collaboration
20 things that you
need to know about
Pro/Engineer
innovation
global solutions
Roger Eberwein
Choice Designs, Inc.
www.ezchoice.com
Todd Kraft, PTC
MCAD Specialist
© 2000 PTC
Agenda
20 things that you need to know about Pro/Engineer
- A Bunch of things you probably knew
- Some things you didn’t know
- Maybe one thing that works great that you didn’t know
© 2000 PTC
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Pro/Manufacture Igloo Extension
© 2000 PTC
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Number 1
Use the mouse correctly
- Left Mouse Button
--
All Selections
- Middle Mouse Button
--
Accept – default menu
options (bold)
--
Query Sel - accept
--
Sketcher - pick arrow
- Right Mouse Button
--
Object action
--
Query Sel - next
--
Sketcher - rectangle, undo…
--
Drawing pop-up
--
Flip arrow
--
--
© 2000 PTC
Part
Sketcher
Drawing
Assembly
Sketcher – disable & enable
current constraints
Sketcher – RMB+Shift, lock
& unlock current constraints
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Number 2
Component Display
- Visual states of assembly
- Blanking components
- Shade, wireframe combination
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 3
Hide - unhide
-Quick and Easy
-Session dependent – not saved with model
-What can be hidden?
planes, axes, points, coord sys, curves, quilts,
assy comp & features that contain planes, axes,
coord sys (ex. Make datum features & holes)
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 4
Assembly Productivity/Ease of Use
-Control-Alt during assembly gives individual control of component
or sub-assembly (translate - RMB/rotate - MMB)
-Assembly features – Auto Update Intrscts – when new
components are inserted into an assembly prior to an assembly
feature the component is recognized by the feature and will be
included as an intersected component automatically
Demo of the functionality.
© 2000 PTC
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Number 5
Simplified Reps
- config.pro - open_simplified_rep_by_default
yes
-Simplified reps ignore parent/child relationships
(exclude parents and include children)
-Mass properties calculate only the included
components, use “Master Rep”
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 6
Get to know Inheritance features
-Included with the Advanced Assembly Extension
-Great functionality for linking the finished model to the as-cast
model
-Light-weight alternative to family tables
-One-way associativity – the parent model is unaffected by
changes made to the derived model
-Toggle dependency on or off
-Variable features and dimensions
-Suppress/resume or add additional features without affecting the
parent model
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 7
Explode States
- Assemblies
- Drawings
- Modification of the exploded view can
occur either place, however, the changes
are not associative between the assembly
and drawing
© 2000 PTC
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Number 8
Drawings – Productivity
- Erase/resume views
- Use drawing reps – open dwg in session w/o
opening model, open dwg w/o some of the views
- Z-Clipping – exclude model graphics behind a
specified plane
-Merge drawings
-Member Disp – HLR Display (hidden/no hidden),
Style (color), Blank/Unblank
-Relate draft items to view
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 9
Drawings – Ease of use
- Align views, unalign projected views
- Copy from other drawing – notes, symbols & tables
- Cut, copy and paste – notes, symbols, tables & draft entities (same
sheet, different sheet or another drawing)
- Word wrap – notes & tables
-Drawing axes – extend all ends together (pick axis, pick axis tag and
drag the mouse to the desired position)
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 10
Markups
-Drawings – most common
-Parts
-Assemblies
-Add notes, arrows, splines, curves
& lines
-Change color, height & width of
markup entities
© 2000 PTC
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Number 11
Model Tree Functions
- Reorder – drag and drop
- Insert mode
- RMB - open, assemble, modify, etc..
- Custom setup setting (.cfg)
- Show more columns of information,
features, feature number, etc..
© 2000 PTC
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Number 12
Renaming Features
- Easily track features
- Info screens make more sense later
© 2000 PTC
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Number 13
Know what your config.pro can do?
- 1300 options available, 500 hidden, 26 subcategories
- ~700 defined within Pro/E online help (help is loaded
automatically with the software)
-Where does it exist (3 locations in the order they are read)
<proe loadpoint>\text directory
$HOME directory (Unix only)
Start-in directory
Option icons
Status icons
Applied immediately
Applied
Applied, next
object created
Changed, needs applied
Restart to apply
Conflicting
Invalid or obsolete
© 2000 PTC
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Number 14
Performance enhancing options
- spin_with_part_entities no (displays datum features)
- spin_with_silhouettes no (displays silhouette lines)
- trail_dir directory path (do not set to a network directory)
-plot_dir directory path (do not set to a network directory)
-nt_cache_dirs yes (NT mapped drive performance)
-lods_enabled yes (controls view performance when enabled)
-lods_value 0-100 (0=brick 100=full detail)
ProductView Express & Preview options
in the Open dialog box (allows viewing
in all display states)
- save_model_display shading_lod
(parts and assemblies)
-save_drawing_picture_files embed
(drawings)
© 2000 PTC
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Number 15
New UI Dialog Boxes
-parameters – new_parameter_ui yes
-Relations – new_relation_ui yes
Before 2001
© 2000 PTC
New 2001 Options
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Number 16
Unique Features
- Thin Protrusion – Thru All
- Tweak Replace/Replace Surface
- Tweak Offset/Area Offset
Demo of the functionality
© 2000 PTC
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Number 17
Compare Part
- By Feature
- By Geometry
© 2000 PTC
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Number 18
Datum Features
- Planes
- Axes
-Points
-Coord Sys
-Make Datum (datum-on-the-fly) – available when
defining sketch plane, ref. plane, depth features
& assembling components. Used to add a
dimensioning reference when patterning, thus,
eliminating the need to create an additional
feature then grouping and patterning.
The make datum is buried within the feature
Datum Features 2001 Functionality
-Datum features can now be created during other
feature creation without having to exit the
feature. The datum feature then gets placed in
the model tree above the feature you are creating
© 2000 PTC
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Number 19
Customize your environment
- Mapkeys
- Icons
-Favorites – browser_favorite <directory path>
© 2000 PTC
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Number 20
Photorender
- It’s only one pick away
© 2000 PTC
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