I frankly haven't had the time to give it the same detailed attention.

I can help with a couple of tips- Looking at our tutorial will help a little, because some of the same illogic is used in the new one as in the old one, with some of the details turned around. For instance, to center a decal on the face, PWx-2 requires that the offset be the positive of half of the height and width in vertical and horizontal instead of the NEGATIVE of half of the height and width in the old PWx. Of course, this means that if you INCREASE the offset today the decal moves in the NEGATIVE x or y instead of the expected positive (as intuition will tell you), but you should be able to figure it out. The big important thing is centering- once you can see the decal, experiments in small increments will help you get through the last little bit.

One of the big things to avoid is changing the reference for mapping - leave it at XY (the other options, XZ and YZ, change the mapping reference to perpendicular across or down the face or view you are looking at, which is some of the least intuitive stuff I have ever seen. I am not alone on my interpretation - combined, a SW tech guy in Concord and I spent 6 man hours in beta trying to figure this out. Just don't touch it. I also *think* if you change it then change it back it doesn't go back to the same mapping, but it might have been fixed)

The best thing that ever happened to me was understanding that 'current view' was my best friend when mapping a decal. It took all sorts of variables out of the equation - just set the view exactly like you would a slide projector projection the decal onto the model, and everything else was a snap. No need to mirror, and moving decals became limited and pretty intuitive. You might want to see if it still helps with the new Pwx - I can't remember (and I don't have the latest at home)

Lots of well-intentioned folks will tell you to use a split line on your model to help you locate a decal. I strongly, strongly urge that you do not. There are other techniques in the tutorial, using temporary surfaces, that do the same job without running the risk of permanently munging your model database. Remember, when you add a split line, mates to adjacent edges and faces will fail, many child features (if you roll back before adding the split line) will erupt in blood, and any features you add after will be 'HARD' children (its practically impossible to edit out the reference without some of the deliberate sabotage techniques I've talked about on this newsgroup). Extraneous Split lines can and will cause fillets, lofts, and even some shells to fail unnecessarily. The split line camp is legitimate, and they mean well, but I know for a fact that there are better ways that will get the same results, they take about the same time, and do not put the manufacturing database in peril for the sake of a darn picture.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes, and what you learn - we all need some help on this subject

-Ed

Editorial addendum: I am bothered that SW knows how to make a really good interface for placing and scaling an image (the sketch picture dialog) yet can not adapt that to PWx decals. I am weary of this. It has gone on too long.

Thank you for this comprehensive response, I will download the tutorials and work through them today and let you know how I get on.

Brian Law

I have found that creating an Offset Surface Feature by a small amount....05 or so, and applying my decal to the surface FEATURE [do not select the model] makes the process very easy. Using the Current View with Planer setting, it will drop decals on curved surfaces very quickly. I also create configurations using several surfaces that I shut on and off. This comes in very handy when setting up product variations in assemblies.

You can also create a Knit Surface feature composed of many contoured surfaces, and then create the Offset Feature described above based on your Knit feature.

dave