SURF+

What is SURF+?

SURF+ is a system which runs in parallel with ICEM Surf*, increasing user productivity, improving quality and delivering a smoother user experience. Simplistically it is the software equivalent of a programmable keyboard. But it is much more than that. It is a new way of interacting with ICEM Surf* that loses none of the functionality and is easy to learn.

SURF+ was developed independently by Geodigm and was born out of a desire to make ICEM Surf* easier to work with. With SURF+ not only is the work flow smoother, but the surfacing process is faster and surface quality is improved. One reason for the improvement in surface quality is that SURF+ makes the diagnostic functions, such as the Surface Checker, more accessible and allows for more frequent checking with minimal disruption of the creative work flow. For users who maybe susceptible to RSI (repetitive strain injury) SURF+ has the benefit of reducing the mouse miles and mouse clicks.

To give an idea of the speed benefits of SURF+ over ICEM Surf* standalone the video below shows ICEM Surf* on the left in comparison with ICEM Surf* and SURF+ (hotkeys only) on the right. In this particular example there is a productivity benefit of approximately 30%. Of course the exact saving is dependent on the surfacing tasks being performed and which hotkeys have been defined. Bear in mind that this is only the hotkey version of SURF+. In the full version there will be other GUI elements plus features such as User Methods which will further accelerate the process.

If you're familiar with ICEM Surf* then you'll know that it already comes with lots of shortcuts that greatly accelerate the workflow:

Object and Position Selection shortcuts
Menu Shortcuts such as Ctrl+A for Display
Function key customisation

The first two shortcut types are defined in ICEM Surf* and cannot be changed, whereas function keys can be edited by the user.

SURF+ adds another level to these shortcuts. You can still continue to use virtually all the ICEM Surf* shortcuts. In some instances, though, we've chosen to override them. For instance, by default in SURF+, we decided to specify "z" as a shortcut for zoom, overriding it's ICEM Surf* meaning of "arc centre". In this case zoom is used so frequently that losing it as a shortcut for "arc centre" seemed a small price to pay for ease of use. But if you don't want this to happen then you can choose a different hotkey for zoom since the hotkeys are fully customisable by the user.

ICEM Surf* Function Keys

The great thing about the ICEM Surf* function keys is that you can define them exactly as you want, picking virtually ANY of the ICEM Surf* functions. In theory there are 96 combinations available. In practice, though, there are some limitations. Firstly, we have to avoid Alt+F4 as it crashes ICEM Surf*. Secondly, the aim of using shortcuts is always to speed up a process. In ICEM Surf* the right hand is used to control the mouse and, for speed, it's best if it's not used to pick keys as well. So we ought to try and limit the combinations of function and Alt / Control / Shift keys to those that can be comfortably reached with the left hand. This is going to depend on the size and flexibility of your hand. For example, if I'm using the ALT key then I find that F9 to F12 are impossible to reach with the left hand only:

For me, the following key combinations are the only ones usable with just the left hand:

F1 to F12 are no problem
Alt + F1 to F4
Ctrl + F1 to F3
Shift + F1 to F3
Ctrl+Shift + F1 to F3

I can just about reach Shift + Ctrl + F1 to F3 with the left hand by using the thumb over the Shift & Ctrl keys but it's not very comfortable. Alt+Ctrl, Alt+Shift and Alt+Ctrl+Shift in combination with any of the function keys are impossible for me to use with only the left hand. Therefore I have 24 combinations left (remember that Alt+F4 cannot be used):

ALT

CTRL

SHIFT

F10

F11

F12

Blue shows the combinations that are easy to reach, purple are slightly harder, red are difficult and black are impossible to reach.

Supposing for less frequently used functions we did allow use of the right and left hands on the keyboard. The problem then becomes remembering these combinations. Some rules here would help. For instance we could use Shift for the Move functions:

Shift + F1 = Translate
Shift + F2 = Rotate
Shift + F3 = Scale
etc.

This is still a little difficult to remember I think. But what if we could use other alphanumeric keys in combination with Alt, Control and Shift? Then we could have, say:

Shift + t = Translate
Shift + r = Rotate
Shift + s = Scale
etc

Much easier to remember I hope you will agree? Well, this is exactly what SURF+ (hotkey edition) lets us do.

Of course you may be so familiar with using some of the function keys that you don't want to change them. With SURF+ you don't have to! You can mix your favourite function keys with any other key! For instance, I still use F6 through to F8 for the Original, Mirrored, Both settings. At the same time I use "z" for Zoom.

My experience of SURF+ so far has highlighted some unexpected benefits. Because it's now much quicker to access the Surface Checker I check the model far more often which means that I have NO errors at the end of the modelling. I used to think of the Surface Checker as a tool for analysing the model at the end but I now use it throughout the process. The method I use for checking is:

Using Surface Checker, drag a window around the geometry. There is no need to carefully pick the geometry as the Topology value determines whether geometry is connected or not.
Check that the blue topology line is correct by switching to display variant "noEdge". This is my display variant that turns off all of the wireframe. Only the free edges of the model should now be shown. If there are blue lines shown where you expect the surfaces to be connected then the Topology value needs to be increased.
Any red lines are outside of tolerance and need to be fixed. So switch back to the wire frame display variant "ctrl005". Again this is my own display variant which switches on the wireframe with a tessellation tolerance of 0.005.

In the SURF+ default settings we have Alt+Ctrl+s as Check Surface and the Display Variants "ctrl005" and "noEdge":

So with SURF+ the checking process becomes very quick and easy:

Ctrl+Alt+s (Check Surface)
3 (Display Variant "noEdge")
1 (Display Variant "ctrl005")

Of course you don't have to copy my display variants or names; you're free to change these in the SURF+ hotkey menu.

Another interesting fact is that SURF+ allows us to work with full graphics and no menus. We need to define hotkeys for the standard views to work this way. For example in the hotkey editor we could specify:

The only drawback at the moment is that there is no way to define a hotkey to switch between compressed and uncompressed zoom. A work around is to define a hotkey to toggle the full graphics so that the compressed and uncompressed zoom icons can be accessed.

The Move function work very nicely with hotkeys because the function names mainly start with letters on the left of the keyboard. This means that the default hotkeys for Move are particularly easy to access and remember. Shift has been used for mainly these functions:

Shift + t    Translate
Shift + r    Rotate
Shift + s    Scale
Shift + 2    2 planes
Shift + d   Dynamic
Shift + g   Global extrapolate
Shift + e   Extrapolate

Of course sometimes logic cannot be applied. For instance, shift+m would be the logical choice for mirror but, for me, it's a difficult stretch with the left hand. So I've made it shift+z instead which lies more easily under the hand.

Diagnostics work well with the hotkeys too. The defaults for the main diagnostic options are:

Ctrl + d This is the standard ICEM Surf* shortcut for opening the Diagnoses menu
Ctrl + Alt + d   Diagnoses-Delete All
Alt + d Diagnoses-On/Off

For the individual diagnostics the SURF+ defaults are Shift + Alt and then the obvious letters (in most cases):

Shift + Alt + q   Distance
Shift + Alt + d   Deviation
Shift + Alt + a   Angle
Shift + Alt + m   Matching
Shift + Alt + s   SSI
Shift + Alt + h   Highlight
Shift + Alt + c   Curvature

All very logical and therefore easy to remember - EXCEPT that Deviation and Distance both start with d. So I've opted to use q for Distance; the logic being that q is used for point in ICEM Surf and as Distance is measuring "point to point" then it makes some sense. It's also near the left hand.

It's very important that frequently used functions are accessed only by the left hand, but there are some less common functions where both hands have to be used. For example Alt + p is set by default to Create - Curve - Projection. Another letter, closer to the Alt button, could have been used but it would have been more difficult to remember.

A letter which could be used for many functions is t: Trim Patch, Trim Curve, Translate, etc. Eventually you run out of logical and accessible combinations. In the case of Trim Patch I use g instead. This may seem strange but there is a logic to it - think of Trim Patch as the opposite of Global Extrapolate - which is Shift + g. Shift because it's a Move function, "g" because it's similar to Global Extrapolate in the sense of shortening the patch.

As long as you can remember the hotkeys then that's all that matters. The 60 or so default hotkeys were developed and learnt over about 2 weeks. If you want to develop your own set then it's probably best to build them slowly as you discover your needs.
Coming up with appropriate hotkeys is always going to be a balance between accessibility and ability to remember them.

What if for some reason you don't like hotkeys? How is SURF+ going to help then? The answer is that at the moment it's not. But now that SURF+ has shown the that it's possible to control ICEM Surf* from outside the software then it's perfectly feasible to extend the functionality of SURF+ further.

Our current plans for the future development of SURF+ include:

Hotkey enhancements
User-defined menu settings
Floating menus
At-cursor menus
User-defined "methods"
Analysis of user process

Let's look at each of these in turn:

Hotkey Enhancements

At the moment x is used for Selection. For instance in the Flange function it means that multiple flanges can be created very quickly. This is a great way of reducing mouse-miles. In the near future I want to add the space bar as a way to action the OK button in the geometry functions. In a function like Fillet this would reduce the mouse-miles even further. I've tried this with a prototype system and it worked exceptionally well! It made the work flow even smoother.

In the current version of SURF+ the user can specify hotkeys which access Variants such as the Display Variants. I have used the keys 1,2,3,4,5 to access my own display variants, but maybe it would be useful to be able to toggle through the variants instead by repeatedly clicking one hotkey or by using the mouse scroll wheel.

Floating Menus

ICEM Surf* users often ask if it's possible to always have certain menus open at all times. For example List, Display, Sections etc. To some extent this already happens but sometimes opening one menu will close another. The Panel menu is another alternative way of accessing some variants and other functions but it's limited in scope. It would be great to have a customisable set of menus which could be permanently available (especially if the user has a second monitor to place them on) which contain the key features that the user wants. Editing the contents of these menus would need to be very straightforward.

At-cursor Menus

ICEM Surf* users who use hotkeys or gaming keyboards to reduce mouse-miles find that their focus on the work is better and the surfacing process feels so much smoother. Another way in which we could improve the flow would be to have menus which pop-up at the cursor ("pie" menus) so that the user is not having to switch focus to menus away from the centre of the screen. We could have 3 levels of menus accessible via the 3 mouse buttons. I have experimented with this in prototype software and the work-flow is markedly improved. Alias uses a similar idea called the Marking Menu which is very effective.

User-defined menu settings

A common request from ICEM Surf* users is to be able to directly access the options within the ICEM Surf* menus using hotkeys. For instance, Detail in the List menu. This we plan to achieve, but also to allow the user to store menu settings outside of ICEM Surf*. This will be similar to the Variants that now exist in ICEM Surf* but we want to make it even more flexible. SURF+ will allow the user to save and edit these options. They can then be associated with a hotkey and/or accessed by menus.

User Methods

Once we have the ability for the user to define and save menu settings then the next level will be to combine multiple functions together. As a simple example I find that I'm always repeating the following process:

Name a set of surfaces
Apply a material
Apply a wireframe colour
Align all the normals

I would love to be able to combine these steps into one, which I could then activate via a SURF+ hotkey or menu. This is the idea behind SURF+ User Methods.

In time I want to add the ability to build much more complex Methods. However, I think it's very important to build slowly (walk before running) to discover how best to further develop the system.

It's going to be very important that the way in which users build their own Methods is as simple as possible. In the early stages this is going to be through a scripting language, but maybe later via a GUI.

Analysis of User Process

So far we have talked about the ICEM Surf* user defining their own hotkeys, menus, settings and methods. To do this requires the user to think about and discover which functions and function sequences they use. It also requires them to think about the frequency of use. For instance, with the hotkeys, if a function is used often then the hotkey should be easily accessible with only the left hand. Infrequently used hotkeys may be accessed with both hands if it makes remembering the hotkey easier. In the case of menus then the most frequently used functions should be the most prominent in the menu. The priorities may change with time or if the nature of the work changes. For instance we might one day be working from images in the background, the next, working to scan data.

I want SURF+ to be able to record the actual functions that the user is using and to suggest ways in which the user-defined menus etc could be improved. I think this has the potential to be very powerful.

SURF+ at the Dassault Systèmes User Conference, Hanau 2018

Geodigm were invited to present SURF+ at the Dassault Systèmes User Conference last year. A massive thank you to Dassault for this fascinating and well-organised event. The responses and feedback we received to the SURF+ presentation were very positive and invaluable.

(Photo courtesy of Alexander Back, Catia & ICEM Surf Senior Consultant, systemworkx)

Dassault Systèmes download of presentation (no videos)

Experiences of SURF+

I and a number of other ICEM Surf* users have been using SURF+ now every day since September 2018. It runs in the background all day long with virtually no maintenance. It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much time it is saving but I would estimate between 5% and 30% compared with using ICEM Surf* in “standalone” mode. I also feel that it helps the work flow as I can concentrate more fully on the modelling rather than shifting focus to pick menus.

If you want to check out some of the responses to SURF+ so far then please take a look at the following links:

Report on Hanau presentation
Responses to Video
SURF+ Menu
SURF+ on XING

Testimonials

‘A’ Class Surfacing Manager, SINO Engineering:

"As an ICEM Surf user of over 10 years I have always believed that the use of the function keys as shortcuts is not ergonomically ideal. Only SURF+ solves this problem by using Shift/Ctrl/Alt with the alphanumeric keys instead.
The default hotkeys that SURF+ provides are very logical and accessible.
Functions that are used at high frequency are easy to reach with the left hand and easy to remember. For instance:
s - shade on/off
h - highlight on / off
l - list
The Move functions all use Shift:
Shift+r - rotate
Shift+t - translate
Shift+s - scale
The founder of SURF+ has done a very valuable thing; this software reduces mechanical movement (frequency of mouse clicks) of both hands. I totally agree that this will improve user efficiency by at least 10%"

Availability of SURF+

The Hot Key version of SURF+ is now available FOR FREE! Please contact me for details.

Biography

My name is Steven Cobert, creator of SURF+. I've been involved in A-class surfacing & concept modelling, using both ICEM Surf* and Autodesk's Alias, for 30 years. I've trained and mentored several hundred users in both systems as well as having personally surfaced thousands of components and whole vehicle exteriors and interiors. As owner and founder of Geodigm Ltd I've successfully managed a number of surfacing teams, often consisting of novice users who I've trained and mentored from scratch. Geodigm was responsible for the ICEM Surf* development of the Ford GT Mark 1 A-class exterior surfaces.

I conceived of SURF+ after suffering from RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my right arm for a couple of years. This meant that even lifting a coffee cup was impossibly painful. As a result I wanted to find a way of reducing mouse miles and making surfacing less click-intensive. SURF+ is the culmination of this investigation and I hope it will be of use to other ICEM Surf* users.

*Disclaimer

“ICEM Surf” is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes. Geodigm Ltd and learnicem.com are not connected, sponsored, approved, endorsed nor, in any way, affiliated with the holder of this mark.

SURF+ Overview
Installing SURF+
Using Hotkeys
Editing Hotkeys

SURF+ Overview

Supercharging the A Class Surfacing Process