Pro Engineer Wildfire 4.0

CREATING TEMPLATES Select the view type, keeping in mind that even in a draw- QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
ing template the first view must be a general view. Then Below is an example of a template without a format.
Templates are shortcuts to speed up the creation of draw- select view options that you want to show up in the tem-
ings. Templates can include certain views you often use in plate. If you would like to have a cross section displayed in The view in the lower left hand corner is called FRONT and
your company’s drawings. They can show all dimensions, the view, enter the name of the cross section in the appro- looks for a saved view in the part file called FRONT. The
and they can even show exploded views if they are set up priate box in the view values area. In this situation, it is a view in the upper left hand corner is a projection off of
correctly. good idea to include the cross section in the start part or FRONT, the lower right hand view is a projection off the
start assembly, thus assuring it will be present. It will also FRONT view. The view in the far upper right hand corner is
To create a template, go to FILE > NEW, select Drawing and ask for a drawing view to place the cross sectional arrows. an ISO_1 view that requires a saved view named “default”
hit OK. Set the default model to None and select “Empty This drawing view must already be present in order to place in the part file. In Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 you can set up
with format” button, if you wish to use a format. Use the the arrows. a view to automatically scale to fit a given area. This has
Browse button to find the format for your template. If you been done in the ISO_1 view and is the reason that there is
do not wish to use a format then select the ‘Empty’ button. Once you have included all view options you want for the a border around that template view. To create a template
Once your drawing comes up, select the APPLICATIONS > template, select the place view option and select where on view so the model automatically scales to fit the view area,
TEMPLATE from the pull down menu from the top of the the screen we want the view to be located. just drag an area when you place the template view.
screen. You are now in the template mode and can add
your drawing views. This can then be repeated for creating projection views,
isometric views, etc.
Hold down the right mouse button, and select Insert Tem-
plate View to open the template view dialog box. Keep in mind that that with the template you are not auto
completing 100% of your drawing options. With a tem-
plate, you are merely automating the tasks that are com-
mon across several drawings. If 25% of the drawings use
the same drawing view layout, then it is worth creating a
template.

Parts typically have different templates than assemblies,
and assemblies may have different templates for process,
manufacturing, or any other types of drawings. In the long
run, it is better for one engineer to spend a day creating a
template than for 10 engineers spending time over the
duration of a career repeatedly creating the same views
over and over again.

Creating Templates Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 48

CREATING TEMPLATES

There are various View Options which can be set to control When creating a template for an assembly, it is possible to QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
your individual views. You can either set these while you are bring in a view in a predefined Exploded State. In the ex-
initially creating the view or select the view and hit your ample below, we have indicated that we will include an You can also create snap lines to make it easier to line up
right mouse button and choose properties. exploded state in our template. The exploded state must dimensions in the views.
have been previously created in our assembly, and it must
Cross Section under the View Values section of the View be named NO_CASINGS. Additionally, there needs to be a Here the template drawing view is being set up to create
States option allows you to enter the name of a cross sec- saved view orientation named EXPLODE_1. If there is not, five snap lines. The first will be offset 0.5 units from the
tion in the part or assembly. the template will generate an error indicating that it was view, and each additional snap line will be offset 0.375 units
unable to find the required exploded view. The same can from the initial offset.
be done for Simplified Representations in an assembly
drawing.
Sandy_Mckinney2015
Cross-sectional arrows will be placed in the Arrow Place- A powerful use of templates is the ability to rapidly create The Dimensions option allows you to automatically show
ment View in the template. The cross section name must assembly process drawings. Within the template view dia- all dimensions in a drawing. This is a great tool if you are
exist in your part or assembly file, and the Arrow Placement log box, there is a checkbox for Process Step and then the creating a drawing as you build the parts. It will also give
View must be aligned correctly in order to place the arrows. step number can be identified. This allows you to standard- you the option to create snap lines, even if you have not
If either are missing, the template will generate an error ize all of your process drawings as well as rapidly create selected the Snap Lines option above.
when it is used to create a drawing. numerous drawings.

The Scale option allows you to change the scale for a par-
ticular view. This scale will be independent of the drawing
scale.

The Balloons option allows you to automatically show as-
sembly bill of materials balloons in the drawings created
from the template.

Creating Templates Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 49

CREATING DRAWING VIEWS VISIBLE AREA QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Once you have created the parts and assemblies, it is time Next, select the Visible Area of the view. Full View is just VIEW STATES
to create your drawing. A drawing can be created at any that, the original view. Half View allows you to select a
time after you start the part or assembly. To create a new plane or surface, to see everything on one side of the plane View States allows you to set exploded views for assem-
drawing, go to FILE > NEW, select Drawing, give it a name or the other. Partial View displays a portion of the model blies and simplified representations.
and hit OK. in a boundary which you create. Broken View removes the
area between two points and closes the remaining two VIEW DISPLAY
This opens the New Drawing dialog portions to a selected distance.
box. Enter what the default model will View Display controls if the view will be shaded, how hid-
be, if you will be using a template or Z-Direction clipping controls how much is visible going den lines and tan-
format, and what the template, format into or out of the gent edges are
or sheet size will be. page. By selecting going to be dis-
a plane, you can played, and where
Now that you have started the drawing, clip everything the drawing gets
you can add views of your model. Hold that would appear its colors.
down the right mouse button and se- behind that plane.
lecting Insert General View to open Use this option ORIGIN
the Drawing View dialog box. when you are
looking down the Origin controls how views will grow as the model grows
VIEW TYPE axis of a very long larger. By default, as parts increase in size, views of that part
cylindrical part, for grow from the center out. By changing the location of the
The first category is example. origin, you can
the View Type. The control a view and
first view in a draw- SCALE keep it from grow-
ing is always a gen- ing off of the
eral view that can be The Scale category allows you to create a unique scale for a drawing. To have
oriented. The orien- particular view. Be careful with the perspective option. a view grow down
tation method View Once that has been selected, you cannot turn it off without and to the left,
names from the deleting the view and recreating it. place the origin at
model allows you to the upper right
choose any of the SECTION hand corner of the
model’s saved views view.
to orient the draw- The Section category allows you to select an existing cross
ing. section from ones ALIGNMENT
created in the
Choose Geometry refer- model, create your Alignment controls which views will move together if one
ences to define an orienta- own, or select a is moved. By default, any projection view is automatically
tion by selecting two sur- flat surface on aligned with its parent view.
faces of the model. your model to
quickly create a
Angles allows you to manu- cross section.
ally rotate the model about Notice you can
an edge, line, or surface now include 3-D
directly on the screen. This sections.
is useful to rotate some-
thing an exact angle.

Creating Drawing Views Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 50

CREATING DRAWING VIEWS QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

After inserting general views, you can go ahead and add To create Detailed views, use the INSERT > DRAWING VIEW Auxiliary views can be created by going into the INSERT >
additional views like projection and detailed views. > DETAILED. After selecting to create a detailed view, you DRAWING VIEW > AUXILIARY menus. These are views that
are asked to select a center point on an existing view. If this are created very similarly to projection views. However,
To add a projection view, first center point is deleted from the part or assembly, the de- these views are projected off of an angled plane or along an
select the view to project from, tailed view will not be deleted. axis, rather than just to the top, bottom, left or right.
then hold down the right mouse
button and select Insert Projec-
tion View.
Sandy_Mckinney2015
By moving your Once you have selected the center point, click the left
mouse around, mouse button around the center point to indicate what
you can see where should be showing in your detailed view. When finished,
the projection click the middle mouse button to end the view boundary.
view will be Left-click to place your drawing view.
placed.

Next, select the
location for the
projection view.

At this point, the
two views are
aligned and will move together. The views will also update
if the orientation of the parent view changes. The software
will generate a warning to let you know that the projection
views will update.

Creating Drawing Views Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 51



ADDING DRAWING DETAILS

The Show / Erase dialog box can be used to show more Reference Dimensions can be created in part mode or in QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
than just dimensions in the drawings. This allows you to the drawing. In part mode, select INSERT > ANNOTATIONS
create all the manufacturing information inside the part or > REF. DIMENSIONS. Select The Datum Axes option allows the axes of cylindrical and
assembly file and then show only that information in the items to be dimensioned and conical surfaces to be displayed on the drawing and erases
drawing. place the dimensions as axes that the system shows in a drawing. Since axes are
shown below. inherited from the model you cannot delete them from
This is controlled by the middle section in the Show / Erase within the drawing. This option is also good for showing the
dialog box. By selecting any of the eleven options, you can Notes can be created by selecting the INSERT > ANNOTA- bending locations for Sheetmetal parts. The image below
show other detailing information. TIONS > NOTES menu in a part or assembly file. Notes can shows the Datum Axes of this cylindrical part.
then be shown inside the drawing. Notes can also be cre-
Geometric Tolerances are created in the part model by ated directly in the drawing file by selecting the INSERT >
selecting INSERT > ANNOTATIONS > GEOM TOL. From NOTE option inside the drawing. An example note with
there, you can set datums and create whatever type of geo- leaders (arrows) is shown below
metric tolerancing you need. Here you see Datum 4 has Sandy_Mckinney2015
been set, and a Parallelism tolerance has been added.
These can also be added in the drawing by selecting INSERT
> GEOMETRIC TOLERANCE.

Dimensions Reference Balloons
Dimension

Notes Geometric
Symbols Tolerances
Cosmetic
features Datum Axes

Adding Drawing Details Datum Plane
Tolerance Tag

Datum Target Surface Finish

Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 53

ADDING DRAWING DETAILS

Once you have shown the dimensions, the next task is to The result can be as follows. QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
arrange them the way your company requires. There are Flipping arrows is also useful for small linear dimensions.
several tools for this built into Pro/ENGINEER, most of which
can be found by selecting a view or a dimension and then
holding down the right mouse button. Here is a typical view
with dimensions jumbled together. The first thing you
should do is clean up the dimensions for this view. Select
the view, hold down the right mouse button, and choose
Cleanup Dimensions.

Looking at the options in Not bad for a start! You can then drag dimensions manually. When selecting large numbers of
the dialog to the right, the dimensions from the drawing, it is
system automatically If you think there is one or more dimensions that don’t easier to set the filter in the lower
spaces out linear dimen- belong to this view, multi-select them, hold down the right right hand of the screen. Set the
sions with a certain incre- mouse button and select the Move Item to View option filter to Dimension and then click
ment between them and and choose a new view on which to place the dimensions. and drag your mouse over all the
the nearest dimension to dimensions you want to select.
the view is offset from the Also note that there is a radius dimension that is hanging Even if you drag over views,
view boundary (shown in out in space. This is a common occurrence that can easily notes, geometric tolerances, etc.,
red in the figure above) be fixed by selecting the dimension, and then selecting the it will only select what you have
with a specified amount. Flip Arrows option until the dimension has the correct specifically filtered for. In this
You may also choose to configuration. case, dimensions.
enable the Create Snap
Lines option, where the Incorrect style for the The radius dimension
system creates virtual lines R4.00 radius dimension after flipping arrows
(shown in dashed style in
the next figure) so when Back to Table of Contents DRAWINGS 54
you move dimensions
manually, you can snap
them to those lines for neat
placement.

Adding Drawing Details

RESOLVE MODE OVERVIEW

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Enter into the Resolve Mode environment whenever fea- Sandy_Mckinney2015Note: Resolve Mode has not yet received the “make-over” to RESOLVE FEATURE MENU
tures or components fail to regenerate. For some reason, the Wildfire User Interface, so the look and commands are
many users often have a severe fear, dislike, or hatred of from the 2001 version of Pro/ENGINEER. The dialog boxes Discussion of these commands and their
Resolve Mode. There is no reason for these feelings. Resolve and menu interfaces will be different than what you are use can be found on the following pages.
Mode is simply a set of tools that allows you to fix the mod- used to using in Wildfire, and some of the commands are
els when problems happen and to make the models as pa- slightly different. These differences will be explained over GRAPHICS WINDOW
rametric, robust and adaptable as possible. the next few pages.
You enter into Resolve Mode automatically when failures The failed feature and all features that
occur, or you can enter into it manually if there are prob- When you enter Resolve Mode, the basic procedure is appear after the failed feature will not be
lems with the geometry. regenerated, so the model will appear as if
One indication of problems with geometry is the Trouble- 1 - Determine what failed. you had suppressed everything from the
shooter dialog box: 2 - Determine why it failed. failed feature to the end of the model.
3 - Fix the failure.
Another indication that there is a problem with geometry is MODEL TREE
when a First Aid kit icon appears in lieu of the green check- When you enter Resolve Mode, you will notice the follow-
mark on the right side of the dashboard. Click the First Aid ing: The red “Insert Here” arrow will appear in the model tree
kit icon to enter Resolve Mode. just above the failed feature, and the failed feature will have
FAILURE DIAGNOSTICS WINDOW a symbol next to it that looks like a box with an ‘X’ inside.

(Step 1 - what failed) FILE MENU
Within this window you will notice blue text, which will
trigger actions: Most of the commands underneath the FILE menu — in-
cluding Open, Close, Save, Rename, Erase, and Delete —
Overview. This will open a window that will tell you about will be unavailable while you are in the Resolve environ-
all the tools available for solving the problem and give a ment. Essentially, Pro/ENGINEER wants you to fix the prob-
general overview of resolve mode. lem in the model before proceeding. Be aware that you can
exit out of Pro/ENGINEER while in Resolve, but you cannot
Feature Info. This is the same as the INFO > FEATURE com- switch to other models you have open from the Window
mand. This will display all the parametric data (i.e., parents, drop-down menu.
children, attributes, options, dimensions, layers, etc.) for a
feature in the content viewer window. Over the next few pages, you will see some typical things
that can cause Resolve Mode failures, a general procedure
Resolve Hints. If the failure is a common one, sometimes for fixing these problems, and some tips and techniques for
Pro/ENGINEER can tell you how to solve the problem if you working in and out of Resolve Mode.
click on Resolve Hints.

Underneath
this blue text,
there will be
additional text
that tells us
which feature
or component
is failing and a
brief reason
why.

Resolve Mode Overview Back to Table of Contents RESOLVE MODE 55

RESOLVE MODE FAILURE TYPES AND OCCURRENCES

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

The number one cause of Resolve Mode failures is (faulty) General patterns have none of the restrictions of identical or External References
parent-child relationships. Some of the common types of varying patterns. General patterns are now the default in If you try to regenerate a feature that has external (non-
situations that can put you into Resolve Mode for parts and Pro/ENGINEER. If a pattern is failing, Edit the Definition of local) references, and the referenced model is not in ses-
assemblies will be explored in this section. the pattern and ensure that it is a general pattern. sion, sometimes features can fail due to the missing exter-
nal references. To solve this problem, use Edit Definition to
PART MODE FAILURES Model Accuracy change the external references to local references.
There is a limit to the smallest curve length Pro/ENGINEER is
Missing References capable of seeing. If you have a model that is relatively large ASSEMBLY MODE FAILURES
This is the number one cause of failures. When you create a compared to its edges, or if you are trying to shell or offset a
feature, you have to pick references in the model to locate relatively small distance compared to the size of the model, Missing Components
that feature, determine its size, and/or define the depth. If and you can see no reason why the feature is failing, accu- When you open an assembly, Pro/ENGINEER looks for your
you remove these references from the model, then the chil- racy may be the problem. components in four locations:
dren will fail. To resolve this problem, you can Edit Defini-
tion of the failed feature and choose alternate parents (e.g., Place a “bounding box” around the part and measure the RAM
sketch plane, orientation reference plane, sketch references, cross-diagonal length to define the model’s accuracy. By The Working Directory
depth references). default, .0012 times this cross-diagonal length is the small- The directory from which we opened the assembly if it
est curve Pro/ENGINEER is capable of seeing. You can is different than your Working Directory
Another common cause of this failure is resuming a feature change this relative accuracy down to .0001 by using the Search paths specified in the config.pro file
that “swallows up” the references of a subsequent feature. EDIT > SETUP > ACCURACY command, or all the way down
For example, if you have a round on an edge, and you re- to 1 x 10-6 by using config.pro options. If you happen to If the components cannot be found in any of these loca-
sume a chamfer located on the same edge, the one that know that smallest curve length, you can use config.pro tions, you will enter into Resolve Mode.
appears later in the model tree will fail. In this case, you options to define an absolute accuracy. Tip: A more in- Potential solutions include:
need to delete one of the two features. depth description of accuracy and its ramifications can be
found in the PTC technical support knowledge database Use Find Component to locate the missing part. Note
Can Not Intersect Part with Feature with a key-word search for “accuracy.” that this is not available for missing subassemblies.
If you have a sketch with an open section, and that sketch is Quit Retrieval. Then you can use the machine’s operat-
used to create a solid feature that extends beyond the Rounds ing system commands to find the missing component
length of your part, this can cause the feature to fail. Depending on the complexity of the geometry you are try- and move it to one of the four locations listed above.
ing to place rounds on, Pro/ENGINEER may not be able to Continue with opening the assembly while deleting,
To resolve this problem, change the sketch to a closed sec- construct the geometry. suppressing, or clip suppressing the component. Note
tion, or change the depth of the feature so that it does not Potential solutions include: that this can cause subsequent components to fail
go beyond the length of the part. placement.
Edit the radius to a smaller value.
Tip: Closed sections tend to be more robust than open sec- Edit Definition of the round to change the references, Missing References
tions. Use closed sections unless you have a specific need extent, and/or transitions. After Pro/ENGINEER retrieves the components, it attempts
for an open section. Generate the rounds as a surface (non-solid) feature to regenerate the models and locate them in the proper
and use the EDIT > SOLIDIFY command to generate location in the assembly. If you have modified another part
Patterns solid geometry. or assembly such that a component cannot find its neces-
There are three different options for defining a pattern: sary placement references, you will enter into Resolve
Identical, Varying and General. Shells Mode.
Similar to rounds, Pro/ENGINEER may not be able to offset
Identical patterns have the most restrictions. All instances of the surfaces in order to create the feature. To resolve this problem, you will need to Edit Definition of
the pattern must originate from the same surface of the Potential solutions include: the component placement references and choose alternate
lead feature, the instances cannot intersect one another, geometry, or Freeze the component thereby locking the
they must add or remove the same amount of material, and Edit the offset distance to a smaller value. component into space relative to the assembly default da-
they must break out of the part on the same surface if they Remove surfaces from the shell. tum planes.
remove material. The leader and instances must be identi- Exclude geometry from being shelled.
cal in all ways. Use surfacing commands such as EDIT > OFFSET, EDIT
> MERGE, and EDIT > SOLIDIFY to generate the neces-
Varying patterns are less limited. The pattern leader and sary geometry as surfaces and then remove the inside”
instances can run onto other surfaces or into empty space, from the model.
but the instances cannot intersect one another.

Resolve Mode Failure Types and Occurrences Back to Table of Contents RESOLVE MODE 56

RESOLVE MODE GENERAL RECOVERY PROCESS Sandy_Mckinney2015 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Taking care of Resolve Mode failures is a basic three step process. Actually, even before you The second tool is the Investigate command in the Resolve Feature menu. This will trigger a
start on step one, remember step zero: Don’t panic. There is no reason to panic just because submenu that will give you a choice of working on the current model or the backup model.
you end up in Resolve Mode.
Remember, in the current model, the feature that failed and all the subsequent features will
The recovery process in Resolve Mode is a basic and straightforward three-step process: be unregenerated. That’s why you have the ability to investigate the backup model. Choos-
ing backup model will trigger a File Open dialog box that will allow you to select a previously
1. Figure out what is failing. saved model to investigate. This can be the last saved version of the model, or if you have
2. Figure out why it is failing. the Make Regen backup option set in the Environment menu, it will be a saved version of the
3. Fix the problem. model right before the feature failed.

Step 1: Figure Out What is Failing The Investigate command submenu will also include these commands:

This step is simple. Simply read the Failure Diagnostics window to figure out which feature List Changes. This lists everything that has been done to the model since the last suc-
or component in the model is failing. That’s all there is to it. cessful regeneration.

It also helps to look at the model tree. Remember, the feature that failed and all the features Show Ref. This will open the Reference Information Window that will allow you to ex-
after it will be unregenerated. The failed feature is the one immediately after the red “Insert plore the parents of our failed feature. This is a very helpful tool in determining
Here” arrow, and will have a box with an X inside it next to it. missing references! Compare the current model references to the backup model refer-
ences to find what reference failed and to which geometry it was attached.
Step 2: Figure Out Why It Is Failing
Failed Geom. Sometimes Pro/ENGINEER may be able to show you where the geometry
This step is a little more in-depth. There are two different tools to in your model is failing.
help determine why the feature failed: the Feature Info choice in
the Failure Diagnostics window, and the Investigate command in Roll Model. This is Another tool to help answer the question “What failed?” Use this on
the Resolve Feature menu. the backup model to step forward and backward in the regeneration of the features.
Options “before failed” and “failed feature” will display the failed feature in the working
After you know which feature is failing, you want to find out every- window.
thing you can about that feature. The more you know about the
feature, the better you can deduce the problem. Everything about This step is more in-depth because it requires some thinking and deducing to figure out
the feature is available from Feature Info. Some things that are what the problem is and devise a potential solution. As you become more experienced in
helpful to know include Pro/ENGINEER, Resolve Mode gets easier to use. Remember that missing references are the
number one cause of feature failure, so 90% of the time you will just need to determine what
The feature type. Is it a round, a chamfer, an extrude or a re- references are missing and then fix them.
volve and so on? Different feature types tend to fail differ-
ently, so knowing the type can help narrow the potential
cause.
The parents. Since parent-child relationships are the primary
cause of Resolve Mode failures, it helps to take a look at the
parents.
The attributes and options.
The dimensions.

Resolve Mode General Recovery Process Back to Table of Contents RESOLVE MODE 57

RESOLVE MODE GENERAL RECOVERY PROCESS

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Step 3: Fix the Problem FIX MODEL Setup will trigger a menu with options to allow you to
define such things as units, mass properties, geometric
To fix the Resolve Mode failure, you have three commands This command allows you to work on tolerances, surface finishes, component flexibility, and
at your disposal: Quick Fix, Fix Model, and Undo Changes. any feature (other then the failed so on. Typically, none of these options will cause (or fix)
feature) in the model. Also, like the a Resolve Mode failure. There is one option, Accuracy,
QUICK FIX Investigate command, you have the that may be the problem, as mentioned in the Failure
option of working on the Current Types and Occurrences section.
This command allows you to work on the feature that failed Model or a Backup Model. Remem- X-Section is the same as the cross section functionality
and only the feature that failed. In Part mode, you have: ber, in Resolve Mode, the feature that available from the View Manager icon. This won’t solve
failed and all the features underneath a problem but can often be useful in diagnosing a
Redefine. As mentioned before, it in the model tree is unregenerated. problem in Step Two.
Resolve Mode uses the pre- Program enters Pro/PROGRAM mode which gives you
Wildfire menus. This command is Fix Model will also give you access to access to the individual features that create the part.
the same as Edit Definition, the Feature Creation icons on the
which allows you to change right side toolbar (e.g., Hole, Round, In assembly mode, you will have additional commands un-
most of the options that were Extrude, etc.), so while you are in der Fix Model:
defined when the feature was Resolve Mode you can even create
originally created. new features. Component. Allows you various assembly options such
Reroute. This command is the as Re-order, Insert Mode, and Adv. Utils including Re-
same as Edit References in Wild- Warning: Executing a command place, and UDFs.
fire for changing the parents of a under Fix Model may make Undo Quit Retrieval. This quits assembly retrieval. And all
feature. Changes unavailable. Pro/ENGINEER components retrieved are erased from memory.
Suppress. Allows you to tempo- will warn you and allow you to con- Application. This enables you the capability to jump
rarily remove the failed feature. firm or cancel before proceeding. from one application to another, such as Sheetmetal,
Clip Supp. Suppresses the failed Cabling, Piping, etc.
feature and all features after it. Here are some of the more useful
Delete. Deletes the failed fea- commands under UNDO CHANGES
ture. Caution! If the failed fea- Fix Model:
ture has children, delete will There are times when Undo Changes is a good idea, and
want to delete them (by default) Feature will trigger a submenu that will include com- there are times when it is not such a good idea. Undo
in addition to the failed feature. mands such as Delete, Suppress, Redefine (same com- Changes is recommended for times when
mand as Edit Definition), Reroute (same command as
In assembly mode, you will have additional commands un- Edit References), Pattern and Copy. You want to get a saved version of the model right
der Quick Fix: Modify is the same as the Edit command. before the feature failure. You can do undo changes,
Regenerate is the same as the Regenerate icon or save the model, then make the change again and go
Find Component. Allows you to search for component CTRL+G. back into resolve mode. This is helpful while using the
that is missing. Restore changes dimensions, parameters, and/or rela- Investigate tool. This is by-far the most important rea-
Quit Retrieval. This quits assembly retrieval. And all tions to their values prior to the failure. son you would want to use undo changes.
components retrieved are erased from memory. Relations opens the Relations dialog box so you can “Life” gets in the way of Pro/ENGINEER (e.g., it’s time to
add, delete or edit the equations that govern the go home or have lunch or take a phone call).
The use of these commands was described in the section on model.
Failure Types and Occurrences (page 57). Otherwise, as described above, Quick Fix or Fix Model are
the best choices for resolving a failure.

Once you have fixed the problem, Pro/ENGINEER will say
“Failure has been resolved. Do you want to exit Resolve
Mode?” in the message area. In the upper right hand corner
of the screen, click “Yes.”

Resolve Mode General Recovery Process Back to Table of Contents RESOLVE MODE 58











CROSS SECTIONS QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Cross sections are created in part and assembly mode, but If you select Planar, you will then be Once you have successfully created the cross section, you
can be used in drawing mode as well. You have complete asked to select a datum plane or a flat are given several options.
control over the cross-hatching—even the components surface on the model, and
that the cross section cuts through in an assembly—and it Pro/ENGINEER will create the cross The Set Active option cuts the model along the cross sec-
is all controlled from the View Manager. section from there. tion as long as it is a planar cross section.

To create a cross section in part mode, use the VIEW > VIEW If you select the Offset option, Pro/ENGINEER will ask for a
MANAGER, and select the XSec tab at the top. This will sketching plane and a reference plane before putting you in
show the list of all cross sections available in the current sketcher mode. You can then sketch out any line as a cross
model. Below is see the standard Cross Section dialog box section line, although it must begin and end in a straight
in part mode. line, and it will be available for cutting the model (made
Active).

Active, offset cross section Active, planar cross section

To create the part cross section, simply select New and walk Visibility allows you to see the cross
through the menu picks. After selecting New enter the -hatching on the model.
name for the cross section. The Planar and Offset options
allow you to either select an existing flat surface or datum Redefine changes the cross-
plane in the model, or to sketch a line that will act as the hatching on the model as shown
cutting plane for the cross section. The Zone option allows here. You have added a centerline
you to create regions within models that make large assem- to the cross hatching, and have
blies more manageable. You can use these zones to help changed the spacing between lines
organize your assembly by controlling view clipping, creat- as well.
ing simplified representations, display states, and also enve-
lope parts.

Cross Sections Back to Table of Contents VIEW MANAGER OPERATIONS 64

CROSS SECTIONS

Cross sections in assemblies give you more options than are You can also control which components QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
in part mode. Although they are created in the same man- are actually being cross-hatched in as- The cross sections created in both the parts and assemblies
ner, you have the option to control which components are sembly mode. After you have created the will be available in drawing mode. When placing a drawing,
cut with the cross section. cross section, select Edit > Redefine > you have the option to select any views you created in part
Hatching from the View Manager to con- or assembly mode, or make them on the fly.
The first thing you will see when creating trol which component has cross hatching. Below is a projection view with the assembly cross section
a cross section is that you are given the Once in Redefine, use Next and Previous shown in the view.
option of creating the cross section to cycle through all the components in
through the entire model or through just the assembly. When the appropriate A cross section can also be used in a 3-D view on a drawing.
one part. component highlights, select the Exclude However, the section would have to be created with the
or Restore option in order to apply that Offset option, instead of the Planar option.
If you select One Part, action.
you must pick a part and
an assembly datum Two components have the cross-hatching
plane. You can not se- removed in the view below
lect a part datum for this Sandy_Mckinney2015
cross section. The end
result is shown here.

If you select the Model You can create a library of cross-hatching styles to repre-
option and a datum sent different material types. After customizing the cross-
plane or flat surface to hatching’s line spacing, angle, adding an offset line, etc.,
go with it, you get a click Save from the Menu Manager. Save the style into a file
cross section that slices such as anyfilename.xch, where anyfilename may refer to a
across the entire assem- certain material type, into the folder of your choice. Repeat
bly. as necessary. Select Retrieve to apply a saved style from
the library to a cross-section.

Cross Sections Back to Table of Contents VIEW MANAGER OPERATIONS 65

SIMPLIFIED REPRESENTATIONS

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Many times in Pro/ENGINEER you may find yourself opening Here, the component block1, the gray middle block, will be For comparison, here you
up models that regenerate slowly or cause slow, jerky rota- excluded. First, select the component by selecting it on the can see the Master Repre-
tion when you attempt to spin the model. This happens main screen or from the model tree. Next, go to VIEW > sentation with all its com-
because you are trying to bring in more information than REPRESENTATION > EXCLUDE, and the component will dis- ponents.
the workstation can handle. To get around these problems, appear from the screen. Then, open the View Manager and
use Simplified Representations. select the Simp Rep tab, you will notice that the active sim- If you check what is in session,
plified rep, in this case Master Rep, will have a plus sign next or in memory, you can see the
Simplified Representations will only bring in the compo- to its name. This indicates that the Simp Rep has been difference between the Master
nents that you want for the current work. This can mean modified. To save the changes simply click on the Simp Rep Representation and the
leaving out hardware parts like nuts, bolts, and washers. name to highlight it and click the right mouse button. A No_Block representation.
This frees up more memory for the components you are window will pop up and the only options you will have will
working on. be Set Active or Save. All other options will be grayed out. When opening an assembly,
use the FILE > OPEN, then se-
To create a Simplified Representation, open the full assem- Click Save and the Save Display lect Open Rep option for a list
bly and then adjust which components you want. Element box will pop up. Give of all available representations.
the new Simp Rep a name and
The most commonly used representations are the Master hit OK. Here, you see all the default
Representation, and the Exclude Representation. representations that are in-
NOTE: If you type the name of cluded with any assembly in
The Master Representation is what you typically think of an existing Simp Rep, the addition to the No_Block repre-
when working on an assembly or a part. All components changes that you just made will sentation that you just created.
are in memory, all can be used, and all have to maintain overwrite the existing Simp
correct parent/child relationships. This will prevent you Rep. Once this Simplified Representation, No_Block, is opened
from deleting or suppressing components and worrying into Pro/ENGINEER, you will see that the assembly does not
about all the children of that component failing. Below, the Simplified Represen- fail and all items are in memory, except block1.prt.
tation is missing block1.prt.
The Exclude Representation allows you to remove a compo- The light blue part does not fail
nent from an assembly as if it were deleted or suppressed because Pro/ENGINEER main-
but without causing the children of the excluded compo- tains the proper parent/child
nent to fail. Pro/ENGINEER maintains the relationships with- relationships, but still removes
out needing to have the parents in session. This frees up the components that you want left out. Notice the name of
memory to allow the workstation to do what you want the Simplified Representation is displayed in the main
without wasting valuable time waiting for the model to graphics window.
regenerate or for assemblies to open up.

To create a simplified representation, open the normal as-
sembly and start excluding unwanted components.

Simplified Representations Simp Rep: NO_BLOCK VIEW MANAGER OPERATIONS 66

Back to Table of Contents

STYLE STATES AND ALL STATES The Style state will also allow you to assign transparency to QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
individual parts. To use the Style state, first select the com-
The last two things that can be controlled with the View ponent(s) and set its Style Next, open the View Manager,
Manager are Style states and All states. The Style state state from the VIEW menu. select the Style tab, and create a
allows you to set components to a specific type of display, new Style state. Creating a style
either Wireframe, Hidden Line, No Hidden Line, or Shaded. Here, Block2 from the model state is just like creating a simpli-
The All state allows you to combine simplified representa- tree has been selected. fied rep, as explained on page
tions with specific Style states and specific 67.
Exploded views all in one.

DISPLAY SETTINGS Sandy_Mckinney2015 ALL STATES
Set the display style for
The default display settings in this components to Once you have created several
Pro/ENGINEER are, from left to right: Transparent. This will simplified representations, style
allow you to see the states and exploded views, you
Wireframe: Shows all edges of all models. This can be component as well as can combine them to form an All
difficult to use due to all the edges being shown. It is the see what’s behind or state.
least taxing on the system, as there is no interpolation inside the component.
needed. Pro/ENGINEER simply shows every edge it creates. First, select multiple states.
In this example, the red part was hidden inside the assem- These will all be listed at
Hidden Line: Shows all edges of model, but any hidden bly. If we had simply suppressed the green and blue blocks the lower left hand side of
lines (lines that should be blocked from view) will be grayed and saved the model, other users might not have noticed the screen as shown at
out. they were there and re-assembled them, wasting work and right.
creating design problems. Instead, we have created a style
No Hidden Line: Models are still shown in a wireframe, but state and set the green and blue blocks to Transparent and This will display on the screen as a combination of all three,
any hidden lines are not shown. This provides the cleanest No Hidden, respectively, in order to expose the red part. and can be saved as a new All state under the All tab of the
and most easily interpreted wireframe display of the first View Manager. Select Edit > Redefine to edit the state of
three settings. orientation, simp rep, exploded state, and style state to be
combined, as shown below, right.
Shaded: Models are shown in complete color with all sur-
faces shaded correctly. This is the most taxing on a work
station. It gives the most realistic view of the model without
photo-rendering.

STYLE STATES

The Style state allows you to permanently assign any of the
above display settings to a part. This will allow you to rap-
idly turn off casing, housing, and surrounding parts in order
to see what is inside. It will not require all the work of creat-
ing a simplified rep nor will it cause failures due to parent/
child relations failing. You will still be able to see that the
part has been successfully assembled to the model, unlike
when you use the Suppress tool.

Style States and All States Back to Table of Contents VIEW MANAGER OPERATIONS 67

LAYERS

Layers are model organizational or grouping tools that are The Layer Tree has several QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
used to control multiple items at once. Once grouped to- standard layers from the The three items listed with the green plus symbol indicate
gether, items can be easily model templates. If you use that they have been manually added to the layer. This can
turned on and off collectively the standard templates from be done in three different ways: select the items from the
with a click of the mouse. PTC, the default layers will graphics window, switch back to and select from the model
look like this. tree, or use the search tool to add items.
Layers are found in the model Click the Rules tab to creat rules that search out all features
tree by selecting SHOW and This icon indicates that a layer has certain rules associ- and components within specific criteria.
switching to LAYER TREE ated with it, and items will automatically be added to
from the pull down menu. or removed from that layer. Here, we have used the Edit Rules button to add a search
Layers at the part level con- for any feature whose type is defined as a Datum Plane. The
trol the display of nonsolid This icon indicates that a layer requires objects to be results are below.
geometry. manually added. No objects will be automatically
added to this layer.
The Layer Tree, displays all
the layers that are currently in the model. At the top of the To create a new layer, hold down the right mouse button in
tree, you see that most models have a HIDDEN_ITEMS layer. the Layer dialog box and select New Layer. Enter a name
for the layer, and do not hit the ENTER key. If you hit the
This layer includes any fea- ENTER, it will close the layer. Simply select it from the Layer
ture or component that have Tree and select Layer Properties to reopen the layer dialog
been manually hidden within box.
the model. Note that by de-
fault, Pro/ENGINEER will hide
any external sketches that
have been created and then
used to create a feature, such
as an extrude, revolve, etc.

Unlike in other CAD packages, features and components are
not required to be placed on a layer in Pro/ENGINEER. Items
can be created without being placed on any layers at all, or
they may also be placed on multiple layers. If an item is
hidden on a layer, it will not show on the screen.

Layers Back to Table of Contents LAYERS 68

LAYERS

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Sometimes the behavior of layers can be rather mysterious, Sandy_Mckinney2015Watch what happens when you create a layer with two In Assembly Mode, layers behave in much the same way. As
and it can be difficult to discern exactly what is going on. holes on it and then hide that layer. long as Pro/ENGINEER doesn’t have to recalculate the mass
Let’s clear that up right now. properties of the individual parts, you can quickly and easily
Layers can never cause a change in mass of the model. Notice that the holes still exist in the model. What has hap- remove any datums that may be cluttering up the screen.
This means that hiding a layer will not “delete” a hole from pened? The datum axes inside the holes have been hidden,
the model, as that would increase the mass of the model. It but the holes themselves remain, because removing the In a subtle twist, you can also hide entire components.
also means that rounds cannot merely be hidden to remove holes would require Pro/ENGINEER to recalculate the mass Again, this doesn’t require the recalculation of a compo-
them from the model. That too, would change the mass of of the model. nent’s mass properties. Pro/ENGINEER simply doesn't show
the model. Changing the mass of the model would require those components. This makes it very easy to control the
Pro/ENGINEER to regenerate the entire model in order to Layers are good tools for controlling the display of the da- display of casings, shells, housings, etc. Primarily, you
figure out the new mass properties. Layers are not the tools tum features like turning off selected datum planes or re- would use this on parts that are “in the way” when working
for doing that. moving datum axes from hole patterns so that they do not on the assembly.
Layers are tools that can quickly remove datum features clutter up the screen.
and surface features from the screen. Here you see the If you need to repeatedly suppress large numbers of com-
model with all of its datum planes showing. You may need to repeatedly remove a certain set of rounds ponents, the best option is to put the items on a layer either
from the model. Or you may have several features that slow manually or by using the search tool to create rules. Then
By creating a layer with four out of the five datums on it, down the regeneration of the model. You can use layers in follow the same selection directions for features. Select the
you can quickly turn those four datums on and off as often combination with suppressing the model in order to re- items on the layer, right click on the main window, and
as necessary. move any feature that would change the mass of the select the suppress option to remove the items from the
model. regeneration process. This can help improve the perform-
ance of the assembly.
Using the above example, select the layer HOLES from the
model tree, hold down the right mouse button, and click Layers can also be used in drawings in order to hide compo-
the Select Items option. This will select all items on that nents and features in a specific drawing view. In the image
particular layer. In this case, the two holes. Next, in the below, you see all three drawing views as well as individual
main graphic window, hold down the right mouse button, components being listed. By selecting any of the drawing
select the Suppress option, and then OK. This will suppress views, you can hide objects in one view while leaving the
the items. To resume suppressed items, again choose the objects in all the other views. This even includes parents of
layer and use the Select Items options. Hold down the right projection views without changing the projection views
mouse button in the main graphic window and select Re- themselves.
sume. All items on the layer that have been suppressed
will be resumed.

Layers Back to Table of Contents LAYERS 69

MODELCHECK

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

ModelCHECK is an analysis tool built into Pro/ENGINEER Here you see which feature is considered to be buried. You Directly under the name of the check, you find the follow-
that looks for poor design practices and alerts you. By de- can highlight it on the screen to make it easier to see which ing: Y/N/E/W. This tells the software to report buried fea-
fault, certain rules are set to generate warnings, and certain feature is the problem. You can choose to have Model- tures as either an error or warning. A ‘Y’ setting tells the
rules are set to generate errors. Neither errors nor warning CHECK ignore the feature in the future. software to run the check, but not to report any as either an
will prevent you from saving and working on any models. It error or a warning. An ‘N’ tells the software not to run the
is simply an informational analysis that you can choose to This is a great option to use when you must have a specific check at all. The table below the definition lists how the
use or to ignore. feature, even if ModelCHECK sees it as an error. You can check will be run in different modes. In our example, we are
delete the feature completely, although this could cause only concerned with the Inter(active) setting.
You can access ModelCHECK by selecting the ANALYSIS > serious problems with respect to the children of that fea-
MODELCHECK > MODELCHECK INTERACTIVE option. This ture. You can also view the references of the questionable Here are some commonly used default settings in Model-
tells the software to run a ModelCHECK analysis immedi- feature. CHECK that will generate errors:
ately. Other options will wait until the model is regenerated, If you are not sure what a buried feature is, select the red
or until it is saved. icon in front of the Buried Features check for a definition CHAMFER_CHILD Looks for features that are children
of the problem, as shown below. EDGE_REFERENCES of chamfers
Here you see a typical example of a model with a few errors
and a warning. GEOM_CHECKS Looks for features that are dimen-
INCOMPLETE_FEAT sioned to edges of models, instead
After clicking on an error from the list above, you get a bet- INSERT_MODE of to surfaces
ter description of what the problem is and what you can do PLANE_CHILD
about it. PLANE_PARENT Looks for any Geometry Checks in
ROUND_CHILD your model
SHTMTL_UNBENDS
BOUND_INFO Look for any incomplete features in
DIM_OVERWRITE the model

OVERLAP_INFO Checks to make sure the model
does not have Insert Mode active

Lists any non-default datum planes
that have no children

Lists datum planes with only one
parent

Lists all features that are children of
round features

Looks for sheetmetal unbends fol-
lowed immediately by a bend back

Looks for items outside the
boundaries of the drawing

Looks for any dimensions that are
overwriting the actual value with
any other value

Looks for overlapping info, such as
views in a drawing

ModelCHECK Back to Table of Contents MODELCHECK 70

INSTALLING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Now that you have purchased Pro/ENGINEER, your next step is to install the software. You License Server
will need the following to successfully install the software:
Install the license server first. This piece of software monitors the licenses and hands them
License file from PTC. Typically this will be sent from your primary PTC contact as a text out to any machine that requests it. It is common practice to place the license server on a
attachment. server machine that everyone using Pro/ENGINEER can “see.”
CDs of the software, or downloaded and unzipped Pro/ENGINEER files from
www.ptc.com. 1. Insert the software CD, or double-click
on the setup.exe file if you downloaded
If you have not received your license file in an email, you can follow these commands: the files from ptc.com. Click NEXT.
Sandy_Mckinney2015 Accept the “Agreement Terms and
Conditions” and select NEXT again.

2. Select PTC License Server option.

3. Browse to or enter the full path to the
license file from the email and select
the INSTALL button.

4. Once this has finished installing, make
sure it is running correctly. Select the
Microsoft Windows START button from
the task bar. Select CONTROL PANEL >
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS > SERVICES
and look for FlexLM Server for PTC.
This service should be set to Started
and Automatic. If it is not started, hold
down the right mouse button and start
the service.

Go to www.ptc.com. Now that the license server has been installed correctly, you can install the Pro/ENGINEER
Select SUPPORT from the top menu, then click the Licensing tab. software on the workstation.
Click Retrieve Existing License Packs.
Enter your username (usually your email address) and password to log in.
Follow prompts to identify your location and the machine the licenses are for. In a mat-
ter of minutes, the system will email you the license file in text format.
Save the .txt file to your computer in the folder of your choice. Remember where it is
located. You are now ready to begin installation.

Installing Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Back to Table of Contents INSTALLATION 71

INSTALLING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Installing Pro/ENGINEER 5. Select the Shortcut locations. In the
Startup Directory, browse to or list the
1. Insert the software CD, or double click full path where Pro/ENGINEER should
the setup.exe file from the downloaded store any new created parts, assem-
files. Click NEXT. Accept the blies and drawing files, and then select
“Agreement Terms and Conditions” NEXT.
and select NEXT again.
6. To further configure the software for
2. Select the Pro/ENGINEER & additional functionality, select the
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica option. other options such as “Additional Li-
cense Configurations”. This will allow
3. Browse to or type in the full path to the you to create and control the license for
installation folder for Pro/ENGINEER. Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 as well as all
For example, it is common practice to optional and floating modules.
install in the folder C:/PTC/Proe_WF4,
as shown. Select the NEXT button. 7. Select the license file name, and choose
EDIT to access the additional license
4. If the license server you have just in- options.
stalled is not already listed (as shown),
select the Add button and enter the
Hostname of your license server ma-
chine. Select OK, and then select NEXT.

Installing Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Back to Table of Contents INSTALLATION 72





CONFIGURATION FILES: CONFIG.PRO

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Configuration files help you customize and personalize the Sandy_Mckinney2015 After you change values of any number options, click the
software performance, the way it behaves and functions, Notice the Sort portion in the top-right corner of the dialog. Add/change button. You can then click the Apply button to
and the appearance. It is highly recommended that every You can sort those options either by category or alphabeti- make those changes effective in the current session. You
organization customizes the software configuration files in cally. You can use the alphabetical sorting if you know the can then decide to change more options or, if you’re done,
a way that suits its needs. After that, a user can name of the option you are looking for so you can scroll click Close. Note: clicking the OK button is equivalent to
“personalize” his/her own configuration, as long as it does down to find it. If you know the exact name of the option, clicking the Apply plus the Close buttons. If you decide to
not conflict with organization configuration, to optimize you can just type it in the Option field in the bottom-left make those changes permanent (every time you start the
his/her usage performance, usage convenience, and to corner of the dialog. Pro/ENGINEER has an auto-complete program, not just during the current session), you should
maximize software productivity. capability. That means if you start typing the name of the save the config.pro.
option, the software will guess it and finish the typing for
CONFIG.PRO you. The more you type, the closer the software’s guess is To save the config.pro, before you close the dialog,
to what you want. click on the Save icon that appears towards the top of
Config.pro is the “control panel” that tells the software the dialog. To have the system read the config.pro
how to behave. Pro/ENGINEER, once installed, behaves in a Once you selected or typed the name of the option, click automatically, use config.pro as the name and save it in
default way. We should always edit that file for several rea- inside the Value field. Some options have a pre- your start-up directory. The start-up directory is the default
sons, some of which are determined list of values to choose from, like yes or no. For working directory that the program starts in. To identify it,
some, you would have to type in the value, such as for toler- right-click on the shortcut that you use to start the program
1. Make the software perform some functions that it ances. Note that the default value of an option is always and choose Properties. In the dialog box that appears, look
would not perform by default indicated by an asterisk (*). You notice in the Options dia- at the path defined in the Start In: field. This is your start-up
log that each option has a Description to the right of an directory.
2. Adapt to the organization standards (e.g., tolerances) option’s value. This is very useful to understand what this
particular option does. If you don’t know the name of the If you give the config.pro different name or save it in a
3. Control software behavior so we apply our own prefer- option you are looking for, it is helpful to use the Find but- different location, the system will not read it auto-
ences ton in the bottom left of the dialog. This will invoke a matically and you will need to load it manually into
search dialog where you enter a key word and the software your session using the Open icon in the Options dialog. In
4. Change the default appearance of the program will list all options that contain this word. fact, you can have several anyfilename.pro files, with differ-
(control screen colors, entity colors, turn off display of ent names or locations, and you can load any of these at
datum features by default, etc.) any time. Tip: if you’d like to have the ability to choose from
multiple configurations upon starting the program, create
5. Tell the system where we keep our libraries of items multiple shortcut icons to start Pro/ENGINEER, with each
(notes, tables, templates, etc.) and where we keep shortcut starting in a certain directory. Each one of those
other types configuration files start-up directories would contain its own config.pro. Then
you can start Pro/ENGINEER in any configuration of your
The config.pro is comprised of hundreds of options. Each choice by double-clicking on the corresponding icon. Name
option has a value. There is a default value for each option. the shortcuts differently for easy identification.
We change the value of the options of our choice and we
save the config.pro file so that change will be permanent. To learn more about the config.pro options, visit the Help
Those options are categorized according to what they do. Center on by clicking HELP > HELP CENTER from the main
Some options serve specific functional area of the software. menu. You can download a pdf file (also available in the
For example, some options relate to working with assem- Help Center) that explains all options from http://
blies, some relate to working with data exchange, some www.ptc.com/WCMS/files/65779/en/
relate to working with piping design, and so on. WF4.0_012408_configoptions.pdf.

The following figure shows the Options dialog that we use
to edit the values of those options. This dialog can be
opened using the menu picks TOOLS > OPTIONS.

Config.pro Back to Table of Contents CONFIGURING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 75

CONFIGURATION FILES: CONFIG.SUP & CONFIG.WIN

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

CONFIG.SUP Use the Commands tab to drag icons from the dialog into the proper toolbar on the screen
to add. To remove an icon from a toolbar, drag it out of the toolbar and into the dialog. In
Oftentimes, a company would like to enforce some standards and policies or even to share the dialog, icons (or commands) are grouped by category.
some vital configuration options among all users. Your CAD administrator can then define
those options and save them in the config.sup file, which has all options that config.pro
does, except it has different file extension. Any option defined in the config.sup file will
override the same option if you defined it differently in your personal config.pro. The con-
fig.sup is saved in the directory where Pro/ENGINEER is installed.

CONFIG.WIN

You can personalize the program interface to show icons for functions you use often and
remove icons (or whole toolbars) that you don’t use often. To customize interface, use the
menu picks TOOLS > CUSTOMIZE SCREEN. The following dialog box will appear.

Use the Toolbars tab to turn on/off any toolbars of your choice. There are several toolbars
available for a variety of functions. You can also choose where to place a toolbar, either on
top, right, or left side of the screen.

Select a category from the left and all commands relating to this category will be listed on
the right. When you’re done, click OK to finish. Notice the Automatically save to option in
the bottom of the dialog. If this option is enabled, the screen customization is saved into the
config.win file so that the system will remember this customization next time you start
Pro/ENGINEER. Make sure the config.win is to be saved in the start-up directory so the sys-
tem will read it automatically upon starting (in the figure above, the start-up directory is
D:\ProENGINEER\). You can also load anyfilename.win file into your session by clicking File
> Open Settings from the Customize dialog box.

Config.sup & Config.win Back to Table of Contents CONFIGURING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 76

MAPKEYS

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

MAPKEYS Sandy_Mckinney2015To create a new mapkey, click the New button. The Re-
cord Mapkey dialog box will appear. This will allow you to
A certain task you perform on the software would require a number of menu picks, icon define a key sequence and then record the actions (series
clicking, button clicking inside dialog boxes, etc. If there is a task you perform repeatedly of menu picking) to tell the system what actions will be
and it’s done with the same sequence of mouse clicking each time, we expedite all the menu executed upon striking that key sequence. It is a good
picking and mouse clicking by setting up a mapkey, also known as a hot key or macro. A practice to enter a name and a description for your new
mapkey is a sequence of key strokes from the keyboard. mapkey. This will make it easy to identify it and remember
what it does, especially if you end up setting many map-
For example, if you want to verify all instances in a Family Table, you would normally follow keys. Click the Record button and, click by click, perform
the menu picks TOOLS > FAMILY TABLE, select the verify icon, then click the buttons Verify, the task(s) steps. You can use pull-down menus, icons, etc.
Close, and OK. If you set up a mapkey defined with key strokes, vft for instance, then to per- Note that if you click an icon as a step in the recording,
form the Family Table instance verification task, all you have to do is strike the vft key se- and then that icon is removed later, the mapkey won’t
quence on the keyboard. The system will run through all the menu picks and button clicking work. So it’s always a good idea to use pull-down menus.
for you, which saves time, especially if the menu picking is for a lengthier task. Mapkeys can
also perform a series of tasks. You could set up a mapkey to verify the Family Table, save the If the task must be interrupted to allow a user’s input, se-
model, and then erase it from the session! lect the Pause button and then define a prompt for what
needs to be input. For example, if you set up a mapkey to
Mapkeys can be defined with any number of key strokes initiate a drawing from a template, you would need to
(recommended at least two) using a combination of pause the task to allow a user to enter a drawing name.
letters, numbers and special characters. To use one of After defining the prompt, click Resume to continue re-
the function keys on top of the keyboard, use the syntax cording. When all task steps have been recorded, click the
$F6 to use the F6 function key. The $ character is used Stop button and then hit OK. The mapkey will be listed in
here so the system understands you mean the function the Mapkeys dialog.
key F6, not the letter F followed by the number 6.
If you close Mapkeys dialog right away, the mapkey will be effective only during your current
To create or edit mapkeys, click TOOLS > MAPKEYS to session. If you want to keep the mapkey permanently, use the Save Mapkeys portion in the
access the Mapkeys dialog box, shown at right. dialog to save the mapkey(s) you created/modified. You will then be prompted to save con-
fig.pro (where mapkeys will be stored). Save it as discussed earlier.

Mapkeys Back to Table of Contents CONFIGURING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 77

MAPKEYS QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Once a mapkey is set up, striking the key sequence is not the only way to trigger the task. Choose the Mapkeys category from the left. You will notice that the mapkeys that we have
You can also set up an icon representing that mapkey and place it in any toolbar. To do that, set up are listed as commands. Use Modify Selection button in the dialog to modify/create
click TOOLS > CUSTOMIZE SCREEN to access the Customize dialog, shown below. the icon image. Just as discussed earlier, hold down the left mouse button and drag the
command to a toolbar of your choice. The result can look like the following.

Notice how useful it is to enter a name and a description of your mapkey while defining it.
When you mouse over the new icon, the name and description will appear in the pop-up
help label. You can also add this command as a menu pick in the pull-down menu on top.
Again, all you do is just to drag the command to that menu and drop in any order on the list,
like this.

In this example, we dragged the command onto the TOOLS menu and dropped it below the
Family Table standard command. You can drag it and drop it anywhere you like. Remember
to save config.win when you’re done!

Mapkeys Back to Table of Contents CONFIGURING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 78

ANYFILENAME.DTL & ANYFILENAME.CFG

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

ANYFILENAME.DTL Sandy_Mckinney2015ANYFILENAME.CFG

Anyfilename.dtl is a very important To configure your model tree interface, click Settings > Tree Filters from the model tree to
setup file for drafting and detailing. It access the Model Tree Items dialog box shown below.
is used in the drawing mode to set up
the appearance of 2-D detailing enti- This dialog box will allow you to show/remove items from the dis-
ties such as text size and orientation play of the model tree. For example, it is perhaps a better practice
of dimensions and notes, type and to enable the display of Suppressed Objects. They will be listed in
size of leaders, type and orientation of the model tree with a small black rectangle on the left side of their
radius and diameter dimensions, dis- names, as shown in the image to the right. By displaying sup-
play of tolerances and more. It is also pressed features or components in your model, you can identify
used to set up the drawing primary them easily. Suppressed objects can be selected from the model
and secondary units and apply certain tree and resumed individually.
types of industry standards such as You can also add extra columns to be displayed in the model tree to display certain types of
ANSI, ISO, JIS, or DIN to a drawing information. To add or remove columns, click Settings >Tree Columns from the menu on top
item, where applicable. To access the of the model tree.
Drawing Options dialog box shown If you want to make your model tree configuration permanent, click Settings > Save Settings
at right, select FILE > PROPERTIES or File, and save anyfilename.cfg file in a folder of your choice. In order to instruct the system
right-click in the background of the to read that file upon starting of Pro/ENGINEER, point to this file using the config.pro option
drawing sheet and select Properties mdl_tree_cfg_file and then save the config.pro as discussed earlier. You can also load an
then choose Drawing Options from existing anyfilename.cfg to apply to the model tree in the current session by clicking Set-
the Menu Manager. tings > Open Settings File.

As you see, the concept and the interface is very similar to the Options dialog that we use to
edit config.pro. Configure the options in the dialog above to set up this particular drawing.
Apply the changes and close the dialog to apply these settings to this drawing only.

To use these settings in future drawings, you must save this configuration. Click on the
Save icon in the Drawing Options dialog and save the setup into an anyfilename.dtl file
in the folder of your choice

To apply this setup to another drawing, open the drawing, access the Drawing Options
dialog, click on the Open icon and retrieve anyfilename.dtl.

Often, it is useful to have multiple setup files, such as if you work with drawings with English
units and some with metric units, or if you need to apply different standards to different
drawings. Simply apply the setup of your choice to an active drawing in your session.

If you want a particular drawing setup file to be the default when starting a new drawing,
define the drawing_setup_file option in the config.pro and then save the config.pro as dis-
cussed earlier. A very good practice is to use templates to automate drawing creation. If you
are using drawing templates, set up the options as in the dialog above in the template itself,
which is actually a drawing file. When you initiate a new drawing from that template, the
drawing will inherit that setup automatically. If you want to customize the setup for the
current drawing only, you can do so from the Drawing Options dialog independently of the
template and all other drawings. All you have to do next is just save the drawing.

Anyfilename.dtl & Anyfilename.cfg Back to Table of Contents CONFIGURING PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 4.0 79