2D Exchange / Large assembly problem :(

[TechnicalConsultant]

Hi,

I have a large 3D assembly which I need to create some views and send to a customer in DWG format.

The large assembly is displayed using Facets as it's a bit too big to open fully. I see I can create a sheet and add views with the Facets but it doesn't seem to allow me to create a 2D Exchange from those views.

Am I doing something wrong?

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[JohnRBaker]

What version fo NX are you running?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

Yes Mark,

Give it a miss and output CGM for mine.

regards

Hudson

 

[TechnicalConsultant]

I'm using NX4, I tried doing it as a CGM but the file size was HUGE

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[JohnRBaker]

In NX 4 you can NOT export faceted models using 2D Exchange, however there is limited support for this in NX 5.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[TechnicalConsultant]

OK Thank you!

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[TechnicalConsultant]

Do any of you have any tips on how I can reduce the file size? At the moment the 2D Exchange is coming in at around 50mb.

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[hudson888]

Mark,

2D exchange of what? If NX-4 does not support 2D exchange with facets it would not seem possible to have other than a partial output which would not be useful in any case.

How big was the CGM file, and are you doing anything non-standard (i.e. adjusting any settings)?

Perhaps you could give us a hint as to what you're aiming at and why. In some cases when you render a drawing to 2D it is really little more than a snapshot and image to be viewed. You have to ask why not just use a PDF file if all you need to be able to do is to read the drawing.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[TechnicalConsultant]

The customer requires a file they can import into there layout drawing in AutoCAD, which is why I didn't do a PDF.

We have the assembly of the machine in 3D, and a specification using the 3D model. The drawings has 4 views of the machine.

I firstly tried a 2D Exchange but the file size was extremely large and caused our customer problems. I had a play with representations this week and when experimenting I found you could add a view using the representation, this had me thinking whether it was worth creating a new specification using the representation rather than the actual model and create my 2D exchange from that. But it doesn't work, I've since tried it in NX5 but that didn't work either.

I'm running out of excuses to the customer as they don't understand why sending them a DWG file should be such a huge task.

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[JohnRBaker]

Instead of using representations in your drawing, try using 'Extracted Edges' and then open your drawing without opening any components. Once you have a view established, you select the view, press MB3 and select 'Style' and on the 'General' tab change the 'Extract Edges' option to Associative and select OK. Once all of the views have been converted, you can save your drawing and unload the components and in the future, open you drawing assembly with No Components. Now try do the 2D Exchange from this drawing.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

What I have done regardless of file size is to export a CGM bring it back so that you have a dumb 2D version, and then export that as a DXF file. In my experience that does work. Whenever I have tested the 2D exchange method I have not had the same degree of success.

That said I accept that 2D exchange attempts a better quality result, but with drawings going between CAD systems I'm really yet to see any viable method that succeeds in translating the data as anything more than a view able document. Which isn't to say that I'd insist that you use a PDF, just that you and/or your customer will have CAD data that is essentially only capable of being used in more or less the same capacity as a PDF would be.

My judgment from experience on this is that I have adopted this method because it works for me. I have worked with customers who occasionally express a similar desire to render a drawing out of NX and into Autocad, and this is the output that we offer in order to comply with those requests. It sounds like you've already tried to fight the good fight with 2D exchange, so it could be time to take another path.

When you run out of excuses always try Sunspots.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[TechnicalConsultant]

I've tried that I'm afraid

Thanks anyway.

Mark Noyce
Senior Design Engineer/CAD co-ordinator

 

[JohnRBaker]

Hudson,

When you run out of excuses always try Sunspots.

They still using that old canard as an excuse? I thought that one went out the door with PDP-11's, card readers and multiplexing modems ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

 

[hudson888]

John,

You're Amateur Scientist reading computer user is still occasionally given to the opinion that Sunspots can be blamed. It's "Clock Speed", that we can't really get away with. .

Anyway "It's a feature not a bug" never goes out of date. So at least some things never change.

Cheers

Hudson