Create horizontal and vertical Dimensioning after / from Intelligent Dimensioning 2

[farzadtb]

Hi all

I need to create always two types of drawings from my models, one is the intelligent dimensioning , that the other office colleagues want to read and use it, for intentions of production of the piece, I also should make the horizontal and vertical order drawing for production part. I would like to know, how much writing a Macro can help me, I mean how much control I could have to automatically produce the other drawing , or both of the drawing from the part ?

to make the question more clear, I guess that it is possible to make the drawing with macro , but is it possible to import the dimensions in a reasonable way , I mean enough ones , not every thing ?

 

[SBaugh]

If its a feature of SW then I would say yes you could write a macro but something that specific... I don't know.

There is Insert\Model Items\ that will bring in dimensions of your model. Now the problem is, not all of the dimensions used in a 3D model to make the model are used the same way when a drawing is laid out. Meaning a Drawing is usually laid out in a very specific fashion, per the Standard. Where as a 3D model needs as much information so it can be designed. This is where most people use a combination of the Model Items and hand laid in dimensions. I still find myself laying in dimensions manually, because when I import them they never come in the way I know they should look per the standard we are using (sheet metal is notorious for not coming in at all or poorly). I think this is going to be where you are going to have problems with a macro. I think its going to be hard to control the dimensions for every drawing the way you want them to appear. Maybe one of the Macro guru's can prove me wrong...? you might check out

http://www.cadsharp.com

Keith knows his stuff about macro's and might be able to help you as well or even his site might as well.

Also another thought... all edges ,vertices and points all have different ID's. I don't know if its feasible to connect to these using a macro if you made a macro to allow for a specific dimension design either. It might need a full blown API program designed specific to your needs... again this might be proven wrong from the macro guru's.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
Gryphon Environmental

http://www.2gryphon.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[Jboggs]

Are the parts involved geometrically similar? If so, this process might be helpful. You create one model and one drawing. Then save the model and the drawing as new file names. Open the newly created model and edit the features/dimensions as needed. Then when you open the newly created drawing file, use the References option to tie the new drawing to the new model. If you have done this correctly, when the new drawing opens you will see a fully dimensioned drawing of the new part. This ONLY works when the two models are geometrically identical except for the size or location of features. Deleting or adding features results in hanging dimensions (which can easily be fixed).

Also, as for the need for two different types of dimensioning, you could handle that with multiple sheets, one style on one sheet and another style on another sheet.

 

[farzadtb]

Is it not possible to create a layer of dimensioning , and hide a layer ? this is not possible in solidworks ?

 

[SBaugh]

Sounds like you are coming from 2D AutoCAD? SW has layers and you can define layers as needed, but dimensions are controlled by the geometry in the 3D model. Not by just putting them in and changing the value as needed. To me it sounds like this is what your trying to achieve which is to overwrite the values in SW after the geometry and the dimensions are within a drawing.... maybe I am wrong, if so, my apologies.

Scott Baugh, CSWP
Gryphon Environmental

http://www.2gryphon.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[Jboggs]

I understood that he was trying (1) to dimension a series of parts in similar manner, and (2) alternatively show two different styles of dimensioning on those parts for the needs of two different audiences, not change the dimensions themselves.

 

[farzadtb]

Thank you , exactly that was the question , thank you SBaugh for your help , yes I think also his indication helps me

 

[URVINEET]

Hello Farzadtb,

I see that you want to create auto dimension in the drawings generated by Solid works.
Using a batch macro to do this will reduce your time in generating either drawings or dimensions. I would like to suggest the use of an automated batch tool such as #TASK which can be downloaded using the below link. As this is in BETA you can have a try.

https://cloud.centralinnovation.com.au/WebSharpSwTask

There is a macro to generate drawing from parts and another for creating Dimensions.



Vineet Reddy
Solidworks CAD & EPDM

http://centralinnovation.com.au

 

[SBaugh]

That is a pretty darn neat application. I have not run it yet, but I did review the tasks after installing it... very cool! thanks for sharing Vineet! Star for you!

Scott Baugh, CSWP
Gryphon Environmental

http://www.2gryphon.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376