I’ve decided it’s time to move on.
Good luck to all, especially those still trying to earn a living as “Pro/Tools” :-)
Pro/ENGINEER FAQ – no more
December 30th, 2009Pro/E Tip (model): Family Table Math
December 30th, 2009Somebody 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.
Pro/E tip (interface): Import tips
October 30th, 2009There’s a lot of discussion on the Exploder about the config.pro option:
intf_in_use_template_models yes
Old hat says:
If you just want a one click import, fine.
Experience says you should probably do some setup and editing before using import geometry. Things like checking the accuracy and creating a meaningful geometry frame. Sometimes I re-export the data according to the new coordinate system.
Accuracy:
Old FAQ info (IGES Accuracy)
Possible clues at Delcam Support Forums (STEP Accuracy)
Don’t know if this info is that valuable – you decide:
PTC’s social network
October 27th, 2009Model Check batch file
October 27th, 2009Saving this for my reference - A batch file that I used to run ModelCheck outside of Pro/E.
It creates a list of the files (parts.lst) in a directory. The list is progressive, starting with .prt, then .asm, and finally .drw.
It deletes the original (*.1) files (from the backup) so I know there’s no reason to check them in or add them back to my workspace.
The %1 is for a shortcut startup directory.
Some optional ideas are commented out, like the purge at the end.
cd /d %1 echo modelcheck_enabled yes > config.pro if exist parts.lst del parts.lst dir *.prt.* *.asm.* *.drw.* /b > parts.lst set path=d:\ptc\wf2\bin;d:\batch pause call modelcheck.bat pro25.bat -f parts.lst pause rem c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe std.out rem cleanup.bat %1 rem del *.prt.1 *.asm.1 *.drw.1 *.frm.* trail.txt.* config.pro mc_run* rem purge
Things you might do differently:
- Copy a different config.pro into this directory. I never really bothered checking out the no_graphics option.
- Open the error log (mc_err.log), but the std.out echoes all the changes made during the run.
- Open the .html results?
- Purge and copy all *.prt.*, *.asm.*, and *.drw.* files to a clean directory.
Once again, I’m reminded how nice it is to have a decent text editor like TextPad available on my context menu ready and willing to open any file type.
PTC product calendar link
October 27th, 2009PTC Product Calendar – includes date codes
Pro/E tip (model): Death by a thousand cuts
October 17th, 2009Well, here’s another definition from the old school:
Back in the way old days of Sparcstations, etc., regen times were painful for small extruded cuts used to emboss or engrave symbols, text, logos, etc.
The trick I used was to create the cut from a datum curve. Suppressing the cut, except for the tooling model, left me a datum curve outline, which produced a perfectly usable drawing, and saved a ton of time.
Another way around that, if the tooling is standard (for example, identification stamps like serial numbers and dates) or otherwise not defined on the detail drawing, is to use a symbol. Here’s one created from .ai, exported to .iges, imported back into a drawing, and saved as a symbol:
You can locate symbols quite accurately if you locate a bounding box on the part. Just change the curve line type to phantom, scale the symbol to fit the box, and you can show overall size on your drawing.
Death of a monitor
October 17th, 2009I was really proud of that big old Samsung 305T. All I wanted was 3 years payback. Unfortunately, all I got was 18 months.
Good news is I’m not doing much drafting anymore. Bad news is, I’m not doing much anymore. :)
It’s taking way too long to get a refund, which is necessitated by the fact that Samsung has no inventory to exchange, and the system failed to notify me in time. Now, I’m waiting to ship mine back, and hoping to see a refund check sometime in the next 30 days.
Long and short of it? 30″ monitors are not very common, so maybe your money is better spent on dual 24″ monitors. I notice Dell doesn’t have any 30″ monitors in the outlet (although I keep watching – you never know…).
Obviously, it’s easier to replace a 24″ monitor that dies. Besides that, there were a few other drawbacks:
(I never checked any competitive monitors)
- there’s only one input
- the dual-link DVI connection is almost impossible to KVM
- a single link DVI will only display at 1280×800, so there’s no point in trying to use it with your portable.
Still, I’m going to miss that monster.
Moving on…
Pro/E whine: HTML table support
September 10th, 2009Isn’t it about time? How hard could it be? I mean, why shouldn’t I be able to erase outside lines or change the default text size for a column?
When’s the last time we got an update? the 80′s?
Oh well…
Pro/E tip (admin): PTC video codec
August 29th, 2009I had some problems previously viewing some instructional videos at PTC.com. I guess I didn’t see it, or maybe PTC finally realized people were having trouble, but you need the TechSmith Screen Capture Codec to view a lot of the PTC.com video library.
UPDATE: If you ever get stuck with a video that doesn’t play, download a little program called GSpot. (And don’t blame me if big brother asks why you’re Googling “gspot”!!!) It will tell you what codec you need. If it’s H.264 or MPEG-4, trip on over to DivX.com for a free download that will fix you right up. (You also need DirectX installed.)
PTC demos and tips directory page. (Valid PTC account and registration required)
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