Show-n-Tell™

Show-N-Tell™ For Learning

Show-n-Tell™ virtually eliminates the cost of learning a new product. Show-n-Tell™ is built into VX CAD/CAM for on screen step-by-step lessons that work like a 3D book. Users can step back and forth through tutorial steps with a click of a button. All instructions are on screen eliminating the need to flip back to a video or hold a book open. 3D models, showing the expected result, can be rotated and zoomed, giving the user better feedback and understanding. Users work at their own pace, not that of an instructor, so no one gets left behind.

You can find the Show-n-Tell tutorials to the left of the HELP Menu and in the Learning Center.

Design Review

Models & drawings can be marked up with annotation and dimensioning tools, then the author can take quick snapshots with Show-n-Tell™ to send back to his customer or over to an engineer for inspection and correction.

Assembly Instructions

Assembly sequence can be captured simply by using Show-n-Tell™ to take snapshots of the layers of the components for each step in the assembly. The author can also employ the annotation tools to give special assembly instructions

Design Intent / Knowledge Capture

VX Show-n-Tell™ provides a medium to communicate "tricks of the trade" experience, not just "how" something is done but also "why" it's done a particular way. Drawing notes, comments, formulas, and intent can be captured with the 3D Model, assembly and drawings using Show-n-Tell™ authoring tools.

VX Innovator

VX Innovator is an excellent foundational product that contains a great set of modeling and assembly tools for conceptual and mechanical design. It comes with a built-in learning system that works like a 3D book. Users can learn VX at their own pace and on their own schedule. Innovator utilizes the same VX Overdrive kernel as all other VX products, ensuring a rock solid foundation and a seamless upgrade path. You also get open shape modeling and basic surfacing tools as well as a complete set of translators. 

VX Innovator provides you with all of the tools necessary for creating and delivering 2D drawing layouts of parts and assemblies including BOMs. It is also a fantastic tool for engineering managers and design reviewers to check drawings and models created with VX Designer, Mold & Die or models developed with other CAD systems.

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VX 3D Machinist

3D Machinist provides a complete overview of the entire manufacturing process associated with a product design. The included CAM tools are not 3rd party solutions or external modules; they are seamlessly integrated with the hybrid modeling kernel and take full advantage of its characteristics. QuickMill offers dramatic speed and tool path improvements for mold and die machining applications - yet has exceptional ease of use to minimize training and support. VX supports a full range of material handling and cutting techniques to allow complex milling in 3D. 3D Machinist also provides the full set of hybrid modeling, assembly and detail drawing tools found in VX Designer.

Integrated Quicktips and Highlights

• QuickTips™ gives users answers to common questions and productivity tips. QuickTips™ is launched the first time VX 14 is launched and can be found to the left of the help menu.


• Highlights gives users a complete VX product overview and can also be found to the left of the help menu.

Sketch with DCM

D-Cubed™ Constraint Manager

• Ease of use
• Improves sketch reliability

Sketch Drag

• Ease of use
• 2D Linkages
• Allows user to play "what if" scenarios

New Sketch Functions

• Tangent constraints arcs/lines to splines
• Real time curvature plot
• It is now possible to make fillets on 2D/3D curves inside one curve, to remove sharp corners in a spline

Offset "Drag"

• Speeds up design
• Reduces design effort
• Improved productivity

Sketcher allows for negative values (14.01)

• Designers now have greater flexibility when making changes to sketches. Rather than deleting stretching and re-dimensioning sketches, now users can simply change an existing dimension from a positive to a negative value.
• This is just one more way that VX helps reduce sketching time.

DWG and DXF

• All modern AutoCAD standards
• DWG is now up to ten times faster
• More accurate and complete translation (support for long file and part names)

DWG and DXF improvements to text handling (14.01)

• Improved text placement on import
• Better handling of special characters

All-new STEP™ Translator (14.01)

• New STEP translator Supports AP 203 and 214 (default export format is AP214) to meet customer requests and is based on toolkit licensed from Parasolid.
• Supports assemblies and has improved trimming and conversion of primitive surface types (torus, sphere, cone, and cylinder) on import and export. Primitive surfaces make it easier for users to detail and assemble imported step files.
• To give users the maximum control there is a switch to export an assembly as separate components, or as shapes in one part.

All-new Parasolid™

• Import and export of parts and assemblies
• Auto-sew option on import – forces a sew
• More accurate and complete translations (support for long file and part names)

All translators see continued improvement on importing foreign data.

• Overall import logic refined to reduce the number of open edges and improve primitive shape (holes, bosses, spheres, etc.) identification.

Redefine Section and Detail View

• Allows tweaking of previously created views
• Speeds 2D drawing creation

15. BoM, Hole and Electrode Tables

• Label control (CW, CCW, Closest)
• Exclude labels from one side
• Allows post-creation editing
• Modifications to balloon locations and table attributes are retained after table regens

16. Table Enhancements

• More fields available in BOM
• User can choose column field to use for labels
• Easier to use “Sort By” option
• Better default balloon locations.
• Added a new “Do not list in BOM” part attribute.
• Less work to insert tables with table origin options available at the time of insertion.

Balloon Dimensions

• Border stretches to match text length

Layout part views using calculated "center"

• Easier layout of assembly parts when working from an assembly datum

Creaseless Dome

• Much smoother
• Superior corner blending
• Increased aesthetics

Dome supports heart-shaped regions (14.01)

• Improved support for heart-shape regions
• Dome gives designers even more modeling flexibility and reduces design effort

Morph

• Concave and cornered shapes
• Morphed shapes can be easily shelled and filleted
• Maintains tangency between faces

Real time Rendering

• Set a texture to a shape
• All features inherit the texture
• Speeds design productivity

Fillet Improvements

• Improved corner tangency and smoothness
• New cases: Inner/outer, better elliptical smoothness

Pattern Enhancements

• The easy-to-handle, shaded echo allows picking of features for elimination
• Better visualization makes life easier
• Pattern-on-face speeds design decisions

Importing Sheet Metal parts (14.05)

• Improved unfolding of sheet metal parts imported as foreign parts.

Direct Edit Enhancements allow for faster editing of imported parts.

• The Simplify command can now quickly close open edges of faces. Surfaces are sewn automatically.

Mass Properties

• Faster and more accurate

New Simplify Engine

• Resolves ambiguity
• Enhanced user experience

Draft Improvements

• Self-intersections automatically removed
• Speeds design of molded parts

Built-in Learning easier to access

• Electrode blank sizes are now dynamically computed and better match the electrode size.

Baloon Text - Annotation

• Useful for documentation
• Great for Show-n-Tell™

Balloon Text forced to always visible

• This is dynamic, so the text will remain in front even as the view changes.
• Communication is not lost. Annotations on part models will remain visible whether it be in a 3D tutorial or on a design review document.

Annotation improvements aid communication for Review/markup, assembly instructions and tutorial authoring.

• JPG images can be inserted into the new balloons for better communication
• Balloons/labels can be forced to remain in the front of the display, even in front of highlighted faces.

Axis and arrows display

• Improved user experience

Improved Print and Plot

• Microsoft standard interface
• Separate form for print and plot
• Updated preview ability

Easy Dynamic Viewing

• Simpler intuitive rotate and pan commands improve first use experience.
• Hold LMB for dynamic pan
• Hold RMB for dynamic rotate

Consolidation of Inquire

• Simple to use Inquire Tool bar
• Groups commonly used commands

Easy-to-use light control

• Spherical placement automatically
• Groups commonly used commands

Heal and Analyze

• Menus were combined into single button and form.
• Reduces number of picks and confusion between the two commands
  • Analyze evaluates the model giving the user feedback, but does not perform the automated healing
  • Heal applies the automated healing action to the model and will appear as a feature in the history tree.

Built-in Learning easier to access

• QuickTips and Show-n-Tell menus have been elevated to the main menu bar and are now easier to find.
• QuickTips has been updated to reflect GUI changes providing more helpful information to VX Customers on some of the common questions and hidden tricks.
• Show-n-Tell™ now has an open button that defaults to *.vxs making it easier for users to run Show-n-Tell™ 3D Tutorials that they have downloaded from www.vx.com/learn.cfm
• VX Highlights Overview has also been elevated to the Main menu making it easier to find.

Visualization Improvements enhance overall modeling experience

• Dashed hidden line mode is now available during shading. This button can be found next to shading button on top menu bar.
• Dashed lines are instantly available for selection through shaded faces.

Fast Drawing Layout and CAM Plan setup

• Since V11, parts/assemblies could be quickly sent to a drawing layout and CAM Plan by right-clicking on the screen from the part/assembly and choose CAM Plan or 2D drawing, using a default template.
• Users can now be much more productive with this enhancement because they can choose from a list of their favorite templates.
• Parts/assemblies are automatically populated into your new CAM Plan or detail drawing with 4 view layout.

AVI Support

• Animations output to AVI

Mechanical Library

• Trace Parts
• CAD Register

GUI Enhancements

• Improved "Handiness"

Improved data management

• Name changes to Stock, Target Part and Attachments are automatically tracked, so that users can spend less time managing files.

Spreadsheet Interface

• Ease of use
• Speeds programming decisions

New Tool Types

• Lollipop, Corner-round, T-slot and Wheel

Solid Verification

• Up to 10 times faster

5-axis Enhancements

• Swarf cut supports lollipops and wheel cutters
• 5-axis side-cut also

2-axis Enhancements

• Vacuum forming

5x Sidecut operation improvements

• A new field “Cutting Height” has been added
  • Specifies the height along the cutter body which should be used for controlling contact with the geometry. Option is available when the tool axis control is set to Contact or Tip.
• Toolpath waves removed creating smooth toolpath by default.
• Improvements made to 5X Sidecut using drive curves to cut tubular shapes.
  • Top and Bottom positions can be defined along the Drive Curve
  • Containment surfaces are avoided by default o Tool Path End position will, by default, return to the Start position.

5x Swarfcut operation improvements

• Better cutting of small fillets with very small tools eliminates extra moves and extraneous cutting.
• Better corner cutting removing any unnecessary motions reducing airtime.

Hole Drilling supports simultaneous spot drilling

• Hole making is now even faster
• A new “Chamfer Length” option has been added to Drill operations and Intelligent Hole Making Tactics. This enforces the chamfer length in the Radial direction for spot drilling, so that a counter sink can be performed in the same operation.

Intelligent Feature Machining (Mill2 Tactic)

• Automatic operation and tool selections based on 2D part features reduces programming time and effort
• Now even faster calculation times for 2-axis feature machining (beta)

CAM Visualization to help better communicate manufacturing plans.

• The CAM Plan supports Lights. CAM operators can now take advantage of any lighting configurations utilized by designers or they can add their own lighting to improve the appearance of solid verification and shaded display.

Get help and offer assistance in the on-line knowledge base. Real-time on-line help.

Interactive on-line help:

• VX Interactive Help integrated with VXCADBase.com
• Live content delivered in real-time as needed

Offline help available:

• Knowledge base on every VX CD
• Users view offline as needed

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