InterOp:Connect/ProE/ProE Reader
From DocR23
The Pro/E Reader component reads Pro/E part and assembly files. This component is in the form of shared libraries.
Refer to Format and Version Support for a list of file formats and versions that InterOp Connect supports for translation.
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Features
Features of the Pro/E Reader include:
- Assembly Support
- Support for Sheet Bodies or Quilts
- Support for Free Curves|Support for Free Curves
- Support for Manufacturing Information (MI)
- Support for Assembly Cut Features
- Support for Pro/E PMI display information
- Support for Pro/E linear dimension extremities
Options for Pro/E Reader
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ProE.Assembly.Path | Path of input Pro/E Assembly file | This option sets the directory name that contains the part files referenced by the assembly. |
| ConfigName | none | This option controls the selective translation of assembly. |
Document
Axis System, Layer
- Pro/E Reader exports Local Coordinate System.
- Pro/E Reader exports Layer Information.
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Pro/E Name Attribute
In Pro/E users can define name attributes for objects such as surfaces, edges, and free curves. The Pro/E Reader component supports name attributes from Creo-1 and later. In order to view the name attributes, go to the Tools menu and then choose the Parameters tab, as shown in following diagram.
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User Defined Attribute (UDA)
The Pro/E Reader supports the Part level user-defined attributes from version Creo-1 and later. It includes parameters such as Name, Type, and Value. The support for these parameters is available only when the TranslateAttributes option is set to true. The following figure shows part level parameters in Pro/E.
Once the user defined attribute is translated, InterOp assigns the attribute a parameter value type as defined in ACIS Writer User Defined Attribute and Parasolid Writer User Defined Attribute.
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Material Properties
The Pro/E Reader translates material properties at the part level from version Creo-1 and later, such as Density, Young Modulus, Shear Modulus, Poisson’s ratio, Thermal Expansion Coefficient, Thermal Conductivity, Yield Strength, and Ultimate Tensile Strength. The Pro/E Reader supports the standard System of Unit at the file level, for example: CGS, MKS, and FPS. Support for material properties is available only when the TranslateAttributes option is set to true. The following figure shows part level material properties in Pro/E.
Once the material properties are translated, InterOp assigns the attribute as a parameter value type as defined in ACIS Writer User Material Properties and Parasolid Writer Material Properties.
Assembly
- Assembly Support
- The Pro/E modeler supports part instance or assembly instance. An assembly file can use a particular instance of a part or assembly in it. The Pro/E Reader requires an .xpr or .xas file that corresponds to the part or assembly instance, respectively. If an .xpr or .xas file is unavailable, translation results will be incorrect. A warning indicating the unavailable .xpr or .xas file is output to a log file. While saving the assembly file, the Pro/E modeler does not save these instance files (.xpr and .xas) by default; the modeler option needs to be enabled to do so. Depending upon the capabilities of the Writer, the assembly will be flattened or written as assembly. For translation to ACIS, refer to ACIS Writer for further information on name handling.
- Support for Assembly Cut Features
- The Connect interface supports translation of Assembly Cut Features from Pro/E assembly files.
Assembly Cut Features
InterOp supports translation of Assembly Cut Features from Pro/E to ACIS file format. A feature present at the Assembly level is called assembly feature. The following figure shows an assembly feature:
Note: In the above figure, assembly Product1.ASM has two instances Fork_End.PRT and Eye_End.PRT. Hole and Cut features were performed on Product1.ASM assembly, where affected instances are Fork_End and Eye_End. InterOp supports translation of these features.
Translation of Assembly Cut Features is implemented in two ways:
- Flatten Route to ACIS (output as list of entities)
- XML Route to E-BOM (output as XML+SAT)
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Simplified Representations
Simplified Representations (Simp Rep)is a tool that limits the number of models needed in a session. Simplified representations improve the regeneration, retrieval, and display time of assemblies, enabling more efficiency. They are used to control the members of an assembly the system retrieves and displays. This helps in tailoring the work environment to include only the information of current interest. For example, to speed the regeneration and display process, you can temporarily remove a complicated subassembly that is unrelated to the portion of the assembly on which you need to work. Simplified representations enable conceptualization of your design and simplify the representation of complex assemblies.
Simplified representations are available in assembly, manufacturing, and part modes. The name for active simplified representations appear in the Assembly window as a label, in the form of "SIMPLIFIED REP: name".
There are two main types of simplified representations: Master representation and Geometry representation. Geometry representation speeds up the retrieval process of large assemblies. All simplified representations provide access to components in the assembly and are based upon the master representation.
- Master Representation
- Always reflects the fully detailed assembly, including all of its members. The model tree lists all components in the Master representation of the assembly, and indicates whether they are included or excluded.
- Geometry Representation
- Provides the geometry for components. They can also be referenced when working with assemblies; for example, you can assemble a component and mate it to a Geometry representation of another part.
- User-defined Simplified Representation Exclude
- Enables you to choose selective parts from instances of the same assembly.
- InterOp supports Master Representations, Geometry Representations, and User-defined Simplified Representation Exclude at only the Assembly level using the ConfigName option.
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- InterOp Interfaces for Simplified Representations
- Use SPAIDocumentHeaderInfo to get the configurations.
- As there are no Active configurations in Pro/E, the interface SPAIDocumentHeaderInfo::GetActiveConfiguration return value will be NULL.
- Use SPAIDocumentHeaderInfo::GetConfigurationsCount and SPAIDocumentHeaderInfo::GetIthConfiguration to get all the configuration names.
BREP
Support for Sheet Bodies or Quilts
- The Pro/E modeler allows users to create open bodies (sheet bodies) called quilts. The translator supports reading these bodies and is controlled by the TranslateSheetBodies option.
Support for Free Curves
- The Pro/E Reader supports translation of free curves and wires from Pro/E part files. Translated free curves include any real 3D free curves and 2D free curves created in sketch mode. Only unconsumed sketch curves are translated. (For example, if you create a block by extruding a rectangular sketch, the rectangular sketch is consumed by another feature; thus, it will not be translated as a free curve). Also note that the datum axis and the hole axis automatically created by the Pro/E Modeler are not translated. Translation of free curves is controlled by the TranslateFreeCurves option.
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Support for Workplanes
- The Pro/E Reader supports translation of workplanes from Pro/E part files. Each workplane is translated as a unit area sheet body in ACIS which can be controlled by the option TranslateWorkPlanes.
Manufacturing Information
The Pro/E Reader component supports the export of PMI data, Hole features, and Dimension data from the Pro/E format.
PMI Data
The PMI information is translated by using PMI representation. The PMI data includes dimensioning (Driven, Driving, and Reference types), Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GDT), 3D annotation (text), Datums, and Surface Roughness information. To support the translation of PMI data, SPAXProePMIExporter.dll is required in addition to the common DLLs listed in the section, 3D InterOp Shared Libraries at Link and Runtime.
Note: The driven dimensions created on sketch are not translated under PMI data.
Dimensions Mapping
While translating from Pro/E, the Driven type dimension from Pro/E is mapped to BASIC or TOLERANCE types based on certain criteria. These criteria are:
- If Pro/E dimension is of Basic display type, it is mapped as BASIC dimension.
- If Pro/E dimension is set to Inspection type or to Neither, then it is mapped as a TOLERANCE dimension.
The Reference type dimension in Pro/E is mapped as REFERENCE type. The subtype represents the Linear, Angular, or Radius value type. Subtype dimension is based on the corresponding dimensions created in Pro/E.
Note: The dimensions for vertices are attached to the corresponding edges.
Note: The attached prefix and suffix text (or symbols) are added to the Dimension text with the separator:
- "|" for all dimension annotation text imported from any other component to ACIS.
- "_" for all dimension annotation text imported from any other component to Parasolid.
The general formula that is applied for implementing this process is as follows.
"dimension_text = PrefixStr|SuffixStr|BeforeStr|UpperStr|AfterStr|LowerStr"
Consider the image above as a classic case of linear dimension where "SuffixStr" is missing; thus, the outcome will be:
"prefix||left|top|right|bottom"
For all Tolerance types formats (Nominal, Plus-Minus, limits, fractions, As Is, and +-Symmetric), we specify the main Dimension value and maximum and minimum tolerance values. The "decimal" option in Pro/E is converted to the Precision value (decimal = 3 means precision = 0.001).
Note: Associated entities of Driving type dimensions may contain the feature group created in Manufacturing representation and BREP link (faces or edges of final BREP) or Feature Construction Wire entities.
Annotations in Pro/E
InterOp Connect supports Text, Surface Roughness, and GD&T types of annotations in a Pro/E file. These annotations (other than GD&T and dimension) are translated only if they have direct association with BREP data of the main model. InterOp Connect represents these annotations as an attribute on the associated entity.
The Pro/E annotations are based on the following rules:
- The annotations given to the vertices will be attached to the corresponding edges.
- All angular values of GD&T will be converted into radians and other type of GD&T values will be converted into the target document units.
- In Text annotations, the text properties such as Underline, Color, Font Size, and Font name are not supported.
- InterOp Connect supports only the semantic type of GD&T.
- Annotations in an assembly file are not supported.
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- Datum Target is supported for Pro/E Wildfire 4 and later. The following table illustrates the mapping between the input Datum Target Type from Pro/E and the output Datum Target Type.
Pro/E Datum Target Type Output Datum Target Type TARGET SPAX_DTT_Point DIAMTGT SPAX_DTT_AreaCircular CIRCTGT SPAX_DTT_AreaCircular CIRCAREATGT SPAX_DTT_AreaCircular BOXTGT SPAX_DTT_AreaRectangular BOXAREATGT SPAX_DTT_AreaRectangular
Hole Feature
The Manufacturing Information for Holes is translated using the Manufacturing representation. To support the translation of Hole features, the SPAXProeManufacturing DLL is required in addition to the common DLLs listed in the section, 3D InterOp Shared Libraries at Link and Runtime.
Note: A group containing all the feature forming faces and feature construction wire entities as members for every active feature in Pro/E file.
Note: You may choose PMI or Manufacturing as the representation type for translating both PMI & Manufacturing information.
Support for Linear Dimension Extremities
InterOp Connect exports extremity points of linear dimensions from Pro/E.
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Roughness Mapping
The Pro/E roughness fields in the following symbol files are mapped to their corresponding standard roughness fields as described in the section Roughness Definition.
- isosurftext.sym
The roughness symbol file isosurftext.sym is mapped as follows:
| InterOp Field | Pro/E Roughness Field |
|---|---|
| Field 1 | Roughness value AVERAGE/MAXIMUM |
| Field 2 | Roughness value MINIMUM |
| Field 3 | REMOVEALLOW |
| Field 4 | PROD_METHOD |
| Field 5 | SAMPLE_LG |
| Field 6 | OTHER_ROUGH |
| Field 7 | LAY |
| Field 8 | – |
| Field 9 | – |
- surftexture.sym
The roughness symbol file surftexture.sym is mapped as follows:
| InterOp Field | Pro/E Roughness Field |
|---|---|
| Field 1 | Roughness value AVERAGE/MAXIMUM |
| Field 2 | Roughness value MINIMUM |
| Field 3 | REMOVEALLOW |
| Field 4 | WAVINESS (waviness length and maximum waviness are appended using "|") |
| Field 5 | SAMPLE_LG |
| Field 6 | OTHER_ROUGH (DESIGNATION is appended using "|") |
| Field 7 | LAY |
| Field 8 | – |
| Field 9 | – |
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Translation of Free Points and Workplanes
Pro/E files can have simple free points and workplanes as construction geometries. Although the functional tooltip in Pro/E shows Create a datum plane and Create a datum point for workplane and free point, respectively, these are not PMI datum entities. So the Pro/E Reader simply exports them as free points and workplanes.
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Pro/E Family Tables
In Pro/E Family Tables are used to capture "like" models — or models that typically only change in size or minimal feature definition from one part to another.
3D InterOp imports correct BREP when the geometry associated with Family tables in accelerator files, such as .xpr and .xas, are provided with a Pro/E assembly. During the course of our translation, if accelerator files are not found, then 3D InterOp returns a warning noting missing .xpr files and loads the base components. In order to correctly read geometry, you must export instance accelerator files (.xpr and .xas files) with the assembly files.
For example, you have a bolt part; the current geometry in the bolt.prt is called generic. A family of bolts from this geometry may consist of bolts having different diameters, and others, different lengths. To manage this family, you create a family table in Pro/E; the table contains values for the different lengths and diameters — each unique combination of length and diameter is called an instance.
In an assembly, you can then insert one of these instances into the assembly. If, there is no real geometry representing that instance, Pro/E first loads the generic geometry, specifically bolt.prt, checks the family table information, and modifies the dimensions based on the values for that instance.
If the generic bolt.prt geometry was very wide and very long, compared to the instance that was inserted into the assembly, then some bolts may appear too long. The solution in Pro/E is to force Pro/E to create a special geometry file for every instance used in an assembly. These geometry files are called instance accelerators. Pro/E can then directly read in the geometry of the instance (instead of first reading the generic and then making a change); this direct reading of the instance geometry greatly speeds up the loading of the assembly. Pro/E can also have family tables on assemblies — where each instance of the assembly controls items such as what components are in the model, offset constraint distances, or some special parameter values specific to that instance. Thus, you can have assembly instance accelerators, too.
To view XPR/XAS from a Pro/E file:
- Select Instance Operations from the Pro/E modeler.
- Choose Accelerator options.
- From Accelerator options, select the Explicit option for viewing a family table.
Family Table for Assembly
In Figure. XAS Sample, Main_assembly is an actual Pro/E assembly with real geometry: CONE.prt and CUBE.prt. For these geometry items, the instances Only_Cone and Only_Cube are the family tables for each geometry. If the XAS are included in a Pro/E file while it is being loaded, the file will load the XAS (for example, ONLY_CONE and ONLY_CUBE) files instead of loading actual geometry (such as CONE.prt and CUBE.prt).
Family Table for Part
In Figure. XPR Sample, the assembly is an actual Pro/E assembly with real geometry: PART_WITH_4_FAMILY_TABLE.prt. It has the instances 15_X_5, 20_X_8, 30_X_10, 5_X_2, which are the family tables. If the XPR are included in a Pro/E file while it is being loaded, the file will load the XPR (all four family table) files instead of loading actual geometry (such as PART_WITH_4_FAMILY_TABLE.prt).
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Pro/E Hidden Entity Support
The Hide functionality in Pro/E removes items from the screen when working in normal mode. In Hidden Line mode, the component is displayed entirely in hidden lines. Pro/E allows free surfaces, wires (sketches), and planes to be marked as hidden and will not allow solid features (solid parts) be marked as hidden at the Part level.
Feature Level Hidden
InterOp requires Shown/Hidden attributes to be attached to translated hidden free surfaces, wires, sketches, and planes to determine whether they are to be hidden or shown in Pro/E.
Layers Hidden in Pro/E
The Pro/E modeler allows you to organize items such as features, components, draft items, and other layers, so that you can perform operations on them collectively. 3D InterOp can mark the layer as hidden which allows the hide operation to be performed on similar groups of features.
Group Level Hidden in Pro/E
With the Pro/E modeler we can create a group of:
- solids, sheets, curves, or points at the Part level
- part bodies and sub-assemblies at the Assembly level
And we can also create a hidden group within another group to test functionality.
Limitations
The Pro/E Reader has the following limitations:
- LCS from Only "Part" Files Are Translated
- LCS from only "Part" files (.prt files) is translated and written to corresponding .sat files while reading assembly files by XML route. However, LCS of "Part" files is not translated while reading assembly files by flatten route.
- Limited Support for Layer Information
- Only layers in Pro/E faces are read; Pro/E bodies and edges do not have layer information.
- Layer information is not supported for Pro/E Wildfire 4.
- Reading Manufacturing Information from Assembly Files
- InterOp Connect does not support reading PMI data and Hole feature from assembly files.
- Support for Pro/E PMI Display Information
- InterOp Connect supports translation of Pro/E PMI display information; however, it does not support display information for dimension lines and extension lines of dimension PMI entities.
- Display information for PMI is supported for 3D cases only; 2D cases are not supported.
- Radial dimensions leader lines are not supported. Display information consists of display point, primary direction, and display plane information.
- Datum and its display information are not supported when PMI annotation is attached to a non-BREP entity, for example, work plane.
- Datum leader line length is approximated.
- Datum target and its display info are not supported.
- Display information is supported for Pro/E version Wildfire 3 and above.
- Display point is considered the same as the tail point of a leader line.
- Display information does not support driving dimensions.
- Display information does not support reference dimensions.
- Text properties such as font and color are not supported.
- Limited Support for Assembly Cut Feature
- InterOp Connect supports the assembly cut feature for subtraction operations only.
- Limited Support for Hole Feature
- InterOp Connect does not support hole feature translation for Pro/E Wildfire 4 and Wildfire 5 files.
- InterOp Connect does not support "Sketch" type hole features.
- Limited Support for Patterns
- InterOp Connect supports only "Dimension" type patterns; other pattern types such as Direction, Axis, Table, Reference, Fill, and Curve are not supported.
- Limited Support for 2D Sketch, Cosmetic Groove, and Curve Features
- The Pro/E features 2D sketch, cosmetic groove, and curve using equation and local push are not supported.
- Limited Support for TranslateSuppressedEntities Option
- The TranslateSuppressedEntities option is not supported at Part level.
- Limited Support for Simplified Representation
- The Pro/E reader does not support part level Simplified Representation.
- The default SimpRep cannot be used when Derived Exclude rep is used at the part level in a user-defined rep at the sub-assembly level.
- Limited Support for Pro/E Hidden Entity
- The Pro/E modeler allows for hiding merge features, but the Pro/E viewer does not update that information. Hence, InterOp does not guarantee correct translation for this hidden feature.
- User Defined Attributes
- InterOp will not support user defined attributes created under Feature, Inherited, Annotation element, Quilt, Surface, Edge, Curve, Composite curve, and Material level.
- Limited Support for Unicode Characters in Annotations
- The Pro/E Reader does not support Unicode characters in annotations.
- Limited Support for Material Properties
- The custom system of Unit is not supported.
- The local modification (independent of file level) in a unit of material property is not supported.
