Archive for the ‘style’ Category

Pro/E Tip (model): Family Table Math

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Somebody showed me a part once with almost 600 features and 30 family table instances that took over two hours to verify.

Ya think?

Of course, hardware and software were to blame.

Oh, really?

Question: How many features have to be regenerated in the course of building 30 models with over 500 features?

Answer: Thousands if you’re stupid; hundreds if you’re smart.

After some thoughtful restructuring, I was able to verify the family table in 15 minutes on a laptop!

Question: What’s a perfect family table?

All the family table features placed at the end of the model so Pro/E never has to regenerate the common features!

Final question: What’s that kind of performance worth in today’s market?

Final answer: Nothing, apparently.

Final post.

Posted in model, style, whine | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (model): Shrink datum outlines

Monday, May 8th, 2006

Reduce the clutter in your models by shrinking datum outlines using the “Display > Adjust Outline > Reference” property. Just make sure to use one of the datum references as the datum outline reference. As long as the datum definition is valid, the display outline will be valid and you’ll avoid the “Reference of datum outline is no longer in geometry; using default” warning.

Posted in model, style | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (model): Don’t use primary datums for geometric tolerancing

Friday, May 5th, 2006

Create separate datums for geometric tolerances. It’s easy to add them to the bottom of the model tree, along with the rest of the drawing features. They need to be renamed and “set”; and layered off.

Posted in style | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (draft): Radial notes

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

When creating a note attached to a circular feature, create a radial dimension, use @O to suppress the dimension and add the required text. Result: much nicer attachment

Posted in draft, style | 1 Comment »

Pro/E Tip (draft): Radial notes

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

When creating a note with attached to a circular feature, create a radial dimension, use @O to suppress the dimension and add the required text. Result: much nicer attachment

Posted in draft, style | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (model): Set appearances at assembly level

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

I don’t care to set colors for models anymore, I just use a light file. As a matter of fact, I have a mapkey to remove all appearances.

PTC makes it easy to clear all colors at the assembly level with the “clear all objects” option in the Appearance Editor.

mapkey ve
~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `View.push_view_appearances`;
~ Select `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentType`1  `All`;
~ Activate `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentUnset`;
~ Activate `UI Message Dialog` `yes`;
~ Activate `pgl_appearance_editor` `StdClose`;

A couple of reasons to leave part appearances plain:

  • Keep Intralink database neutral.
  • No one can agree on colors.
  • PTC has grabbed the best colors.

If you need to color your models, consider these guidelines:

  • Apply colors at the assembly level only.
  • Try applying a litte color theory. Use HSV color wheel to coordinate hue, saturation, and value.

Posted in mapkeys, style | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (draft): Offset balloons

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

As a rule*, balloons should be created as notes “offset” from another dimension, dimension arrow, gtol, note, symbol, or ref dim. Here’s a mapkey to create an offset balloon:

mapkey `b ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `Insert.psh_dwg_balloon`;#Offset;#Make Note;

* The exception: balloons can’t be offset from tables.

Posted in draft, mapkeys, style | 2 Comments »

Pro/E Tip (model): X-section definitions

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

Always create a new datum for a x-section, and label it (maybe A-A), so that it can be re-defined later. Using default datums is just lazy.

Posted in style | No Comments »

Pro/E Tip (draft): Z-direction clipping

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

There are several techniques in modeling and drafting that are less commonly used, hard to investigate, and can cause problems for subsequent users who might not be familiar with them.

Unless this is common practice at your company, try to avoid this technique. Use a section instead.

 

Posted in style | 2 Comments »

Pro/E Tip (model): Radial patterns of holes

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

Stop sketching cuts to create hole patterns. Use the hole feature (choose a “Diameter” placement: primary reference – plane or surface and secondary references – axis and plane ) and plan your placement according to your pattern. Holes pattern better than cuts, and radial patterns will reward you with a centerline axis.

Posted in style | 4 Comments »