SpaceClaim 2016.1 Check for updates

Haven’t posted about SpaceClaim in awhile, but man, this most recent version is brutal. Performance is the absolute pits and the program frequently locks up. Still trying to get to the bottom of everything, but will probably have to go back to the previous version. This is doubling concerning as SpaceClaim announced that they weren’t necessarily going to make their file format backward compatible anymore. (I think I am remembering this right from a recent webinar).

One thing I’ve noticed while poking around is that SpaceClaim will ping an update server (updater.spaceclaim.com which ultimately resolves to zipservers.com) regardless of whether or not the ‘Check for software updates’ option is checked.

You can manually disable this behavior by adding a setting (“ForceOfflineActivation” -> true) to your config file, but really? Why should I have to do that?

Weekend model

One ‘go-to’ component that I frequently rely on are Wago’s Lever Nuts. Often I’ll need to determine whether or not I have enought room in a cavity for this product. Unfortunately, Wago doesn’t provide solid models of their products (boo) so I spent a couple of hours this weekend modeling one up:

I tried to get as close as I could to the actual product without spending a ton of time and I think I got close enough for government work as my dad used to say:

You can see that the orange levers on my model (right) are a bit too wide compare to a photo of the actual product (left), but other that that, not too shabby. This model will serve its purpose in allowing me insight into whether or not I will be able to fit a Lever Nut or two into any given design. A fun little project for a snowy weekend.

SpaceClaim Pull

Another feature request… Every so often I think I’m in Section mode when in fact I’m in Sketch mode. When I then try to pull some piece of geometry I get automatically kicked to 3D mode losing my work plane which is a bit of a hassle. I’d like an option wherein if I try to pull something while in Sketch mode, the default would be to flip to Section mode mainting the current work plane. I say this option would be pretty handy, you?

SpaceClaim Cylinder & Sphere Insert

A version or so back the fine folks at SpaceClaim introduced an option to always have the ‘No Merge’ option in effect for Pull operations. Joyous was that day. A request to have the same option available when inserting a Cylinder or Sphere. Simple enough, yes?

SpaceClaim 2012

A couple of quick highlights for this user-

Hyperlinks in Notes. It’s good to see the feature request queue getting flushed as upon review it looks like I made this request over two years ago. Going forward I would like to see indication of a notes hyperlink status on the note itself rather than having to look down at the status bar. I think it would be easy enough to change the mouse pointer to indicate a hyperlink but then again I’m not the one writing the software either. I’d also like to see the flexibilty to add a hyperlink to text fragments and not just the note as a whole. I wonder what it would take to be able to apply a CSS style sheet to the hyperlinked text…

OpenType fonts! A one line mention of this new capability was a hidden gem in the release notes for me. I opened a ticket on this issue last fall so it was nice to see this enhanced capability.

A shell extension with live interactivity. This is really nice. A fast way to look at parts without firing up the application. Strangely, there is no description of this feature other than a one line blurb at the top of the document. There also doesn’t appear to be an detailed description of API enhancements other than a bulleted list in the summary section.

55 pages of release notes to review and digest, whew! So far no problems opening up any of my existing models; smooth sailing thus far. Thanks to Spaceclaim for another release.

SpaceClaim misc

How is it that I’ve not stumbled across this setting until only recently? What a boon to my navigation in SpaceClaim. I think at some point I just need to take the time and go through the options one by one just to see what I can find. I think it would be a no brainer to try this combo out.

Another more recent add to the SpaceClaim arsenal is the auto backup feature. This feature has saved me more than once most recently this morning. Keep this box checked for sure.

Coloring between the lines

SpaceClaim (v.latest) seems to be having problems staying in the lines when in Sketch or Section Mode (click to embiggen)-

Looks like I first posted on this issue over two years ago.

SC2011+ Units precision

Measuring two faces… the status bar gets the precision right; unfortunately the Measure tool doesn’t—

MEASURE TOOL OPTIONS … RIGHT IN FRONT ON MY BLOODY FACE. RIGHT THEN, SOLDIERING ON.

Origin after Resume

Trim Tribulations

Given a curve and an intersecting line as shown below (SpaceClaim Style 2010), I am trying to use the Trim Away tool to remove the shorter segment to the left of the point of intersection. The segment that the tool chooses as the ‘most appropriate’ to remove terminates nowhere near the point of intersection. In fact, as one can plainly see, there is no feature at all at the end of the green segment candidate.

This behavior is something that I’ve lived with as an annoyance for quite awhile, but I’ll throw it out there now and ask if anyone else sees this behavior and how do you deal with it?