-1What is a Simplified Representation? Simplified Representations provide a means of changing the view of a particular design.

They allow control over which members of an assembly are retrieved into workstation memory and displayed. This allows the work environment to be tailored include only information of current interest. For example, a complex sub-assembly that is unrelated to the portions of the assembly that are currently being worked on can be temporarily removed. This functionality offers an increase in performance due to a reduction in regeneration and display time. *What is a Merge? A Merge operation adds the material from every one of the second set of parts selected into every one of the first set of parts selected. Depending on the additional options available, the features and relations of the second set of parts may be copied into each of the first set of parts, or they may be referenced by the first set of parts. This operation creates the feature called "merge". *What is a Cutout? A Cutout subtracts the material of every one of the second set of parts selected from every one of the first set of parts selected. Like the Merge function, depending on the additional options selected, the features and relations of the second parts may be copied into the first parts or may be referenced by the first parts. This operation creates the feature referred to as a "cut out". *What is an Interchange Assembly? Interchange assemblies provide both a mechanism for relating functionally equivalent models, and a way to relate different visual representations of the same model. *What is a Mate Placement Constraint? A Mate placement constraint causes two surfaces to be coincident. The outward normals of the surface will face in opposite directions. When selecting datum planes, the red or yellow side must be specified. Mate Offset can be used to cause two surfaces to be parallel and facing each other, but separated by a given distance. *What is an Align Placement Constraint? An Align placement constraint causes two surfaces to be coincident. The outward normals of the surface will face in the same direction. When selecting datum planes, the red or yellow side must be specified. Align Offset can be used to cause two surfaces to be parallel, but separated by a given distance. The Align constraint can also be used to cause axes to be coaxial, or two points, vertices, or curve ends to be coincident. *What is an Insert Placement Constraint? An Insert placement constraint can be used to place a "male" revolved surface into a "female" revolved surface by aligning their respective axes. *What is an Orient Placement Constraint? An Orient placement constraint causes two surfaces to be parallel. The outward normals of the surfaces will face in the same direction, but no offset dimension is specified. *What is a Coord Sys Placement Constraint? The Coord Sys placement constraint places a component into an assembly by aligning its coordinate system with a coordinate system in the assembly (both part and assembly coordinate systems may be used). The coordinate systems may either be selected on the screen, or chosen by name with Sel By Menu. *What is a Tangent Placement Constraint? The Tangent placement constraint is used to control the contact of two surfaces at their tangency. *What is a Pnt On Srf Placement Constraint? The Pnt On Srf placement constraint is used to control the contact of two components at a point. A part or assembly datum point or vertex can be constrained to be in contact with a solid surface or datum plane. For an example of a Pnt On Srf placement constraint, refer to Using the Point On Surface Assembly Constraint. *What is an Edge On Srf Placement Constraint? The Edge On Srf placement constraint is used to control the contact of two components at a straight edge. The edge must be straight, and the surface must be planar. For an example of a Edge On Srf placement constraint, refer to Using the Edge On Surface Assembly Constraint.

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-2*What is a UDF Library? A UDF Library is a directory which contains User Defined Features, or UDFs. In Assembly mode, groups of components can be made to act as a single component when placed into the assembly. The Group command, found in the ADV UTILS menu can be selected to use the UDF in the assembly, and the UDF Library command, also found in the ADV UTILS menu is used to define, modify and manipulate the UDFs. *What is a Zone? A zone is a region within an assembly which consists of a datum plane and a "half space." A "half space" is everything in space on one side of the specified datum plane. Zones are used to make large assemblies more manageable. For more information on zones, refer to Using Zones to Create Simplified Representations. *What is an Envelope? An envelope a special type of part which consists of its own geometry and a list of parts which it represents. Envelopes can be substituted into a simplified representation in place of the components which it represents. Envelopes are used to make large assemblies more manageable. For more information on zones, refer to Using Zones to Create Simplified Representations. *What is a Rule? Rules are methods of specifying components which will have actions performed on them in a simplified representation. Components can be selected By Rule on the basis of their relative or absolute size, their location within an assembly, their model name, or any designated parameters within the component. For more information on zones, refer to Using Rules to Create Simplified Representations. *What is a Layout? A layout is a two-dimensional conceptual sketch which is used to begin the design process and maintain design intent in solid models as they are developed. Layouts can be used to establish parameters and relations, and automate the assembly process. Layouts are not precision scaled drawings, and are not associative with threedimensional model geometry. *What is a Dependency? A dependency confines a relationship between two items. If an item is dependent on another item, it cannot exist without it and must change with it. *What is a Skeleton Model? A Skeleton Model is a property of an assembly that defines skeletal, space claim, and other physical properties that can be used to define geometry of components. It is the behind-the-scenes backbone of the assembly. You can use skeleton models to manage the references of their respective assemblies, or to represent space claims for them. *What is a Copy Geom feature? Using the Copy Geom feature allows copying of geometric and datum references from any other skeleton or part onto a selected skeleton or part being modified, while preserving names, colors, line styles, and other properties assigned to the original parent entities. Each Copy Geom feature may only copy references from a single skeleton or part, but can create any number of these features in a model. *What are circular references? Circular references indicate an assembling error in which a component refers to one of its children. For example, in an assembly with two parts, if an assembly coordinate system was created that references the second part, and then the second part was moved with respect to the coordinate system, a circular reference would be created. The second part was used to locate the coordinate system, and the coordinate system was used to locate the second part. This constitutes a circular reference, which can be removed. *How can circular references be found and removed? When a circular reference is encountered, a file containing information is written to disk with the naming convention of "assembly_name.crc." This file provides information about the circular loop of references in the assembly. Assembly tools such as Redefine, Reroute and Comp Info can be used to remove the circular references. *How is it possible to create closed corner geometry when creating walls? It is possible to create closed corner geometry, using the w/Relief option.

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-3*Why is the error message "Invalid selection; try again." received when trying to add a new wall to the bottom edge of a "u-shaped" wall, which does not have fillets at each end? Without fillets in either end, the green edge and the white edge are of different lengths. Therefore, fillets are required to make the green edge and the white edge equal length. *How is it possible to create a revolved wall around a circular cut in the middle of a flat piece of stock? Place a cylindrical form feature on the flat piece of stock, and select the top surface of the form to be removed during placement. Another technique is to create a swept wall that references the inside edges of the circular cut. *How is it possible to create a wall on a non-linear edge? A Swept Wall can be created by sweeping a sketched cross section along the attachment edge which forms the trajectory path. *What are the restrictions for a Use Radius Swept Wall feature? If the swept wall has the Use Radius attribute, the line of intersection between the sketching plane and the attachment surface must be a straight line. *What are the restrictions for a No Radius Swept Wall feature? If the Swept Wall has a No Radius attribute and the line of intersection between the sketching plane and the attachment surface is not a straight line, then the section must be attached tangentially to the adjacent surface at the attachment edge. *How can a Swept Wall feature be copied? A Swept Wall can be copied with the commands Copy, New Refs. A Swept Wall cannot be copied with the Copy, Mirror commands. *Why do "sheetmetal" cuts and "solid" cuts with the same section (ie: circle) produce different geometry in a sheetmetal model? Cut sections made using SHEET METAL menu are intersected with either the green or white surface of the sheetmetal model based on user choice, and the resulting side surfaces of the cut geometry are created by offsetting normal to the drive surface to join the opposite surface. Cut sections made using SOLID menu are intersected with both the green and white surfaces parallel to the sketching plane. See pages 2-61 to 2-66 of "Pro/SHEETMETAL and Pro/NC-CHECK User's Guide-Release 17.0" for more detail on this issue. *How is it possible to tell if a cut is a sheetmetal cut or a solid cut? When the feature information is checked for a sheetmetal cut, it will only list the Type, Form, Section Name and Depth, along with the dimensions and Number/ID data. Solid cut information will list all the "elements" used in the creation of the cut. The "elements" will be numbered, and each will show the current status. *How is it possible to create a cut of blind depth in a sheetmetal part? It is possible to create a "blind depth" cut by selecting the Solid option from the FEAT CLASS menu, and then selecting Blind from the SPEC TO menu. *What is the advantage of creating a "Punch/Notch" feature in a sheetmetal design part, instead of creating a cut? When a "Punch/Notch" feature is created, this feature can later be selected in the sheetmetal manufacturing model, and the tool information will be generated automatically for the sequence. If a cut is created, the tool will have to be defined by the user. *How is the orientation of form features determined when being placed? There are two options for placement of forms, Die and Punch. Using the Punch option allows placement of the form using the functionality in assembly to specify constraints (Mate, Align, Mate Offset, Align Offset, etc.). Using the Die option allows specification of the seed and boundary surfaces of the form along with placement functionality present with the Punch option. Refer to pages 2-76 to 2-85 in the "Pro/SHEETMETAL and Pro/NCCHECK User's Guide-Release 17.0" for more details on this functionality. *What is the use of Remove Srfs option for forms features? The Remove Srfs option is used when placing a form feature, to specify which surfaces should not be offset. This is useful when creating forms which are "knockouts" or have holes through them.

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-4*How can the dimensions of the reference form model be modified directly in the sheetmetal model, when the form was placed using Reference option? To modify the dimensions of the reference form model features, select Query Sel and Next while picking on the form feature in the sheetmetal model. *Why is the message "Could not construct feature geometry." returned when trying to place a form feature which has radii on it? The most common reason for this message is that one of the radii on the form feature is too small to allow the material offset based on the thickness of the sheetmetal model. The user should modify all concave radii values (based upon the surface the form has been assembled to using a Mate, Align, Mate Offset or Align Offset constraint) to be larger than material thickness of sheetmetal model. *How can a form feature be placed which has more than one protrusion off the base plane? A multiple protrusion form feature can be placed if the protrusions are created as a single feature consisting of multiple closed sections. *When placing a form feature, why is the following error message "Feature aborted. Geometry was overlapping." returned? This is most likely due to the material offset causing two inside surfaces to overlap, due to the form feature having a hollow in it. See p. 2-78, Figure 2-79 of the Rev. 17.0 Pro/SHEETMETAL and Pro/NC-CHECK User's Guide, for an example of this type of form feature. *Why is the message "WARNING: Reference part is missing." received when retrieving a sheetmetal part, an assembly or drawing? This is because the sheetmetal part, assembly or drawing references a form feature, which is not able to be retrieved. A search_path should be set in the config.pro file to indicate where the form feature is located. *Can form features placed using the Copy menu option be patterned? When the Copy option is used, a pattern cannot be created. Use the Reference option when placing a form feature to create a pattern. *Is it possible to redefine the placement of a form feature? Form feature placement can be redefined using the functionality available as assembly component redefine, which allows redefine of both the placement constraint type and the assembly reference. *Are datum features (axes, coordinate systems, planes, points, curves) supposed to follow sheetmetal geometry when bent/unbent? Datum axes created during feature creation (ie: circular cuts and holes) will follow sheetmetal geometry as it is bent/unbent. Features created separately (ie: coordinate systems, planes, points, curves) will not follow the sheetmetal geometry as it is bent/unbent as a general rule. One special case is a projected datum curve, which allows selection of the Follow Surf option. A "Follow Surf" datum curve will follow the sheetmetal geometry as it is bent/unbent. Another case is when the config.pro option "punch_axis_points" is set to "yes", sketcher points created in the section will appear as datum points, and will bend/unbend with the geometry of the part. *Why does a "Bend Back" feature fail after creating a "Xsec Driven" unbend feature? Currently, the "Bend Back" feature is not implemented for "Xsec Driven" unbend features. The user will need to delete or suppress the "Xsec Driven" unbend feature to see the "bent" model. *How can it be determined which bend table is currently in use for the model? It is possible to determine which bend table is applied to the model by selecting Info, Model Info. This will display the active bend table for the part in the header of the information file. *How can the number of decimal places displayed for bend tables be controlled? The number of displayed decimal places is based on the number of decimal places entered by the user, upto the maximum of 9. *What is the relationship between Yfactor and Kfactor? The Kfactor is the percentage value that the neutral axis is from the inside surface of the bend, through the material thickness. The relationship between Yfactor and Kfactor is: Yfactor = (pi/2)Kfactor

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-5*A user defined bend table was applied to the model, but it is not listed when Set Up, Sheet Metal, Bend Allow, Define, Show is selected, or the applied bend table is not found when model is retrieved-Why? The config.pro option "pro_sheet_met_dir" does not point to the correct path. This path should be the complete path to the directory of bend tables being used. If this directory path is incorrect or is not specified; the following message will be given when the design model is retrieved "Part bend table is not found. Default values will be used.". Also note, the standard bend tables (TABLE1, TABLE2 & TABLE3) can be copied to the directory path specified in the "pro_sheet_met_dir" config.pro option. *Why is the developed length for non-90 degree bend different than expected when using a "Conversion Formula"? In the "Conversion Formula", L = 2 *8 (T + R) - A * ANGLE / 90, the entire right side of the "Conversion Formula", not just the "A" value, is multiplied by the angle/90 factor.

*How can cosmetic threads be created on Sheetmetal parts? It is possible to merge a Sheetmetal part (by reference) to a Solid part (consisting only of datum planes) in an assembly. Then create cosmetic threads on the Solid part. Any changes made to the Sheetmetal part will be propagated to the Solid part. *How can Sheetmetal parts be merged in an assembly? Sheetmetal parts can be merged in an assembly if the first part selected for the merge process is not a Sheetmetal part. The second part selected for the merge process can be a Sheetmetal part. *How can both "bent" and "flat" states of a Sheetmetal Design Model be shown in a drawing? Add a "Flat Pattern" feature to the model, then create a family table and add the "Flat Pattern" feature to the family table. In the family table, the "Flat Pattern" feature should be listed as "Y". In the generic model, the "Flat Pattern" feature should be suppressed. Now, a drawing can be created by adding views of both the "bent" (generic) and "flat" (instance) models. *How can a datum point be created in a cut to move with the cut when the part is unbent? The config.pro option "punch_axis_points" set to "yes" allows the creation of a sketched datum point in a cut or punch section, which will move with the placement plane of its parent feature during Unbend/Bend Back operations. Pro/ASSEMBLY Terminology *What is Automatic Regeneration? Automatic Regeneration will regenerate every part which has not been regenerated since the last modification of the assembly, or any part with references to a part which has been modified. Those parts needing regeneration will be selected automatically. To regenerate only select parts, use Pick Part to select the parts from the screen or to select them by name. *What is a Bill of Materials? A Bill of Materials is a listing of all parts and part parameters in the current assembly. It is possible to customize the output format to produce a particular form of presentation and content. BOM's can be created for assemblies in Assembly mode, or from assembly drawings in Drawing mode. The Bill of Materials for an assembly can be displayed by selecting Info from the ASSEMBLY menu, and BOM from the INFO menu. The BOM will be displayed in an Information Window and will also be written to a file. *What is a Bulk Item? A Bulk Item can be used to represent any non-geometry item in an assembly that must be represented in the Bill of Materials. These items may include glue, paint, solder, etc. To create a Bulk Item: Select Component from the ASSEMBLY menu, followed by Create. Select Bulk Item from the COMPTYPE menu. At the prompt, enter the desired name of the Bulk Item. *What is a Coding Table? A Coding Table displays the coding symbols for each component in the assembly. A coding symbol is a number placed after dimensions in the assembly (i.e. d25:8, where 8 is the coding symbol). This will allow relations using dimensions from more than one part to be written. The coding table is shown at the beginning of the relations file.

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-6*What is an Intersect List? The Intersect List is the listing of components which an assembly feature intersects. For example, if a hole is created as an assembly feature, and components "A" and "B" are intersected by this features, then both of those parts will appear on the Intersect List. *What is Package? The Package option provides a 3D layout capability for quickly visualizing and rearranging components in an assembly. When packaging a component, Pro/ENGINEER places it at a random default location in the assembly. Then, using the mouse, the component can be repositioned by sliding it along planes, rotating it along axes, etc. Pro/ENGINEER remembers where the packaged parts are located. However, positioning is absolute, not relative to other parts. After the component has been moved to the correct location,the part's location can be finalized by specifying it's placement parametrically using the standard assembly placement constraints. *What is a Placement Constraint? A Placement Constraint specifies the relative position of a pair of surfaces, axes, edges or points. Placement constraints are specified when adding a component to an assembly and are used to position the component relative to the assembly in 3 dimensional space. Examples of assembly placement constraints include: Mate, Align, Insert, etc. *What are Reference Tags? Reference tags are used in a functional interchange assembly. These tags are used to specify corresponding entities in each component in the interchange assembly, allowing automatic replacement to be possible. For example, the front mating plane of one component and the front mating plane of the other component would be assigned the same reference tag. A coordinate system of one component and the corresponding coordinate system of the other component would be assigned the same reference tag. To specify a reference that will be given a tag, select ReferenceTag from the INTERCHANGE menu, and then select Tags and Assign. *What is Restructure? Restructure allows components to be moved from one sub-assembly to another, or between the top-level assembly and the sub-assemblies. When Restructure is chosen, an Information Window displays the assembly's hierarchical tree structure, allowing the structure of the assembly to be changed without changing the appearance of the assembly in the graphics window. For example, to move a part from the top level assembly to a sub-assembly: Select Restructure from the ASSEMBLY menu. Select the part either in the graphics window using the Pick command, or in the Model Tree window by picking the component listed in that window. Select SelectTarget to specify the sub-assembly to move the part into. *What is a Simplified Representation? Simplified Representations provide a means of changing the view of a particular design. They allow control over which members of an assembly are retrieved into workstation memory and displayed. This allows the work environment to be tailored include only information of current interest. For example, a complex sub-assembly that is unrelated to the portions of the assembly which are currently being worked on can be temporarily removed. This functionality offers an increase in performance due to a reduction in regeneration and display time. *What is a Sub-Assembly? A Sub-assembly is any assembly which is used as a component in a higher level assembly. This sub-assembly can contain both parts and other sub-assemblies and can be retrieved and used independently of the top-level assembly that it is used in. *What is a Mate Placement Constraint? A Mate placement constraint causes two surfaces to be coincident. The outward normals of the surface will face in opposite directions. When selecting datum planes, the red or yellow side must be specified. Mate Offset can be used to cause two surfaces to be parallel and facing each other, but separated by a given distance. *What is an Align Placement Constraint? An Align placement constraint causes two surfaces to be coincident. The outward normals of the surface will face in the same direction. When selecting datum planes, the red or yellow side must be specified. Align Offset can be used to cause two surfaces to be parallel, but separated by a given distance. The Align constraint can also be used to cause axes to be coaxial, or two points, vertices, or curve ends to be coincident.

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-7*What is an Insert Placement Constraint? An Insert placement constraint can be used to place a "male" revolved surface into a "female" revolved surface by aligning their respective axes. *What is an Orient Placement Constraint? An Orient placement constraint causes two surfaces to be parallel. The outward normals of the surfaces will face in the same direction, but no offset dimension is specified. *What is a Coord Sys Placement Constraint? The Coord Sys placement constraint places a component into an assembly by aligning its coordinate system with a coordinate system in the assembly (both part and assembly coordinate systems may be used). The coordinate systems may either be selected on the screen, or chosen by name with Sel By Menu. *What is a Tangent Placement Constraint? The Tangent placement constraint is used to control the contact of two surfaces at their tangency. *What is a Pnt On Srf Placement Constraint? The Pnt On Srf placement constraint is used to control the contact of two components at a point. A part or assembly datum point or vertex can be constrained to be in contact with a solid surface or datum plane. For an example of a Pnt On Srf placement constraint, refer to Using the Point On Surface Assembly Constraint. *What is an Edge On Srf Placement Constraint? The Edge On Srf placement constraint is used to control the contact of two components at a straight edge. The edge must be straight, and the surface must be planar. For an example of a Edge On Srf placement constraint, refer to Using the Edge On Surface Assembly Constraint. *What is a UDF Library? A UDF Library is a directory which contains User Defined Features, or UDFs. In Assembly mode, groups of components can be made to act as a single component when placed into the assembly. The Group command, found in the ADV UTILS menu can be selected to use the UDF in the assembly, and the UDF Library command, also found in the ADV UTILS menu is used to define, modify and manipulate the UDFs. *What is a Zone? A zone is a region within an assembly which consists of a datum plane and a "half space." A "half space" is everything in space on one side of the specified datum plane. Zones are used to make large assemblies more manageable. For more information on zones, refer to Using Zones to Create Simplified Representations. *What is an Envelope? An envelope a special type of part which consists of its own geometry and a list of parts which it represents. Envelopes can be substituted into a simplified representation in place of the components which it represents. Envelopes are used to make large assemblies more manageable. For more information on zones, refer to Using Zones to Create Simplified Representations. *What is a Rule? Rules are methods of specifying components which will have actions performed on them in a simplified representation. Components can be selected By Rule on the basis of their relative or absolute size, their location within an assembly, their model name, or any designated parameters within the component. For more information on zones, refer to Using Rules to Create Simplified Representations. *What is Reintersect? The Reintersect option allows assembly features created prior to Release 15.0 to be updated. In Release 15.0, assembly features are stored at the level at which they are created, whereas previously, they were stored at the part level. Reintersect is only available if the config.pro option "allow_redo_intersections" is set to "yes." For more information on using Reintersect, refer to Converting Pre-15.0 Assembly Features to 15.0 Style Assembly Features. *What is Display Mode? Display Mode allows for control of which components are shown in the Component Editor while using simplified representations or envelopes. All components may be shown by using Show All, or only those components which have been set to something other than the default rule may be shown by using Marked Comps.

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-8*What is a Model Tree? The Model Tree displays information about the current assembly. The first column in the Model Tree window has an assembly tree showing the structure of the top-level assembly, sub-assemblies, and part files. The information in this window can be controlled by the first section of menu selections under Tree. Assemblies, subassemblies, and parts can all be expanded or collapsed. Assembly features or suppressed components, can be controlled through the Show menu selection. The assembly tree can be used to highlight components in the main Pro/ENGINEER window by selecting the part or sub-assembly name. As of release 18,commonly used component and feature operations can be accessed through the model tree. After highlighting the component or feature with the left mouse button, press the right mouse button. A menu will pop up with the available operations that can be performed on the highlighted object. The second column in the Model Tree can be customized to include specific information about the component in the first column. This can be done by selecting Tree, Column and then either Add/Remove or Form. Add/Remove will give the option to add or remove information such as Status, Feat#, Feat Type, or Feat Name from the model tree. Format allows the size of the columns to be adjusted. Under the File menu option, the information in the Model Tree can be saved in a text format or can have the current settings saved to a file. In release 18, a search tool was added to the model tree. This gives the ability to search through the model tree to find items that match a specified set of criteria.For an example of using the search tool, refer to Suggested Technique for Searching with the Model Tree. For more information on using the Model Tree refer to Suggested Technique for Using the Model Tree in Assembly Mode. *What is Global Clearance? Global clearance will find any pairs of parts or sub-assemblies which are separated by less than a specified clearance distance. Global clearance can be checked by selecting Measure from the INFO menu, choosing Clear/Intf from the measure menu andGlobal Clr. *What is Global Interference? Global interference will find any pairs of parts or sub-assemblies which interfere, or overlap. Global interference can be checked by selecting Measure from the INFO menu, choosing Clear/Intf from the measure menu, and choosing Global Intr. *What is a Layout? A layout is a two-dimensional conceptual sketch which is used to begin the design process and maintain design intent in solid models as they are developed. Layouts can be used to establish parameters and relations, and automate the assembly process. Layouts are not precision scaled drawings, and are not associative with threedimensional model geometry. *What is a Case Study? A case study is a two-dimensional parametric sketch, much like one created in Sketcher mode. Unlike a regular section, however, a case study can contain global relations associated with the layout in addition to relations associated with the sketch. *What is Package Move? The functionality of Package Move is very similar to Package except it is available in the COMPONENT PLACEMENT menu when In Assembly is checked. It gives the ability to to dynamically move a component. It can be selected at any point while a component is being constrained. However, the component will only move in directions that do not violate already defined constraints. This can be very helpful in determining how a component should be constrained or why a component is not fully constrained since, by selecting Package Move, it will be easy to see where the final degree of freedom is. *What are Preferences? Preferences are available when modifying an exploded assembly or when using Package Move. Preferences gives the ability to change the increment value a component moves. *What is a Regeneration Manager? When performing a Custom assembly regeneration, the Regeneration Manager allows selection of components to "Skip Regeneration" in order to save on long and/or unnecessary regeneration time.

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-9*What is a Ref Viewer? The Reference Viewer clarifies the external relationships made among models in an assembly. It allows definition of the scope in which to create external references to other models in the context of an assembly, definition of the system behavior upon attempting to create an external referencing a defined scope, identification of features in a model that have external references and the chain of dependencies from the feature to the referenced entity, and obtaining information about the models that have external references to a specified model. For more information on reference control, refer to Suggested Technique for Using the Reference Viewer to Manage External References. *What is Ref Control? Ref Control controls the creation of external references. Ref Control specifies four different options: All, Subassembly, Skeleton, and None, to control which models can be externally referenced in an assembly. For more information on reference control, refer to Suggested Technique for Controlling the Scope of External References. *What is Design Manager? Design Manager functionality provides top-down design tools, reference control and investigation tools, and advanced performance tools. *What is a Reference? If a reference exists between two items, a relationship exists between them. *What is a Dependency? A dependency confines a relationship between two items. If an item is dependent on another item, it cannot exist without it and must change with it. *What is a Skeleton Model? A Skeleton Model is a property of an assembly that defines skeletal, space claim, and other physical properties that can be used to define geometry of components. It is the behind-the-scenes backbone of the assembly. You can use skeleton models to manage the references of their respective assemblies, or to represent space claims for them. *What is a Copy Geom feature? Using the Copy Geom feature allows copying of geometric and datum references from any other skeleton or part onto a selected skeleton or part being modified, while preserving names, colors, line styles, and other properties assigned to the original parent entities. Each Copy Geom feature may only copy references from a single skeleton or part, but can create any number of these features in a model. DBMS Functions *Why are all parts and sub-assemblies being saved to the current working directory, rather than only those which have been modified? The config.pro option "save_objects" controls whether all objects will be saved or only those which have been modified since the last save. To save all objects, set this option to "all". To save only those objects which have been modified, set this option to "changed". The default value for this config.pro option is "changed_and_specified". This will always save the top-level object, plus any dependent objects that have been modified. *Why do parts intersected by assembly features at the part level require renaming before they can be copied? Assembly features which intersect assembly components alter the geometry of the original object. When the assembly is in session, the component exists in memory in two different states. When Pro/ENGINEER attempts to save the assembly, it is unclear which state of the component should be saved. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt the user to save the object with a new name. This will create a copy of the object which includes the geometry of the assembly feature. *Why are some library parts copied to the local directory while saving an assembly? If a library part is intersected by an assembly feature, it can be saved to the current working directory. Since the library part is intersected by an assembly feature, it has been changed and must be saved; however, the directories where the library parts are located are read-only. The library part will be saved in the current directory, because the current directory has the appropriate write permissions. For this to happen, the config.pro options "override_store_back" and "save_object_in_current" must be set to "yes."

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- 10 *Why does the message "Error in storage - check disk space and write permission" appear when there is enough available disk space to store the objects, and the user has proper permissions to the directory? Check to see if there is an assembly feature intersecting a library or write protected part. If so, either copy the library part to the local working directory, change the permissions on the part so that it is no longer write protected, or set the config.pro options "override_store_back" and "save_object_in_current" to "yes." *Why might Pro/ENGINEER not be able to retrieve a part that has been renamed while retrieving an assembly? When renaming a part that is a member of an assembly, the assembly must be in memory so that the part's references can be updated. To correct the problem, rename the part back to it's original name, then retrieve the assembly and rename the part again to the desired name. *How can an assembly and all of its related members be copied to a new directory? To copy an assembly and all of it's related parts and sub-assemblies to a new directory, use the Dbms, Backup command. When the assembly is stored to the directory specified, all parts and sub-assemblies referenced by the assembly will also be copied. *How can a top level assembly be copied to a new name without copying all of the dependent parts and subassemblies, such that the new assembly references the same components as the old assembly? The Dbms, Save As command can be used to copy a top level assembly to a new name. When prompted to select which components to copy and rename, select Done rather than picking assembly components. *Why are underscores added to the end of the file names in Pro/TABLE while copying and renaming parts during a Save As? An underscore is the default template for renaming parts during a Save As. This means that any file which is being renamed will automatically have an underscore appended to the end of the file name. This template can be customized by adding the option "model_rename_template" to the config.pro. For more information on using this option, refer to Suggested Technique for Copying an Assembly. *Why would an assembly not be able to be erased from session? If a higher level assembly which uses the current assembly as a sub-assembly or a drawing of the current assembly is in active memory, a message which says "Cannot delete from memory; Being used in current session" will appear. The higher level assembly or drawing must be erased from session before the current assembly can be erased. *Can all components not currently displayed in the window be erased from session? As of Release 16.0, all components which are not being used in the current window can be erased from memory by selecting EraseNotDisp from the DBMS menu. All objects which are in session, but not displayed, will be erased from session, unless they are being used in another window. This is especially useful while managing large assemblies. Retrieving an assembly and creating a simplified representation by excluding certain components will not free up memory, because the excluded components had to be brought into session when the assembly was initially retrieved. EraseNotDisp will allow the components which were just excluded to be erased from memory. Assembly Regeneration & Retrieval *What are circular references? Circular references indicate an assembling error in which a component refers to one of its children. For example, in an assembly with two parts, if an assembly coordinate system was created that references the second part, and then the second part was moved with respect to the coordinate system, a circular reference would be created. The second part was used to locate the coordinate system, and the coordinate system was used to locate the second part. This constitutes a circular reference, which can be removed. *How can circular references be found and removed? When a circular reference is encountered, a file containing information is written to disk with the naming convention of "assembly_name.crc." This file provides information about the circular loop of references in the assembly. Assembly tools such as Redefine, Reroute and Comp Info can be used to remove the circular references. *How can the time needed to regenerate a large assembly be reduced? Some methods of reducing regeneration time include suppressing components that are not necessary to the current work that is being done, setting component features to read only, and creating simplified representations.

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- 11 *Why is Pro/ENGINEER unable to locate library parts when retrieving an assembly? The directories in which the library parts reside must be included in the search paths. To place these directories in the search path, either use config.pro option "search_path" to define the path to the directories containing the library parts, or use the "search_path_file" option to specify a file which contains the paths to the desired directories. For more information on search paths, refer to the Pro/ENGINEER Fundamentals Guide, Appendix D. *What could cause a component to become frozen? Pro/ENGINEER will freeze an assembly component if the component is unable to be placed into the assembly due to missing references. References may be lost if a part is modified without the assembly in session. If surfaces or edges which were used to place a component were altered or deleted, the component will have missing references. Frozen components will be placed in its last known location until Reroute or Redefine is used to create new references for the component. *What could cause a part or assembly file to become an invalid Pro/ENGINEER file? Pro/ENGINEER files are only forward compatible. This means that files which were created in a specific major release of Pro/ENGINEER may be retrieved in any later Release of Pro/ENGINEER, but not in any earlier Release. For example, if a part file was last saved in Release 17.0, the file would be considered an invalid Pro/ENGINEER file by Releases 16.0 and earlier. *What can cause a component to not be found while retrieving an assembly? Pro/ENGINEER may be unable to retrieve an assembly component if the component was renamed without having the top level assembly active in memory. Assemblies must be in session when renaming any of its dependent objects. The assembly component may not be found if it resides in a different directory. If so, the config.pro option "search_path" must be specified to enable Pro/ENGINEER to search this directory for objects. *Why does the RESOLVE FEAT menu appear for a frozen component every time the assembly with the frozen component is retrieved? Freezing a component is only temporary. All failing components can be frozen automatically upon retrieval by having the config.pro option "freeze_failed_assy_comp" set to "yes," If this config.pro option is set to "no", then the component will fail placement during retrieval and the RESOLVE FEATURE menu will appear. *How can the placement constraints of the top-level assembly be regenerated without regenerating any of the components? Pick Select from the PRT TO REGEN menu instead of Automatic, and do not select any parts, but pick Done from the SELECT PARTS menu. This will only regenerate assembly placement constraints and datum features. Assembly Information & X-Sections *Can the mass properties of an individual part be changed from Assembly mode? Mass properties of parts can not be modified at the assembly level. Retrieve the parts in Part mode, change the mass properties, and return to Assembly mode. *Is it possible to calculate the mass properties for a certain combination of parts in the assembly? Mass property calculations can be done on a combination of assembly components by creating a simplified representation of the assembly and using it for the mass property calculations. *Why is one component not cross hatched when creating a cross section through an assembly? It is possible that there are geometry errors in the part in the area where the cross section passes. Use Geom Check from the INFO menu to investigate. If there are errors in that location, they must be addressed in order to allow the cross section to be created successfully. *Why is the surface area calculation of an assembly equal to the sum of the part surface areas instead of only the outside surface area? The surface area of an assembly is calculated this way in order to save calculation time. In order to find only the external surface area of the assembly, merge the components together, and then perform a mass property calculation on the merged part. *How are cross sections created in Assembly mode? Cross sections can be created in Assembly mode by selecting the X-Section command from the SETUP menu.

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- 12 *Why does Comp Info not show all assembly instructions and indicate that further assembly instructions cannot be generated? The component's references are missing. Redefine the component and ensure that there are no missing references. *How can a part be removed from an assembly cross section Modify the cross section by selecting Hatching from the XSEC MODIFY menu. Toggle through the components that are intersected by the cross section by selecting either Next XSec or Prev XSec from the CROSS XHATCH menu. When the component that is to be removed from the cross section is highlighted, pick Excl Comp to remove the cross hatching. Use Restore Comp to bring the cross hatching back. *Is there a way to assign the density of a part so that Pro/ENGINEER does not prompt for it when performing mass property calculations? The prompt can be avoided by assigning a density or a material file to the part through the SETUP menu. *How are the units of the assembly chosen? The units of an assembly are determined by the units of the first component that was assembled. *Is there a way to check for global interference between sub-assemblies while ignoring the interference within those sub-assemblies? To only consider sub-assemblies while performing a global interference check, select Subasms Only from the GLOBAL SETUP menu. This will ignore any interference which is encountered within those sub-assemblies. *Is there any way to apply an assembly x-section to only one component? Yes, this is accomplished by selecting Setup, X-Section, Create, One Part, Done, select the part for the cross section to intersect, Done Sel, name the cross section, then create the assembly datum for cross section placement. Basic component operations *What is the Model Tree used for? The Model Tree is used to replace Assy Tree and By Table, and supplement the Get Select and Sel By Menu selections as of Version 17.0 of Pro/ENGINEER. It will allow for the ease of viewing the entire assembly structure from individual component features to the top level assembly hierarchy in a more complete format over the Assembly Tree functionality. The Model Tree will also allow for the selection features and components when prompted for a selection, rather than just selecting from the screen. For more information about Model Tree, refer to Suggested Technique for Using the Model Tree in Assembly mode. *What information can be displayed in the Model Tree? The Model Tree can be used to display information in columns under several categories: Info (Type, Feat #, Regeneration status, Suppression Status, etc.); Layers; Comp Display States; Explode States; Model Parameters; Feat/Comp Parameters; Simplified Reps. Columns can be added or removed from the Model Tree by selecting Column;Add/Remove and then adding or removing columns in the Add/Remove Columns dialog box. Show will control the information to be displayed in the left side of the Model Tree and as well as giving the option to highlight the information in the working window. *How is the Model Tree navigated? The Model Tree is navigated by either double-clicking on the component or assembly to expand or collapse the branch, or by selecting View in the Model Tree Dialog box, which then allows for the option to expand or collapse individually, by branch, or all. For more information about Model Tree, refer to Suggested Technique for Using the Model Tree in Assembly Mode. *How can the size and order of the columns in the Model Tree be changed? The size and order of the columns can be changed by selecting Column; Format and changing the values for the Position and Width in the FORMAT Dialog Box. *Can the Model Tree be printed? Yes. Select File; Save As Text from the Model Tree dialog box. The ASCII text file that is written can then be printed. *How can the Model Tree's display be controlled? The Model Tree can be controlled through Environment by checking and unchecking Model Tree. The Model Tree cannot be turned off if a selection is required to be made from it.

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- 13 *What component types can be created within the Release 19.0 Model Tree functionality? Parts, subassemblies, and bulk items can be created within the component creation functionality of the Model Tree. *How can the Model Tree be used to create components within assembly mode? Using the left mouse button, highlight the assembly or subassembly in the Model Tree in which the new component will exist. Use the right mouse button to display the pop-up menu. Within this pop-up menu, select Component and Create to bring up the New Object dialog box. Enter a name for the component, select the component type, and finally select a create option in the lower portion of the window and OK. If you choose to create an empty component, the system will display the component in the Model Tree. Otherwise, follow the steps for feature creation within Assembly mode detailed in Suggested Techique for Creating a Solid Part in Assembly Mode. *What do the Create Options within the New Object dialog box mean? Using the Copy option allows for specification of a part to copy "on the fly" and place the new copied part in the assembly immediately. If a part is created this way, any layouts declared to the original part must be confirmed to allow for the layout to automatically be declared. There is no way to use this functionality if the original part has external references. Using the Locate Datums option automatically assembles a component to selected references. This will create a component with default datum planes, allow definition of placement constraints relative to existing assembly geometry, and allow creation of initial features without forcing external dependencies. Using the Empty option enables component creation without any geometry. When using this option, Pro/ENGINEER will place the part datum planes in the default location of the parent assembly. This is particularly useful when utilizing top down design. Using the Create Feature option created geometry by referencing existing geometry within the assembly. This option is utilized in the Suggested Techique for Creating a Solid Part in Assembly Mode. *Why doesn't the pop-up menu for component creation appear within the model tree? The pop-up menu does not appear for component creation if the ASSEMBLY menu is not active. *How can an assembly component be moved to a different location after being placed into the assembly? An assembly component can be moved to a new location using the Move command, found under the MODIFY ASSEM menu by selecting Modify, Mod Assem. This will allow an assembly component to be translated and/or rotated with respect to an assembly coordinate system, an edge, an axis, or the normal of a plane. The component will then be placed with these new constraints, in addition to the placement constraints specified when the component was placed in the assembly. Another option would be to Redefine the component placement constraints by selecting a different type of constraint or by changing the component and/or assemblies references. *Why would a component not display after placing it into an assembly, even though it is listed in the Bill of Materials? There may be a component on a layer which is set to Display. Once any component in the assembly or in any of its subassemblies is displayed, all other components in the assembly will be blanked automatically. For more information on Layers, refer to Suggested Technique for Managing the Display of Assemblies Using Layers. For more information on Bill of Materials, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Customized Bill Of Materials. *How can a Bulk Item be created in an assembly? A Bulk Item is an assembly component that does not have any representable geometry, but is nonetheless a necessary component of the assembly and must be listed in the Bill of Materials. These items may include glue, paint, solder, etc. Bulk Items can have parameters added to them, and can be included in groups to be used in other assemblies. A Bulk Item can be created two ways in assembly mode. The first technique is to select Component from the ASSEMBLY menu, then select Create. Select Bulk Item from the COMPTYPE menu and enter the name for the bulk item at the prompt. The second technique is to highlight the assembly name (where the bulk item will exist) in the Model Tree using the left mouse button, then use the right mouse button to select Component and Create from the pop-up menu. NOTE: the pop-up menu does not appear for component creation if the ASSEMBLY menu is not active. Within the New Object dialog box, enter the Bulk Item name and select Bulk Item as the component type.

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- 14 *How can a Bulk Item be deleted from an assembly? A bulk item may be deleted by selecting it through the Model Tree or by selecting Comp Info from the INFO menu to obtain the feature ID for the bulk item. Delete the bulk item by using Sel By Menu and entering the feature ID. *How can components be moved from one level of an assembly to another? The Restructure command will allow parts to be moved from one level of an assembly to another. For more information on Restructure, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Sub-Assembly from an Existing Assembly. *Is there a way to place components without specific constraints and move them relative to edges, surfaces and other geometry? The Package command from the COMPONENT menu will allow a component to be placed into the assembly in this manner by dynamically dragging and rotating the component relative to the selected reference entity. For more information on Package, refer to Suggested Technique for Using Package to Facilitate the Assembly Process. *How can the method used to assemble a component be displayed? To display the steps taken to assemble components, select Comp Info from the INFO menu and step through the assembly instructions. *Why do dimensions not appear for the part or assembly feature selected for modification? The dimensions may be on a layer. If so, make sure that the layer is not set to Blank, and that no other layers are set to Display. For more information on Layers, refer to Suggested Technique for Managing the Display of Assemblies Using Layers. *When a component has been created by mirroring a part by Reference, can features be added to both the original part and the new part? Features can be added directly to the new part in the standard manner. If the component was mirrored by Reference, then any features created on the original part will appear on the mirrored part after a regeneration. *Why do the location of assembly components which have been placed into the assembly using Package not update when the locations of adjacent components are modified? The positioning of packaged assembly components is absolute, not relative to other parts. The position will not change with respect to the default assembly coordinate system unless the component is moved by selecting Move from the PACKAGE menu. To constrain the location of a packaged component relative to other components, Finalize the location of the component. This allows the location of a packaged component to be defined using the standard placement constraints. For more information on Package, refer to Suggested Technique for Using Package to Facilitate the Assembly Process. *If the location of an assembly component was changed with the Move command, will components assembled to the moved component also move to a new location? When an assembly component is relocated using the Move command, any components referencing the moved component will have their references updated. *Where is the default coordinate system for a part created in Assembly mode? When a part is created in Assembly mode, its default coordinate system will be in the same location a the default coordinate system of the assembly. To avoid this, create a part in Part mode with only default datum planes, assemble this part into the assembly and create the first solid feature in Assembly mode. For more information on creating solid parts in Assembly mode, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Solid Part in Assembly Mode, or Suggested Technique for Creating Part Level Features in Assembly. *What component operations are available when working in a Simplified Representation of an assembly? As of Version 17.0, when working in a Simplified Representation, Assemble, Create, Package, Delete, Suppress, Redefine, Reorder, Pattern, and Adv Utils are available. For more information about Simplified Representations , refer to Suggested Technique for Managing the Display of Assemblies Using Simplified Representations. *Can assembly explode lines be shown for components? Yes. Create offset lines by selecting Create or Redefine for an Explode State, then select Create from the OFFSET LINES menu and select entities from the ENTITY SELECT menu.

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- 15 *How can the line style of an Offset Line be changed? Select Set Def Style from the OFFSET LINES menu when redefining or creating an Explode State. *Can components in an assembly be displayed differently, such as some shaded and others in wireframe? Yes. Select View; Cosmetic; Comp Display and create a visibility representation of the assembly. The representation can display the assembly with members as shaded, wireframe, hidden line, no hidden, or blanked. For more information on Comp Display, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating Visualization Modes. Advanced components operation *How can a component be patterned if it has no assembly dimensions? To pattern an assembly component that does not have dimensional placement constraints: Select Component and Redefine, and select the component to pattern. Change Mate or Align constraints to Mate Offset or Align Offset constraints, specifying an offset dimension of zero. The component can then be patterned using these new offset dimensions as the dimensions to vary. *How can multiple parts be combined into one part? Multiple parts can be combined into a single part by assembling the components together and performing a Merge operation by selecting Adv Utils and Merge from the COMPONENT menu. *How can a component be replaced with a component which it is not related to? Create a functional interchange assembly with both the current component and the desired component. Then select Adv Utils and Replace from the COMPONENT menu. For more information on replacing components with interchange assembly members, refer to Managing the Display of Assemblies Using Interchange Assemblies. *How can a component be assembled as a reference pattern? The component must be assembled into the assembly before it can be patterned. Once this is done, select Pattern from the COMPONENT menu and choose the Ref Pattern option. *Must the assembly used to create a merge or cutout be kept after the operation is completed? It is only necessary to keep the assembly if the locations of the components will be changed. If this assembly is removed, the location of the components with respect to each other will be frozen, and it will no longer be possible to change these locations. *After merging components, what does the prompt, "Do you want to detach part_name from the assembly?" mean? Detaching a component from the assembly will remove the part from the assembly file. The part file will still exist, but the geometry of that part will only exist in the assembly as part of the component that it was merged to. *What methods are available to automatically replace components in an assembly? A component can be replaced automatically with a member of its family table, a member of an interchange assembly that the component belongs to, or with other components defined to the same layout. To replace a component automatically, select Replace from the ADV COMP UTIL menu, which is found under the COMPONENT menu in Assembly mode. Select the type of replacement desired, either Family Table, Intrch Group or Layout, and enter the name of the new component. Select Automatic from the AUTO/MAN menu and the component will be replaced without the need to define any new placement constraints. For more information on replacing components with interchange assembly members, refer to Managing the Display of Assemblies Using Interchange Assemblies. *Why can some parts no longer be placed after replacing a component using a functional interchange assembly? It is possible that all of the references used to place the children of this replaced component were not assigned reference tags in the interchange assembly. *How can a component be assembled into a radial pattern? If the features that the component will be assembled to are already patterned, such as a pattern of holes, use the Ref Pattern option. If no pattern already exists, create a pattern of datum planes or coordinate systems, and assemble the component to the leader of this pattern. Then pattern the component using the Ref Pattern option. *Why can't some assembly components be placed after manually replacing an assembly component? When an assembly component has been replaced manually, components which were assembled to the replaced component will lose their placement references. It will be necessary to manually redefine the placement references for the failing components.

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- 16 *How can a pattern of an entire existing pattern of assembly components be created? Create a Local Group which contains all members of the assembly pattern. Select Adv Utils from the COMPONENT menu, and choose Group. Select Create and Local Group, give the group a name, and select the pattern of components. After the group has been created, Pattern the group. *Why can some UDF's created in Part mode be used in assemblies, while others can not? A User Defined Feature (UDF) created in Part mode can be used in an assembly as long as the UDF does not contain any features which are unavailable in Assembly mode, such as rounds and shells. *When copying an assembly component and using Rotate, why does it appear that the component is not being rotated about it's default coordinate system? When copying an assembly component using Rotate and Translate, the component is moved with respect to the default assembly coordinate system, not its own coordinate system. *How can features in a component which was merged by reference be modified? Modifying a merged by reference component using Select will highlight the entire reference part. To modify individual features within the reference part, use Query Sel. The first feature which will highlight will be the merge feature, but by using Next, the individual features can be selected. *How can a merge be created if the components are intersected by assembly features? A merge cannot be created if the selected components are intersected by assembly features. If assembly features are present, the message, "Cannot perform this operation on a component instance" will appear. In order to create the merge, use Insert Mode from the COMPONENT menu to place the merge before the assembly feature in the order of regeneration. Assembly Features * What is the difference between displaying an assembly feature at the assembly level and displaying it at the part level? Assembly features which are displayed at the part level are identical to part features except that they rely on the assembly for their references. Assembly features are stored at the level of the assembly in which they are visible, and are displayed at that level and above. An assembly feature displayed at the assembly level will not be seen if the part is retrieved in Part mode. Both types of assembly features may intersect more that one part at a time. *How can the components which an assembly feature intersects be changed? Components which an assembly feature intersects can be changed by selecting Intersect from the ASSY FEAT menu and adding and removing components to and from the intersect list as necessary. *Why does the message "failed to intersect the feature with the part" appear multiple times after patterning an assembly feature? When an assembly feature is initially created, the parts that the feature should intersect are selected. After patterning this feature, new features are created which will appear in different locations on the assembly but will have the same list of components to intersect that the leader of the pattern did. If these new features do not physically intersect all of the components that its intersect list specifies, an error message will appear in the message window stating that the feature could not intersect the part. This message will appear for each part on the intersect list that the feature does not pass through, and for each member of the pattern that has this problem. This is why the message will appear multiple times. Conversely, if the patterned feature now passes through a component that is not on the intersect list, it will not appear in that component. *Why is only an axis visible after creating a hole as an assembly feature? Only an axis will be displayed after creating a hole as an assembly feature if no components were selected for the hole to intersect. Select Intersect from the ASSY FEAT menu, and add the appropriate models. *Why doesn't an assembly feature remove material from a component which was assembled after the feature was created? This new component is not part of the feature's intersect list. Reorder the new component so that it comes before the assembly feature, then use Intersect from the ASSY FEAT menu to add the new component to the features intersect list.

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- 17 *Why does the geometry of a pipe feature which was created at the assembly level not appear? Assembly features can not add material, only remove it. Creating the pipe as an assembly feature will only show the centerline of the pipe. The proper ways to add a pipe to an assembly are: Create the pipe using the optional module Pro/PIPING. Make a new part using Create from the COMPONENT menu. Then, create the pipe feature in the new part by selecting Modify and Mod Part. Create the pipe in an existing part by selecting Modify and Mod Part. *What is the difference between assembly features created in Release 15.0 and assembly features created prior to Release 15.0? In Release 15.0, assembly features are stored at the same level of the assembly that they were displayed at. For example, if a feature is to be visible at a sub-assembly level and above, then the feature will be stored with the subassembly. In Releases 13.0 and 14.0, the feature was always stored at the part level. *How can assembly features which were created prior to Release 15.0 be converted to a Release 15.0 style assembly feature? Select ReIntersect from the ASSY FEAT menu to convert the assembly feature to Release 15.0 style. The config.pro options "allow_redo_intersections" and "fix_refs_to_intersections" are necessary to update the features. For more information on converting assembly features, refer to Suggested Technique for Converting Pre-15.0 Assembly Features to 15.0 Style Assembly Features. *Why does an assembly feature disappear when a component is replaced with an interchangeable component? Assembly feature intersected parts and sub-assemblies can be automatically replaced with a family table instance or interchange assembly member, just as other components, but when the original component is removed from the assembly, it is also removed from the intersect list. The replacement component must be added to the intersect list by selecting Intersect from the ASSY FEAT menu. *Is it possible to create a family table instance to represent the model with the assembly feature? All assembly features are created as family table instances. The default is for these instances to be invisible, meaning that they will not appear in the family table of the component, or in the bill of materials of the assembly. To create visible family table instances, select Vis Level from the INTRSCT OPER menu, and New Names from the VIS SETTINGS menu. This will bring up an Information Window and the MODEL REPL menu. Choose Select Level to determine what level of the assembly the feature will be created in, and select Enter Name to specify the name of the family table instance that will be created. *How can all components in the path of an assembly feature be selected for intersection? As of Release 16.0, all components which are in the path of an assembly feature can be automatically intersected by selecting Add Model from the INTRSCT OPER menu, and choosing Auto Sel from the ADD OPER menu. *What is the quickest way to select most, but not all, of the components to be intersected by an assembly feature? Use Auto Sel from the ADD OPER menu while adding models to the intersect list. Then select Remove Model from the INTRSCT OPER menu, and choose Manual Sel from the REMOVE OPER to select the few components which should not be intersected. *Where is the visibility level of an assembly feature specified? As of Release 16.0, the location in which visibility level is specified has moved to the VIS SETTINGS menu, which can be accessed by selecting Vis Level from the INTRSCT OPER menu. *Why are features such as protrusions, rounds, and chamfers grayed out in Assembly mode? Only subtractive features, such as holes, cuts, and slots can be created in Assembly mode. Since rounds and chamfers can sometimes add material, they are not available options. To create these types of features while still in the assembly, use Modify and Mod Part to create part level features. For more information on creating part features from Assembly mode, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating Part Level Features in an Assembly. *How can references from one part be copied to another part when creating part level features through an assembly? As of Release 18.0, version 9709, geometric and datum references from one part can be copied to another part through the Copy Geom functionality. This is available under Feature Create in the assembly or when modifying a

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- 18 part through an assembly. When performing a Copy Geom operation, the ability to copy Surface, Curve, Edge, or Feature references exist. When a geometric or datum reference has been copied, by default it is dependent on the original feature. When the original feature is modified, the Copy Geom feature will automatically update. This can be changed through the COPY GEOMETRY dialog box by selecting Dependency and Define. Choosing Independent will break the relationship between features. For more information about Copy Geom features, refer to Suggested Technique for Copying Geometric and Datum References. *How can external references easily be traced and understood? As of release 18.0, version 9709, a new tool called the Ref Viewer exists for investigating references which have been created in an assembly. The Ref Viewer is available through Info and Ref Viewer or Design Mgr and Ref Viewer. The Ref Viewer is a Model Tree type dialog box which can be used to investigate references for Features, Models, or Component Placements. The Ref Viewer can also display the Full Path that a reference has been created through. For more information about using the Ref Viewer, refer to Suggested Technique for Using the Reference Viewer to Manage External References. *How can the scope with which external references to other models have been created be controlled? As of release 18.0 build 9709, the creation of references to other models in an assembly can be controlled through the Ref Control functionality. Reference control can be defined by selecting Design Mgr from the ASSEMBLY menu and choosing Ref Control, or by selecting Ref Control directly from the ENVIRONMENT menu. The Reference Control dialog box will appear in which references can be limited through four options: All will allow creation of references to any model, and is the default selection. Subassembly will only allow creation of references to components that belong to the same subassembly (and their components). Skeleton Model will only allow creation of references to a subassembly's own skeleton model, and the skeleton model of the subassembly to which the component belongs. None will disallow any external references from being created. For more information of reference control, refer to Suggested Technique for Controlling the Scope of External References *What causes a Copy Geom feature to fail and how can it be corrected? If a Copy Geom feature was created as dependent, it will fail regeneration when the parent reference has been deleted or suppressed. If this occurs, the feature can be redefined to a new reference or use the Make Indep option in the Quick Resolve menu. If the config.pro option "fail_ref_copy_when_missing_orig" is set to "no", failing Copy Geom features will automatically be frozen. In this situation the system will display a warning that the feature has been frozen. Pro/PROGRAM *Why does Pro/ENGINEER sometimes ask to select From Model or From File? What is the difference between the two selections? The From File menu selection will be displayed only if the original Pro/PROGRAM has been modified and there is text file of the program residing in the current working directory. If From File is chosen, the editor will display the most recent listing of the program that resides on the local disk. The From Model menu selection will extract the current listing associated with the object. Upon initial creation of a Pro/PROGRAM, the user will not see these two choices, as Pro/ENGINEER will use the default listing associated with the model. After modifying the model file, then storing it to disk, the user will be asked if he or she wishes to incorporate any changes. If the changes are successfully incorporated, the model will be update accordingly and the design file will be deleted, once again leaving only the default model listing. *What is a .pls and/or a .als file? Can they be deleted? The file extensions given to the Pro/PROGRAM listings are .pls (for part files) and .als (for assemblies).These files are created when the user exits from the text editor after making modifications to the program listing. These files are automatically deleted when the modifications have been incorporated into the model. *How can all the current values for all of the parameters driven by the program be checked? To display all the current settings of the parameters used in the Pro/PROGRAM, select Relations, Show Rel.

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- 19 *What functionality does the Instantiate selection offer? The Instantiate function will automatically create an entry into a family table using all the current values of the parameters driving the Pro/PROGRAM. For an example on using this functionality, refer to Suggested Technique for Using Pro/PROGRAM to Create Instances. *What does the EXECUTE statement do? The EXECUTE statement is used to pass parameters from an assembly to the next lower level, which would be either a subassembly or part. For an example on using this functionality, refer to Suggested Technique for Using Pro/PROGRAM to Pass Variable Information from an Assembly to the Next-Lower-Level. *How can a UDF be replaced using Pro/PROGRAM? A UDF can be replaced using Pro/PROGRAM by using the CHOOSE statement. The syntax for using this command is: CHOOSE (variable) where "variable" is a string parameter equal to the feature ID of the UDF. In order for this statement to work, the UDF must be made interchangeable first. This is done by manually replacing the UDF by selecting Feature, Group, Replace. The list of all the UDFs the UDF is interchangeable with can be viewed by selecting Info, Feature Info. At the end of the feature information, Pro/ENGINEER will add the line, "GROUP IS REPLACEABLE BY FEATURES ID" and the list all the UDFs that have been manually replaced in the model at least once. Relations *How can negative values be used in relations? Negative values can be used in relations by preceding the dimension symbol with a "$". *When writing assembly relations, what does the first and second number represent (d#:# or d#:cid_#)? When part dimension symbols are shown in assembly mode, they contain two numbers (d#:#). The first number is assigned from within the part and is the same number that will be seen if the symbol was viewed from Part mode. The second number is assigned from within Assembly mode and is the number that appears in the assembly coding table. This second number can be found by selecting Relations, Component Id. Pro/ENGINEER will return, "Component <component_name> has runtime ID #." The runtime ID, session ID, and coding symbol are all the same number. Each part in the assembly is assigned a unique second number but, components with the same name will have the same runtime ID. As of Release 18, version 9709, assembly relations can also be written in the format (d#:cid_#). The first number is still the same dimension number that was assigned at the part level but, "cid" is the Internal Component ID. The Internal Component ID is found by selecting Info, Comp Info. Note that this is NOT the same number found by selecting Component ID in the RELATIONS menu. The Internal Component ID is unique for every component even if the same component is assembled twice in the same assembly. This method would be preferred if the same component is assembled twice in the same assembly, a relation is written using the dimensions of the component and then one of the components is replaced using Adv Util, Replace. Using the Internal Component ID will ensure that the relation will update as intended. *What is a coding table? A coding table is created when assembly relations are written. The coding table lists each component and lists the number (or index) that has been assigned to the component. This list can be seen at the beginning of the relations file. *How can relations be specified in family table instances? Relations must be applied to the generic model. If separate relations are needed for instances, a solution would be to copy the instance to a new name, thus breaking its dependence on the generic, then create the appropriate relations. *How can dimensional tolerances be included in a relation? Dimensional tolerances can be included in a relation. As is the case with nominal dimension values, the dimension symbol must be used to write the relation. For dimensional tolerances, the symbols tp# and tm# are utilized. *When should sketcher relations be used instead of part relations? Sketcher relations should be used when the section of a feature will be changing at different locations. For example, when creating a variable section sweep, sketcher relations should be used.

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- 20 *What would cause Add to be greyed out in the RELATIONS menu? The Add menu selection in the RELATIONS menu when attempting to add a relation to a family table instance. Relations must be added to instances in the generic model. *Are relations stored separately from the part file? All relations are stored within the part or assembly file. *How can the default relations editor be specified? The editor used to edit the relations file can be specified using the config.pro option "relation_file_editor". The value of "relation_file_editor" should be the system command entered at the command line to execute the editor. To use the "jot" editor on Silicon Graphics Systems with Irix 5.2, specify "jot -f" as the "relation_file_editor". *What is the difference between Relations, Evaluate and Datum, Evaluate? When Relations, Evaluate is selected, Pro/ENGINEER prompts for a dimension symbol i.e. d4 d9, and returns the current value of that dimension. The Feature, Create, Datum, Evaluate function creates an "Evaluate feature" that will capture a measurement on the model and utilize that value in other relations. *While writing a relation, a message appears that says, "Cannot assign to a part driven value." Why? Dimensions that are already being driven by a relation at the part level cannot be directly driven by an assembly relation. Try adding a relation that drives the dimension in the part that is driving the actual dimension that you want to affect. For example, if you had a part relation of "d4=d2," and you also wanted "d4" to equal an assembly dimension, write the relation so that "d2" is driven, as in "d2:8 = d5:0." This relation would also cause "d4" to equal "d5:0." This example assumes that the coding symbol for the part is "8," and the coding symbol for the assembly is "0." *How can parameters be passed down from the assembly level to the part level? Parameters can be passed down from the assembly level to the part level by using the EXECUTE statement. For an example on using this functionality, refer to Suggested Technique for Using Pro/PROGRAM to Pass Variable Information from an Assembly to the Next-Lower-Level. Layers *What are layers used for? Layers are used to group items together to allow various operations to be performed on the items as a group, as opposed to performing these operations on individual items. One of the most common uses for layers is to blank or display sets of non-geometry features, such as datum curves or datum planes, which were used to construct a model, but are not needed in the display of the final product. Other uses include the suppression of multiple features at one time and greater control over assembly display by blanking and/or displaying assembly components. *What types of items can be placed on a layer? In part mode, any type of feature can be placed on a layer. However, only non-geometry items, such as datum curves or surface features, can have their display manipulated. If a geometry feature, such as a hole or a protrusion, is added to a layer, and that layer is blanked, the item will still appear. However, groups of geometry features can be suppressed by layers. In assembly mode, individual components or sub assemblies can be placed on a layer and can have their display status changed by either selecting display or blank. Assembly features can also be added to layers, but, as is the case in part mode, only features that do not physically alter the geometry can be blanked and displayed. In drawing mode, any 2D items, such as notes, symbols, or dimensions can be added to a layer. Drawing tables can also be placed on a layer. *What is the difference between blanking and displaying a layer? When a particular layer is blanked, any non-geometry item that has been placed on that layer will not be displayed. Conversely, when a layer is displayed, ONLY the items on that layer will be displayed. In part mode, any items that are on other layers will not be displayed. In assembly mode, all other items, including components that do not belong to any other layer, will not appear.

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- 21 *Is it possible to blank features, such as cuts or protrusions? Any feature that physically modifies the geometry can be added to a layer, but can not be blanked or displayed. Only non-geometry items can have their layer status changed. Groups of geometry features can be placed on a layer and that layer can be suppressed. *How can the current status of all layers be retained in order to have the same layer settings the next time the part is retrieved? Pro/ENGINEER will not automatically save the current layer status when an object is saved. By default, the layer status for all layers will revert to normal each time the object is retrieved into session. If it is determined that the current layer status is to be used the next time the part or assembly is retrieved, the Save Status menu pick must be selected. This is found by selecting View, Layer Disp. *In assembly mode, why can't certain components be placed on a layer? If a component can not be selected for placement on a layer at the current assembly level, this indicates that the component is a member of a sub-assembly. Only that entire sub-assembly can be placed on a layer at the current assembly level. In order to place the component on a layer individually, the layer must be created at the subassembly level at which the component was placed. *How can it be determined which items are on a layer? Select Info, Layer Info, Layer Items to see what is on a layer. *How can it be determined which layer a feature or component is on? Select Info, Feature Info to see what layer a feature is on. As of Release 18, Info, Component Info will list the layer(s) a component is on. Pro/ENGINEER Object Names *What is the maximum number of characters allowed in Pro/ENGINEER object names? Thirty one (31) characters can be used in Pro/ENGINEER object names. This number does not include the extension, i.e., .prt, .asm, .drw, or the object version number, i.e., .1, .2, .3. *Can upper case characters be used in Pro/ENGINEER object names? Upper case characters cannot be specified in Pro/ENGINEER object file names. Upper case characters can be specified during object creation, however, the file will be written to disk using lower case characters only. Config.pro *What is the reason for using a config.pro file? The config.pro file is used to control the environment in which Pro/ENGINEER runs. There are over 150 available options which allow control of a variety of different aspects, ranging from model display to default units to search paths used to retrieve assembly components. A full list of all available options can be found in Appendix D of the Fundamentals Guide. *Is a default config.pro file created when Pro/ENGINEER is installed? When Pro/ENGINEER is initially installed, there is no default config.pro file that is created automatically. However, a large number of the options do have default values which are used unless the option setting is changed in a config.pro file. Appendix D in the Fundametals Guide lists all of the default config.pro values in italics. There are two methods that can be used to create a config.pro file. The first method is to utilize any text editor, vi for example, and manually create the file. Each option should have its own line in the file, with the format being {Option Value}. The second method is to use the Pro/TABLE editor from within Pro/ENGINEER. Select Misc, Edit Config, then enter the name of the configuration file. At this point, a Pro/TABLE editor will be launched and you can enter in the appropriate information. When you exit the Pro/TABLE, the config.pro file will be written to your local directory. *Where does Pro/ENGINEER look for config.pro files? Pro/ENGINEER looks for config.pro files in 3 different directories in the following order: 1)loadpoint/text Config.pro files residing in loadpoint/text will be read first. 2)The user's home directory

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- 22 With UNIX systems, Pro/ENGINEER will read config.pro in the user's home directory. This is most commonly used for specifying user customized config.pro options such as colors and mapkeys. 3)Working directory The directory in which Pro/ENGINEER is executed from is searched for a config.pro file. If the same option appears in more than one config.pro file, the one that was read last will be utilized by the system. *After config.pro is edited, why aren't the changes reflected? After config.pro is edited, Misc, Load Config must be selected in order for the modifications to be reflected in the Pro/ENGINEER session, or Pro/ENGINEER can be restarted. Be aware that some config.pro options require Pro/ENGINEER to be restarted in order for config.pro modifications to be reflected. *After config.pro is edited, is it necessary to restart Pro/ENGINEER? After config.pro is edited, Misc, Load Config must be selected in order for the modifications to be reflected in the Pro/ENGINEER session, or Pro/ENGINEER can be restarted. Modifications to the following config.pro options require Pro/ENGINEER to be restarted: graphics edge_display_quality cascading_menus header_menu header_menu_alignment menu_item_font menu_horizontal_hint set_menu_width system_background_color system_curves_color system_dimmed_menu_color system_edge_high_color system_geometry_color system_hidden_color system_highlight_color system_letter_color system_section_color system_sheetmetal_color system_volume_color windows_scale *What is the difference between config.pro and config.sup? There are two main differences between config.pro and config.sup. Unlike config.pro, config.sup can only be located in the loadpoint/text directory. Config.sup options cannot be overridden by options found in any config.pro. Also, items contained in the config.sup can only have one entry per option. Keeping this in mind, it is important that items which can have multiple entries, such as "mapkey" and "search_path", are not specified in config.sup. *Is there a limitation on the number of characters that can be included in a config.pro entry? Each line in config.pro is limited to 80 characters. Environment variables can be used to specify config.pro values containing more than 80 characters. Refer to Appendix D of the Pro/ENGINEER Fundamentals Guide for details. Managing Pro/ENGINEER files using DBMS General: *Where are Pro/ENGINEER objects stored when Dbms, Save is selected? By default, Pro/ENGINEER objects will be stored to the current working directory. If the working directory is changed using Misc, Change Dir, Pro/ENGINEER objects will be saved to the new directory. If a Pro/ENGINEER object is retrieved from a directory other than the current working directory, Pro/ENGINEER will save the object back to the directory from which it was retrieved. If the user does not have write permission in that directory, the object will not be saved unless the config.pro option "save_object_in_current" is set to yes .

*What does Dbms, Save As do? DBMS - Save As will make a copy of a specified Pro/ENGINEER object using a new name. Pro/ENGINEER initially prompts for the object that is to be copied; the current object being the default. At the second prompt, a new file name can be specified. Pro/ENGINEER will create this object in the current working directory. *What does Dbms, Backup do? DBMS, Backup can be used to save Pro/ENGINEER objects to a specified directory. The object will be saved in the specified directory using the original filename. DBMS, Backup in Assembly, Drawing, or Manufacturing modes will save all related objects to the specified directory. *What does Dbms, Rename do? DBMS, Rename is used to change the name of Pro/ENGINEER objects in memory and on disk. Pro/ENGINEER will rename all versions of the object being renamed.

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- 23 When renaming an object that was retrieved from directory other than the current working directory, the renamed object will be saved in the directory that the object was retrieved from. *What does Dbms, Erase do? Dbms, Erase is used to clear the specified object from workstation memory. This functionality will not remove objects from disk. Objects referenced by an active assembly or drawing can not be erased. The ERASE OBJECT menu will appear with the following options: Current Only Erase only the current object from memory. All Erase the current object and all associated objects from memory. Erase the current object and other selected objects.

Select

*What does Dbms, EraseNotDisplay do? Dbms, EraseNotDisplay is used to erase all objects from the current session,except for those that are currently displayed and any objects referenced by the displayed objects. For example, if an assembly instance is being displayed at the time EraseNotDisplay is selected, the instance, the instance's generic, and it's components will not be erased. There is a configpro option related to Dbms, EraseNotDisplay called "prompt_on_erasenotdisp". yes (default) - a message window for each eligible object in question appears, asking if you want to first save the object before it is erased. no - the system will immediately erase all eligible objects. *What does Dbms, InstDbms do? Dbms, InstDbms will save a particular instance of a part or assembly in a seperate file called an " instance accelerator file" (suffix ".xpr" for a part, ".xas" for an assembly). This file is used to retrieve particular instances quickly from disk rather than having to first retrieve the generic into memory, selecting the particular instance according to the family table, and then regenerating. Therefor, with this functionality the amount of time that it takes to retrieve an instance of a part or assembly from disk can be cosiderably reduced. The trade off is that more disk space will be used to store the accelerator files. When Dbms, InstDbms is selected the INST DBMS menu appears with the following options : Inst Index - create or update the Instance Index file for a specified directory Update Accel - create or update accelerator files for all instances currently in session Purge Accel - examine each instance accelerator file and delete it if it is not current with the generic SaveAccelEnv - brings up the SV INST ACC menu When SaveAccelEnv is selected the SV INST ACC menu appears with the following options: none (default) - the system does not save the instance in a file seperate from the model. always - the system always saves the instance in a separate file explicit - the system saves the instance in a separate file only when the instance is explicitly saved. The config.pro option "save_instance_accelerator" can also be used to control instance accelerator files. The values for this config.pro option are also none(default), always, explicit. When you bring up the SV INST ACC menu, one of the options will be highlighted to reflect the last setting. That setting could have been either loaded from a configuration file or selected previously from this menu. *Does Pro/ENGINEER overwrite existing objects when saving to disk? Pro/ENGINEER will not overwrite existing objects while saving to disk. Objects are saved to disk with an object version number after the file extension. Pro/ENGINEER will create a new object file each time the object is saved, monotonically increasing the version number each time. Example: A part called valve.prt will be initially written to disk as valve.prt.1. Subsequent storage of this object will result in the files valve.prt.2. valve.prt.3, etc. When an object is retrieved and the directory contains multiple versions of the same object, the object with the highest version number will be retrieved. *What does the object version number indicate? The object version number indicates the number of times the object has been stored. Objects are saved to disk with an object version number after the file extension. Pro/ENGINEER will create a new object file each time the object is saved, monotonically increasing the version number each time.

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- 24 Example: A part called valve.prt will be initially written to disk as valve.prt.1. Subsequent storage of this object will result in the files valve.prt.2. valve.prt.3, etc. If the directory is purged, the object with the highest version will remain. *Does Pro/ENGINEER offer an auto-save function? Auto-save functionality is not currently implemented in Pro/ENGINEER. The "prompt_on_exit" config.pro option can be utilized to prompt the user to save objects in session before exiting Pro/ENGINEER. *What happens if I run out of disk space while saving my objects? If available disk space is depleted during storage, Pro/ENGINEER will issue the message: "object_name could not be saved: Check disk space or write access. Error in storage. Check previous message (then press Enter):" Pro/ENGINEER will not save any portion of the object to disk. Disk space must be made available before the object can be saved. *What is the difference between Dbms, Erase and Dbms, Delete All? Dbms, Erase removes the object from workstation memory. The object is not removed from disk. Dbms, Delete All removes all versions of the object and all associated objects from disk. It is recommended to approach this menu selection with a great deal of caution. Creating backup copies of Pro/ENGINEER objects is considered good practice and can reduce the effect of accidental removal of data. *Why is the following message given: "Check disk space and write access"? The message "Check disk space and write access" is given if the amount of disk space required to save the object exceeds available disk space or if the user does not have write access to the specified directory. *Why is the following message given: "PDM database object must be renamed by Pro/PDM application"? By default, Pro/ENGINEER will not allow Pro/PDM objects to be renamed within Pro/ENGINEER. The config.pro option "let_proe_rename_pdm_objects" set to "yes" will allow Pro/ENGINEER to rename Pro/PDM objects. Warning: Objects renamed in Pro/ENGINEER will be considered new Pro/PDM objects when submitted back to a Pro/PDM database. Part Mode: *Why aren't part files saved when Dbms, Save is selected in Sketcher? While in Sketcher, the Dbms, Save functionality will save the section to disk rather than the part file. This functionality allows sections to be stored to disk for future use in feature creation. Section files are saved to disk with a .sec file extension. Once Sketcher is exited by either completing the feature creation or quitting, Dbms, Save will save the part file to disk. *How are family table instances stored to disk? All family table instance information is stored within the generic model. Pro/ENGINEER does not save a unique object file to disk for each instance. *How can copies of a part be created? The Dbms, Save As functionality allows copies of part files to be created using the following technique: Select Dbms, Save As. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt for the name of the object to copy. The current object in memory will be the default. Pro/ENGINEER will then prompt for the name of the new object. Assembly Mode: *Does Pro/ENGINEER save all components each time an assembly is saved? By default, Pro/ENGINEER does not store all assembly components to disk upon each Dbms, Save operation. Instead, Pro/ENGINEER will save the assembly file and only components that have been modified. By setting the config.pro option "save_objects", this can be changed. By using this option, Pro/ENGINEER can be instructed to save all dependent objects, save only the objects that were modified, or save modified objects and objects specified by the user.

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- 25 *Where does Pro/ENGINEER save part files that are assembled from a directory different than the current working directory ? By default, Pro/ENGINEER will store objects that are assembled from other directories back to the directory of origin. If the user does not have write access to the directory, Pro/ENGINEER will not store the objects in the current working directory, unless specific confi.pro options have been set. The config.pro options "override_store_back" and "save_object_in_current" allow greater control over this type of situation. *What happens during storage of an assembly if its dependent part files are located in a write-protected directory? By default, Pro/ENGINEER will only store modified objects and will always store objects back to the directory from which they were retrieved. Therefore, if a part from a write protected directory has been modified and Dbms, Save is selected, Pro/ENGINEER will not be able to save the object unless the config.pro options "override_store_back" and "save_object_in_current" are utilized. *Why can't an assembly be retrieved after clearing it from memory or after starting a new session of Pro/ENGINEER? During assembly creation, it is possible to add components to the assembly that are located in directories other than the current working directory. When the assembly is saved, the assembly file is saved to the current working directory while modified components are saved back to the directories of origin. If the assembly is cleared from workstation memory by either exiting Pro/ENGINEER or by selecting Dbms, Erase, All, and then retrieved, it is possible that Pro/ENGINEER will not be able to locate certain components. The config.pro option "search_path" can be used to specify directories which Pro/ENGINEER will search for objects. The config.pro file must contain a separate "search_path" option for each directory to be searched. Refer to Appendix D of the Pro/ENGINEER Fundamentals Guide for details. *How does Dbms, Save As function in Assembly mode? In Assembly mode, the Dbms, Save As functionality allows any or all members of the assembly to be copied. By default, after selecting Dbms, Save As, Pro/ENGINEER will prompt for the assembly to be copied and the new assembly name. A check mark can then be placed next to each assembly component to be copied or ALL_ASSEMBLY_NAME can be selected to copy all assembly components. If a check mark is placed next to any of the components or if ALL_ASSEMBLY_NAME is selected, Pro/TABLE will be displayed where new component names can be specified in the cell adjacent to the original. If Done is selected without selecting a component or ALL_ASSEMBLY_NAME, Pro/ENGINEER will create only a copy of the assembly which references the original components. The config.pro option "model_rename_template" is used to create a user defined renaming scheme. Refer to Appendix D of the Pro/ENGINEER Fundamentals Guide for details. *Why do parts intersected by assembly features require renaming before they can be stored? Assembly features which intersect assembly components alter the geometrical intent of the original object. When the assembly is in session, the component exists in memory in two different states. When Pro/ENGINEER tries to save the assembly, it is unclear which state of the component is to be saved. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt the user to save the object with a new name. This will create a copy of the object containing the geometric result of the assembly feature. *What does the config.pro option "override_store_back" do? If the config.pro option "override_store_back" is set to "yes", Pro/ENGINEER will save objects retrieved from other directories to the current working directory; If "override_store_back" is set to "no", which is the default, objects will be saved in the directory of origin. If the option is set to "no" and the user does not have write access to the directory of origin, Pro/ENGINEER utilizes the config.pro option "save_object_in_current". *What does the config.pro option "save_object_in_current" do? When the config.pro option "save_object_in_current" is set to "yes", Pro/ENGINEER will save objects to the current working directory if the user does not have write access to the directory from which the object was originally retrieved. If the option is set to "no", Pro/ENGINEER will not save the object at all. This option should be used in conjunction with the config.pro option "override_store_back". *What is the preferred method to make a copy of an assembly? The Dbms, Save As functionality if the best way of copying assemblies.

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- 26 *What is the preferred method to rename assembly components? The following procedure should be used to rename assembly components: Retrieve the assembly which contains the components to be renamed In a sub-window retrieve the component to be renamed With the component active, select Dbms, Save As and enter the new component name Select Change Window and pick in the window containing the assembly Regenerate the assembly Select Dbms, Save to save the assembly which contains a reference to the new component name. Drawing Mode: *What is the preferred method to rename a drawing? The Dbms, Rename functionality should be utilized to rename a drawing. *What is the preferred method to copy a drawing and its model? The following procedure should be used to create a copy of a Pro/ENGINEER drawing: Select Dbms, Save As Enter the name of the drawing to copy, or enter <CR> for the current drawing Enter the new drawing name The following procedure can be used to create a copy of a drawing and a copy of the drawing model: Create a new directory Select Dbms, Backup and specify the new directory as the destination. Pro/ENGINEER will create a copy the drawing and the model Select Dbms, Erase and clear the current drawing from memory Select Misc, Change Dir select the new directory as the current working directory Retrieve the backup drawing Select Mode, Part and retrieve the part to be copied in a sub-window With the part active, select Dbms, Rename and rename the part Select Change Window and pick in the window containing the drawing Regenerate and save the drawing. View Functions General: *How can the orientation of the default view be changed? The default model orientation can be redefined by setting the config.pro options "x_angle" and "y_angle" to the desired values of the rotation, in degrees, of the object about the x and y axis. In addition, the model can be saved in user defined orientations by selecting View, Names, Save, and entering a unique view name. The model can easily be reoriented into the saved view orientation by selecting View, Names, Retrieve, and selecting the saved view name. *How must Pro/ENGINEER be configured to recognize a spaceball? No configuration is required within Pro/ENGINEER in order for a spaceball to be recognized. If Pro/ENGINEER does not respond to the spaceball, we recommend contacting your systems administrator or hardware vendor for diagnostics. Shading: *How can the quality of a shaded model be increased? The quality of the shaded model can be increased be selecting View, Cosmetic, Shade, Quality. Specify the shade quality between 1 and 10; the number 3 is the default. Increasing the shade quality to higher values may result in an increase in shading time. *When a shaded model is spun, why does it revert back to wireframe? Pro/ENGINEER shaded models will revert to wireframe if the machine is not configured for hardware shading capabilities. In order to have the model remain shaded during a spin operation, the workstation must have an appropriate graphics card installed, and the "graphics" option in the config.pro file must be set based on the type of workstation being used. Refer to the Hardware Configuration Notes for specific details.

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- 27 *How can a postscript file of a shaded model be created? To create an encapsulated postscript (EPS) file of a shaded model select View, Cosmetic, Shade, Display, Postscript, and select one of the four supported EPS plotters. Select Output to PS to create the postscript file, or select Resolution or Image Size for additional options. Refer to the Hardware Configuration Notes for details on EPS plotter support. *Why aren't surface features displayed when the model is shaded? When the config.pro option "shade_surface_feat" is set to "no", surface features will not be displayed when the model is shaded. Colors: *How is a color map be stored to disk? A user defined color map can be stored to disk by selecting View, Cosmetic, Colors, Store Map. Pro/ENGINEER will create a file called color.map in the current working directory. *Where does the color.map file need to be located in order for Pro/ENGINEER to recognize it? The color map file, color.map, will be automatically loaded if it is located in the directory that Pro/ENGINEER is executed from. *How many different colors can be defined and stored to the color.map file? The exact number of colors that can be defined will vary, depending on the type of workstation and the graphics card that is being used. Higher end graphics cards will typically allow a greater number of colors to be defined. *Why is the Transparency menu selection not available? The transparency functionality is offered only only with hardware graphics configurations. Refer to the Hardware Configuration Notes for other items available with hardware graphics configurations. On machines configured to use hardware graphics, the transparency functionality must be enabled by selecting View, Cosmetic, Colors, Transparency, Enable. *When a color is assigned to a part in Assembly mode, why is the color not reflected in Part mode? Colors assigned to parts in Assembly mode do not effect Part mode. This functionality allows assembly colors to represent a production operation done after assembling the individual parts, e.g., the application of paint. *In Assembly mode, why does the part display with a different color than what was defined in Part mode? Colors applied to components in Assembly mode will override colors defined at the Part level. To unset an assembly color, retrieve the assembly and select View, Cosmetic, Colors, Unset, Subassembly, and select the component in question. Exploded Views: *Why does a subassembly explode when the top-level assembly is exploded? By default, subassemblies explode when the top-level assembly is exploded. The top-level assembly can be modified to specify which subassemblies and which parts within the subassembly to explode by selecting Modify, Mod Expld, Explode Comp. Select Expand from the EXPLD COMP menu and pick the subassembly in the COMPONENT EDITOR. Select Toggle Expld from the EXPLD COMP menu and pick the components in the COMPONENT EDITOR that are not to be exploded (changing the value to N). *How can exploded views show the axes of the explosion? This functionality is not currently implemented in Pro/ENGINEER. However, datum axes can be created using one of several available methods. The type of datum axis to use will depend on the specific situation. *How can an exploded view be saved to a named view? Exploded views can be saved to a name by exploding the assembly, then selecting View, Names, Save. When an exploded view name is retrieved, the assembly can be unexploded using View, Cosmetic, Un-Explode. The Misc Menu

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- 28 *What is the Misc, Change Dir menu selection used for? The Misc, Change Dir menu selection allows the Pro/ENGINEER working directory to be changed. After selecting Change Dir, Pro/ENGINEER prompts for the "NEW DIRECTORY NAME". A full or absolute path name can be specified, or a question mark (?) can be entered which will bring up the SELECT FILE menu which provides an interface to navigate through the directory tree. *What is the Misc, System menu selection used for? When Misc, System is selected, Pro/ENGINEER will execute a system shell. The current working directory for this shell is the Pro/ENGINEER working directory. The Pro/ENGINEER session will be suspended while the system window is active. Exiting out of the system window will allow the Pro/ENGINEER session to continue. *Why do the Pro/ENGINEER windows become inaccessible after Misc, System is selected? The Pro/ENGINEER session will be suspended while the system window is active. Exiting out of the system window will allow the Pro/ENGINEER session to continue. *What is the Misc, List Options menu selection used for? The Misc, List Options menu selection will open a Pro/ENGINEER information window and provide a list of all the installed Pro/ENGINEER optional modules specific to the Pro/ENGINEER serial number being used, e.g., Pro/INTERFACE, Pro/SURFACE, etc. *What is the Misc, Support Info menu selection used for? The Misc, Support Info menu selection will open a Pro/ENGINEER information window giving the active Pro/ENGINEER serial number, the Revision and build of Pro/ENGINEER, and almost all information about your system's configuration. This information is specific to your site and used by Parametric Technology Customer Support as a means of determining your software configuration and licensing. *What else does the Misc, Support Info menu selection provide? Note: The Misc, Support Info menu selection has replaced the Misc, Product Info menu selection. The Misc, Support Info menu selection will open a Pro/ENGINEER information window providing the following information: Licensing Information - Software Version - Serial Number - Pro/ENGINEER loadpoint directory - License Configuration (Locked or Floating) - All included Pro/ENGINEER options Machine Information - Hostname - Username - CPU id - Pro/ENGINEER machine type - OS name, release, and version - Pro/ENGINEER graphics type Auxiliary Application Information Parametric Technology Information - Important phone and fax numbers - WWW home page address - Internet e-mail address - customer support address This information is specific to your site and used by Parametric Technology Customer Support as a means of determining your software configuration and licensing. This information is written to a support.inf file in the current working directory of Pro/ENGINEER. *What is the Misc, Mapkey menu selection used for ? The Misc, Mapkey menu selection is used to create a mapkey by recording a series of menu picks and assigning these picks to a keyboard key or keys. The created mapkey can be stored in the config.pro file for use in other sessions of Pro/ENGINEER or be specified to be used in the current session only. When Misc, Mapkey is selected the Mapkey dialog box appears with the following options. Define - start recording the steps to be included in the mapkey. Done - stop recording the macro.

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- 29 Cancel - cancel current mapkey definition. Close - Close the Mapkey dialog window Trail Files: *What directory does Pro/ENGINEER create trail files in? Each time Pro/ENGINEER is executed, a trail file is created called trail.txt.n; where n represents the file version number which monotonically increases with each new file. By default, Pro/ENGINEER trail files are written to the current working directory. The config.pro option "trail_dir" can be used to specify a directory to which the Pro/ENGINEER trail files are to be written. *Why is Pro/ENGINEER unable to execute a trail file with the file name "trail.txt"? Pro/ENGINEER does not allow trail files to be executed to have the file name "trail.txt". The file must be renamed since Pro/ENGINEER creates a new file "trail.txt" each time the software is executed. Trail files must be in the format filename.txt; where filename represents a string other than "trail". *What would cause a trail file to go out of sequence? There are a many possibilities that would lead to a trail file going out of sequence. Before executing the trail file, the Pro/ENGINEER environment must be exactly the same as it was during initial creation of the trail file. For example, if the trail file retrieves a part and makes modifications to it, the same version of the part must reside in the same location as it was found initially. In addition, the same config.pro options must be utilized. If, for example, the display of datum planes was modified, this could cause an out of sequence error. If a trail file does go out of sequence, the user will be notified of the line number that could not be executed. To troubleshoot this type of problem, copy the original trail file to a backup name, then edit the original trail file by removing all the lines after the one that caused the out of sequence error. Also remove five to seven lines before the point of failure. At this point, rerun the edited trail file, then manually walk through the menu picks by viewing the backup trail file. By doing this, it will be clear what is causing the problem. *Is there a way to force the trail file to stop after each menu pick? With the config.pro option "set_trail_single_step" set to "yes", a trail file will stop after each trail file step. Entering a carriage return will allow the trail file to proceed. *Is there a way to force the trail file to pause after each menu pick? The config.pro option "trail_delay" will force a trail file to pause for a specified number of seconds between trail file steps. The value to the "trail_delay" option is the delay period specified in seconds. Screen Layout *How can the size of the Pro/ENGINEER working window be controlled? The default size of the Pro/ENGINEER working window can be controlled using the config.pro option "windows_scale". The window scaling factor is specified as the value to the "windows_scale" option ranging from 0.5 to 1.0. The default value for the "windows_scale" option is 1.0. Pro/ENGINEER must be restarted in order for modifications to the value of "windows_scale" to appear. *How can the fonts used in the Pro/ENGINEER menus be changed? The config.pro option "menuitem_font" can be used to change the Pro/ENGINEER menu fonts. On UNIX systems, the value of the "menuitem_font" option must be the name of a font available at the X-server running Pro/ENGINEER. The "xlsfonts" command can be used to list available system fonts. Example: menuitem_font times_bold On Windows NT systems, the "menuitem_font" format should be: -face name-point_size-weight-italic The face name is found in the Fonts dialogue box within the Windows NT Control Panel; spaces are acceptable. Example: menuitem_font -times new roman-18-400-0 Pro/ENGINEER must be restarted in order for modifications to the value of "menuitem_font" to appear. *How can the default location of the Pro/ENGINEER working window be changed? Pro/ENGINEER does not currently allow the default location of the Pro/ENGINEER working window to be redefined, however the scale of the working window can be modified using the config.pro option "windows_scale".

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*Is it possible to prevent the second column of menus from overlapping the Pro/ENGINEER working window? With the config.pro option "menu_horizontal_hint" set to "right", Pro/ENGINEER will place the second column of menus to the right of the primary menus i.e. the ENVIRONMENT menu will appear to the right of the MAIN menu instead of overlapping the Pro/ENGINEER working window. Be aware that the working window may require a scaling factor using the config.pro option "windows_scale" to provide ample screen space for the secondary menus to be displayed. Pro/ENGINEER must be restarted in order for modifications to the value of "menu_horizontal_hint" to appear. *How can a separate icon be made of each individual working window rather than inconifying the entire Pro/ENGINEER session? With the config.pro option "iconify_entire_pro" set to "no", individual working windows can be inconified. The default value for "iconify_entire_pro" is "yes". Mapkeys *What would cause a mapkey to not work properly when it is executed? The mapkey functionality allows a series of Pro/ENGINEER menu selections and keyboard input to be executed by a keyboard command. If a mapkey will not execute properly, check the following: If the mapkey was defined during a session of Pro/ENGINEER, verify that the config.pro file has been loaded into the Pro/ENGINEER session using Misc, Load Config. Verify that the mapkey syntax has been specified correctly in config.pro. Verify that the first menu selection defined in the mapkey is displayed in an active Pro/ENGINEER menu. Verify that each Pro/ENGINEER menu selection that the mapkey is calling is not "greyed out". In other words, a mapkey will fail if a menu selection can not be interactively picked with the mouse pointer. Verify that the definition of the mapkey in config.pro does not exceed 80 characters. *Where is the mapkey functionality documented? The mapkey functionality is documented in Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide, under the heading KEYBOARD MACROS. *How can keyboard input be included in a mapkey? Pro/ENGINEER will allow keyboard input from a mapkey, but only certain input is allowed. Only single strings are acceptable. For example: MAPKEY pt #PART; #CREATE; top_housing;; Please note that the end of this mapkey definition contains two semicolons which defines a (CR). For more information, refer to Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide. *Is there a limitation in the number of characters that can be included in a mapkey? All lines in config.pro are limited to 80 characters. Mapkeys containing many characters may be nested together to define a single operation: MAPKEY sh #view; #cosmetic; #shade; #display; MAPKEY eps %sh; #postscript; #PhaserII PX; #output to ps; This example has the first mapkey "sh" making the menu selections to shade the model. The second mapkey "eps" executes the first mapkey "sh", defined by %sh, and then creates a plot file. For more information refer to Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide. *How can a mapkey be defined to turn datums on and off? The display of datum planes is a toggle function in Pro/ENGINEER. One mapkey is used to toggle the display: MAPKEY dtm #ENVIRONMENT; #Disp DtmPl *Why are mapkeys not recognized in config.sup? Only the first mapkey defined in config.sup will be recognized in Pro/ENGINEER, per the definition of config.sup. *Can keyboard function keys be used in a mapkey? Function keys may be used for mapkeys and should be defined as follows: MAPKEY $F2 #FEATURE, #CREATE, #DATUM, #POINT

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- 31 The "$" sign tells Pro/ENGINEER that F2 is the function key "F2" and not the alpha-numeric characters "F" "2". For more information refer to Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide. *How can a mapkey call another mapkey? A mapkey may execute another mapkey. This is called nesting mapkeys: MAPKEY sh #view; #cosmetic; #shade; #display; MAPKEY eps %sh; #postscript; #PhaserII PX; #output to ps; This example has the first mapkey "sh" making the menu selections to shade the model. The second mapkey "eps" executes the first mapkey "sh", defined by %sh, and then creates a plot file. For more information refer to Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide. *How can screen input be included in a mapkey? Screen input can be entered during the execution of a mapkey by placing one semi-colon after a menu pick that requires input. If two semi-colons are placed sequentially, the default value will be accepted. For example, to create a mapkey that will automatically create a new part, with a user-defined name, consisting of a default set of datum planes, the following syntax would be used: MAPKEY np #Mode; #Part; #Create; #Feature; #Create; #Datum; #Plane; #Default; In this case, the mapkey would pause and wait for the user to input the name of the model, then continue on to create the default datum planes. *Can a mapkey prompt for a screen pick, then continue? A mapkey may prompt for a screen pick, however it cannot continue once the selection has been made. An alternative technique is to define a second mapkey which will continue once the screen selection has been made. Customizing menus using menu_def.pro *Where is there detailed documentation on the menu_def.pro file? Detailed documentation can be located in Chapter 10 of the Fundamentals Guide under the heading CUSTOMIZING MENUS. *Where does Pro/ENGINEER look for menu_def.pro files? Similar to config.pro, menu_def.pro file can reside in any of 3 directories. *How can a menu selection be added to the ENTERPART menu? The menudef.pro functionality can not be used to add a menu selection to the ENTERPART menu. *How can a menu pick be removed from a menu? Pro/ENGINEER menu selections may not be modified or removed. *Why doesn't a menu_def.pro menu selection work when it is picked? If the added menu selection aborts prematurely, check the following: If the menudef.pro file was created within the Pro/ENGINEER session, Pro/ENGINEER must be restarted in order for the modification to be recognized. Verify that the menu syntax has been specified correctly in menudef.pro. Verify that the first menu selection defined in menu_def.pro is displayed in an active Pro/ENGINEER menu. Verify that the each Pro/ENGINEER menu selection that added menu selection is calling is not "greyed out", in other words, an added menu selection will fail if a menu selection can not be interactively picked with the mouse pointer. Verify that the definition of the menu selection in menudef.pro does not exceed 80 characters. *How can a new menu selection be placed at the top of a menu? All menudef.pro menu additions will be displayed in the bottom of the target menu. *How can menu_def.pro be used to create a new menu? A menu_def.pro will not allow a new menu to be created. Only new menu selections can be added to existing menus. Family Tables *How can the names of family table items (features, dimensions) be changed so that the names that appear in the column headings are more descriptive?

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- 32 To change the name of a feature, select Set Up, Name, select the feature, then enter the new name for the feature. To modify dimensions, select Modify, Dim Cosmetics, Symbol, then enter in the symbol to replace the dimension symbol, "d#". *Is there a limit to the number of rows and/or columns that can be included in a family table? Initially, only a certain number of rows may be added due to the size of the buffer, but if the Pro/TABLE is exited, then re-entered, more entries can be made. The current limit is 256 columns and 512 rows. As an alternative technique, other text editors, such as vi or jot, can be used in place of Pro/TABLE. *How can negative dimension values be entered in a family table? In order to enter negative values, the dimension symbol must be preceded by a "$" sign when added to the family table. *What does it mean to have nested instances? Nested instances refer to instances created within other instances. *What are .ptd and .idx files? Can they be deleted? A .ptd file is a text file containing all the information found in the family table, including all instance names and their current values. This is not required for part retrieval and can be deleted. However, the .ptd file can be used to edit the family table outside of Pro/ENGINEER. If an instance is deleted by modifying the .ptd file, subsequent retrieval of the generic will ask the user if he or she wishes to clean up the family table, at which point any modifications made to the .ptd file will be reflected in the internal family table. In addition, as soon as the generic is stored, the internally stored family table will take precedence over the local .ptd file, if one exists in the current directory. When a generic part is retrieved in a directory where an external .ptd file resides, the external file will take precedence over the internally stored family table. The name of the ptd file will always have the same prefix as the name of the generic part. The .idx file is an instance index file and contains a list of all current instances within a directory. During object retrieval using Search/Retrieve, all instances will be listed in the menu structure if the .idx file is present in the current working directory. The default name of all instance index files will be {directory_name}.idx. *What should be done if a regeneration failure is encountered during Verify? If a regeneration failure is encountered during verification of one of the instances, retrieve the generic part and modify the dimensions of the generic to those of the instance that failed. At that point, the reason for the regeneration failure of the instance can be determined. *How can the listing of all instances be prevented from appearing in the menus when retrieving an object using Search/Retr? To prevent all instances from showing in the Pro/ENGINEER menu structure, delete the instance index file, or set "menu_show_instances" to "no" in config.pro. *How can a part or assembly instance be added to a Pro/ENGINEER drawing as a drawing model? To add an instance as a drawing model, the instance must be specified from the menus, either by using the .idx file or using the In Session selection. *What happens to the generic and all other instances if features are created on a part or assembly instance? When a feature is created on an instance, the new feature is automatically placed in the family table and will be suppressed in the generic and all other instances. *In an assembly family table, how can components be replaced with other part instances from the same family table? In order to replace assembly components using an assembly family table, enter the name of the part instance in the family table cell, instead of entering Y or N. *How can part features and dimensions be controlled by an assembly family table? To control part features and dimensions from an assembly family table: Create a part instance with the desired values. Add the component to the assembly family table. Replace the generic part with the appropriate part instance. Parent Child Relationships

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- 33 *What is meant by a parent-child relationship? When a feature is created in Pro/ENGINEER, dimensional and geometric references are created. These references, whether they are edges, surfaces, or vertices, will belong to other features that already exist on the model. When such a reference is established, this is referred to as a parent-child relation. The newly created feature is now considered a child of any feature that contains an entity that was used as a reference. *How can a feature have more than one parent? Yes, a feature can have more than one parent. For example, if a cut is created in such a way that the sketching plane chosen was a surface on the base feature and then the cross section of the cut has a dimension that defines a distance from a datum plane, both the datum plane and the base feature are considered parents of the cut. *How can a feature have more than one child? Yes, a feature can have more than one child. It is not uncommon for the first feature of a model to have dozens of children. For example, if a default set of datum planes is the first set of features created on a model, all subsequent geometry will be children of one or more of these datum planes. The initial feature will typically use two of the datum planes for references, one as a sketching plane and one as vertical or horizontal reference. In addition, any feature that uses this newly created feature as a reference will now become a child of the the datum planes that are the parents of the first feature. *What will happen to a child if a parent is deleted or suppressed? If a feature containing children is selected to be deleted or suppressed, Pro/ENGINEER will highlight the child in blue and ask for an action to be taken. Without the parent, the child will not have a complete set of references and will not be able to regenerate. Therefore, when attempting to delete or suppress a parent, the child must be rerouted, deleted (or suppressed), or suspended. These options will be listed in the CHILD menu, which will appear automatically when attempting to delete or suppress a feature with children. *How can a list of all parents and/or children of a specific feature be obtained? In order to obtain a complete list of parents or children of a particular feature, select Info, ParentChild. At that point, a prompt will appear asking if information on parents or children is desired. Once this selection is made, select the desired feature, and the information will be displayed. Pro/TABLE *How can Pro/TABLE be utilized without running Pro/ENGINEER? Pro/TABLE is a stand-alone program that can be invoked without using Pro/ENGINEER. To execute a session of Pro/TABLE from a command line, type in the command "protab". This allows bend tables, family tables, and drawing setup files to be edited outside of Pro/ENGINEER. *How can the width of the Pro/TABLE columns be modified? The width of a Pro/TABLE column can be changed by selecting Format from the Pro/TABLE menu. All of the columns can be changed by selecting Global Width, or some of the columns can be changed by selecting Column Width and highlighting the desired cells. In order to reset the column width back to the default value, select Format, Reset Width. *After using Pro/TABLE, why does system speed decrease? After utilizing a session of Pro/TABLE, the size of the buffer used to write data to the trail file will increase. If the trail files are being written across an NFS mount, i.e., if the Pro/ENGINEER startup directory is a shared filesystem that has been mounted across the network, there may be a noticeable decrease in system speed. To solve this, set the config.pro option "trail_dir" to a directory that is local to the Pro/ENGINEER client machine. Is there a limit on the number of rows and columns that can be used in a Pro/TABLE editor? In post 14.0 releases of Pro/ENGINEER there is no limit as to the number of columns and rows that can be used in Pro/TABLE In 14.0 and earlier releases of Pro/ENGINEER, the limit for the number of entries into Pro/TABLE is 256 columns and 512 rows. If more data needs to be entered, alternate editors, such as vi or jot, can be utilized. *Where is there additional information documented regarding Pro/TABLE functionality? Additional information regarding Pro/TABLE functionality can be located in Appendix C of the Fundamentals User Guide. Interchange Assemblies

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- 34 *What is the difference between a functional and a simplify interchange assembly? Functional interchange assemblies are primarily used for replacing a component with a different component. When creating the group, the parts will be added without any assembly constraints, and can be moved with respect to each other with commands similar to those found in Package. Reference tags should be assigned to all entities that were used to assemble the component in the assembly, and to all references that its children used while being assembled. The component can be swapped with one of the other members of the interchange assembly in any assembly that it is a member of, by selecting Replace from the COMPONENT menu. Simplified interchange assemblies are also used to swap one component with a different one, but in different situations. Creating a simplified interchange assembly involves assembling the components inside of each other. Refer to the Pro/ENGINEER Assembly Modeling User's Guide. These parts can now be substituted for each other in the assembly's simplified representation, by selecting Substitute from the EDIT REP menu. *Why can some parts no longer be placed in the assembly when a component is replaced using a functional interchange assembly? Verify that reference tags were assigned to the entities that were used to assemble the component's children, as well as the entities that were used while assembling the component itself. If reference tags were not assigned to the entities referenced by the children of the component being replaced, then those children will not regenerate successfully after the replace is completed. *Can the functional interchange assembly file be deleted from disk? The functional interchange assembly file can be deleted from disk; however, the component will not be able to be replaced with the other members of its interchange assembly once the file is deleted. *Where is the Interchange menu selection? The Interchange pick can be found at the bottom of the MODE menu. *How can information about interchange assemblies which have been deleted be removed from a component which belonged to that interchange assembly? Select Interchange from the ASSEM SETUP menu, and then select Remove from the SETUP INTER menu. All interchange assemblies which the current model belong to can be listed by selecting Show. *How is it possible to determine which entities require reference tags while creating a functional interchange assembly? Placement and child references for a component can be determined by selecting Memb Ref Info from the REF TAGS menu. This allows information about the references to be displayed for any assembly that the current component is a member of. *Can parts and sub-assemblies be placed in the same interchange assembly? Components from any level of an assembly can be placed in an interchange assembly. For example, a large subassembly which represents an entire automobile engine may be interchanged with a one feature concept part. This will save considerable amounts of regeneration and repainting time. *Is it possible for one component in a simplify interchange assembly control the mass properties for the rest of the components? The Assign Props option in the INTERCHANGE menu provides the capability of assigning the mass properties of one component in a simplify interchange assembly to all other members. This allows a simplified representation containing a simplified version of a part to display the same mass properties as the fully detailed assembly. *It is possible to switch interchange assembly members using Pro/PROGRAM? A program can be used to replace assembly components with interchangeable components. To do this, an INPUT and ADD statement will be required. For example: Include a string variable in the INPUT section of the assemblies program. This variable will represent the name of the component to be used in the assembly. INPUT bolt_name STRING "Enter the name of the bolt" END INPUT In the associated ADD statement, place the name of the parameter in parenthesis.

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- 35 ADD PART (bolt_name) ...... END ADD In this example, the user will be prompted to enter the name of the bolt which should be used when the assembly is regenerated. If a subassembly and a part are used in the same interchange assembly, an ADD COMPONENT statement should be used instead of an ADD PART. *How can only one of multiple occurrences of a component be replaced if the components were assembled with a global layout declaration? If multiple occurrences of a component were automatically assembled with a global layout declaration, changing one of those components will change them all. In this case, a functional interchange assembly can be used to replace only one component. Simplified Representations *How can a part or sub-assembly's simplified representation be placed into a top level assembly's simplified representation? A part or subassembly's simplified representation be placed into a top level assembly's simplified representation by selecting Substitute from the EDIT REP menu. Family table instances and interchange assembly members can also be substituted. *Why are Reroute, Pattern, Adv Utils, and other menu picks are greyed out in a simplified representation? Previous functionality allowed these operations to be performed only in the master representation. For Releases 17.0 and greater, the Adv Utils and Pattern menu picks will be available. *What is the difference between a "Master Rep" and an "Exclude Comp" simplified representation? A Master Rep simplified representation will contain all components, unless they are specifically selected to be "Excluded." Conversely, an Exclude Rep simplified representation will only contain the components which are selected as belonging to the "Master Rep." *Can components be assembled directly into a simplified representation? Components may be assembled into a simplified representation in the same manner that they are assembled into the master representation. Select Assemble from the COMPONENT menu to add the new component to the assembly. *Is it possible for envelopes to always appear in an assembly? Selecting Visibility from the ENVELOPE menu allows specified envelopes to be constantly visible in an assembly by placing a check mark by the envelope's name. To hide the envelope, simply remove the check mark. *How can surfaces of more that one component be included in the geometry of an envelopes? Surface copies of envelope members can only reference one component at a time. To include a surface copy from a different component than the component used for the first surface copy, select Redefine from the ENVELOPE menu.Select the envelope to redefine then choose Change from the MOD ENVELOPE menu. Next ,choose Geometry from the SEL ELEMENT menu. This will bring up the MODIFY PART menu, and new surface features can be added to the envelope. *How can an envelope be removed from a simplified representation? To remove an envelope from a simplified representation, select Default and from the EDIT REP menu.Choose the envelope to be replaced from the MODEL TREE and select Done. The envelope's geometry will be removed from the simplified representation, and the display of its members will be restored. *Why might an expression not be evaluated while using a rule to create a simplified representation? The parameter which is used in the expression may not have been designated. If the parameter was not designated, the assembly will not recognize it while evaluating the expression. To designate a parameter, select Designate from the MODEL PARAMS menu and choose Parameters. *Is a component included in a zone if it lies on both sides of the reference datum plane? A component is considered to be included in a zone if it's bounding box is partially or entirely inside the zone. The bounding box is the smallest box which fully encloses the component in three-dimensional space. It encloses all solid geometry, datums, and surfaces. For more information on zones, refer to Using Zones to Create Simplified Representations.

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- 36 *How can a component be redefined while in a simplified representation? As of Release 15.0, component placement can be redefined while in a simplified representation. All references of the component must be fully defined to use Redefine. If the parents of the component are not in session because they are not included in the simplified representation, select Retrieve Refs from the COMP PLACE menu. This will retrieve the appropriate components into memory, but will not include them in the simplified representation. *Can simplified representations of components be assembled directly into an assembly's simplified representation? As of Release 15.0, simplified representations of components may be assembled directly into a top-level assembly's simplified representation. Select Assemble from the COMPONENT menu to add a new component to the assembly, and specify which representation of the component should be used. The component's simplified representation will be used in the assembly's simplified representation, but when the top-level assembly is in its master representation, the component will be in its master representation as well. *Why would creating a simplified representation using By Rule and Expression give a syntax error even if the parameter has been designated? Selecting a component in a simplified representation by rule requires that information about the parameter be written in a certain portion of the component's file. Therefore, after designating the parameter, the file must be saved. *What is the basis of the measurement used for a Size rule in a simplified representation? The diagonal of a component's bounding box is used for a Size rule measurement. The bounding box is the smallest box which fully encloses the component in three-dimensional space. If a Relative measurement is used, this diagonal is compared with the diagonal of the top-level assembly's bounding box. *Why doesn't performance increase after excluding components from a simplified representation? The components were excluded from the assembly, but are still in session. Creating or switching to a simplified representation which contains less components will improve the time that it takes to display graphics to the screen, but will not clear components from session, which is what will save the most time. As of Release 16.0, all components which are not displayed in the current window can be erased from memory by selecting EraseNotDisp from the DBMS menu. Using Retrieve Rep while retrieving the assembly will only retrieve into session those components which are included in the representation. *How is the bill of materials of an assembly in a simplified representation displayed? The bill of materials will only list those components which are in session. To view the full bill of materials, retrieve the master representation into session. *How can a simplified representation be edited directly from the Model Tree? Simplified representations can be edited directly from the Model Tree without redefining the simplified rep if there is a column for that representation present. The column can be added to the Model Tree by selecting Tree, Columns, and Add/Remove.... Each model's status in the simplified rep can be edited by highlighting its corresponding row in the simplified representation column and using the pull down tab at the top of the Model Tree to select a new setting. *Can new simplified representations be created and modified before retrieving the assembly into session? If an assembly is retrieved by using Retrieve Rep, selecting Create will allow a simplified representation to be built before any components are retrieved into session. *What is a Graphics representation and how can it be used? Graphics representations provide the ability to visually browse through large assembly models. This can allow for fast spatial manipulation of a model with minimal performance losses, however, due to the fact that a graphical representation is a faceted version of the model(s) in view, they cannot be modified or referenced and may not show the highest level of detail possible for the given geometry. *What is a Geometry representation and how can it be used? Geometry representations are almost as "quick" as Graphics reps, however, due to the fact that they provide more model detail, they may require more memory resources. These types of representations may be used to describe geometry characteristics such as measurement information, accurately calculated mass properties and hidden line removal. These reps can also be used as assembly references within the assembly. For example, a geometry rep

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- 37 could be used as a placement reference for the assembling of other components using such constraints as Mate, Align, etc. *Is it possible to have some assembly components represented with graphically accelerated representations, while the rest appear as standard components? Graphically accelerated versions of assembly components can be created using the simplified representation techniques in Part Mode and then substituted into an assembly level simplified rep. When creating a simplified representation in Part Mode, select Accelerate and GeomSnp Shot from the REP ATTR menu, then Done. Select from the desired type of simplified representation selection mode, Features, Work Region, or Surfaces and then Done Return from the EDIT METHOD menu. This graphically accelerated simplified representation can then be Substituted with the original component used in an assembly simplified representation by first creating the type of simplified representation that is desired within the assembly mode, then select Substitute from the EDIT REP menu and Simplfd from the REPLACE WITH menu. The newly created graphically accelerated part level simplified representation can then be selected for use in the assembly simplified representation. As of Release 18.0, version 9709, graphics and geometry representations of parts and subassemblies can be used in a higher level assembly's simplified representation. While editing a simplified rep, select either Graphics Rep or Geometry Rep from the EDIT REP menu as the action, and select the components in the graphics window or Model Tree. When the assembly simplified representation is retrieved, any selected parts will only retrieve in graphics or geometry rep form, thereby saving time and memory. Layout *How can a layout be used to place a component in multiple places in an assembly? When declaring model datum planes and axis to the layout, use a table declaration rather than explicitly declaring the datums. *What is the difference between explicitly declaring datums and using a table declaration? When declaring datums explicitly, the part or assembly datum is selected and the name of the global reference is entered. This datum will appear with the name of the global reference. Explicit declarations are easier to use, but there are two limitations: Two datums on the same model can not have the same explicit declaration. One datum can not have two different declarations. Declaring datums with a table will allow model datums to retain their original names, thus avoiding the limitations of declaring explicitly. When using table declarations, the name of the model datum is placed in a table and essentially becomes equivalent to the name of the layout datum. For example, to automatically assemble a bolt into each hole in a plate, use a table declaration to declare each hole axis to the layout axis, and the top datum plane of the plate to the datum plane of the layout. The bolt datums can then be declared explicitly to the layout. When assembling automatically, a bolt will be placed in each hole of the plate. *Can the number of digits of a parameter which was created in a layout be modified? The number of digits for a parameter created in layout mode is set to three and may not be changed. For parameters which require a change the number of digits, create the parameter in the component where it is being used. *What does the message "WARNING: 3D item has been deleted or suppressed" mean? The message "WARNING: 3D item has been deleted of suppressed" will appear in a model when an axis or datum in the model is no longer present to match its counterpart in the layout. This message will appear if an axis or datum has been declared to a layout and renamed to the corresponding name of the layout axis or datum, and then the axis or datum in the model is deleted. *What does the message "WARNING: 3D item reference is invalid - ignored" mean? The message "WARNING: 3D item reference in invalid - ignored" will appear in a model when a name has been used for an entity and the name is the same as a name which has been declared to a layout. For example, if the name Hole_Axis has been used to declare a model axis to a layout for automatic placement of a bolt, and the name of a hole feature is set to Hole_Axis using Setup and Name, this message will appear, indicating that a name declared to a layout is used to name an undeclarable entity. *What does the message "WARNING: 3D item has been renamed to model_name" mean? The message "WARNING: 3D item has been renamed to model_name" indicates that an axis or datum which has been declared to a layout has been renamed to a name other than the name used by it's counterpart in the layout.

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- 38 To correct this, choose Undecl Name to undeclare the axis or datum used in the layout and declare it again, renaming it to the name used by it's counterpart in the layout. *Why is a layout file that is associated to a model saved when the model is saved? When a declaration is added to a model which has been declared to a layout, the layout will be marked as changed and stored when the model is next stored. For example, if a part has been declared to a layout and an axis in the part is then declared to a axis in the layout, the layout will be marked as changed and stored when the part is next stored. This happens because of the parent/child relationship created between the model and the layout when the declaration is made. *What does the message "Declaration is circular" mean? The message "Declaration is circular" indicates that a layout can not be declared to itself or to another layout which has been declared to it. For example, if the layout Layout_1 has been declared to the layout Layout_2, and Layout_2 is then declared to Layout_1, the declaration would be circular. Due to the parent/child relationship created when a model or a layout is declared to another layout, these circular references can not be created. *How can a datum plane be flipped so that it matches a datum in a layout? While declaring the part, select DeclareName from the DECLARE menu. Select the datum plane, and if it is facing the wrong direction, select Flip from the DIRECTION menu. If the datum was already declared, select Replace from the REDECLARE menu. *Is it possible to have a section of a layout be parametric? Case studies allow for a portion of a layout to behave parametrically. A case study is a 2-dimensional sketch, much like a sketch created in Sketcher mode. For example, it may be necessary to determine the length of the entire assembly as individual components change size. A case study can be created so that the geometry of the 2D sketch will update as a change is made in any of the dimensions. *How can 2-dimensional geometry already sketched in a layout be added to a case study? Selecting Copy Layout from the SEC TOOLS menu and Pick Many from the GET SELECT menu will allow a box to be dragged around 2D entities in the layout. These entities will be copied to the section window. Restructure *How can a sub-assembly be created from an existing assembly? A sub-assembly can be created from an existing assembly using the following steps: Select Create from the COMPONENT menu. Select Subassembly. This will create an empty sub-assembly file in the assembly. To add components to this sub-assembly, select Restructure from the ASSEMBLY menu. Note that the Model Tree window now displays a column called RESTRUCTURE STATUS (starting with Release 17.0). With Move Comp from the RESTRUCTURE menu highlighted, select the part in the Model Tree window to be placed into the sub-assembly. After SelectTarget highlights in the RESTRUCTURE menu, select the sub-assembly created in step 2. *How can components be placed inside sub-assembly which do not appear in the Model Tree? Components can be placed inside sub-assemblies which don't appear in the Model Tree window by either doubleclicking the sub-assembly name in the Model Tree window or selecting the sub-assembly name and Expand from the Model Tree View menu. Conversely, Compress will hide the contents of sub-assemblies. *Why can't a sub-assembly which was restructured be retrieved by itself? The sub-assembly has external references to the top level assembly. The components that comprise the subassembly were assembled in the top level assembly; therefore, the component's placement constraints (mate, align, etc.) are stored in the top level assembly, along with the references for those placement constraints. The top level assembly must be in session in order for the sub-assembly to be retrieved successfully. *Why are some components not eligible to be restructured? A component may not be restructured if it is: The first component of the assembly A member of a pattern of components A component in a sub-assembly which appears in the top-level assembly multiple times

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- 39 Explode *Can an assembly be exploded so that some of the components explode and others do not? Select Modify from the ASSEMBLY menu, and then Mod Expld from the ASSEM MOD menu, and then pick Expld Status. This will allow the explode status of each component to be toggled to "Exploded" or "Unexploded" by selecting the component's name in the Model Tree window. *Can an instance have a different explode status than the generic? Family table instances of an assembly will have the same explode status as the original. In order to have an instance explode differently, assemble the parts with Mate Offset or Align Offset. Add the offset dimensions to the family table and set them to zero if the component should not explode. *Why is a sub-assembly exploding when it's explode status is set to "Unexploded"? The sub-assembly is not exploding, but the components within the sub-assembly are. Double-click the sub-assembly name in the Model Tree menu to view the components within the sub-assembly. Set all of them to "Unexploded". *In what manner are components exploded by default? The components are exploded according to their placement constraints. For example, components assembled by aligning axes will explode along those axes, mated surfaces will remain parallel, etc. *Why would an assembly be exploded when it is retrieved? If an assembly is stored using DBMS, Save while in an exploded state, it will be exploded when it is retrieved. If this is not desired, unexplode the assembly by selecting Un-Explode from the COSM VIEW menu, and Save the assembly again. *What happens to assembly cosmetic and datum features when the assembly is exploded? Assembly cosmetic and datum features do not explode. They will remain in the same location with respect to the assembly's default coordinate system. *Why would the commands ExplodeState or Offset Lines not be available? The commands ExplodeState and Offset Lines are only available with the optional module Pro/PROCESS for ASSEMBLIES. *How can an explode state be controlled without access to Pro/PROCESS? Without the Pro/PROCESS optional module, a single explode state can be created by selecting Modify, Modify Expld, then set the explode status of each component/subassembly as needed. *Can additional jogs be added to offset lines created in the explode state? Established jogs may only be modified, but they cannot be deleted and new ones cannot be added. *How can the line style of offset lines be modified? Select Mod Line Style, select the offset line, then choose the new line style from the dialog box that is opened. *Can an explode state created in Assembly mode be used in a Drawing, or does a separate exploded view have to be defined? A previously created explode state can be included in a drawing. In Drawing mode, select Add View, General, Exploded, Done, select the position for the view on the drawing, and then place a check by the desired explode state. *Why won't the view of the explode state update in the drawing after the state has been modified in the assembly? Once the exploded view is placed, the connection to the assembly explode state is broken. The same explode state should be placed again on the drawing, or the view placed can be modified by selecting Modify View, Mod Expld, select the view, then Redefine, Position. Any changes made to the drawing view will not affect the explode state stored in Assembly mode. Frequently Asked Questions Assembly Process Terminology *What is a step? A step is a feature of the process assembly which defines the process actions. The possible step types are: Assemble, Disassemble, Reassemble, Reposition, and General (steps related to fastening, preparing surfaces, etc).

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- 40 *What is a sequence? A sequence is the collection of the process assembly's steps. *What is an assemble step? An assemble step is used to add parts, whole assemblies, and individual components from design assemblies into the process. If individual components from an assembly are selected, and they are the first components from that assembly to be added to the process, they must be placed in the process assembly. Otherwise, no placement constraints are required, since the parts are placed in their final positions relative to the other parts already assembled. *What is a disassemble step? A disassemble step is used to remove components which have already been assembled from the process assembly. *What is an reassemble step? A reassemble step is used to reassemble previously disassembled components. This will not add another occurrence of the component to the bill of materials. If adding to the BOM is desired, an assemble step should be used. *What is an reposition step? A reposition step is used to reposition a previously assembled component in the process assembly. The component can be manipulated using the package functionality. *What is a general step? A general step is used for steps which do not fall into the other four step categories. There is a list of pre-defined step types which can be used, or a new type can be created. The default types are caulk, clean, drain, fill, lubricate, paint, torque, and verify. *What is an explode state? Explode states, which are new to Release 17.0 of Pro/ENGINEER, define the exploded positions, status and offset lines of the components of an assembly. Multiple explode states can be defined for an assembly, which makes it easier to show an assembly process at different stages of its fabrication. For more information on explode states, refer to Suggested Technique for Creating Explode States. *What is a fab unit? Fabrication units are groups of components with a unique name; they are provided so that process plans which show the actual build bill of materials can be created. A fab unit may be used as a component in an assemble step. This will assemble all of the components in the fab unit in at the same time, and they will be considered as one unit for explode states, simplified representations and bills of material. *What is a time estimate? A time estimate is the time required to complete a step. It is an optional parameter which is available for all step types. *What is a cost estimate? A cost estimate is the cost required to complete a step. It is an optional parameter which is available for all step types. *What is a design assembly? The design assembly is the model whose fabrication is being illustrated by the process assembly. General Information *Why can't some components be selected for a reassemble step? Only previously disassembled components are eligible to be reassembled. To add another occurrence of an existing component, use an assemble step. *How can a group of parts which are not all part of a sub-assembly be added to a step as one unit? Create a fab unit of the desired components. When selecting the components to add to the step, choose Fab Unit instead of Std Comp from the PRS COMP TYP menu. *How can a component be moved to a location which is different than the way it was assembled in the design assembly? Components can be moved to different locations in the assembly by using a reposition step.

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- 41 *How can previous steps be viewed? Select Play Steps from the ASM PROCESS menu. The current step can be set by selecting Set Step from the STEP REGEN menu. Next Step and PreviousStep can be used to browse the available steps in the sequence. *How can information about a step, or a whole sequence of steps be obtained? Information about both steps and the sequence can be obtained by selecting Process Info from the INFO menu. Information about a given step can also be accessed by picking the Info button in the Select Step dialog box, or by choosing Info from the STEP REGEN menu. *Why are the simplified representations of the design assembly not available when defining a step's simplified representation? Simplified representations of a process assembly must be created in Process mode. Since the process assembly often times contains different components than the design assembly, existing design simplified representations may not be applicable. *How can user defined parameters be added to a step? User defined parameters can be added to a step by selecting Set Up from the ASM PROCESS menu, and choosing Parameters. Select Step from the OBJ TYPES menu and choose the desired step from the Select Step dialog box. *How can the display of previously assembled components be changed in drawing views? The display of components which were added to a step, and the display of components which were added before that step can be controlled in Drawing mode. Select Disp Mode from the VIEWS menu, and choose Process Disp. This will open the Component Step Display dialog box. The linestyle and color of previous components and current components can be selected. When the linestyle and color are set correctly, choose OK from the dialog box. Use Picked View to assign the settings to a specified view, or use This Sheet or All Views to assign the settings to multiple drawing views. *How can a repeat region show information about which components were assembled to a given step? To show which components were added to a step, use the report symbol prs.step.comp.name. *How can the time and cost estimates of a step be accessed in a repeat region? The time and cost estimates of a step are parameters, just like any user defined parameters are. To access these values in a repeat region, use the report symbols prs.step.param.name and prs.step.param.value. *When creating a general step, how can entities such as surfaces, edges or components be referenced? Entities can be referenced in a general step by selecting the References element and choosing Define in the STEP:General dialog box. Components, fab units, features, surfaces, edges, curves, quilts and datums can be referenced. This functionality is very important for general steps. For example, if the type of step was "paint," the surfaces which should be painted must be specified. Pro/SURFACE Terminology *What is a surface quilt? A surface quilt is a "patchwork" of connected surfaces. A quilt may contain one or more surface patches. The external edges of a surface are yellow, and the internal boundaries of the patches are displayed in magenta. *What is a merge? A surface merge allows multiple surfaces to be combined into a single quilt. Surface merges are created by selecting Feature, Create, Surface, Merge, and then selecting the two quilts to be combined through Intersect or Join. Completion of the merge operation will be visually evident by turning the yellow edges to magenta. *What is a transform? A transform feature enables quilts and/or datum curves to be translated, rotated, or mirrored. The original feature can be repositioned and manipulated by selecting No Copy from the OPTIONS menu. A copy of the feature can be created and modified totally independent of the original by selecting Copy from the OPTIONS menu. This functionality is accessed through Feature, Create, Surface, Transform.

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- 42 *What is a trim? A trim feature removes portions of a surface feature. It is analogous to a cut or a slot for solid material. Note, that some surface trim functionality such as Trim, Silhouette is exclusive to Pro/SURFACE. This option is accessed through Feature, Create, Surface, Trim. *What is an extend? A surface extend feature enables surfaces to be enlarged by extending the outside edges to a user-defined position. A quilt can be stretched to a point or vertex, or to a given length. Note that the extention can be a continuation of the existing surface, along a particular direction, or tangent to the existing surface. This functionality is accessed through Feature, Create, Surface, Extend. *What is C2 continuity? C2 continuity insures that the second derivatives of two surfaces will equal each other at their boundary. This is used when creating a new surface and defining it to be tangent to an existing surface. C2 continuity will force the curvature of both surfaces to match at their shared boundary. For example, if one surface is concave with a certain curvature value at its boundary, the new surface will not only have to have the same slope at that boundary, but must also be concave with the exact same rate of change of slope as the first surface. To apply this to a boundary, select C2 Cont from the TAN COND menu. *What is a "tweak patch"? A tweak patch allows one or more solid surfaces to be replaced with a surface feature. The external (yellow) edges of the surface feature must all lie on the solid geometry. Tweak patch features can both add and remove solid material at the same time. This feature type is utilized through Feature, Create, Tweak, Patch. *What is a "tweak replace"? A tweak replace allows a single solid surface to be replaced with a datum plane or surface feature. Tweak replace features can both add and remove solid material at the same time. Note, if a surface feature is to be referenced for the replace, then it should extend beyond the solid. This feature type is accessed by selecting Feature, Create, Tweak, Replace. *What is a "use quilt" feature? A feature created as Use Quilt, from the SOLID OPTS menu, allows material to be added or removed, depending on whether the feature is a protrusion, cut or slot. The volume of material must be completely enclosed with one continuous surface quilt if Solid is chosen from the SOLID OPTS menu. Otherwise a Thin feature can be created. *What are blend control points? Blend control points are either datum points or vertices of datum curves used to create a boundary blended surface. If corresponding sets of blend control points are placed on the boundary curves, they can be connected point-by-point and the curve segments between them will be blended piece-by-piece. Refer to Creating a Surface From Boundaries Using Blend Control Points and Optional Tangency. *What is a composite datum curve? Composite datum curves are created by referencing several datum curves or model edges that form one continuous chain. The resulting curve is a new feature that lies on top of the referenced geometry. It is an Exact copy of the references. Note that an Approximate composite datum curve will create an approximate chain of entities with a curvature-continuous spline. Composite datum curves are created through Feature, Create, Datum, Curve, Composite, Done. The references for this feature can be selected in various ways. The options in the CHAIN TYPE menu are : One By One, Tangent Chain, Curve Chain, Bndry Chain, and Surf Chain. *What is a split datum curve? Split datum curves are similar to composite datum curves. Split datum curves are copies of other datum curves that terminate at a specified surface, datum point, or datum plane that intersects or lies on the original curve. This curve type is created by selecting Feature, Create, Datum, Curve, Split, Done. *What is a one-sided edge? One-sided edges are the outer edges of surface features and are displayed in yellow. Yellow edges indicate where two surface features may not be merged. Internal edges, where two surface quilts may be joined, are displayed in magenta.

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- 43 *What is a surface patch? A surface patch is an individual surface that alone, or combined with more surfaces, makes up a quilt. General Pro/SURFACE Questions *What is the difference between a surface feature and a datum plane? A surface feature has finite boundaries and a defined area. A datum plane is a planar reference with infinite boundaries and therefore, no defined area. *Why are surface features uneffected by cuts? Cuts created through Feature, Create, (Solid), Cut will only remove solid material. In order to remove a portion of a surface feature, select Trim from the QUILT SURF menu. *When is the QUILT SURF menu available? The QUILT SURF menu is available only if a surface feature exists on a model. Before one exists, selecting Feature, Create, Surface will default to the SRF OPTS menu. The QUILT SURF menu will allow access to surface feature operations through New, Merge, Trim, Extend, Transform, Draft, and Area Offset. *What is the difference between Intersect and Join, from the SURF MERGE menu? Intersect and Join are the two methods which combine surfaces into one quilt. Selecting Intersect from the SURF MERGE menu will merge two intersecting quilts. This should be used when quilts overlap one another. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt the user to choose which portion of the selected quilts are to remain in the final merge feature. Join will merge two adjacent quilts into one. A single-sided edge of one of the quilts must lie on the other surface. If a portion of one surface extends beyond the boundaries of the other surface, Pro/ENGINEER will prompt the user to select a portion of that surface to keep for the final merge feature. *What is the difference between selecting a surface as Single or Whole when creating an Intr. Surfs datum curve? Single should be used when selecting a face of a part, or a bounded patch of a surface quilt. Several surfaces can be selected at once with this option. Use Whole to select all faces of the part, or an entire surface quilt. *Which quilt is referenced when arrows display for the portions of surfaces to be kept in a merge by intersection? When merging quilts through Intersect, and in some cases through Join, portions of a surface must be discarded. Arrows appear at this time referencing the surface that is highlighted in cyan. *What would cause a surface merge to not be created? Pro/ENGINEER will be unable to create a surface merge if the selected quilts do not actually intersect. Verify that the surfaces intersect by creating a datum curve by Intr. Surfs. If the datum curve cannot be created, or is discontinuous, the surfaces must be redefined. They can be enlarged by selecting Extend from the QUILT SURFS menu. *Which edges should be selected when extending a surface? When creating a surface feature with Extend, from the QUILT SURF menu, select the edge(s) that is to be "stretched". Then select vertices of that edge to specify an offset distance. *What is the difference between the Capped Ends and Open Ends options available when creating surfaces? Surface features created with Extrude, Revolve, Blend, or Sweep can be open or closed volumes. If the surface is going to be open, select Open Ends from the ATTRIBUTES menu. If the feature is required to enclose a volume, select Capped Ends. A tube can be created by extruding a circular section as Open Ends. A closed cylinder would be created by extruding the same section as Capped Ends. *What is the difference between the Join and No Join options available when creating swept surfaces? Surface features created with Sweep, Var Sec Swp, or Swept Blend, by selecting edges of a surface as a trajectory, will have the option to be merged with the existing quilt. If Join is selected from the SRFS JOIN menu, the feature will be automatically combined into one quilt with the original surface. This functionality saves the step of creating a new feature with Merge. No Join simply means that the feature is not to be merged with the quilt referenced for the trajectory.

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- 44 *How can the display of a surface feature be turned off? Surface features can be removed from the model display in two ways. The first is to Suppress the feature from the FEAT menu. Suppressing a feature is like removing it from regeneration temporarily. It can be unsuppressed through the Resume menu selection. If a feature is suppressed, any features that reference this will also need to be suppressed, or redefined and/or rerouted. This method of removing a feature from the display is not always the most appropriate. A better method, which will still regenerate the feature and not effect any children, is to place the surface on a layer and blank that layer. This will just "turn off" the feature's display. Layer functionality can be accessed by selecting Layer from the PART menu. Note that the config.pro setting SHADE_SURF_FEAT may be set to Yes/No to affect the display of a surface feature. Creating Surface Features *How can more control be exerted over a surface created from Boundaries? The use of blend control points can provide additional control over the topology of surface features created from Boundaries. Control point functionality can be used to eliminate small patches and extra edges, leading to a smoother surface free from twisted and stretched contours. *What does it mean when an offset surface feature fails, giving the message "Highlighted geometry is invalid" The radius of curvature of the surface may be too small in some areas to be offset by the specified value. As an alternative technique, create a new surface that excludes the patches of the surface that are too curved. Offset this new surface and trim away overlapping areas. Surfaces can then be created from the boundaries of the offset quilt. *How can a surface be created by importing point data? A surface can be created by importing point data by selecting From File from the ADV SURF OPT menu. This will prompt for a coordinate system and then for a file name. The file must be in an imported blend format, ".ibl". A sample file can be found in the Part Modeling User's Guide. Datum curves can also be created from point data in an analogous method. *What is the difference between creating a From File surface as Pointwise or as Arclength? A pointwise surface will connect the first point in one curve to the first point in the other curve, the second to the second, and so on. An arclength surface will divide the curves into equal length segments and blend between them. *When creating a surface from Boundaries, a message says that the boundary curves do not form a closed loop. Why? The Geom Check menu pick should be available when prompted : "Boundary curves do not form a closed loop". Selecting this from the INFO menu will highlight the endpoints of the curves where the loop is not closed with green circles. There are two possible explanations for this occurrence: 1. The curves selected as references for the boundary surface do not connect at the highlighted vertices. This occurs with boundary blends that reference entities in two directions. The highlighted endpoints of the selected references must terminate on corresponding entities of the other direction. Redefine the curves to make them connect. 2. The curves do not fully define the area for the surface to encompass. This is caused by selecting closed loop curves in one direction and open loop curves in the second direction. Break the closed loop curves into open loop segments, using split and composite datum curves. These open loop segments, in addition to the open loop curves in the other direction, will form the closed loop necessary for the boundary blend. Note, these "split" curves can also be achieved by using the selection by Chain in combination with the Trim/Extend functionality at the time of surface creation. Refer to Creating a Surface From Boundaries. *When copying a surface, how can cuts or holes be patched in? To patch surface areas that have been removed, select Fill Loop from the Feature Dialogue Box. This will allow any loops of missing surfaces to be filled in. Conversely, Excld Loop will allow any desired loops to be removed from the surface. *What may prevent an open loop from being filled in when copying a surface? The loop is between multiple surface patches in a quilt. Only loops that are completely enclosed by a single patch may be filled. To add surface material to this loop, try creating a surface from Boundaries in that area, and combining it with the surrounding surfaces through Merge. *What causes Pro/ENGINEER to prompt the user with the message : "Bounding curve(s) not tangent to the tangent surface at highlighted point(s)"? While specifying tangency across a boundary and selecting a surface for tangency, the highlighted curves must be tangent to the adjacent surface at that boundary. If the curves are not tangent at the boundary, then the surface cannot be tangent. Redefine the curves to be tangent to the adjacent surface. Refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Surface From Boundaries Using Blend Control Points and Optional Tangency.

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- 45 Surface Feature Applications *Why does a quilt used for a tweak replace, surface trim, or use quilt feature, disappear? The surface used as reference for any of these features will be "consumed" during their creation. If the quilt is needed for later use, a copy of the quilt can be created by selecting Feature, Create, Surface, Copy. *What may prevent a tweak patch feature from being created? Discontinuities in surface quilts may prevent feature creation when using Feature, Create, Tweak, Patch. Verify that all of the surfaces used for the patch have been merged together into one continuous quilt. The major requirement for patch features is that all of the quilt's external edges (displayed in yellow) must lie directly on the solid model. To verify this create datum curves at the intersection of the surface features and the solid geometry. *What may prevent a solid use quilt feature from being created? Features being created with the Use Quilt and Solid options from the SOLID OPTS menu, must reference a quilt that completely encloses a volume to be added or removed. Any gaps, represented by yellow edges, can hinder feature creation. Surfaces that have been successfully joined have magenta edges at their borders. Any patches that are not continuous need to be joined with the Merge command. *What may prevent a thin use quilt feature from being created? Features being created with the Use Quilt and Thin options, from the SOLID OPTS menu, offset a selected quilt a userdefined distance and fill in that gap with solid material. The offset distance and curvature of the selected quilt are the factors which determine creation. Ensure that the chosen quilt can be offset to at least the thickness value. This can be verified by creating a surface through Feature, Create, Surface, New, Offset, and entering the thickness. It can also be investigated through the INFO menu by selecting Info, Srf Analysis, Radius, and selecting the surface. The info tool will find the minimum radius of the quilt, which should equal the maximum offset distance in the indicated direction. Patterns

* What are the benefits of using patterns? Ability to quickly reproduce features. Ability to quickly suppress or add features to a layer. Modifying or redefining one feature, all instances update. Number of instances can be quickly changed. Ability to create Reference patterns of other features or components in Assembly mode. Convey design intent of features with similar properties or function. * What are the differences between Value, Relation, and Table driven patterns? Value driven patterns are patterns with one or more dimensions incremented by a constant amount for each successive instance. Relation driven patterns are patterns with one or more dimensions incremented by an amount driven by a relation for each successive instance. Table driven patterns are patterns with the dimensions based on values entered by the user in a table. See "What are the benefits of using Table Driven Patterns?". Dimensions are based off the previous instance for value driven patterns and relation driven patterns with relations using a memb_i relation. Dimensions are based off the same references as the leader for table driven patterns and relation driven patterns using a memb_v relation. The number of instances of the pattern can more quickly be modified with value and relation driven patterns by modifying the number of instances parameter(s). The pattern table must be edited to change the number of instances. * How can the leader of a pattern be determined? The leader of a pattern is the original feature selected for patterning. It can be determined by using Modify, Value and selecting any instance of the pattern. This will show the dimensions for the selected instance and also the dimensions of the pattern leader. Alternatively, Info, Feat Info of any instance will display a line similar to one of the following: LEADER OF A (5 X 5) DIM IDENTICAL PATTERN or MEMBER (4, 5) IN A (5 X 5) DIM IDENTICAL PATTERN In the first case, the feature is the pattern leader. In the second case, the selected feature is an instance. * What is the difference between the Identical, Varying, and General pattern options?

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- 46 The general difference between Identical, Varying, and General is the complexity of the feature geometry calculation. This categorization allows the possibility for significant regeneration time improvements. Identical patterns are ideal for simple patterns because they regenerate the fastest of the three types, and General patterns, although they regenerate the slowest, allow for the most complex patterns. When creating patterns, answers to the following questions will indicate which option should be chosen: Are all instances identical in size? If no, then either Varying or General must be used. Are the instances placed on the same surface? If no, then either Varying or General must be used. Does any instance intersect any other instance? If yes, then General must be used. Refer to pages 8-3 through 8-5 of the Part Modeling User's Guide for Release 17.0 for additional information. * What does the message prompt "Select pattern dimensions for FIRST direction, or increment type." mean? First, this prompt is asking for dimensions to be selected to increment the pattern in one of possibly two directions. One or more dimensions may be selected in each direction. By choosing more than one dimension in a particular direction, the feature(s) in the pattern can be modified in multiple ways. For example, each successive instance of a pattern of holes may have an offset dimension and an increment in diameter. Second, this prompt is asking for a Value, Relation or Table to be chosen from the menus as the increment type. * When deleting a member of a pattern, why is the leader also deleted? The Delete command will delete the entire pattern including the leader. To delete only the pattern, use the Del Pattern command. To delete only one instance of the pattern either modify the number of instances or Redefine the pattern To Table and delete the instance row from the pattern table. * How can a rotational pattern of a feature be created? The key to creating a rotational pattern is to have an angular dimension to increment. The best method to incorporate an angular placement dimension with a feature is to use a Make Datum or what is commonly known as a "datum-on-the-fly" while creating the original feature. Use the Make Datum command to orient the feature in sketcher for either the sketching plane or for the horizontal/vertical reference plane. Make sure to either align or dimension the section to this Make Datum plane if chosen as a reference plane. The Make Datum plane should be Through the axis of revolution and at an Angle to an existing plane. This angle is now incorporated into the feature and can be selected as the incremental dimension for the pattern. * How can a rotational pattern of several features be created? Ref Pattern: If the pattern consists of two features, such as a counterbored hole, then the technique in "How can a rotational pattern of a feature be created?" can be used for the first feature. After the first pattern is created, a Ref Pattern of the second feature can be created. Local Group (no make datum): If the pattern consists of two or more features, a local group of the features can be created. In this case, a Make Datum should not be created for the first feature. Instead, a datum plane feature with an angular dimension should be created as the first feature in the group. Then all features in the group should only reference either the datum plane, the axis of rotation, or any plane normal to the axis of rotation. Once the local group is created it can be patterned using Feature, Group, Pattern. Surface Transform: If the features to be patterned consist of either complex features or features which can not be used with the local group method above due to dimensioning constraints, then using the Surface, Transform command is the most appropriate technique. This method is much more efficient in these two cases because it only needs to copy the feature surface geometry. It is similar to creating an Identical pattern as opposed to a General pattern. The Surface, Transform method involves first creating a Surface, Copy of the surface of the features, then creating a Surface, Transform of the Surface, Copy, patterning the Surface, Transform, and finally, creating a Ref Pattern of a Tweak, Patch feature. * How can one instance of a pattern be modified? To modify a single instance of a pattern, the pattern must be Table driven and the dimension to be modified must be included in the pattern definition. The instance of the pattern may be modified by choosing Modify, Value and picking a dimension, or by choosing Modify, PatternTable, Edit and editing the table directly.

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* What are the benefits of using Table driven patterns? Allows both positive and negative dimensions for pattern instances in the same pattern. Allows irregular placement or dimensions between instances. Ability to switch pattern configurations in the model and through family tables for separate part family table instances. Ability to import a file with the locations of instances using Read. Dimensions all come from a baseline - not between instances. Allows use of Ref Pattern functionality after the Table driven pattern creation.

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- 47 * How can a pattern table be created from an existing Value driven pattern? Choose Feature, Redefine, select any member of the Value driven pattern, choose Pattern and Define from the FEATURE Dialgoue Box, and then choose To Table. After entering a name for the pattern table and choosing Done/Return from the REDEF PATT menu, and OK from the Dialogue Box, the pattern will be converted from Value driven to Table driven. One of the benefits of this method is quickly creating a large number of pattern instances as a Value driven pattern, then modifying individual instances in the Table driven pattern. This method also preserves all children of the original Value driven pattern. * How can different Family Table instances of a part use different configurations of a pattern? Table driven patterns can have several different configurations of the pattern which can be switched manually using the Modify, PatternTable, Switch command. They can automatically be switched in a family table instance by adding the pattern table to the family table using Family Table, Add Item, PatternTable. Then Edit the family table and for the part family table instance, enter the name for the alternate pattern table configuration. When the part family table instance is retrieved, it will have the alternate configuration. Seer "Suggested Technique For Using Pattern Tables in Family Tables" for a detailed walk-through of this procedure. * How can a pattern be created along a complex trajectory? On Curve datum points are useful for this type of pattern because they have a dimension specifying either the measured length or percentage of the entire length along a curve. First create a datum curve (Composite curve if more than one segment) representing the trajectory. Then create an On Curve datum point using either the Offset, Length Ratio, or Actual Len options. Then create other features referencing this point (the features should be created so they all move correctly when the datum point dimension is modified.) Lastly create a Feature, Group, Local Group of the datum point and the features to be patterned and use Feature, Group, Pattern to pattern the group using the point's dimension. See "Suggested Technique for Creating a Pattern Along A Datum Curve" for a detailed walk-through of this procedure. * What is the difference between Feature, Del Pattern and Group, Unpattern? Del Pattern removes all pattern instances of a patterned feature but leaves the leader feature. Unpattern removes the pattern definition for Group patterns, but leaves all pattern instances intact as separate independent groups. * Why are some instances of a pattern which should go Thru Next created as if Thru All? This may occur for Varying patterns because the termination surface for each instance being created is determined by the direction of the leader instance. Patterns exhibiting this behavior should be redefined to the General pattern option. * Why are some of the dimensions chosen for the pattern increment not changing between instances? Patterns created with the Identical option will ignore dimensions selected to vary the section or size of the feature. Varying or General should be chosen instead. Refer to "Creating the Pattern" on page 8-20 of the Part Modeling User's Guide for Release 17.0. * Why does adding a column in a pattern table for an additional dimension have no effect? For a dimension to be included in a pattern table for driving a pattern (this includes files being imported using Read from the PATT TABLE menu), the dimension must be selected when creating the pattern. If the pattern has already been created, it must be recreated to add an additional dimension. Refer to the bottom of page 8-23 of the Part Modeling User's Guide for Release 17.0. * How can the pattern dimension symbol be renamed or modified? The pattern dimension symbol cannot be modified. Use a relation to set the pattern dimension to a parameter name if naming is necessary. Refer to the second bold note on page 10-7 of Part Modeling User's Guide for Release 17.0. Copy and Mirror * What is the difference between Copy, Independent and Copy, Dependent? Independent copied features are completely independent of the features they were copied from. Modifying, redefining, or deleting the original feature will have no effect on its independent copies. Dependent copied features, on the other hand, are dependent on all dimensions which are not selected as variable dimensions at the time of the feature copy. Dependent copied features are also dependent on the section of the original feature. This means if the section of the original feature is redefined, modifications to the way the section relates to the part will not be possible. In other words, dimensions to the part geometry may not be added or deleted and section entities may not be aligned or unaligned from the part geometry. However, additional section entities may be added or dimensioned,

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- 48 and existing entities which are not dimensioned or aligned to the part may be deleted. All of these changes will affect the dependent copy. Deleting or suppressing the original feature will only cause a dependent copied feature to fail if the original feature has a sketched section or if dependent copy has some other parent/child relationship to the original feature. For features without sections (such as Straight Holes) the original feature may be deleted leaving the dependent copy intact. * Why does Pro/ENGINEER behave as if copied features are part of a group (such as when suppressing or deleting)? When more than one feature is selected for a feature copy operation, a local group of the features is created. Refer to page 929 of the Part Modeling User's Guide for Release 17.0. * How can a feature created using Copy, Dependent be made independent of the original feature? A dependent copy of a feature can be made independent using one of two methods: Modify, Make Indep, Section Redefine, Section * What is the difference between Feature, Copy, Mirror, All Features and Feature, Mirror Geom? Feature, Copy, Mirror, All Features makes a mirror of each feature which allows the ability to independently modify the copied features so they have dimensions different than the original features. Feature, Mirror Geom creates only one merge feature which is a representation of the entire geometry created before the merge. This means any modifications to the copied feature will affect the original features as well. * Why are features inserted or reordered into a range of features which have been copied (mirrored) not automatically copied? Feature, Copy (mirrored or otherwise) is a one time command which copies the features at the moment it is executed. If additional features are inserted or reordered into the original range of features, they will not be reflected in the range of copied features. To achieve this effect, either: copy the one new feature recreate the Feature, Copy use Feature, Mirror Geom for mirrored copies. Feature, Mirror Geom works because it is a feature which mirrors all the geometry before it whenever it is regenerated. * What are the benefits of using Surface, Transform to copy surface and datum curve features? Surface, Transform is preferable to Feature, Copy in many cases because it only copies the final feature geometry of the surface or datum curve. This makes it extremely efficient for regeneration times and tracing the construction of a part. It also has the added benefit of not having to respecify references to parents. This is especially apparent when copying features with complicated geometry and complex relationships to model geometry. In conjunction with Surface, Copy and Tweak, Patch, it can be used in virtually any circumstance. See "Suggested Technique for Creating a Radial Pattern Using a Surface Transform." * Can I copy a feature from one model to another? Features can be copied from one model to another by selecting FromDifModel from the COPY FEATURE menu. This option is only available when New Refs is selected from the the same menu. Relations are copied to the new part if they do not reference dimensions of features that are not included in the Copy option. The feature will regenerate with the accuracy of the model into which it is copied. Local Groups and User Defined Features (UDFs) * What are some of the benefits of using groups? For Local Groups and User Defined Features: Patterning and copying several features at the same time. Suppressing/Resuming several features at one time in a Family Table instance. For User Defined Features only: Duplicating several features into separate parts. Creating a library of standard features with option of different configurations using Table and Program. Substituting different variations of a group of features into a family table instance using Table driven groups. * What is the difference between a UDF and a Local Group? A Local Group can only be used on the currently active model. A User Defined Feature (UDF), created using Group, Define and Group, Make can be used on the current model or any other model.

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- 49 Local Groups are more easily created because placement references do not need to be specified. By creating a local group of several features, they can be made to behave as one feature. The most common use of local groups is for creating patterns of several features. UDF's allow much more flexibility at the expense of some preparatory work during definition of the group using Group, Define. UDF's also allow the use of group programs and tables for making alternate configurations of a range of features. When Table driven, UDFs can be used in conjunction with Family Table instances for replacing the configuration of a range of features between different model instances. See "What are some of the benefits of using groups?" * What is the difference between Define and Make? Define creates a UDF definition file. When Define is chosen, the user will be prompted to create prompts for each of the references, select variable dimensions, and optionally create a group Table or Program. Make places the UDF created with Define onto the current model. Feature, Create, User Defined is equivalent to Make. * What is the difference between Subordinate and Stand Alone? These are options chosen during the Group, Define process. They determine whether the part the group is defined on will be retrieved and shown in a window during placement of the group. Subordinate makes the group dependent on the part it was created on. When placing a group defined with Subordinate, the part the UDF was defined on will be retrieved and shown in a window to highlight the references during placement. The part will not be able to be DBMS, Erased while the group is in session. Also, if any of the reference features are deleted from the part, the group definition will be invalidated. Subordinate does not, however, mean the group will update to reflect changes in the original features. UDF Driven must be chosen during group placement for this effect. Stand Alone makes the group independent of the part it was created on. When this option is chosen, the prompt "Do you want to save a reference part? (Y/N):" will be displayed. This gives the option to save a copy of the current model which will behave as a model the group is subordinate to. If "Y" is entered for this prompt, a part named ###_gp.prt (where ### the name of the group) will be stored. The group will behave as if it is Subordinate to this reference part. If "N" is entered no reference model will be stored, which means the user placing the UDF must rely on clearly written prompts for the references and variable dimensions. Answering "N" may be preferable for saving disk space and group retrieval time. * What is the difference between Independent and UDF Driven? These options, which are specified when placing a UDF when using Group, Make, determine if the placed group updates to reflect the state of the features on the reference part. The reference part is either the part the group was created on when defined with Subordinate or the part saved when the group was defined as Stand Alone and a reference part was saved. For changes in the original features to show in a group made with the UDF Driven option, the part must have its groups updated using Group, Update. * What is the procedure for updating a group which is UDF Driven? When the original features used for the group definition are modified, the placed UDFs will not automatically update. To have the changes reflected in the placed UDFs, choose Group, Update and Regenerate in the part with the placed UDFs. * How can a UDF Driven group be made independent? Feature, Group, Disassociate. This command should be chosen before ungrouping any group which is UDF Driven to allow dimensions to be changed to Normal status (as opposed to Read Only or Blank.) * When creating a Local Group, must all the features be sequential in the regeneration order? Yes, all features in a local group must be sequential. Use Feature, Reorder to make features sequential if they are not. If the selected features are not in sequential order, the prompt: "Group all features in between? [N]:" will be displayed. Entering "N" will abort the local group definition. BOM *Why is the BOM missing information from the BOM format file? If the BOM appears to be missing information, verify that the text lines do not wrap around to the next line in the BOM format file. Any information that continues to the next line will not appear in the BOM. Additionally, verify that the last line contains a carriage return. *What should the BOM of a Simplified Representation contain? Simplified Representions will still contain the full listing of all the components in the Master Simp Rep.

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- 50 Material *Will Pro/ENGINEER convert a materials file into different units if the part units are changed? As of Release 18.0, Pro/ENGINEER will automatically convert material property file units if the part units are changed. *What are the units in a materials file? As of Release 18, units can be defined when creating Pro/ENGINEER material files. The units are defined using the two unit parameters, PRO_UNIT_LENGTH and PRO_UNIT_MASS. These parameters are located at the bottom of the materials file and can be defined using the same arguments used to define these parameters in the config.pro. PRO_UNIT_LENGTH can equal unit_inch, unit_foot, unit_mm, unit_cm, or unit_m and PRO_UNIT_MASS can be unit_ounce, unit_pound, unit_ton, unit_gram, unit_kilogram, or unit_tonne. *What if the units defined in the material file are different from the model units? After assigning a material whose units are different from the model unit, Pro/ENGINEER will return, "Material units differ from part. Convert to part units ?" If yes is entered, Pro/ENGINEER will automatically convert all the values in the material file to the part's units. If no is entered, Pro/ENGINEER will remove the arguments for PRO_UNIT_LENGTH and PRO_UNIT_MASS and leave all other material parameter values as they are. If a material that does not have PRO_UNIT_LENGTH and PRO_UNIT_MASS defined in the file, Pro/ENGINEER will assume that the units will be the same as those of the part. *Where are material files written? By default, Pro/ENGINEER will write material files to the current working directory. The config.pro option "pro_material_dir" can be used to specify a directory in which the material files are located. *What does the config.pro option "pro_material_dir" do? This option allows Pro/ENGINEER to find user defined materials files on disk when assigning materials to parts. Note that Pro/ENGINEER will not automatically place the material.mat file from the current working directory to the materials file directory. The file must be placed there manually. *"Error: Cannot find materials file." What does this mean? This error is generated when Pro/ENGINEER is unable to locate the specified materials file in one or both of the following directories: the current working directory the directory specified as the value to the config.pro option "pro_material_dir" Existing materials files can be copied to moved to either of the above locations. Units *After changing units, datum planes are very large and some features are not scaled down. Why? Imported geometry such as IGES features will not be modified when the model units are modified. The datum planes features stay with the default size of the part. *Can parts of differing units be assembled? Pro/ENGINEER assemblies can contain components consisting of different model units. The assembly also has its own units. Note: assembly features can not intersect a part that has different model units than the assembly. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt: "Can not select part with units different from that of the assembly." *How can the model units be displayed? The following techniques can be used to display model units: Technique One: Select Setup, Units The current model units for "length" will be highlighted in the LENGTH menu. The current model units for "mass" will be highlighted in the MASS menu. Technique Two: Select Info, Model Info A Pro/ENGINEER information window will open and display the model units in the LENGTH UNIT field.

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- 51 *After modifying the model units, why would the values of the dimensions remain unchanged? Modification of model units using the Same Dims functionality will will force Pro/ENGINEER to change the model units while keeping the numeric value of the dimensions the same. Example: a dimension of 1.00 inches will be converted to 1.00 mm when the model units are changed from inches to millimeters. The Same Size menu selection can be used to change the numeric value of the dimension when the model units are changed, keeping the geometry the same size. Example: a 1.00 inch dimension will be converted to 25.4mm when the model units are changed from inches to millimeters. *After modifying the model units, why would the values of the dimensions change? Modification of model units using the Same Size functionality will will force Pro/ENGINEER to change the numeric value of the dimension when the model units are changed, keeping the geometry the same size. Example: a 1.00 inch dimension will be converted to 25.4mm when the model units are changed from inches to millimeters. The Same Dims menu selection can be used to change the model units while keeping the numeric value of the dimensions the same. Example: a dimension of 1.00 inches will be converted to 1.00 mm when the model units are changed from inches to millimeters. Measure *How can the distance between two points be measured? To measure the shortest distance between points, select the desired points with Absolute selected in the DISTANCE menu. To display the X, Y, and Z distance between points, select Increment from the DISTANCE menu and select the appropriate Coordinate System from which to measure. Pro/ENGINEER will export dx, dy, and dz accordingly. Creating datum planes that pass through the points in the direction to be measured can also be used to obtain the distance between points by measuring the distance between the plane and points. See also Suggested Technique for Measuring the Distance Between Objects. *How can distances along a swept trajectory be measured? To obtain the distance along a swept trajectory select Info, Measure, Curve/Edge, Length. The Datum Evaluate feature will also allow parameters to be assigned lengths of curves and edges to be used later i.e. in relations. *How can the distance between a pipe and a component in Pipe mode be measured? Distances can only be measured in assembly mode using Info, Measure and selecting the proper references. *How to find the closest point between two curves? In order to find the closest point between curves, create a datum point that is the closest point on the first curve to the second curve and vice versa. Once the location of these points is known, create a datum curve between the two. The midpoint, which can found using a datum point created on curve using an offset lenght ratio of 0.50, of the this new curve is the closest point between the two original datum curves. *How to export the coordinates of datum points? To find the coordinates of one datum point with respect to a coordinate system, use the Distance functionality in the INFO Measure menu. Perform a From Csys - To Point measurement using the INCREMENT option. The resulting information is the dx,dy and dz of the datum point which are equivalent to the x, y, z coordinates. To export the coordinates of a large number of datum points to an a text file for use in another application, first export the whole model as an IGES file using the Dtm Curves option. In a new part with a default coordinate system, create datum points using the offset from csys method. Read the points from the IGES file by entering the name of the file with the .IGS extension. Pro/ENGINEER will then read all the points from the IGES file. Once the creation of the datum points has been successful, modify the datum points and pick Edit Table points to see the x, y, z coordinates in a three column format. See also Suggested Technique of Exporting Point Locations . Information *What is the FEATURE NUMBER refer to when Feat Info or Model Info is selected? The FEATURE NUMBER is the sequential number that Pro/ENGINEER uses during regeneration. Pro/ENGINEER will always maintain the order starting from 1 until the last active (ie non-Suppressed) feature. The FEATURE NUMBER will change if features are Reordered, Suppressed, and/or Resumed.

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- 52 *What is the INTERNAL FEATURE ID refer to when Feat Info or Model Info is selected? The INTERNAL FEATURE ID is an internal number generated by Pro/ENGINEER for each feature. Each feature's INTERNAL FEATURE ID will not change when model features are suppressed, resumed, reordered, or deleted. *What does an asterisk (*) indicate when Feat Info or Model Info is selected? The asterisk (*) indicates the feature is currently in a suppressed state. The Feature, Resume selection can be used to "activate" the feature. Please note that information can be obtained while the feature is suppressed by selecting Info, Feat Info, Sel By Menu and specifying the feature's"INTERNAL FEATURE ID". *How can I find which layer contains which items? Select Info from the LAYER menu, or select Layer Info from the INFO menu to find a listing of all items associated with any given layer. Non-solid geometry (eg datum planes) will also list layers associated with that feature by picking Feat/Model info and picking the desired feature. Shell *Why does a shell feature regenerate unsuccessfully at large values but regenerates successfully at some smaller values? During shell feature creation, the external geometry is offset inward. When this happens, Pro/ENGINEER may try to remove some of the external surfaces in order to create the correct internal geometry. Pro/ENGINEER shell features can not remove spline surfaces, filleted surfaces which are adjacent to one or more spline surfaces or surfaces which become self intersecting due to the offset value from the existing model geometry. Smaller offset values may enable the shell feature to be successfully created since the resulting geometry does not require a surface removal. Select Info, Surf Analysis, Minimum Radius to verify if a shell feature can be created from a selected surface; the minimum radius value returned is the maximum offset value of a shell feature for that geometry. *When should a shell feature be added to a model? The shell feature should be added once all of the features that need to be included in the shell have been added to the model. A shell feature only shells the solid geometry created by previous features in the regeneration list. Additional solid features can be inserted to regenerate before the shell after the shell has been created. Likewise, the shell feature can be reordered to regenerate before or after selected features as the user desires. *How can a shell feature be created on a model that consists of only surface features? Pro/ENGINEER will not allow a shell feature to be created on a model that consists of only surface features. Three alternative techniques can be used to create offset surfaces on a surface model. Create offset surface features for each of the individual surfaces. Create a thin protrusion using the Use Surf option from the FORM menu and select the existing model surfaces. Create a solid protrusion using the Use Surf option from the FORM menu, select the existing model surfaces and shell the geometry. *How can the volume of material which a shell feature removes be measured? There are two techniques that can be used to measure the volume of a shell. Technique One: Suppress the shell feature and display the mass properties calculations for the geometry. Record the model volume. Resume the shell feature and display the mass properties calculation again. Subtract the later model volume from the original to obtain the shell volume. Technique Two: Refer to the Suggested Technique on Calculating Volumes in Space. *How can a shell feature be created on a part that has a merge part contained within the geometry? Pro/ENGINEER will allow a shell feature to be created on a part that has a merge part contained within its geometry. It is important to save the merge components on disk for future reference since Pro/ENGINEER may require the models to update the model geometry at a later point.

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- 53 *How can a shell feature have multiple thicknesses? Pro/ENGINEER will allow shell features to be created which consist of multiple thicknesses. After selecting one or more surfaces to be removed for the shell feature, Pro/ENGINEER will prompt for a value for the shell thickness. Once the shell thickness has been specified, model surfaces can be selected which will be offset at a value other than the original shell thickness. Pro/ENGINEER will prompt for a shell thickness at each of the selected surfaces. *If certain desired geometry cannot be created due to a shell feature failure, What other alternative technique can be used to create the offset surface geometry? The following technique can be used to create the offset surfaces should the shell feature fail: Create a set of surfaces which represent the surface to be offset. Either select the surface manually or use the SURF AND BOUNDS technique. Offset all surfaces which can be offset to desired shell thickness. In the patches that could not be offset, create surfaces from boundaries from the edges of the good offset surfaces. Create a surface quilt from all surface patches by selecting Feature, Create, Surface, Merge. Close off the bottom of the quilt and merge into offset quilt. Create a Cut, Use Surfs, to remove the proper geometry. Refer to the Suggested Technique for creating a surface from boundaries. Draft Features *When should draft features be added to a model? Draft features should be added to the geometry as soon as the model contains all the features that will be included in the draft. *If a draft feature regenerates unsuccessfully, what is the best feature to create which would represent a draft? If a draft feature cannot be created as a draft feature then the desired geometry can be created as a sweep using the following technique: Create a datum curve at the draft pivot edge on the model geometry. If the outer most edge of the desired drafted geometry needs additional control, create another datum datum curve or curves to control the sweep feature. Create a sweep or variable section sweep (depending if you chose to add more than one datum curve or not) and select the curve along the pivot edge to be the spine curve. Sweep an angled x-section along the spine where the angle is your desired draft angle. *In which direction will a surface will be drafted? During creation of a draft feature, Pro/ENGINEER will prompt for a draft angle. The following "right-hand-rule" can be used to determine the rotational direction of the angle: Pro/ENGINEER will display a yellow arrow indicating the positive rotation direction at the time of the prompt for the draft angle. Note the direction of the arrow. With your right hand, point your thumb in the direction of the arrow. The direction of the curl of your fingers will determine a "positive" draft direction about the pivot plane i.e. if a positive value is entered for the draft angle, the surface will be drafted about the pivot plane in the direction that your fingers are curled in. A negative draft angle can be entered if the surface is to be drafted in the direction opposite to the curl of your fingers. *How can a surface be added or removed to a draft feature? After a draft feature has been created, there may be surfaces which have been omitted or surfaces that must added to the draft feature. These surface can be added or removed by selecting Feature, Redefine, References, Dft Surfaces, Add or Remove and select the new surfaces to add or remove. *What is a split draft? A split draft is a feature that will draft a model in one direction on one side of a neutral plane and in the opposite direction on the other side of the neutral plane. This is very useful when creating parting lines for molded models. *What is a curve driven draft? A curve driven draft is a draft feature that will follow a datum curve selected on the model geometry; the datum curve must lie on the surfaces being drafted. If the datum curve that the draft is to follow does not lie in a plane, it

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- 54 will need to be created from the intersection of surfaces or created by projecting the datum curve onto the surfaces being drafted. The tangent of the datum curve cannot be parallel to the normal of the reference plane at any location along the length of the curve. General Sweeps *Does the section for a sweep created with the option Add in Fac require a closed section? If the trajectory of a sweep feature is a closed loop the feature can be created with the Add in Fac option. A sweep feature created using Add in Fac can not have a closed section. Pro/ENGINEER will automatically close the section by adding top and bottom surfaces which close the feature. *What functionality does the Merged Ends selection offer? The Merged Ends option will extend the ends of the sweep such that it intersects the existing solid geometry. The sweep will only merge with the existing part geometry at the endpoints of the sweep's trajectory which are attached to the part geometry. *How can a sweep be created along a 3-D curve created from datum points? A sweep feature can not be created along a 3-Dimensional datum curve created Thru Points, From File or From Equation. For more information on creating a 3-dimensional curve which can be used in a sweep feature refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Spring as a Base Feature. *When making a spring feature, why must the trajectory be sketched instead of selecting a spiral curve? As a section is swept along a spine in a swept feature, the sketching plane of the section will always be normal to the spine; the sketching plane can still rotate around the spine however. A reference is needed to orient the sketching plane as it is swept along the spine. A 3-dimensional datum curve created Thru Points, From File or From Equation does not have a reference to orient the sketching plane. A datum curve created using Intr. Surfs, Projected, formed, or Sketched will have a reference which can be used to orient the sketching plane. For more information on creating a 3-dimensional curve which can be used in a sweep feature refer to Suggested Technique for Creating a Spring as a Base Feature. *Why does the message "Z values reset to zero" appear when trying to create a spiral trajectory> This message is given in the following situations: During the creation of a datum curve which contains a sketcher spline which a 3-dimension point array has been read into. The Z-values are modified to zero because a sketched datum curve must lie in a plane. The spine curve of a sweep feature has not been dimensioned to the local coordinate system in sketcher and the curve contains a sketcher spline which a 3-dimension point array has been read into. *Why does the message "Radius of curve too small" appear upon sweep feature creation? When creating a section for a variable section sweep, the section size cannot exceed the radius of curvature of the trajectory. This situation will cause the sweep feature geometry overlap onto itself creating invalid geometry. One of the following can be done to correct the problem: Modify the section of the sweep so that it is smaller than the radius of curvature of the trajectory. Modify the radius of curvature of the trajectory so that it is larger than the size of the sweep's section. *How can the actual length of a sweep features trajectory be measured? The length of a sweep feature can be measured by selecting Info, Measure, Curve/Edge, Length, Query Select and selecting the entire trajectory. *How can the start point a sweep feature be located along the spine, rather than at an endpoint? A sweep features section can start in the middle of a spine if a datum point created by selecting Feature, Create, Datum, Point, Crv X Surf exists in the middle of the trajectory. To create this datum point, select the curve in the trajectory where the point is to intersect and then select a plane or surface which intersects the curve at the location where the section is to be sketched. Upon creation of the sweep, Pro/ENGINEER will prompt where the section is to be sketched and the point created using Curve X Surf can be selected by selecting Next from the menu. When the point where the section to be sketched highlights, select Accept.

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- 55 Adv Var Sec Sweep *What is the proper way to utilize a graph feature? Graph features must follow 2 specific criteria in order to work correctly: A graph feature can only be used with a variable section sweep. The graph feature must come before the variable section sweep which references the graph. *How can a "3-D" sweep be created? The suggested technique to create a variable section 3-D sweep is to create a sweep feature along a datum curve that has been created at the intersection of two surfaces. A sweep can not be created along a 3-dimensional datum curve created using Thru Points, From File or From Equation. *What is the difference between the "spine trajectory" and the "X-vector trajectory" The spine trajectory is the trajectory to which the section will remain normal. The x-vector is the trajectory to which positive X-axis of the section will point towards. *How can the trajectories of a sweep be changed without recreating it? A sweep feature can be redefined by selecting Feature, Redefine. Select Section from the REDEFINE menu. A SECTION menu will appear which will allow you to redefine any of the selected or sketched trajectories that have been used to create a variable section sweep. It is important to remember that the newly sketched or redefined trajectory should contain the same number of sections as the old trajectory, and should follow a similar path. A violation of these could result in a failed feature. *What is meant by "Cannot intersect sketching plane with trajectories"? The error message "Cannot intersect sketching plane with trajectories" will be returned while creating a variable section sweep feature if the sections sketching plane (which is normal to the spine) does not intersect all of the trajectories used to create the sweep at the start point of the spine. *What is "trajpar" and how is it used? Trajpar is a value normalized along the spine of a variable section sweep. The value can vary from 0 to 1 as the section is swept. Trajpar is a trajectory parameter which can be used in a sketcher relation to "map" a graph or any functional equation along the variable section sweep feature. By using trajpar in a sketcher relation the driving dimensions in the section can be varied as the section sweeps along the spine. *How can the length of any sweep trajectory be measured? The length of any sweep trajectory be measured by selecting Info, Measure, Curve/Edge, Length, and Query Select the entire trajectory for measuring. Swept Blend Features *Why would a swept blend feature result in twisted geometry? When sketching sections for a swept blend feature, verify that the start points of each section correspond to the vertex on the preceding section. Pro/ENGINEER tries to "line up" the start points when creating the feature. If the start points are not aligned properly, the resulting geometry may twist between blend sections. *Will small surfaces created when a swept blend feature is created effect the geometry and is there a way to minimize these extraneous surfaces? The number of segments in a section or trajectories will effect the number of surfaces created in a swept blend feature. When specifying sections or trajectories for a Swept Blend feature, utilize sections and trajectories which have as few non-tangent segments as possible. Spline segments can be used to minimize the number of surfaces in areas where a sketched entity may intersect another sketched entity and the intersection may not be tangent. Tiny surfaces created in a general blend could effect the model geometry in that when subsequent features are created on top of the blend feature (ie. rounds, drafts, chamfer) there may be more difficulty creating these features. *Why does Pro/ENGINEER state that a coordinate system is missing when sketching sections for a blend feature when a coordinate system exists in the model? Pro/ENGINEER must reference a sketcher coordinate system when creating a general blend. This coordinate system can be created by selecting Sketch, Adv Geometry, Coord Sys and placing the sketcher coordinate system on the section.

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- 56 *During blend feature creation, how can a section be sketched along a trajectory if no vertex exists at the desired location? During the creation of a blend feature, Pro/ENGINEER will only prompt for a section to be created at the endpoint of each segment of the spine. It may be desire that a section be sketched along the spine at a location where an endpoint does not exists.To create a point which can be used to specify additional section locations along the spine, use the following technique: 1. Create a datum point on the trajectory by selecting Feature, Create, Datum, Point, Crv X Srf. Select the trajectory as the "Curve/Edge/Axis" to create the point on, and select a surface or datum plane which intersects the curve at the desired location as the "Surface for intersection." When creating the blend feature Pro/ENGINEER will prompt the user at each vertex/point desired for section creation and will highlight the datum point created in Step 1.

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Select Accept when Pro/ENGINEER highlights the newly created point and Pro/ENGINEER will now allow a section to be sketched at this new location. *How can a section be added to, or removed from a blend feature after the feature has been created? A section can be added to the original swept blend feature only if the feature was created using Select Section to define the blended sections. If the sections were sketched, the feature must be recreated to remove or add sections to the blend. Rounds *What is the difference between simple and advanced rounds? As of Release 16.0, Pro/ENGINEER allows for creation of both simple and advanced rounds. A simple round uses the default shape and transitions, while an advanced round allows the shape, spine, and transitions of the round to be specified. With a single advanced round, you can now create several different types (i.e. edge chain, surfacesurface, etc.) of rounds and connect them with user-defined transitions. Each round type specified within an advanced round is known as a round set. Error Messages: Definitions/Descriptions *Warning: Offset surfaces are self intersecting. This message may occur during the creation of shell or offset surface features. This message typically indicates that the surface being offset has a high degree of curvature causing the geometry to close in upon itself during the surface offset. Pro/ENGINEER will not create this geometry. *Warning: Unattached Cut (or) Warning: Unattached Protrusion. There are a number of causes for this error message, and each cause may be addressed differently. If the protrusion/cut is extremely small relative to the overall size of the part, try increasing (smaller number) the accuracy of the part. This will allow for smaller features to be created, as either cuts or protrusions. Check to see if the proper type of cut was applied. If a surface trim is applied to solid geometry, or vice versa, then you will get this error message. Match surface trims with surface features and solid cuts with solid geometry. If the protrusion is a swept feature redefine the section and unalign any alignments or edges referenced using Geom Tools, Use Edge. Dimension the sketch as much as possible to the cross hairs of the trajectory. Also, delete any extra dimensions from the sketch. If the protrusion is a solid created from a quilt, ensure that all edges of the quilt are magenta. If there are yellow edges, patch them up with other extended, trimmed or boundary surfaces, merging them into one quilt. If a Geom Check indicates that there are tiny edges present because of an unattached cut, re-orient the cut, or create the cut in a different method to eliminate the tiny edges. If the feature is a member of a radial pattern, redefine the leader of the pattern so that it does not reference the circular edge or cylindrical surface in any way. The section should reference only the axis of the cylinder, or the vertical reference plane that is to rotate with the protrusion (usually a make- datum). Advanced Feature Terminology

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- 57 *What is a Datum Curve? A Datum Curve is a two dimensional or three dimensional entity composed of a series of one or more line segments. The line segments can be straight lines, arcs, conics, or splines. Datum Curves display in orange by default, can be blanked on layers and are effected by Line Display settings in the ENVIRONMENT Menu. Datum Curves can be created by the following means: From a two dimensional section sketch. At the intersection of two surfaces. The surfaces may be surface features, Datum Planes, or surfaces belonging to solid geometry. Through a series of Datum Points. From an imported ibl file. From the edges of a X-section. By projecting a two dimensional section sketch or an existing Datum Curve on to a surface. At the intersection of two projected two dimensional section sketches. The sections must be projected from non-parallel planes. By splitting an existing Datum Curve at a point on that curve. By forming or mapping an existing Datum Curve on to a surface. By offsetting an existing Datum Curve from a surface. From a mathematical equation. *What is a Spine Curve? A Spine Curve is a trajectory used in the creation of a variable section sweep to which the section of the sweep will remain normal to. The origin of the swept section's coordinate system (cross-hairs) is always located on the "spine" trajectory. *What is an X-Vector Curve? An X-Vector is needed for variable section sweeps which use Nrm To Spine. An X-Vector Curve is a trajectory used in the creation of a variable section sweep to which the positive X-axis of the swept section's coordinate system (cross-hairs) will point towards (The X-Vector will be to the right of the spine in the section of the variable section sweep). *What is a spline? A spline is a two dimensional or three dimensional B-spline curve. A spline can be defined by the following means: In sketcher mode by selecting Adv Geometry in the GEOMETRY menu and then Spline. Any segment of a datum curve which is not a line or an arc. *What is a surface or datum surface? A surface or datum surface is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional feature which has no geometry. A surface can take on the profile or topology of any two-dimensional or three dimensional representation and will have zero depth. Surfaces are used to create complex shapes and typically replaced with Pro/ENGINEER geometry using a myriad of tools e.g. Tweak Replace Features, Tweak Patch Features, Surface from Boundaries or a Use Surfs Feature. A surface can be a plane, cylinder, cone, torus, spline surface, ruled surface or filleted surface. *What is a plane? A plane surface is a flat level surface. *What is a cylinder? A cylinder surface is generated by revolving a line about an axis where the line is parallel to the axis. *What is a cone? A cone surface is generated by revolving a line about an axis where the line is not parallel to the axis. *What is a torus? A torus surface is generated by revolving a circle or arc about an axis. *What is a filleted surface? A filleted surface is created by a Pro/ENGINEER constant radius round feature joining two surfaces.

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- 58 *What is a quilt? A quilt is a "patchwork" of one or more connecting or intersecting surfaces. Single sided edge lines of quilts are displayed in yellow, and two-sided and silhouette edge lines are displayed in magenta. *What is topology? Topology is the graphical representation of a surface defining its contour. *What is Pro/ENGINEER model accuracy and how does it relate to geometry? When Pro/ENGINEER regenerates an object, it needs to execute a series of geometric evaluations. How accurate Pro/ENGINEER will make these geometric evaluations is determined by the model accuracy and the envelope of the model. If either the envelope of the model or the model accuracy value increase, Pro/ENGINEER will regenerate the model less accurately which may result in geometry errors. If a model requires small edges or surfaces with respect to the overall size of the model then the model accuracy value may be decreased to allow for shorter edges and surfaces to be successfully regenerated. Decreasing the model accuracy value will cause regeneration time to increase (the geometry is evaluated more accurately) and may cause geometry which previously regenerated successfully to have geometry errors. Note: It is recommended to use the Pro/ENGINEER default model accuracy value of 0.0012. If possible, it is recommended to resolve geometry errors by redefining the model geometry. *What is a merged part? A merged part is a part which has been "joined" to one or more additional parts in assembly mode. Typically one component will be merged to another component to obtain some complex desired geometry. *What is meant by "normal"? Normal is a perpendicular direction to a plane, surface, or trajectory to which other features are created. *What is a trajectory? A trajectory is a datum curve or sketched spline/line/arc combination used in a sweep or variable section sweep feature. *What is the envelope of a part? The envelope of a model is a 3-dimensional box that encompasses the model geometry. The envelope value is the diagonal corner to corner measurement of this box. The Info Menu

Use the Info menu to investigate and analyze Pro/ENGINEER objects. Topic Viewing the Bill of Materials (BOM) You can create a bill of materials (BOM) listing of all parts and part parameters in the current assembly. You can create BOMs for assemblies in Assembly mode or from assembly drawings in Drawing mode using the BOM dialog box. To open the BOM dialog box, from the Info menu on the menu bar, choose BOM. You use this dialog box to: Create and format simple text BOMs for assemblies Include skeleton and unplaced components in the BOM Note: With the optional module Pro/REPORT you can create BOM reports: graphical BOMs with detailed formatting and indexing. For more information, see the Drawing User's Guide.

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- 59 -

Use o Select Model

Top Level Subassembly

View the BOM for the top-level assembly. View the BOM for a particular subassembly. View the list of available subassemblies.

Include

Skeletons Unplaced OK

Include skeletons in the BOM. Include unplaced components in the BOM. View the BOM in an Information Window.

The source of the bill of materials (BOM) output format can be configured by the configuration file option bom_format. For more information, see Configuration File Options in Pro/HELP. The default output format for the BOM (see the following figure) is divided into two sections: breakdown--Lists the name, type, and number of instances of each member and sub-member. summary--Lists the total quantity of each part included in the assembly. It amounts to a ``shopping list'' of all the parts needed to build the assembly from the part level. Default BOM Format File

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- 60 A user-defined BOM output format specifies the format of the breakdown section and the summary section separately. You can include one or both sections, but you must specify the column titles, row content, and display format for each included section. The user-defined format file contains a combination of text and formatting commands. The overall layout of the BOM is specified with the following section commands, which appear at the beginning of a line: .breakdown--This command appears at the beginning of the breakdown section of the BOM. Lines of text following the .breakdown command appear as a heading for each assembly breakdown. .summary--This command appears at the beginning of the summary section of the BOM. Lines of text following the .summary command appear as a heading for the summary section. .titles, .row--These commands may be used within each section of the BOM to specify the column titles and the information to be included on the repeating rows of the BOM. At any point in the format file, you can specify a system-supplied or a user-defined attribute: %$--A percent sign followed by a dollar sign indicates that the next word is one of the three systemsupplied attributes: name, type, or quantity. For example, %$type. %--Any word preceded by a percent sign only is a user-defined parameter. Text that is not a part of a parameter name is printed as it appears. For example, to print a dollar sign before the user-defined attribute price, type $%price. System-supplied and user-defined parameters may be followed by a C language-style format specifier, enclosed in square brackets ([ ]), that indicates the data type and printout width of the attribute's value. These format specifiers are optional, but may be needed for correct column alignment. Examples of format specifiers are as follows: [4s]--The preceding parameter is a string variable (text), and the field width is 4. [3d]--The preceding parameter is an integer, and the field width is 3. [6.2f]--The preceding parameter is a floating point variable (real number). The total field width is 6 (including a decimal point), and 2 digits follow the decimal point. Example: 400.25. [8.8s]--The preceding parameter is a string variable. The field width is 8, and longer strings are truncated to 8 characters. Note: Field widths may be overridden by strings that are longer than the specified field. Use this format to ensure that the field width remains the proper size. [-4s]--The text in this field is left-justified. (The minus sign indicates left-justification). In each of the preceding format specifiers, the letter is optional; Pro/ENGINEER determines the type of the userdefined parameter (string, integer, or floating point) if you omit it. Note: You cannot use the BOM function on the Info menu to print parameters defined as ``note'' type parameters. Entering the field [%[$total(item)]] in the format file (where item may be a user-defined parameter name) calculates the total for item. When entered within a .row command, the total is for that row only. Anywhere else, the $total() command must also be preceded by the .row command and the total is for all item within the sub-assembly or assembly. You can also use [%[$total($quantity)]], where quantity is a system-supplied attribute. Note: In $total(item), do not put a percent sign (%) before item or $quantity. The system checks the format file for errors. If an error is found, the BOM format file appears in an Information Window with the error highlighted. BOM Example The model helicopter engine shown next is the assembly used for the following BOM example. Model Helicopter Engine Assembly

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- 61 -

BOM for Helicopter Engine

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- 62 -

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- 63 -

1. 2. 3.

1. 2.

How to Use a User-Defined BOM Output Format File Using the system editor, create the BOM output format file. Add the following option to the configuration file: bom_format formatname.fmt Choose Info > BOM. The BOM appears in an Information Window and is written to file. Note: Assembly members that are blanked on a layer or suppressed through assembly representation are listed in the BOM for the assembly as if they were displayed. Viewing Feature Information You can display information about part features and assembly components. How to View Feature Information Choose Info > Feature. The GET SELECT menu appears. Select the feature for which you want information. An Information Window appears listing the feature information. Note: Feature information is written to a file feature.inf in your current working directory. Listing information about another feature overwrites the previous feature.inf file. Viewing the Feature List To display a list of all features and associated information in the current model, from the Info menu, choose Feature List. The Feature List dialog box appears.

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- 64 -

Click Select Model Top Level Subassembly Part Skeleton View the feature list for the top-level assembly. View the feature list for a particular subassembly. View the feature list for a part. View the feature list for a skeleton. View the list of available subassemblies. Apply View the feature list in an Information Window.

Viewing Model Information To display information about an entire model, including units information, features, and children, from the Info menu, choose Model. The Model Info dialog box appears.

Click Select Model Top Level

To

View model information for the top-level assembly. For more information, see the Assembly Modeling User's Guide. View model information for a particular subassembly. For more information, see the Assembly Modeling User's Guide.

Subassembly

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- 65 Part View the following model information for a part:\ Regular features Suppressed features Coordinate systems Cross sections Reference dimensions Incomplete features Parts are labeled if they are a generic or an instance. To use the Name option on a part, the part must have been created or retrieved during the working session. View model information for a skeleton. Use GET SELECT to choose a model.

Skeleton

Apply

View the model information in an Information Window.

By default, the system lists only the names of the objects in the Model Info window. However, you can use the configuration file option display_full_object_path to display the full path name of the objects, along with their object-type and version-number suffixes. For more information, see Configuration File Options in Pro/HELP. Viewing the Audit Trail To obtain revision information for the current model, from the Info menu, choose Audit Trail. An Information Window opens with the following information: Mod Time The date and time of the most recent modification to the object, in the format mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss. The object's current revision in its product database of origin (for example, 1.1). The object's current release level in its product database of origin. The owner of the object in its product database. A list of actions that have been taken on the object, including fetching, storing, renaming, and copying. Comments associated with the object during submission, approval, rejection, and so on.

Rev Rel Level User Action

Comment

Note: The configuration file option info_output_mode determines the means by which the system creates the audit trails. For more information, see Configuration File Options in Pro/HELP. Viewing Pro/ENGINEER Objects To list information about the Pro/ENGINEER objects that are in session (currently in memory) and the objects that are stored in the current working directory, from the Info menu, choose Pro/ENGINEER Objects. An Information Window opens with the desired information. Viewing the Message Log To display information about the contents of the message area for the duration of the session, from the Info menu, choose Message Log. An Information Window opens with the desired information. Use the File, Edit, and View menus on the Information Window to save the information in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

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- 66 -

Viewing Parent/Child Relationships To list information about the relationships between features, from the Info menu, choose Parent/Child.... The PARENT/CHILD menu appears. From the PARENT/CHILD menu, choose Parents to show all parents for a selected feature. An Information Window opens with the following information: Feature ID Parents Filename The feature id of the selected feature. The feature ids of each parent of the selected feature. The name of the file containing this information.

From the PARENT/CHILD menu, choose Children to show all children for a selected feature. An Information Window opens with the following information: Feature ID Children Filename The feature ID of the selected feature. The feature IDs of each child of the selected feature. The name of the file containing this information.

From the PARENT/CHILD menu, choose References, select the desired feature, and then choose Info to show all references used to construct that feature. These references can be axes, datums, surfaces, or edges. An Information Window opens. The information listed depends on the particular reference chosen. The following is a partial list of the information displayed: Reference No. x out of n The number of the selected reference and the total number of references for that component. The feature ID of the selected reference.

Reference: ID

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- 67 Reference: TYPE Status Reference owner Model: NAME: Model: TYPE: Feature: FEATURE NUMBER: Feature: INTERNAL FEATURE ID Feature: CHILDREN Feature: TYPE: Feature: NAME Feature: FEATURE IS IN LAYER(S) : The name of the referencing model. The type of the referencing model. The number of the feature doing the referencing. The internal feature ID of the feature doing the referencing. Any children of the referencing feature. Type of feature (for example, datum plane) Name of feature (for example, DTM1) Information about layers. The type of feature or the reference. Whether the reference is in geometry, suppressed, missing, and so on.

Note: If a reference feature is suppressed, Pro/ENGINEER displays an asterisk in place of its feature number. From the PARENT/CHILD menu, choose Child Ref, select the desired feature, and then select Ref Info or Child Info from the CHILD REFS menu to display an Information Window with information about the references or children, respectively, for that feature. Viewing References in a Model In Part and Assembly modes, you can view external feature references using the Global Reference Viewer dialog box. To open the Global Reference Viewer dialog box, from the Info menu, choose Global Ref Viewer. From this dialog box, you can also display the Parent and Child References dialog box. For more information, see the Assembly Modeling User's Guide.

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- 68 -

Use Filter Setting Ref Type Feature Model

To

Display only objects in the list box that have references due to features. Display only objects in the list box that have model-type references (such as Merge, CutOut, and so on). Display only objects in the list box that have references due to placement in an assembly.

Component

Ref Extent External Local All Displayed Objects Current Object Objects with Parents View external references, toggle between externally referenced objects List objects that have parents. List components with external references in the list box. List components with local references in the list box. List all components regardless of their types of references in the list box.

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- 69 Objects with Children All Objects List objects that have children. List all objects, regardless of whether they have parents or children.

Viewing Regeneration Information In Part and Assembly modes, you can step through a regeneration of a model. You can skip some steps, get feature information on each component of the model, and even fix the model in the middle of the regeneration. To use this function, from the Info menu, choose Regen Info. For more information, see Part Modeling User's Guide. Checking Geometry in a Model In Part and Assembly modes, when you have created geometry that fails, you can investigate and resolve Geometry check warnings. To use this function, from the Info menu, choose Geometry Check. For more information, see the Part Modeling User's Guide. Highlighting Drawing Information To highlight particular items in a drawing, from the Info menu, choose Drawing > Highlight By Attribute. The Highlight by Attributes dialog box appears.

Use Item Type Dimension

To

Highlight dimensions.

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- 70 Note Geom tol 2D datum/axis 2D sketched entity Reference dim Surface finish 2D symbol Owner Model The drawing A 3D model On Layer Any or none At least one Select Layers Highlight items that are on any layer or are not on a layer. Highlight items that are on at least one layer. Highlight items that are on selected layers. Highlight items created in the drawing. Highlight items created in the model. Highlight note. Highlight geometric tolerances. Highlight 2D datums and axes. Highlight 2D sketched entities. Highlight reference dimensions. Highlight surface finishes. Highlight 2D symbols.

Dimension Type (if Dimension or Reference dim is selected) Owned by a model Created and associative Highlight dimensions that reside in a model. Highlight dimensions created in the drawing that will be updated with a model. Highlight dimensions created in the drawing that will not be updated with a model. Highlight dimensions that are not to drawing scale.

Created but non-associative

Not-to-scale Displayed in View Any Select View

Highlight items in any view. Highlight items that are in selected views.

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- 71 Checking Entity Information You create entities by using Detail > Sketch from the DRAWING menu. To obtain geometric and cosmetic information about a selected entity, from the Info menu, choose Drawing > Entity Info. Choose File > Save to write the information to a file named entity.inf, or choose File > Save As to write the information to a designated file. Writing a Drawing Note to a File To write a drawing note to a file, from the Info menu, choose Drawing > Write Note. Select a note in the drawing. At the prompt in the message area, enter the name of the file to which to write the note, and press ENTER. Checking Grid Information To check the grid information in your drawing, from the Info menu, choose Drawing > Grid Info. The angle, xspacing, and y-spacing appear in the message window. Checking Display Information To obtain the name, ID, and missing information on screen about out-of-date views currently displayed, from the Info menu, choose Drawing > Display Info. The information window also provides a recommended action to update the drawing (such as repainting and regenerating). Choose File > Save to write the display information to a file named display.inf, or choose File > Save As to save the information to a designated file. Switching the Dimension Types In Assembly and Drawing modes, you can switch dimensions from value display to symbol display. To use this function, from the Info menu, choose Switch Dims. Checking the Size of a Model To check the size of a model, from the Info menu, choose Model Size. After you select a model, the length of the diagonal of the bounding box appears in the message window, and the bounding box appears in green around the selected model. You can also show the information in the Model Tree. For more information about the bounding box and the Model Tree, seeAssembly Modeling User's Guide. Analyzing the Model You can analyze model properties by using the Model Analysis dialog box. This dialog box includes a Type dropdown list offering the following types of analysis: Assembly (or Model) Mass Properties X-Section Mass Properties One-Sided Volume Pairs Clearance Global Clearance Volume Interference Global Interference Short Edge Edge Type Thickness To open the Model Analysis dialog box, from the Info menu, choose Model Analysis. Note: For clearance and interference checks, calculation accuracy is determined by part accuracy. The accuracy of a clearance measurement or interference volume is controlled by the configuration file option measure_sig_figures. For more information, see Configuration File Options in Pro/HELP. If the selected objects do not interfere, the minimum clearance appears graphically as a red line. A small red circle with a cross hair appears at each end of the line to identify the location at which the clearance is being measured. The clearance value appears in the Message Window. If there is interference, the system highlights the volume of interference and provides the value or highlights the curve or point of intersection, as appropriate for the selected items. Assembly (or Model) Mass Properties The Assembly Mass Properties type of analysis is available in Assembly mode; the Model Mass Properties type is available in Part and Drawing modes.

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Use Type

To

Use the drop-down list to specify the Assembly (Model) Mass Properties type of model analysis. Definition Setup Use default accuracy Rel accuracy Set the accuracy to the default. Set the relative accuracy for the computations, keeping in mind that part accuracy should not be less than 1/100 of the mass property accuracy.

Coordinate System

Use default

Use the default coordinate system. Create or select a coordinate system.

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- 73 Results Compute Info Perform the computation. Open an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to save the results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

Saved Analyses Open the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected analysis. Note: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

You can set the default mass units for all new parts and assemblies that you create using the configuration file option pro_unit_mass. For more information, see Configuration File Options in Pro/HELP. Notes: Mass properties can be calculated using system parameters within a relation. However, mass properties are not automatically updated when the model changes. You must recalculate the mass properties to see the effect of model changes. If dimension bounds have been set, mass property calculations are based on hypothetical dimension values. If features are suppressed, the mass properties will be calculated as if the features did not exist. If a part has been simplified for assembly purposes and contains many suppressed features, mass properties may be assigned to the part so that those values are used in calculating mass properties of an assembly. If parts on layers have been blanked from the current view, they are still used to calculate the mass properties of an assembly. Blanking items only affects the display of the object, not its composition. The computed mass properties for a part or assembly include: Volume--Total volume of the model. Surface area--Total surface area of the model. Density--For part mass property, the specified part density is listed here. For assembly mass property, this provides the average density of its components. The density of each individual part is used in the calculation of the mass properties. Mass--Total mass of the model. Center of gravity--Location of the center of gravity with respect to a specified coordinate system. The center of gravity and coordinate system are displayed graphically on the model. Inertia tensor at the specified coordinate system origin and axes. The values are computed as follows:

etc.

etc. where

= specified part density. Inertia tensor at the center of gravity and oriented along the specified coordinate system axes. Principal moments of inertia--Moments of inertia at the center of gravity with respect to the principal

axes

etc.

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- 74
The principal coordinate axes, which define a new coordinate system, are labeled 1, 2, 3 instead of x, y, z. In the preceding equation, y is the coordinate along the principal axis 2 and z is the coordinate along the principal axis 3. Rotation matrix and rotation angles--Rotation from the coordinate axes to the principal axes in matrix and angular form. Rotation matrix is computed as follows:

where is the rotation angle about the 1 axis, about the 3 axis. Rotation Angles

is the rotation angle about the 2 axis, and

is the rotation angle

Radii of gyration--The radii of gyration at the center of gravity with respect to the principal axes. For an assembly, a summary of the mass properties of its components. X-Section Mass Properties Use the following dialog box to set mass properties for the specified cross section.

Use o

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- 75 Type

Use the drop-down list to specify the X-Section Mass Properties type of model analysis.

Definition

Setup

Select a cross section by name.

Use default accuracy Rel accuracy

Use the default accuracy in your analysis.

Set the relative accuracy for the computation.

oordinate System

se default

se the default coordinate system.

reate or select a coordinate system.

esults

ompute

erform the computation.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to ve the results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses).

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- 76 Delete--Delete a ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode. selected analysis.

The computed mass properties for a cross section include: Area--Area of the cross section. Center of gravity--Location of the center of gravity with respect to a specified coordinate system. The center of gravity and coordinate system are displayed graphically on the model. Inertia tensor at the specified coordinate system origin and axes. Inertia tensor at the center of gravity and oriented along the specified coordinate system axes. Principal area moments of inertia--Moments of inertia at the center of gravity with respect to the principal axes

The principal coordinate axes are labeled 1 and 2 instead of x and y. In the preceding equations, x is the coordinate along principal axis 1 and y is the coordinate along principal axis 2. Polar moment of inertia--Cross-sectional polar moment of inertia at the center of gravity.

Rotation matrix and rotation angle--Rotation around the z-axis from the coordinate axes to the principal axes, in matrix and angular form. Radii of gyration--The radii of gyration at the center of gravity with respect to the principal axes. Section moduli and the corresponding points--Calculated for each principal axis (for example, 1-axis, 2-axis) by dividing the area moment of inertia with respect to the chosen axis by the distance to the point(s) of the cross section that are farthest from the chosen axis. These points have the lowest (most negative) and highest (most positive) coordinate values along the orthogonal principal axis in the cross-section plane. Note: Cross-section mass properties are not available for offset cross sections. One-Sided Volume The One-Sided Volume type of analysis is available in Part and Drawing modes. You use the One-Sided Volume type to calculate the volume of a model on one side of a designated plane.

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- 77 -

o se

ype

se the drop-down list to specify the One-Sided Volume type of model analysis.

efinition

etup

se default se the default accuracy in your analysis. ccuracy

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- 78 el accuracy et the relative accuracy for the computation.

atum Plane

reate or select a datum plane to define the half-space for the volume.

esults

ighlight in the model the next item in the results list.

ighlight in the model the previous item in the results list.

ompute

erform the computation.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to ve the results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

In the output information, offset values given for the datums are from the selected datum, and the datum plane that was picked has the word Selected next to it. Angular datums can also be used, but no offset dimension value appears in the output. Pairs Clearance The Pairs Clearance type of analysis is available in Part, Assembly, and Drawing modes. You use the Pairs Clearance type to calculate the amount of clearance that two entities have between them.

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- 79 -

o se

ype

se the drop-down list to specify the Pairs Clearance type of model analysis.

efinition

rom (To)

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- 80 -

elect the type of component you want to analyze. The options are Surface, Cable, Whole part, Whole ubasm, and Single entity.

elect the particular reference from the screen.

xclude

xclude surface quilts in the clearance computation.

nclude

se surface quilts in the clearance computation.

urface Options

Whole urface

se the entire surface in the computation.

ear pick

se only the section of the surface near the selection for the computation.

rojection Reference

elect a type of reference for the projection. The options are None, Plane, Linear Entity, Coordinate ystem, and View Plane.

elect the particular reference from the screen.

esults

ompute

erform the computation.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to save e results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

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- 81 aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Global Clearance The Global Clearance type of analysis is available is Assembly and Drawing modes. You use the Global Clearance type to calculate the clearance between each part or subassembly of a model.

o se

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- 82 ype

se the drop-down list to specify the Global Clearance type of model analysis.

efinition

etup

arts only

ompute clearance for parts.

ub-assemblies nly

ompute clearance for subassemblies.

learance

nter the minimum clearance necessary.

arness

xclude

xclude any harness components from the computation.

nclude

clude harness components in the computation.

esults

ighlight in the model the previous item in the results list.

ighlight in the model the next item in the results list.

ompute

erform the computation.

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- 83 nfo pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to ve the results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Volume Interference The Volume Interference type of analysis is available in Part, Assembly, and Drawing modes. You use the Volume Interference type to verify that a selected closed quilt has nothing interfering with it.

o se

ype

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- 84 se the drop-down list to specify the Volume Interference type of model analysis.

efinition

losed Quilt

elect the particular surface from the screen.

esults

ighlight in the model the previous item in the results list.

ighlight in the model the next item in the results list.

ompute

erform the computation.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to save the sults in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Note: Volume interference checking is used in ECAD to ensure that keepin/keepout areas have not been violated. Global Interference

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- 85 The Global Interference type of analysis is available in Assembly and Drawing modes. You use the Global Interference type to calculate the interference between each part or subassembly in the model.

o se

ype

se the drop-down list to specify the Global Interference type of model analysis.

efinition

etup

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- 86 arts only ompute interference for parts.

ub-assemblies nly

ompute interference for subassemblies.

uilts

xclude

xclude any surface quilts from the computation.

nclude

clude surface quilts in the computation.

isplay

xact result

ook at a complete, detailed computation.

uick check

etermine quickly whether there are zero clearances. If this check fails, you should then look at e detailed computation.

esults

ighlight in the model the previous item in the results list.

ighlight in the model the next item in the results list.

erify

ompute the exact interference after a quick check.

ompute

erform the computation.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to ve the results in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

Page 86 of 90

- 87 aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Short Edge The Short Edge type of analysis is available in Part and Assembly modes. You use the Short Edge type to calculate the length of the shortest edge in a selected component, then determine how many edges in the model are shorter than that edge.

o se

ype

Page 87 of 90

- 88 se the drop-down list to specify the Short Edge type of model analysis.

efinition

art

elect the particular component for which to calculate the short edge.

dge ength

nter the maximum length for the short edge.

esults

ompute

ount the number of edges in the component that are shorter than the Edge Length.

nfo

pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to save the sults in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Edge Type The Edge Type type of analysis is available in Part, Assembly, and Drawing modes. You use the Edge Type type to determine the type of geometry used to create the selected edge.

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- 89 -

o se

ype

se the drop-down list to specify the Edge Type type of model analysis.

efinition

dge

elect the particular edge for which to determine the edge type.

esults

ompute etermine the edge type for the selected edge.

Page 89 of 90

- 90 nfo pen an Information Window to view the results and to use the File, Edit, and View menus to save the sults in a file, edit the file, or view line numbers.

aved Analyses

pen the Saved Analyses part of the dialog box, which offers the following choices: Name--Enter a name for an analysis to save. Save--Save a named analysis when the model is saved. Retrieve--Perform a selected analysis (select from the saved analyses). Delete--Delete a selected ote: This option is not available in Drawing mode.

analysis.

Thickness The Thickness type of analysis is available in Part and Assembly modes. You use the Thickness type to check the minimum and

Page 90 of 90