Convert note into geometry?

[lharrison]

Is there any way to convert a standard note into some type of geometry? I am trying to import a part into CATIA v5, but I lose all of my annotations when doing this. I've tried all of the formats, but nothing returns with my annotations.

 

[cowski]

Are you talking about a drawing sheet, or annotations that you have added so they show up in the model views?

 

[lharrison]

I mean annotations(some with leaders) that are within the model view

 

[JohnRBaker]

There is no direct way to convert annotation into geometry. That being said, your problem might be that since text is created as view-dependent objects that perhaps this is where the problem lies. What I would try first is to convert the annotation from view-dependent to model-dependent.

Open your model and which the view displayed showing the annotation of interest, go into Drafting but turn off the display of the drawing. Now go to...

Edit -> View -> View Independent Edit...

...and in the 3rd item on the dialog, 'Convert Dependency', select the second option, 'View to Model' and then select the annotation objects you wish to modify and then hit OK (twice).

Now try the export again and see if this helped.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[lharrison]

Thatnks for the tip John. It was a step in the right direction, but all that appears in CATIA is the 'plane' that the note appears on, but no text is within it. Talking to a few engineers, I'm not sure if this is even possible.

One of our grip devs suggested turning the text into curves. While it could work, it seems like a ton of work for something so simple.

 

[cowski]

I doubt the annotation object is going to be recognized by any of the neutral formats (step, iges, etc). Can you turn your notes into PMI objects? The step format has a 'product data' option that might work with PMI.

I think there was/is a grip program out there that converts annotations to lines/curves. If you can't find that you can export your file as a cgm using the text to polylines option and import that back into your file to export (now that would be a ton of work).

 

[lharrison]

If it is possible to turn them into PMI objects, I do not know how to do it.

I have the good fortune of working at Patriot, so I have the entire Grip Library here, as well as two devs who know more than anyone should about Grip. The closest script to what i need would require re-writing all of the notes manually, and allowing it to turn them into curves.

Ugh...

I also tried exporting in every format available, but nothing seems to take the annotations with it. I even tried using the JT format, but even it does not export the annotations.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I think the problem is that the translators are assuming that text will only be found on a Drawing sheet. Text in the model context is a foreign concept to many CAD systems and until PMI came along there was no real support for that sort of thing in the standards.

Note that I'm not aware of any functionality in NX which will allow you to convert a traditional annotation object into a PMI object. You're probably going to have to recreate the annotation as PMI objects. Now it is possible that perhaps an NX Open application could be written which would 'convert' the annotation in PMI objects.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[lharrison]

While this is probably a loaded question, how do I go about making a PMI object annotation?

I should let you know that I am not an NC programmer, but a software engineer. Occasionally I get called upon to do some COTS coding within CATIA or NX, which is always fun since I am not familiar with the software at all.

Any help is much appreciated guys.

Bruce

 

[JohnRBaker]

There is a separate PMI module (which is included in most of the NX bundles that we sell) which allows you to place Dimenions, Notes, Labels, Symbols, perform Section cuts, etc, in the context of the Model and NOT are items on the face of a Drawing sheet. Now if you're a programmer, perhaps you could use NX Open to find and replace existing Drafting Annotation created in the context of the Model with the equivalent PMI object(s).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.