What’s New in NX | Model Based Definition

NX™ software delivers advanced capabilities to support Model Based Definition (MBD) deployments by connecting engineering and production with significant innovation. The portfolio is comprised of two solutions, the NX Product & Manufacturing Information (NX PMI) solution and the NX Model Based Definition (NX MBD) solution. The combination of NX PMI and NX MBD is best-in-class, enabling you to create a complete digital definition of a product within a 3D model and build the richest, most comprehensive digital twin. This blog focuses on the latest release of NX, with an update on enhancements made to support Model Based Definition deployments. Let’s get started!

PMI authoring enhancements

The latest release includes PMI authoring enhancements, focused on improved usability and workflow efficiency. One of the more significant enhancements is the new Feature Control Frame (FCF) command user interface. Changes made include a dramatically simplified main FCF dialog, a context tab UI and on-screen object handles, allowing access to additional options. 

Capabilities include support for reordering compound datums and indicators, enhanced compound datum reference specification and text entry, dialog memory support for frames, additional standards-compliant symbols, and support for defining the sequence of symbols in an FCF.

Other PMI authoring enhancements include a new UI for PMI balloons, additional PMI support for Feature Templates, face selection for chamfer dimensions and more. These changes enable NX users to have more freedom and control within their workflow, while seeing rapid updates as they go.

Automation productivity gains

The MBD Logic Editor is a powerful interactive diagramming tool for defining and editing rules that can be used to perform various tasks, including authoring PMI. Several new UI, functional and workflow improvements have been made in the latest release focused on increasing the number automation possibilities.

Enhancements include additional automated authoring and modification of feature control frames, tolerance formatting controls, preservation of downstream node connections during rule authoring and new, out-of-the-box production-ready MBD rules!

PMI Advisor custom checks

The PMI Advisor is fully integrated in NX and provides validation and notification for immediate verification that PMI is compliant with industry and company standards. The PMI Advisor provides a comprehensive set of validation checks and in the latest release now supports the ability to create custom validation checks. Creating custom checks enables companies to produce and enforce company internal rules. Custom checks can be stored as a custom configuration allowing companies to deploy different rule sets.

NX Technical Data Package

The NX Technical Data Package (NX TDP) is a fully integrated solution for publishing technical data packages from NX. NX TDP provides functionality to publish to industry recognized formats 3D PDF, JT plus PDF and STEP. Alongside this, you can create, modify, save, store and reuse technical data package templates.

The solution is supported in native and managed mode and delivers automation for batch processing.

In our latest release, we have made a few enhancements to this, based on feedback from you! There is a new behavior for resizing TDP template objects. Prior to this enhancement when a handle on one of the template objects was dragged, the TDP template object was resized symmetrically. However, in the latest release we enhanced the resize mechanism for TDP template objects to perform an explicit resize based on handle selection for create and edit workflows.