Basic Questions ...

[kdno421]

Hi All,


I have just started using ProE WF5. I have a huge Solidworks hangover and I really would appreciate your help!!


1) Can anyone please explain how to use the working directory to our advantage? I have till now figured out that I can not save the part in any other folder. I also can not add a component that is not present in the same working directory to an assembly. I am pretty sure there should be some advantages that I cant figure out!!


2) On startup, ProE is not loading the display settings that I had changed earlier. Also on the Tools>Option, I "save" the session but it doesnt effect it at all. On the same options page, I click on the list of items displayed but there is no pop up which would allow me to change any settings. How do I change and save these settings?


3) Every time I open an assembly, all the displays are ON (plane, datum,axis, etc). How do I turn it off??? I dont mind them being there BUT the names are blocking the part itself!


4) On loading an assembly file, I have to go to the settings on the model tree and select the Features option everytime!!! How do I make it as a default action??


5) When I click on a part, I just want to select the face I click on and not the entire part. How can I change the settings to do this?


6) How do I get black line edges on the parts?

7) Is there a keyboard short cut for "Drag Components"?

8)When I amrotating the part/assembly, the planes disappear. How do I change that?


Thanks!

 

[dgs]

Let me tackle a couple:

1 - Think of your working directory as 'home base' for Pro/E. It's
where the software will look first when it needs to find something.
You set it at the start of your session as the folder where the stuff
you're working on lives.

If you open an assembly, it's going to look for the parts there first
(assuming the assembly came from there). Unlike SW, Pro/E does not
keep track of the folders the parts of an assy are in, it simply
looks for them in certain folders in order. First, it'll look in the
folder the assembly came from, second the working directory (if
different) then any search paths you've defined. Pretty simple.

2 - Options in Pro/E are controled by configuration files. At first
it seems a rather antiquated way of doing things, but it's rather
nicein practice. The options you see in the Tools -> Options dialog
can be stored in a text file and read automatically at start up or
manually through that dialog.

To be read automatiaclly, you need to save them in a text file named
'config.pro' in one of these places:

<install folder>/text
User's home directory
Start up directory as defined by the 'Start In' field in the shortcut
used to start Pro/E

The text folder is the easiest, but be aware it may be overwritten
when upgrading. You might want to use the also option.

The file uses the simple syntax:

option setting

A lot of the other things you asked about will be settings in the
config.pro file. A quirk of the software is that if you don't have a
config.pro, you cannot create one from within Pro/E, so you need to
make an empty text file name config.pro in one of those folders
before launching Pro/E and then you can save options to it.

3 - There are config options for the display of planes, points, etc.
You can also turn off just the tags if you like. Search the Tools ->
optoins dialog for the options.

4 - Set up your model tree as you'd like, save the settings 9under
the hammer/wrench pick 'save settings file') and then set the
config.pro option 'mdl_tree_cfg_file' to the full path to that file.

5 - You can change the 'smart filter' in the upper right to
'Geometry'. The way 'Smart' works (the default) is sort of a
hierarchy. In assy mode, you pick the part first, then the geometry
of that part only will highlight. In part mode, you select a feature
then the geometry of that feature will highlight. Once you get used
to it, it works fairly well.

I'm not sure about 6-8

Good luck!

 

[kdno421]

Thanks for the reply Doug!


After reading your reply I gave more attention to Tools>Option.


I found that on the config.pro there are 13 options listed and I am not able to edit any one of them.


If I change the "Showing" file to "Current Session", then I can see and also edit the settings. (There are so many options ).


BUT I can only save these as current_session.pro (and that too in the working directory).


So I searched for config.pro file and even there I see same options as seen on ProE interface.


Is it safe for me to over-write the config.pro file with the customized current_session.pro??


Another question:


I have an assembly which has more than 600 parts. How I configure ProE so that by clicking on a part I would be able to figure out where it stands on the Model Tree?


Thanks!!

 

[kdno421]

Stupid me! It is actually selecting the part on the model tree*. Please ignore the last question.


*But if the part is in a sub-assembly, then it would not expand the model tree to show it.
Edited by: kdno421

 

[ankarl]

6. Turn on edge display during shading


View attachment 5590


It will give you edges but the color of them will be your part color.
To change that, set part color to black then set all solid surf's to another.
Not exactly the way SW or Inventor works but a work-around.


8.


View attachment 5591





To find a part in mdl tree:


Click on the part then on this icon and the model tree will expand and highlight the part:


View attachment 5592


If you dont have the icon in your menu, go to "Tools" "Customize screen"

 

[dgs]

Thanks for the reply Doug!


I found that on the config.pro there are 13 options
listed and I am not able to edit any one of them.


If I change the "Showing" file to "Current Session",
then I can see and also edit the settings. (There are so
many options ).


BUT I can only save these as current_session.pro (and
that too in the working directory).


So I searched for config.pro file and even there I see
same options as seen on ProE interface.


Is it safe for me to over-write the config.pro file
with the customized current_session.pro??

I think saving the 'current_session.pro' will save all
the options, which isn't what you want. You really only
want the options that you set different from default in
your config.pro file. If you do want to use it, you'll
also have to rename it as only files named 'config.pro'
get loaded automatically.

Look at the top of the options dialog, there's a drop
down there. This will show you all of the config.pro
files that loaded at start up, complete with the path.
IF one is loading, you should be able to find it there.

Remember, Pro/E (as you discovered) won't let you create
an empty one from that dialog (only the all options
'current _session.pro'), you need to create an empty text
file named config.pro and put it in one of the
directories listed above. Then you'll be able to add
options to it.

 

[kdno421]

Thanks for all the replies Doug and ankarl. I tried them all and I now have a better understanding of the options available.

 

[jrl0808]

Hi All,


There's a lot of good information on this topic. I am also new to Pro/E and was wondering if anyone could help me with 1 extremely basic question:


How do I rename the default planes? Currently they are listed as XY, XZ and YZ and I'd like to rename them Right, Top and Front.


Any help is really appreciated.


Thanks!

 

[jrl0808]

I've found a display_plane_tags under the Tools>Options when showing config.pro but I can't seem to change. I read above the you need to add a text file to edit this? I'm confused as to how this works. Again, any help is truly appreciated.


Thanks all!

 

[skraba]

jrl0808,


to rename datum planes, click the datum plane in the model tree, wait a moment and then click it again. The name of the datum plane will becom a text field which you can change.

 

[dross]

Right click in model tree, select rename.