After writing the above, I decided to play a little (all the next are in asm mode, picking faces of a model). At first I was a little bummed for being so out of touch, but now I think that maybe I didn't miss something in a 'what's new' demo? Because it lacks, um, consistency (or any documentation I could find in the HELP). Could this RMB shortcut stuff be a microsoft thingy, like the shortcuts for navigating the standard drop-down menus?
'P', which I use for 'Plane' actually invokes 'open file' (huh?) 'I' inverts selection. 'O' opens the part I selected through RMB in the assembly into a seperate window (useful! but open part is usually easy to find) 'R' - recent commands (not so useful... I think... must noodle on that one) 'E'-kicks you into 'edit part' mode. And out. 'T' - delete 'U' - suppress component 'A' - something about an archive folder (PDM?) 'D' - Mate (??? especially since 'M' doesnt appear to do anything ) 'F' - add configuration (???) 'G' - jumps the highlight to 'goto component in tree'. I'll use this one if I can remember it. 'H' - hide (natch) 'K' - edit sketch 'L' - looks like 'view mates' 'Z' - drop down zoom menu (not so useful to me - I like the exsiting keyboard commands, middle mouse button stuff, or toolbars) 'C' - shange transparency (How often do I use that!!! I like that one!!!) 'V' - shows the mates that apply to that component... maybe (some are the same, some are not??? Could be an asm and subasm thing? I can't figure it out and don't want to blow my groove trying to) 'B' - zebra stripes. I have made my feelings about zebra stripes plain over the years, so no ed-gasms on this one. 'N' - replace component. Handy, but 'N'?
-------------------------------- Now is where this will get awkward, because (a) for some reason I am enthralled and am continuing this exploration and (b) things are different in part from assembly.
In assemblies, W does nothing. In parts, it invokes the 'open part' command. In assemblies, 'o' invokes open part - in parts, its rollaback. 'P' suppresses the selected feature.
More in parts RMB clicking a face ( I really don't want to start looking into edges, verteces, bodies, junk in the tree, etc) 'U' in part starts curvature display or turns it off for that face. 'E' (not 'b' as in asm) starts zebra stripes. Again, no ed-gasm. Sorry about the blue-balls for all you zebra-stripe lovers. 'H' for hide body - Rocks! 'L' is delete, oddly not 'T' as in assemblies. 'T' is edit sketch, oddly not 'K' as in assemblies 'K', strangely, does nothing in parts (obvious lack of leadership on this) 'C' - contour select 'N' starts a new sketch on the selected face
I could see most of these not being replacements in my life for actually searching for the item in the RMB menu (espeically when the key is inconsistent), but a few (like select other, change transparency, or hide/show bodies-components) I might adopt ino my workflow just to add that extra second or two of speed.
However, the kicker - the number one shortcut key I want in my life, Parent-Child - I can't activate it any way that I can see, and in 2007 beta it was still not in the list for hotkey assignmnet.
Ed