SolidWorks Rotation Center

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on Windows.

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takedownca
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Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:49 pm

SolidWorks Rotation Center

Post by takedownca »

When using the mouse to rotate the view in SolidWorks 2009 the center of rotation is automatically the center of the screen when the rotation begins. This is very intuitive and allows one to work on a small section of an assembly without the components floating off into space due to a rotation about the assembly origin.

Is there any way to replicate this behavior with my SpacePilot? The closest I've come is using the "Set Center Point" (SCP) 3Dx command. This works, but it's inefficient and tedious, as evidenced by the workflow steps below.

1) Zoom to a small portion of an assembly
2) Make sure SCP is not active
3) Select face/point that you want to rotate about
4) Activate SCP
5) Manipulate away
6) Deactivate SCP
7) Repeat 1-6 as required

It would be great if there were something similar to SCP, but triggered off of the screen center and puck motion. The most hands-off approach would be to reset the rotation center to the screen center whenever the sensor transitioned from "moving" to "not moving". That way I could make a chain of moves, as required, to get where I need to go and not have to keep hitting a button.

The other option might be a button/command that reset the rotation center to the screen center. So instead of resetting it whenever you stopped moving, it would only reset when the command was activated. Unlike SCP, this wouldn't be a toggle that made you to turn it off or on, but it would require a separate Reset Center command to return to defaults.

What do you think?
JesperW
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:22 pm

Post by JesperW »

Sounds like you've missed the Auto Rotation Center option.
(in the "3DControl > Properties..." menu)
takedownca
Posts: 71
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:49 pm

Post by takedownca »

I already use Auto Rotation Center, and it doesn't have the effect that its name implies. It seems to just change the rotation center to the model's geometric center. Working with small portions of a model is not any easier with the option enabled.
dbelflower
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:59 am

Post by dbelflower »

takedownca, I feel your pain. This has been discussed many times before on this forum, but there is no fix in the works for this problem that I know of. It works great in CATIA - a middle click with the mouse and your center of rotation is set. It is almost not worth using in SolidWorks.
takedownca
Posts: 71
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:49 pm

Post by takedownca »

I'm not designing aero or auto structures anytime soon, so using CATIA is out for now. I don't know why it's so hard getting software enhanced around here. If I had the source code for the SW addin I'd add the features myself. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to code a full blown addin myself. Hmm... maybe I can make due with a persistent macro. I'll have to check out the 3Dx API to see if they have the functions to do this. Despite a noticeable absence of 3Dx comment on this thread, I haven't given up yet.
Katalyzt
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Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 2:13 pm

Post by Katalyzt »

i wish this is implemented soon
jchorton4
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:36 pm

Post by jchorton4 »

I have the exact same gripe about using my SpacePilot with SolidWorks. The lack of a dynamically changing spin center completely offsets any sort of navigational benefit that the 3D mouse might provide. The omission of this feature for SolidWorks is totally unacceptable and I will probably return my SpacePilot because of this.
rstadie
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Post by rstadie »

Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestions, we now track this issue with ID 4683 and will take it from here.
Robert Stadie
pappy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:44 am

Still nothing

Post by pappy »

Still dosnt work in 3.7.16 version.
laurits11
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:51 pm

Post by laurits11 »

Still dosnt work in 3.7.18 version. :(
YBW
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Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 12:59 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Post by YBW »

Robert,

Could you give us a schedule for when this will be fixed, or at least tell us where to go to view the status of ID 4683?

Thanks
UtaSH
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Post by UtaSH »

Hi YBW,

our bug tracking system is not public. The status of this issue is still in progress. Unfortunately we can not give a schedule for this.
gsepp78
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:53 am

Post by gsepp78 »

This is exactly what im looking for. Any updates on this?
pappy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:44 am

Post by pappy »

The newest version 3.8.1 dosnt support this option still.
takedownca
Posts: 71
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:49 pm

Post by takedownca »

Unfortunately, it almost doesn't matter to me anymore whether they fix this or not because I will only use version 3.7.12. Anything newer has the screwed up configuration menu that won't let you assign macros to SpacePilot buttons.
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