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A
AlejandroSamped10-Marble
10-Marble
March 4, 2015
Question

Best practice to change Drawing Templates (.drw)

  • March 4, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 7508 views

Hello,

My environment is Creo 2.0 with PDMLink 10.1.

While it is very easy to change drawing formats (.frm) using Sheet Setup (whether it is because we need a bigger paper size or a totally different format), I find it very cumbersome to exchange drawing templates (.drw).

We are working with standardized templates, and ask everyone to use the newest standard when revising a drawing. So then, instead of using something similar to Sheet Setup to change the frame, the user needs to create a totally new drawing using the std Template and then "Import Drawing/Data", "Move to Sheet 1" the views and elements, etc.

When using PDMLink, this is even more complicated as you need to "Rename in session" the files at least twice, so that the Revision is taken in the file you want, and not create a new one.

Is there a best practice to change a Drawing Template by another (to get a bigger paper size, for example), or an old drawing to a new Template? As I told you, it is a requirement that we use Templates, not Formats.

If not, then I think it should be a Product Idea: that PTC facilitates in Creo the exchange of Templates.

Thanks,

Alex Sampedro.


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1 reply

T
23-Emerald IV
TomU23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
March 4, 2015

Alex,

A template is nothing more than a drawing that you use to "save a copy" of when creating a new drawing. There is no relationship between a template and the drawings that are created from it.

Think of a format as the background stuff that can be see through, or "behind" your drawing.

Think of a template as a drawing that already has a format applied plus some views created.

Create a drawing from a template simply creates a new drawing with the same format and the same views.

Once the views are created and detailed, you wouldn't ever want the system to automatically delete the views and recreate them. That is basically what your asking for with "re-apply the template". You should be able to accomplish everything you need by (a) changing format and (b) updating the drawing options. Both of these are done without destroying the existing views, duplicating or renaming files, etc.

If the new version of your template has additional drawing views, or has them in different positions on the page, then yes, you would need to manually make those adjustments. This however should be minor compared to completely recreating the drawing from scratch.

A
AlejandroSamped10-MarbleAuthor
10-Marble
March 4, 2015

Tom,

To me it is clear what is the difference between format and template, thanks for the explanation though.

I will explain further. We have a process in place with the goal to protect the company internal Standard: Every product line in my company must create their own Template according to a global standard. These Templates take as a basis very simple formats (valid for all) that we centrally deliver. But the offices must create Templates which include their customizations needed for their products, like add-on tables, parameters and views (let's say, a more complete frame). Therefore, they always "Use Template" to create drawings and cannot change format (they would need to re-position their customizations: add on tables, params, etc...), so they must change between Templates.

My question is what is for this community the best way to exchange between Templates (if other than the "Import drawing" functionality that we now use). Changing our process (using formats) is out of the question.

T
23-Emerald IV
TomU23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
March 4, 2015

There are distinct benefits to adding the tables to the formats instead of the templates. When the format is changed, each of the tables that were originally created from the format will automatically give you the option to keep them or replace them with the tables that are in the new format. On the other hand, if you have tables that you don't want affected by a format change (ex. BOM table with associated BOM balloons), then those tables should be added to the template. This way they are guaranteed to NOT ever change when changing formats.

Everything you're describing, except views, are designed to be handled by formats. It really sounds like you should have separate formats for each product line. If you really want to make sure some portion of the format is consistent across all formats, consider adding those sections to a symbol. We do this for things like the zone borders.

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