Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to move into a new house. He rented a truck, packed up all his belongings and drove to his new place. After he drove the car into the garage and unloaded everything, he tried to leave the garage with the truck, but he did not succeed. Do you have any idea why? The solution can be found at the end of this post and it even has something to do with today’s blog topic. Well, at least to some extent.
The glorious 80s – Messi, Windows and parametric modeling
Do you still remember 1987? It was – with a few exceptions, like Black Monday – a great year. Lionel Messi and Windows 2.0 were born, Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze danced dirty dancing over dusty parquet floors, and the manufacturing industry welcomed the introduction of parametric modeling in CAD. While Lionel Messi still does his pirouettes on the football field, Windows has evolved over several generations and, like dancing, has lost some of its popularity. However, the enthusiasm for parametric modelling remains unbroken. Why there are very good reasons for this and what advantages you can gain from using the parametric module from the MySolutions Group in your company, you can find out in today’s blog post.
How does parametric modeling work?
Parametric modeling allows CAD users to design objects or systems that model component attributes with real-world behavior. Feature-based solid and surface modeling tools are used to manipulate system attributes. Thus, one of the most important features of parametric modeling is that attributes that are linked together automatically change their properties when only one value is modified. A parameterized representation is therefore particularly well suited for variant design because it allows the designer to define entire classes of shapes, not just specific instances.
Painting by numbers or modelling with mathematics
Parametric models are constructed from a series of mathematical equations. In order for these models to be realistic, they must be based on real project information. Parametric modeling involves creating mathematical relationships, called modeling functions, between sketched 2D drawings and the final body. Over time, these relationships are built upon each other so that they become interconnected. This means that a change, such as the length of a line or curve created many steps earlier can affect another relationship created much later. This is made possible by the principle of standardization of object families.
The standardization of object families
When a new variant of a model is created by parametric modeling, usually no new description is necessary, since a derivation is directly derived from the original form using dependency parameters. If required, additional parameters can be added to each object family. Thus the variation and definition area is freely adaptable. But parametric modeling can of course do much more. For example, if you browse through tool catalogs of different manufacturers, you will find the specifications for shape, angle, tolerance, type, size, thickness, etc. in identical alphanumeric parameters. Based on these clear specifications, a 2D/3D CAD geometry is created with the “Parametric Tool Module” of the MySolutions Group. By entering up to seven basic values in the tool database, the desired variant is automatically designed as a CAD graphic according to DIN/ISO.
The best systems use both parametric and direct modeling
Engineers have been arguing for ages about the correct answer to the question of which is better: direct or parametric modeling? The answer is clear, there is none. The bottom line is that both approaches are needed to deal with the complexity of today’s manufacturing requirements. The MySolutions Group makes the change from parametric to direct modeling – and back again – simple and fast. Get more information about the Parametric Module and other software for manufacturing companies from the MySolutions Group in a personal conversation!
Most readers will have already come up with the solution for the garage-keeper from the introduction, but for the sake of completeness it should be mentioned here anyway. The unloaded van was only a little higher than the garage roof. When the van was loaded with objects, its height dropped a little so that the man could drive into the garage. When the objects were unpacked, the truck was again higher than the door. So the car could no longer get out. Well, if the good man had planned his move with MySolutions, he would have noticed this error in parametric modeling.