New Features And Benefits2

Table of Contents:Table of Contents:

Interoperability 3ACIS 22 3Parasolid 24 3Dassault Systèmes Solidworks 2011 3Autodesk Inventor 2012 3Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 R21 3

Minor Enhancements 4-11KXL Programs 4

Load Canned Interface and Settings 4-6Gauge Variables 7Size Tables 8-10

Refresh Dimensions 10Materials Files (Rendering) 11Assembly Reading 11Enterprise Configuration Manager 11

Default Settings 12-18Standard Interface Files 12

Templates 13Shortcuts 13-14

Toolbars 15Context Menus 16Re-center Viewport 17Up-left Viewport Layout 17Solid Representation 17Instance Properties 18

19-20

New Features And Benefits 3

InteroperabilityInteroperability

ACIS 22

Support for the ACIS SAT and SAB file formats from DS Spatial has been enhanced to read and write version 22, the latest version of the format.

Parasolid 24

Support for the Parasolid X_T and X_B file formats from Siemens PLM has been enhanced to read version 24, the latest version of the format.

Dassault Systèmes Solidworks 2011

Support for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks has been enhanced to read version 2011.

Autodesk Inventor 2012

Support for the Inventor IPT and IAM file formats from Autodesk have been enhanced to read version 2012, the latest version of the format.

Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 R21

Support for CATIA V5 CATPART format from Dassault Systèmes has been enhanced to read and write R21, the latest version of the format. These capabilities are only available in extended translator versions of KeyCreator.

New Features And Benefits4

Minor EnhancementsMinor Enhancements

KXL Programs

KeyCreator 2011 v10.5 includes several new KXL utility programs which can be executed using the Add-ins>Play Macro/KXL function. Each of these programs is a non-complied, user-customizable script using the KXL language.

Load Canned Interface and Settings

The KeyCreator install program has been simplified to no longer ask which set of interface files to install as the default. Two alternative sets of canned interface files are still installed and can be set as the default using one of the KXL settings programs found in the KXL folder. These programs allow the interface to be easily changed after install.

V9The KeyCreator V9 interface files can be loaded using the KeyCreator9_American_Settings.KXL orKeyCreator9_International_Settings.KXL program. After the program has been run, exit KeyCreator and re-start to complete the process.

New Features And Benefits 5

• Workspace: a slightly different toolbar set and layout (shown above)• Keyboard: a set of shortcuts similar to the defaults of CADKEY 7-19 (see Help, General Interface for details)• Template: Dark blue background, a traditional CADKEY color palette, top view, C-Plane disabled• Settings: Pre-selection disabled, middle mouse button set to Backup, right mouse button set to Accept/OK

The KeyCreator V9 interface features:

The international version uses a template with millimeter units and ISO drafting standards. The American version uses a template with inch units and ANSI drafting standards.

New Features And Benefits6

ClassicThe Classic CADKEY interface files can be loaded using the CADKEY_American_Settings.KXL or CADKEY_International_Settings.KXL program. After the program has been run, exit KeyCreator and re-start to complete the process.

• Workspace: a function key-based menu (Classic mode) with traditional CADKEY options (shown at right)

• Keyboard: a set of shortcuts similar to the defaults of the DOS version of CADKEY 5 (see Help, General Interface for details)

• Template: Black background, a traditional CADKEY color palette, top view, C-Plane disabled

• Settings: Pre-selection disabled, middle mouse button set to Backup, right mouse button set to Accept/OK, CADKEY style bitmaps used for function icons

The CADKEY Classic interface features:

The international version uses a template with millimeter units and ISO drafting standards. The American version uses a template with inch units and ANSI drafting standards.

The remaining settings programs can be used to restore the default interface files which are used by the install program.

New Features And Benefits 7

Gauge Variables

Three new KXL programs provide quick access to the standard gauge sizes of wire, drills, and sheet metal. Gauge sizes are defined as over 200 KXL variables whose names can be entered into any math-enabled field in KeyCreator to call up the appropriate size value. These customizable programs are available in the KXL\Utility folder and named Wires.KXL, Drills.KXL, and Sheets.KXL. They are added to the Tools>Options>KXL>Startup list if the American template is chosen during KeyCreator installation (gauge sizes are generally not used outside the United States). Being in the startup list automatically runs these programs at the start of each KeyCreator session. Once these programs have been run once in a session the variables are available for the rest of the session.

Example – Using a Gauge Variable in Creating a Solid Wire

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This example shows the use of these variables in a part with inch units. If these variables are used in a millimeter based part the permanent KXL variable ‘in’ should be added after the value. In this example the entry ‘0.3648 in’ will evaluate to 9.26592.

Start the Create>Swept Solid>Pipe function. Type the name of the KXL variable in the Outside Diameter field.

Press Enter. KeyCreator will replace the KXL variable with the diameter value stored in the variable. This value is in inches.

New Features And Benefits8

Size Tables

New Features And Benefits 9

Size Tables cont.

New Features And Benefits10

Size Tables cont.

Refresh Dimensions

The Refresh Dimensions KXL program refreshes the measured value all selectable dimensions to the correct value. This is useful as a check on older files with numerous dimensions.

To run this program use the Add-ins>Play Macro/KXL function and select DimRefresh.KXL found in the KXL\Utility folder.

New Features And Benefits 11

Materials Files (Rendering)

Several dozen new Materials text files are included in the Textures folder. These files simplify the optional process of loading select materials into the KeyCreator rendering settings. Once loaded, these canned materials are available as icons the Materials tab of the Part Splitter window. Materials rendering settings can be applied to bodies or faces by dragging and dropping Material icons onto desired entities.

Assembly Reading

The Find Root Files function introduced in V10.0 has been enhanced with a new window tree list. This list displays the ‘root’ file at the top of each discovered assembly and all referenced parts with their file names and locations.

Users can open selected files or all files from an assembly or the whole the list.

Enterprise Configuration Manager

The new Kubotek Enterprise Configuration Manager installed with KeyCreator is a support program enabling enterprise-wide software setup and configuration for network administrators. This program allows Tools>Options settings to be configured and written to a windows registry file for distribution to multiple PCs.

New Features And Benefits12

Standard Interface Files

KeyCreator is a very customizable program containing numerous separate files which define how the program looks and how functions are accessed. The default set of these interface files has been changed for V10.5 to correspond to updated introductory materials intended primarily for new users. Some of the changes made in these defaults may be beneficial to experienced users as well.

The KeyCreator 2011 V10.5 default interface.

Default SettingsDefault Settings

New Features And Benefits 13

Templates

The most immediately obvious change in KeyCreator 2011 V10.5 is the light viewport background colors set in the template file. For contrast with a light background, darker colors are provided in the Entity Color Palette. In additional to the traditional high-contrast colors in the first two rows, this palette has also been populated with 46 Pantone colors. New highlight/selection colors have also been set to go with with the new background.

The new template also defines dimension attributes as Color 63 (black) and line width 1, line style 1 (solid). These settings allow dimensions to have consistent appearance and contrast with the light background. This is especially helpful in the process of creating bodies of different bright and light colors mixed with use of Dimension-driven Edit to modify them.

The new template starts with the construction plane set to 1 (top) and the display view set to 7 (isometric). These settings are most helpful when sketching and positioning 3D bodies.

Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts associated to specific functions and menus in KeyCreator have been simplified and re-organized to make them easier to learn. Groups of shortcuts are listed in Help>Help Topics, General Interface, Shortcut Keys. Note that most shortcut assignments have been designed to be easily accessible on the left side of the keyboard so that the right hand can stay on the mouse.

Navigational shortcuts (zoom, pan, etc.) have been specifically left out of the keyboard in the new default. The latest KeyCreator settings provide some of the industry’s most powerful navigational control using the buttons and movement of the common 3-button wheel mouse. These mouse-based methods have the advantage of quick access without looking away from the viewport.

New Features And Benefits14

Shortcuts cont.

An updated map of these mouse-based navigation capabilities:

The shortened list of keyboard shortcuts also reflects the addition of other customization capabilities over the last 10 years of KeyCreator. Keyboard bindings in dialogs and menus, custom toolbars and context menus aid users in gaining quick access to functions which they use most commonly.

New Features And Benefits 15

Toolbars

The set of controls displayed in the opening workspace has been adjusted slightly to make more complete use of available screen areas and reduce clutter. Function icons common to file handling in Microsoft Office have been moved up to the Menu Bar. This leaves space for a few additions to the main toolbar row. A new set of view and C-Plane icons have been added vertically down the right side.

Additional toolbars are included in the workspace which can be optionally enabled.Clicking the right mouse button outside of the viewport area brings up theToolbar menu.

New icons have been provided for Toolbars 1-11. Toolbars below Main (#5) in this menu are fully user definable as always.

Four of these customizable toolbars (Create, Modify, Detail, and Xform) have been intentionally undocked from the edge of the workspace. The default workspace has the undocked toolbars options Snap to Cursor and Close on Use enabled (see Tools>Customize>Viewport). The effect is that these toolbars will pop-up next to the cursor when invoked with the associated keyboard shortcut and disappear once an icon is selected. These toolbars form the basis of a customizable cursor-based icon menu system which significantly reduces mouse movement.

New Features And Benefits16

Context Menus

The default set of Viewport (context) Menus have been expanded and changed to provide quick access to more functions. The viewport context menus with no entities selected are significantly different between model and layout mode and each have several submenus.

Viewport Menus appearing when entities are selected provide quick access to general functions like delete and verify. Keyboard bindings in these menus can function as shortcuts (example: select entity, right-click, press D – selected entity is deleted).

New Features And Benefits 17

Re-center Viewport

The default middle-mouse button behavior has been changed from the ‘scrolling tool’ for panning to instead re-center the viewport to the position or highlighted entity under the cursor.

Up-left Viewport Layout

The Quick-Eye function to toggle the viewport layout between four viewports and a single viewport has been enabled by default. This function is engaged by holding the right-mouse-button, dragging Northwest, and letting go. When in multiple viewports, the view under the cursor at the start of the move will be set as the display view.

Solid Representation

Tools functions for Fastener, Feature, Structural Shape, and Mechanical Element have been set to be created as solid entities by default.

New Features And Benefits18

Instance Properties

The default properties for new drawing layout view instances are now pre-set to the color 63 (black in default template). This change allows multi-colored models to appear in a uniform, high-contrast color in drawing layouts.

New Features And Benefits 19

The new Compare product, an optional module for KeyCreator, allows quick identification all differences between two versions of the same solid model. Compare can be an extremely valuable tool for designers getting updated models from customers without complete documentation of all changes. It is also useful in managing internal revisions to a design. Comparisons can be re-run within KeyCreator in real time as designs are changed.

KeyCreator Compare brings a subset of the Kubotek Comparison Suite (Validation) functionality to KeyCreator. The heart of the Comparison Suite is an unrivaled proprietary differencing engine that looks at the models face-by-face. This method provides complete and accurate results with all types of imported solids which traditional Boolean and point based compare tools can’t.

Comparison Suite functions are integrated within KeyCreator as a full menu item in the pull-down menu bar named Compare.

A short toolbar with compare function icons is provided in the standard KeyCreator workspace.

Comparison Suite settings are included as a new page in the Tools>Options dialog.

New Features And Benefits20

©Copyright 2011 Kubotek Corporation. All rights reserved. Kubotek, KeyCreator, CADKEY, Validation Tool, ECO Manager, ECO Navigator and KeyCompare are trademarks or registered trademarks of Kubotek Corporation in the USA and/or other countries. All other names mentioned herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. KCWN-V2011-105

Kubotek USA, Inc.2 Mount Royal Ave. Suite 500, Marlborough, MA 01752Toll-free: 800-372-3872 www.kubotekusa.com

Basic visualization of the comparison is handled simply as two document windows set side-by-side.

In the example below KeyCreator Compare lists differences in a window down the right side of the interface. The user then has tools to automate synchronized zooming to each problem location in both models. Because of the complete integration standard KeyCreator dimensioning tools remain available to aid in visualization of the difference.