detail drawings in Pro/E

[design-engine]

I read on the forum that people wish Pro/E had a better detail drawing functions.... like Autocad or something.

I mentioned to the forum (can't locate the post) that I thought Pro/E drawing was spot on.Now... I spent the whole week pushing drawing mode (in our level two class) and I still think that Pro/E drawing mode is spot on. Now I could recommend some enhancements and there are some places that make me smile... like forcing tangency to a line with spline in drawing mode free sketch functions.

WF4.0 things that are far improved that you may not realize:
1. Draw entities in draft mode is largely enhanced
a. you can modify a circle to a specific diameter b. use intent manager like constraints to force perpendicularity ect. force tangency c spline tools d trim to entity

Stuff you could do since Pro/E v8.0 or so yet improved...
a use edge b hatch closed draft entities c change line type.

Enhancement request:
1 AutoBOM repeat region variables are hard to guess their functions
2 Bring in the full arsenal of intent manager to Draw Mode.
3 Show Erase tool is close to difficult (ambiguous) if the button is depressed or not.
4 Show Erase 'sel to keep' and 'sel to remove' pops you out of the command to quickly.




Edited by: design-engine

 

[Bugzuki]

I was thinking the same thing about the show and erase
buttons.

I think that for Pro/E drawing mode to be spot on it
needs to have the same functionality as sketcher. I do
not see why they have made the two different so.

 

[design-engine]

My guess is that there are two different groups doing the design. Compartmentalized . Separate rooms . separate budget.
Edited by: design-engine

 

[magnusod]

It was under Modeling Wildfire 5 http://www.mcadcentral.com/proe/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38 016&PN=2

Here's a few comments I made

BOM and Family tables OOTB without having to create them. Customization is good but the basic options should be included.
Geometric tolerances dialogue box could be easier to work with, mildly spoken.
Drawing symbols to create or edit welding and surface finish is a mess.
Notes is also very old style.
Preview while you are dimensioning as in almost every other CAD software and no middle button to place dimension.
Tables, Insert and choose number of columns and rows before placing it. Being able to change column width by dragging with the mouse. Change line style, being able to make thicker outer box. MORE Windowized.
Repeat regions, needs a major overhaul, very difficult to understand e.g Fix Index, very time consuming..how about dragging columns to order them...and don't get me started on Paginate. Never got it to work.

As I said earlier View Properties dialogue box is spot-on and raved by all the users at my office. This is the way to go with all Properties e.g Xhatch, Welding, Surface finish etc...NOT getting into the old style Menu Manager. They NEED TO standardize the GUI.

 

[dr_gallup]

They needed to standardize the GUI by WF2. It is insane that they have not finished at WF5. This has to be killing their new sales when they show it to a newbie & go "See our nice dashboard interface, oops now it's gone, here is a totally different system".

 

[Jacoolo]

need for manual input of directory path for storing symbols summarize it all - I feel like handling with DOS back my kids days then

the differance between Proe vs "X" is that competitors introduce all "hot spot" macros for You before You even recognize You can use existing func. in that way

in Proe everything is up to user:

*tired with creating tables for BOM? - create one, save as seperate file with all regions and filters, fetch when needed, gonna fill up automaticaly

*wanna have Tiff plot out drawing? - make a mapkey that set all those configs in config proe for You

etc, etc, etc

so finaly You are an experst after 2-3 years. In "X" You obtain all these tips with new release.

This must change...

 

[design-engine]

muadib3d:
"the differance between Proe vs "X" is that competitors introduce all "hot spot" macros for You before You even recognize You can use existing func. in that way"Elaborate...


I compiled all (re wrote them to be clear) and i have the rest of the day to add anything......I am at PTC in Boston BTW
Edited by: design-engine

 

[Jacoolo]

I need some extra time to put everything in one place but I gonna write it down.

Give me a week and I`ll introduce some things that could be done better.

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

What I would like to see in proe detailing is the
availability of config.dtl for different standards like
ISO, DIN, JIS etc. where the user can choose the
standard and all the parameters are set. Presently the
user has to modify each of the parameters to get what he
wants. Any further setting should have a graphical
preview something like AutoCAD. Yes I agree that you
have to do it only once and can save it to config.dtl.
But then when ptc upgrades....from WFxx to WFyy it is
all over again lest we miss some new config setting.

 

[sorabhdhiman]

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

Dear Saurav,
Welcome to the forum with a

!!!

Proe is not all that Bad. It is just that we expect more
from the software. Otherwise it is live and kicking..!!!

 

[davidinindy]

Off the top of my head. Ive submitted many of these before, but have never gotten a reply, and never seen any improvement on any of them.


I hate having to click on a balloon, dimension, view, note, etc to highlight... then click again to move or do anything with it.


Pro-E should be smart enough not to put witness lines on top of object lines.


Automatic jogging of ordinate dimensions dimension lines and automatic aligning when adding to them.


Automatic BOM balloons leaders cross over each other. Clean up balloons doesn't help, often crossing an entire view when it would be better off putting the balloon on the same side.


When highlighting a part in the model tree, make it highlight the part in ALL views!


Let us click on any view and move it around and have the others move with it, despite if it's the original view or not.


When using show/erase. If the shown dimension is on one hole, let me move it to another hole please. (if they're in the same sketch and the same size)


Too many simple things take too long to do in drawing mode.
Edited by: davidinindy

 

[Mindripper]

Much of the basic functionalityof Pro/E's drawing package could be improved to help it compete with other CAD packages. It is very easy for those who operate in a vacuum to think it's great just the way it is. This is what happens when a user limits their exposure to the rest of the world. Personally, I am not Amish, and I am intent on making our world a better place through the advancement of technology.And I am not hawking PTC products (directly or indirectly): design-engine does this for a living. Those of us who expect morePro/E are usually experienced with at least one other 3D CAD package.


One of the fundamental weaknesses of the entire Pro/E drawing software concept is the strategy of using the actual model in views, rather than renderings of it. While this is very efficient in minimizing file size, it results in some serious limitations in today's world. Back in The Day when Pro/E was conceived, memory and disk space were scarce and precious. Now, both are huge and cheap. Shortcomings of using actual views of the model include the need to regenerate every view each time the file is opened, the inability to hide lines on the model in views, and difficulty in selecting tangent edges (such as a profile view of a cylinder or complex surface).


There are hundreds of other specific examples of the weaknesses of Pro/E's badly outdated drawing package I could list, but this fundamental archaic strategy is one of the Big Ones. It's quite obvious that PTC has invested very little effort in upgrading their drawing package in the New Millenium, and it shows.

 

[wamarler]

One of the fundamental weaknesses of the entire Pro/E drawing software concept is the strategy of using the actual model in views, rather than renderings of it. ... Shortcomings of using actual views of the model include the need to regenerate every view each time the file is opened...

You can prevent Pro/E from re-generating every view each time the file is opened by using config.pro option "save_display."

Beware: this is a double-edged sword. A common problem I encounter is one of my users saying "what the heck, I updated my model, but my view didn't update." They are using "save_display" set to "yes" -- ie, a rendering of the model in the view, rather than the model itself -- and are not aware. Pro/ENGINEER warns users in its message window when drawing views have been saved as a display, but this is often overlooked.

If this is insufficient, and you want an even more non-parametric drawing (which is what a "rendering" would be), you can always go to #Edit > #Convert to Draft Entities. This will grow the drawing size (which you argue is not a problem, but others may argue that retrieving large files over a network is a nuisance), *and* it will allow you to hide/delete/change-linestyles-of individual lines without creating a simprep.

 

[davidinindy]

This isn't necessarily just a drawing issue, but I hate not being able to add spaces in file names, parameters, feature names, etc...


If you import files from a supplier, customer, etc. you must rename them in order to open them in Pro-E since other systems allow spaces in file names.

 

[wamarler]

Shortcomings of using actual views of the model include the need to
regenerate every view each time the file is opened, the inability to
hide lines on the model in views

Mindripper I thought I'd address this concern of yours as I ran into it the other day.

You *can* hide individual edges in a drawing view. I tested in Wildfire 3.0 & 5.0, I assume it didn't go anywhere in 4.0. Head to #View > #Drawing Display > #Edge Display. That pops up a menu manager, the first entry of which is "Erase Line."

 

[dross]

Shortcomings of using actual views of the model include the need to regenerate every view each time the file is opened, the inability to hide lines on the model in views

Mindripper I thought I'd address this concern of yours as I ran into it the other day.

You *can* hide individual edges in a drawing view. I tested in Wildfire 3.0 & 5.0, I assume it didn't go anywhere in 4.0. Head to #View > #Drawing Display > #Edge Display. That pops up a menu manager, the first entry of which is "Erase Line."

Sometimes this works, sometimes not. I have not figured out why it sometimes does not work.

 

[r.decker]

Shortcomings of using actual views of the model include the need to regenerate every view each time the file is opened, the inability to hide lines on the model in views

Mindripper I thought I'd address this concern of yours as I ran into it the other day.

You *can* hide individual edges in a drawing view. I tested in Wildfire 3.0 & 5.0, I assume it didn't go anywhere in 4.0. Head to #View > #Drawing Display > #Edge Display. That pops up a menu manager, the first entry of which is "Erase Line."

Sometimes this works, sometimes not. I have not figured out why it sometimes does not work.

I have noticed this happen when 2 parts are mated. The line you select is for one part and you will have to query select the line from the second part to get it to erase as well. Sometimes dragging a selection box around the offending line(s) will work as well.

 

[curtis.smith]

The show/erase icons can be seen better if you change your display properties appearance and set this option to Windows Classic Style in the Windows and Buttons: drop down box. With XP operating system this has been a problem even back in Wildfire 2 and I'm now in Wildfire 4.


Enjoy,


Curtis Smith