CAD Forum

Currently we use a coordinate system to define our grain direction (X-Axis).
For visual purposes we add a wooden finish to our parts, which we manually have to adjust to the grain direction.
1. Can I map a texture to a coordinate system, so the mapping is always aligned to the texture?
This way it's easier to determine the correct alignment of the coordinate system.

And another question regarding grain & multi body parts:
I know, that you can assign a grain direction for each body in a multi body part for sheet metal.
This direction shows on a drawing only if you insert a bend table though.
2. Can I automagically show the grain direction without inserting a bend table?

And regarding nesting (in this case: SigmaNest):
3. Is the grain direction stored in a property so that a nesting program can read it out for each body(i.e. for multi-body parts)?
Edit: [*]SigmaNest will access the direction via the coordinate system - in our case the x-Axis. This would at make a macro easily possible, yay!

Edit#2: Does anybody of you have an idea how I could actually show the grain direction in an exported 3D model?

Everything I've seen about this shows that you have to put in a bend table to get grain direction and fixed face. If you put the table in and the notes show up, then delete or hide the table, the notes go away.

If you right click on the view and go to Properties, you can see there's a place for grain direction and fixed face, but they are grayed out. So I bet you can coax those to show up in some way. Just get those options to light up.

@matt that does seem very unfortunate. Is anybody working more with wood? @Roasted By John should know something about this, wouldn't he?

Dunno if this is an isolated case, but in one of my SM drawings, I've been able to get the annotations (fixed face & grain direction) to show. I still had to insert the bend table, but hid it.

The steps were:

- Insert Flat Pattern view
- Insert Bend Table
- Verify Fixed Face & Grain direction annotations are showing
- Hide Bend Table (the annotations disappear here)
- Open SM part (model) file
- Flatten part, if not already
- While flattened, suppress & immediately unsuppress the flat pattern feature
- Go back to drawing view, and the notes have reappeared

Okay, update:
Does anybody of you have an idea how I could actually show the grain direction in an exported 3D model?
I am out of ideas....