{"id":26002,"date":"2015-07-16T09:55:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T13:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/?p=26002"},"modified":"2016-08-31T12:18:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T16:18:07","slug":"parametric-or-history-free-modeling-why-not-both-with-direct-editing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2015\/07\/parametric-or-history-free-modeling-why-not-both-with-direct-editing.html","title":{"rendered":"Parametric or History-Free Modeling? Why Not Both with Direct Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I was first exposed to parametric CAD in 1995, I immediately saw the promise this modeling technique offered.\u00a0 No more add, subtract, union Boolean operations.\u00a0 No more user coordinate systems just to sketch some geometry.<\/p>\n<p>Coming from a manufacturing background, I quickly became comfortable defining some stock material, and then refining it using parametric features.\u00a0 Sure, under the hood I was still doing Boolean modeling, but it sure seemed faster, easier and much more fun. Finally, software that thought the way I did!<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward 20 years, I\u2019m still a huge parametric modeling fan, but I\u2019ve also encountered that feeling of dread when a late change to a model requires dramatic design alterations.\u00a0 History-free editing has proven useful in these types of situations, however, it also has limitations.<\/p>\n<p>By mixing these two techniques together, users can leverage the strengths that each approach provides.\u00a0 Of course, direct editing is also very useful for modifying imported solid geometry that does not include any parametric feature data.\u00a0 Fortunately, SOLIDWORKS 3DEXPERIENCE solutions combine both parametric and direct editing into a seamless, single modeling environment, giving you the best of both worlds!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parametric &amp; Direct Editing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this example, a parametric model that was built using symmetric design intent.\u00a0 A change has been requested to create a new version that is asymmetrical.\u00a0 Perhaps a simple task for an expert user, but direct editing can make this easy for a novice.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-assets.solidworks.com\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/direct_editing_comparison.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see in the feature tree shown above, the \u2018Extrude.1\u2019 feature was converted into a new feature called \u2018Direct-Edit.1\u2019.\u00a0 All of the parametric features created later in the design history have been maintained.<\/p>\n<p>Performing more complex edits is just as simple.\u00a0 Perhaps you need to change the tabs to be angled.\u00a0 By adding direct edit constraints, you can easily control the editing behavior.\u00a0 When the constraints are no longer required, you can hide or permanently delete them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-assets.solidworks.com\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/complex_edit.png\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\">\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N2l8YSWykXU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Direct Editing of Imported Geometry:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With <strong>SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer<\/strong> and<strong> Industrial Designer <\/strong>you can also make quick work of changes to imported models that don\u2019t contain feature history.<\/p>\n<p>When converting imported geometry, you have the option of recognizing fillets and chamfers.\u00a0 Once converted to parametric features, you can roll back the feature tree before these complex features.\u00a0 This can make direct editing operations much easier to perform.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-assets.solidworks.com\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/import_model.png\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-assets.solidworks.com\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/roll_back.png\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The single modeling environment allows users to build models using a parametric, history-based approach combined with the flexibility of direct editing (where you push and pull features). Unlike other solutions, these two methods can be mixed in a single model, providing rapid development without sacrificing model intelligence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\">\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oCjN2l3x4js?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>SOLIDWORKS Conceptual Designer<\/strong> and<strong> Industrial Designer<\/strong> are the safest and most reliable choices to compliment your <strong>SOLIDWORKS Desktop<\/strong> design environment.\u00a0 They offer unique workflows and functionalities that expand your design toolbox and enable you to get your job done.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about direct editing and\u00a0the single modeling environment in this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/sw\/empowering-conceptual-design-form.htm?mktid=7457\">&#8220;Empowering Conceptual Design via the Single Modeling Environment&#8221;<\/a> whitepaper.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BEGIN KAPOST ANALYTICS CODE --><\/p>\n<p><!-- var _kaq = _kaq || []; _kaq.push([2, \"551dea41b2c2a8f9080003c7\", \"546cc71879d2154a3400012c\"]); (function(){ var ka = document.createElement('script'); ka.async=true; ka.id=\"ka_tracker\"; ka.src=\"https:\/\/analytics.kapost.com\/ka.js\"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ka, s); })(); \/\/--><\/p>\n<p><!-- END KAPOST ANALYTICS CODE --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was first exposed to parametric CAD in 1995, I immediately saw the promise this modeling technique offered.\u00a0 No more add, subtract, union Boolean operations.\u00a0 No more user coordinate systems just to sketch some geometry. Coming from a manufacturing<\/p>\n... <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2015\/07\/parametric-or-history-free-modeling-why-not-both-with-direct-editing.html\">Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":26162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[563,2034],"tags":[594,2030,1924],"class_list":["post-26002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-computing","category-solidworks-conceptual-designer","tag-cloud-computing-2","tag-conceptual-designer","tag-industrial-designer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}