I find templates & Formats a bit long winded...help me ? 2

[FabnFix]

Hi All,

Firstly let me say that I have been reading these forums for a few weeks now and although I have only just joined as a member (my first post) I would like to thank everybody for being so helpful.
I have just been thrown in at the deepend with Wildfire 2.0 after mainly just using autocad, so this is all a bit scary to me. I have attended a course for 3 days but it was all just a little too much to take in. Information Overload.

My first (there will be lots) question is about Templates and Formats, I find this all a little long winded, especially coming from an autocad background. Can anybody explain ( in the simplest terms possible )the best way for creating templates, I would like the model name, description etc pulled into the drawing automatically. I have managed some of it after searching these threads but I am still not 100% there.

Im sure I will post a more challenging question soon, cross my fingers !!

Thanks in advance from a New user.

AMD Athlon 3000+
1 Gig Ram
NVIDIA Quadro4 380XGL

 

[Guest0527211403]

Welcome to the community

New parts and assemblies are best created from start parts and start assemblies.
These are plain old parts and assemblies that have nothing in them but a few datum planes, parameters, layers and so on.
To make your own, start a new part (I'd say use the Pro/E Default, they've done lots of work for you), and create whatever parameters you need in Tools-->Parameters.
Notice each parameter has a check box that says "Designate". If you would like to define this parameter's value at the time of part/assembly creation, check this off.

Now, when you start a new part, you can use these Start Parts and Start Assemblies as templates, so that you don't have to go through the experience of manually creating all of these parameters each time.

Once you've done all the fun stuff (the model) it is time for the drawing.

A drawing format is essentially just a definition of the sheet. A format is likea fresh piece of Vellum with your company's Title Block, a border, and all that jazz.

The title block, however, is really a drawing table that contains Parameters (the same kind you made in your part!). When you input text in the table, adding and ampersand (&) before a word tells Pro/E that this is actually a parameter. So if I wrote &DESCRIPTION in a table cell, it will look for a parameter called DESCRIPTION in the active 3D model in my drawing, and if it finds it, will put that value where I wrote &DESCRIPTION.

There are some standard parameters as well (&scale, &todays_date, etc).

Now, a drawing template is something built ON TOP of a format, that allows you to place Views from your 3D model (based on their name) onto a predefined format. So, for example, you can define a view named FRONT in your template, and if the 3D model has a view named FRONT, it will place the view in the same location. You can designate other views to be projections of this original view as well. On these views, you can have control the display of things like Dimensions, baloons, etc.

I don't use templates all that much, since the level of standardization required to make them really effective is pretty high. Formats, on the other hand, I use very frequently...

Well, so much for notbeing long-winded.. but it's the simplest I can get for a thurday morning

 

[Heckler]

Fabnfix,

Yes, creating the start parts, start assembly, & drawing formats can be time consuming but you only have to do it once. It also depends on how much you want to carry through to the drawing (name, p/n, date, material, CG, weight, volume, and the list is endless)

Also, one other comment....I notice you have the 380XGL video card. I'm not even sure if that's on the PTC support list.....if it is this is a very low end video card. You might want to consider an upgrade if you plan to build large assemblies or complex surface parts.



Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux

 

[jeff4136]

Justy, that's a nice summary.

Where do most of you knowledgable folks incorporate a parts list table; template, format, individual drawing?

 

[looslib]

format

Then the users can delete it if it is a detail part or hide it if they don't want it shown on their drawing.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[jeff4136]

Thanks, Ben. I've seen refs to people doing so and was wondering if it was preferable to my current method of retrieving a saved table. One question (would save me the trouble of testing); are paginated tables possible if in the format?

------------

Anyone, possibly, have any links to sample templates and formats? I can get the end results I'm after but have a weak grip on the concepts and am not sure I'm doing things in a reasonably efficient manner. Seeing and testing some ready made, tried and true variations might be helpful (?).

 

[looslib]

Check your loadpoint of Pro/E. Look in the formats folder for formats and in the templates folder for startparts and drawing template samples.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[jeff4136]

Thanks again, Ben. That stuff is barer than bones, though, unless I'm missing something.

Anyhow; I'd found this a while back and forgotten about it. A good summary reference for a lot of stuff ...

http://165.166.141.208/software/fund_draw_320.PDF

... might do FabnFix a little good.

 

[FabnFix]

Hi All,

Wow I am just back to work after a nice long weekend and I find all these replies..awesome, many thanks to everybody. Justkeepgiviner, many many thanks. I will put all these things to the test.

I guess I just have to grin and bear it for a while.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

fabnfix

 

[FabnFix]

Heckler,

You are right, I think this card is a low spec one. Due to my limited pro-e skills the models I am creating are not causing it too much stress yet, however I am already starting to see larger rendered images struggle a bit.

Any particular cards you suggest (my MD is a stingy bugger) so cost is always an issue.

Rgds
fabnfix

 

[Heckler]

Fabnfix,

The following Nvidia® Quadro®:
Quadro FX 2000 $1250
Quadro FX 1400 (I run this on work computer)
Quadro FX 1000 $1000
Quadro FX 500 $276
Quadro4 980 XGL $500
Quadro4 900 XGL
Quadro4 780 XGL
Quadro4 750 XGL $325 (I run this on my home computer)
Quadro4 700 XGL $350

I like the Nvidia cards but I have also ran pro/e on the Wildcat VP880 ($350.00). Typically my assemblies are between 100-500 parts (I show a lot of detail) and the cards I use run both Pro/e 2001 and SWx 2005 without any problems.




Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux

 

[FabnFix]

Hi Heckler,

Cheers mate, I will look into upgrading my card soon. Good news is that my pro-e skills are improving slowly but surely. Started looking at Family Tables and paramiters now, OMG what have I got myself into hehe !!!

Rgds

fabnfix

 

[G1DESIGN]

Heckler you wouldnt happen to work for Sant Cruz would you