Creating format 1

[xkarlos]

Hello guys.

1. I am going to create new formats in wildfire 3.0, I tried to sketch the borders and tables and I dont know how can I add dimensions, to entities I made. Is there any way ?

2. Are there any templates which can by downloaded somewhere ? (or any tutorial to create good formats ?)

thank you for help !

 

[looslib]

PTC includes some default .frm files under the loadpoint.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[mjcole]

I recently started putting together my own Formats and am working on developing a tutorial.

In case you didn't know you can use sketches as a starting point for your formats but as soon as you use the sketch to create the format with the Empty with section option the format is no longer linked to the section which is kind of annoying I wish they'd make a dependant independent option available.

I suggest using the sketcher to create a format[A,B,C,D]_start.sec which has the outer border and inner border with dimensions controlling the Sheet Size and border widths and control these with sketcher relations so you can make fewer dimension changes and keep it parametric.

I would suggest also using equal length constraints on construction lines in the middle of your sketch to control the row column separation entities. Do the border separations on one corner of your sketch and use mirror entities to make sure they are evenly spaced.

Another thing I'd suggest would be to sketch the main outline for your title block and the separations for tables with different row and column numbers. You want to keep the sketch relatively simple and use the tables when you are creating your format.

When you are making the format you want to create a Text Style that is Center-Middle format so you can enter the Letter and Number notes in the middle of the border.

For B size english
1 2 ~ 7 8
D D
A A
1 2 ~ 7 8

Xb = X border width =
Yb = Y border width ||

H=11 Height
RN = # of Rows =4
Rht = Row Height = H/RN = 2.75

W=17
CN = # of Columns =8
Cwd = Column Width = W/CN = 2.125

Set your Draft grid origin and make it at the lower left corner

Then place column text Number # at absolute (Cwd/2, Xb/2)
Then place Row letter text X at abs coord(Yb/2,Rht/2)

For the rest of the process use Edit>Transform>Translate and copy to copy the border text and use Horizontal or Vertical as translation type and use the Cwd and Rht as the values. Then double click and enter the proper text. Then to finish the Row text copy the ABCD using Horizontal distance of W-Yb and Column text 12345678 using Vertical distance of H-Xb.

Last thing to do is to create Format tables using actual height and width values and enter your &scale and other parameters. like &current_sheet of &total_sheets and Drawing size letter that will be the same for all drawings.

One thing to keep in mind is not to use model parameters like &rev or anything else that is not a Pro/E default parameter because they will display as &rev in the format and not get updated properly. Other things to do would be to create a symbol based on model parameters and have users place it or create a drawing template with notes included.

Michael

 

[looslib]

If you must use user created parameters, put them into a table and they will then update.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[xkarlos]

Thank you for your post,
but I have problems with starting new format with the sketch.
The format does not respect the dimensions in the sketch,
it is much bigger. Is there a way how can I solve this ?

And I have another question :

In the bottom of the screen in format there is displayed the paper size (e.g. A4).
Can I change the paper size in the format,
after I have started it with the scetch ?

 

[mjcole]

Regrettably as far as I know it is not possible to remove or reset the size of a format once it's been created even by modifying the drawing grid or the row and column settings.

I've had similar problems with Pro/E getting the right size from sketched formats if they have centerlines which are infinite on Pro/E. If you get rid of your centerlines that should solve the issue. I also recommend erasing not displayed or erase current after you save and close the start sketch.

Michael

 

[KimBellingrath]

It is much easier to copy an existing format and just modify it to suit your needs, no? Does anyone have access to some standard formats (b, c, d, e) which I could download and change to suit my needs?

 

[looslib]

Go back and read my first reply to this thread.
Anything beyond the basic formats is usually company specific. Also you need to take into consideration how you are constructing the formats, just text and parameters, tbales or a combination. Another consideration is where the data is coming from, user entry or a PDM system.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[dgallup]

Hate to admit it but I draw all my formats in AutoMAD and import them except for the tables which you have to do in Pro/E. I once worked in a French research centre where they just used the default blank formats and stuck a giant symbol in the drawing for what would normally be the format. Very strange but it worked for them.