Are we there yet? (HBPM status please)

History-Based Parametric Modeling Beta
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Hi Shapr,

Despite the title/subject, this is not a nagging post :slight_smile:
But I wonder if you could please share a top level status??? E.g. are you 40% or 90% as far as both feature and stability from releasing the HBPM version.

Maybe you could even share some of the remaining major milestones left?? If any?

I’m also aware, that such release is not the target/end goal, but rather just the beginning of HBPM.

I have a few things I hope is in the pipeline, but not sure if I should start posting them or better wait and see??? Or if they each have their own post…??

Things like:

  1. Undo/redo history not retained if model is closed.
  2. Extrude tool 2.0. Direct to Object/point, without editing via the history.
  3. UI change to History edit. Add small “Done” & “Cancel” buttons in the box.
  4. Automatically pick the new/updated face after sketch edit brakes extrude/sweep/revolve.
  5. Show/Edit Text tool options/parameters under Sketch in History

Long version

  1. Undo/redo history not retained if model is closed. E.g. if you need to open another to get a measurement/dimension.
    This is mainly a issue in sketch mode as the 3D stuff is in the history tree, but there is nothing for the sketches. There probably shouldn’t been either (anything in the tree) but I’d really like to see the undo/redo buttons working

  2. Extrude tool 2.0. Direct to Object/point, without editing via the history.
    With Parametric modeling, it becomes important to better control Extrude length. So I’d like to have a way to Extrude to object or point directly. Either being able to switch mode by clicking the extrude tool button an extra time. Like you can with many of the tother tools. Scale (uniform/non-uniform) Offset (single/loop)
    But even better, an extra “handle” (arrow) on the model, so you can pick either one or the other, depending on what you need. Would make it an seemless and easy choice.

  3. UI change to the History edit. Add small “Done” & “Cancel” buttons inside the history box.
    When you are picking e.g. a new face for extrude, I’d argue it’s more intuitive to (also) have a set of Done/cancel buttons right where you select edit.
    Ok Ok, I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but if too me several tries to realise the buttons came up on the left. All my focus was on the right. And a further few weeks to get used to it…

  4. Automatically pick the new face after sketch edit brakes extrude/sweep/revolve/.
    With HBPM you can edit the sketch and have the bode follow. Great, that’s the whole point… But it breaks way too easily, giving a lot of extra unnecessary clean up after.
    As of now, you can only change the dimension of the existing sketch. If you add a new feature and cut the original face boundary with the trim tool, then the chain is broken. Even is 99% of the original face is unchanged. With all the “AI” we have today, that should easily be able to be made clever.
    Either just use the new face, if it’s xx% similar to the old one. Say 51% or 75%, maybe even configurable.
    Have a dialog pop up to ask you to pick the new face. Either when you break it with the trim tool or when you exit sketch.
    BTW: The same issue applies to patterns. Maybe even worse, as there is no way to fix it, unless you delete the pattern constraint and AFAIK, there is not easy way to delete all copies??

  5. Show/Edit Text tool options/parameters under Sketch in History.
    Currently it’s not possible to edit text, once it’s placed. Would be nice if it was listed in the history tree, under the sketch it’s on.
    And/or make a “text constraint” similar to the pattern, where you can click any item (master/child) and get access to the param’s.
    I guess this is not really a HBPM think, but more a request for Text tool 2.0.

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Hi @jnygaard.dk , we are working on the finishing touches before rolling it out to everyone. New users are already getting the HBPM version, and soon it will be available for everyone.

We don’t plan to implement this feature in the mid term.

This already works, just drag the arrow on any object.

Thanks for the feedback we keep improving the user interface.

We keep working on making the naming algorithm (the algorithm that’s responsible for tracking such changes) more robust. It is an extremely complex problem, and while we can make it much better than it is today, it’s never going to be perfect. Unfortunately this is one of the shortcomings of parametric modeling.

Making text sketches editable is a planned improvement, although I can’t give you an exact delivery date.

1 Like
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Thanks for the update @Istvan Much appreciated.

ref 2) Extrude tool. Tried that a few weeks back but it didn’t seem to work. Although something new happens. But it looks like I wasn’t persistent enough… It does kinda work, but defaults to “new body” even when cutting through the body the sketch is on and using itself as object. So it looks like nothing happens, which may have fooled me. In any case, I dismissed it as not being done yet.

I just did some more tests now, and I’m sorry to say, but it looks a bit undercooked to me.

  1. The default type should be as it would for a “distance” to the same point.

  2. Don’t seem to be possible to use another face on the same body. Picks the whole “object” and always goes all the way. Same if you point to another body. You can pick a specific face.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXdbMqx54GA

  3. Does not play nicely with Offset Face. It seems to only change the extrude, if you change the Sketch.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PplqQaOQjfo

  4. The whole “extend to object” seems to be broken. At least how I did it and would expect it to work. Maybe the Offset Face issue again. But this face is defined by another extrude. Not just a Sketch.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VX_0TV7gkc

When looking in the history, it’s correctly set to “Extend: To object” and clicking edit on “object”, shows the face correctly set. So shouldn’t it change the extrude, when I offset the face???
5) Why can you select more than one face, when doing the edit object??? An extrude can only go to one point, right?? Or is there some fancy use-case I’ve missed?

PS: Been meaning to create another post, asking if Offset Face should update the sketch. In most cases I’d think it makes sense to do so. Or at least have the option to.