InterOp:Connect/ProE/ProE Reader
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The Pro/E Reader component reads Pro/E part and assembly files. This component is in the form of shared libraries.
InterOp Connect supports translation of the following file formats and versions:
| InterOp Version | Supported Pro/E Version | Extension |
|---|---|---|
| R20 SP3 onwards | Pro/E 16 to Wildfire 5 | .prt, .prt.*, .asm, .asm.*,.xpr, .xas |
| R19 SP1 – R20 SP2 | Pro/E 16 to Wildfire 4 | .prt, .prt.*, .asm, .asm.*,.xpr, .xas |
| R19 | Pro/E 16 to Wildfire 3 | .prt, .prt.*, .asm, .asm.*,.xpr, .xas |
Contents |
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. |
| TranslateEntityIDs | false | This option controls whether Entity IDs are translated from Pro/E file. |
Document
Axis System, Layer
- Pro/E Reader exports Local Coordinate System.
- Pro/E Reader exports Layer Information.
Assembly
- Assembly support
- 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 a .xpr or .xas file that corresponds to the part or assembly instance, respectively. If a .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 EBOM (output as XML+SAT)
BRep
Support for Sheet Bodies or Quilts
- With the Pro/E modeler, users can 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.
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 not be 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 | – |
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.
- Extra translation of PMI datum for free points and workplanes
- Pro/E files can have simple free points and workplanes as construction geometries. These are not true PMI datum. However, currently the Pro/E Reader exports them as PMI datum with the name "Default". These datum can be ignored.
- 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.
