Creating Artifacts in Creo Schematics

[DanielYoder]

Hi All,

I want to layout a wiring diagram of my starter and charging circuit for my 83 Honda Magna. The components are as follows:

Alternator > ??? (3) ports

Rectifier / Regulator > Control Module (8) ports

Solenoid > Relay (5) ports

Starter Motor > ??? (1) port

Ignition Switch > ??? (5) ports

Starter Switch > Push Button Switch (4)

My question is do I have to design new artifacts that have the physical charactics of the above components that I placed the ??? beside or can I use an existing artifact. I am modeling the frame and placing the modeled components in their correct locations. I want to bring in the XML file into my frame assembly and auto-route the wires.

TIA

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[BrianMartin · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel...

Although I don't intend to push you AWAY from using Creo Schematics (RSD) for this work because I love that software, it's not really required. If you WANT to use it, I certainly applaud your effort. If you know you need some "device" with one port and another with 5 ports, you can use an existing artifact and just repurpose it to generate a quick XML. There are some caveats but this is possible.

Even easier though... you can just go into Guerilla Mode and make a neutral wire list (.nwf) file to handle the autorouting on your own. PTC is big on practically demanding that you use their software to generate a file for autorouting. This has never been a requirement. You've always been able to autoroute with a manually generated file... or EVEN WITHOUT A FILE ALTOGETHER. Ancient PTC documentation alludes to this possibility but they didn't give much more data. I can explain how to do it if you're interested.

If you want to make your own autorouting file on your own, I'll give you a template you can use. Literally all you need is a text editor like notepad. The big secret to this is that you STILL have more flexibility by making the file totally by hand than you get with Creo Schematics. There are some very popular routed systems gurus out there who will bristle at this but ... in my humble opinion they just don't want to let the cat out of the bag.

Keeping that cat IN the bag means the world needs plenty of "experts" that understand how to make all the pieces work together. No one needs an expert to operate notepad, right?

[mkemp]

Hi Brian,

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to clear something up...

In Cabling for Creo Elements/Pro 5.0 and Creo Parametric you can now create a network and auto-route manually created wires with ease. We deliberately exposed this functionality to address the requirement that Daniel stated. In fact, if you don't want to auto-route but just want to have wires following a simple path then you don't even need to create a network anymore.

For auto-route just do the following:

- Route a network using "Route Network" tool

- Start "Route Cables" tool

- Create a new wire - just use a default spool

- Define start and end points for the wire

- Note if you want to go completely wild you don't even need to designate a connector - just use 'Add Location' in the From/To collectors.

--> Wire is now auto-routed through the network!

- Repeat as necessary

To route following a common path without a network:

- Start "Route Cables" tool

- Create a new wire - just use a default spool

- Define start and end points for the wire

- Note if you want to go completely wild you don't even need to designate a connector - just use 'Add Location' in the From/To collectors to define simple end points for the wire.

- Click Apply

--> Wire is now routed in simple mode (i.e. just end-to-end)

- With Route Cables still active, start "Insert Locations"

- Select the manually routed wire

- Place locations as necessary to define the path

- Click OK (or middle-mouse)

- "Route Cables" tool automatically restarts

- Create a new wire

- Choose "Follow Cable" in Route Type drop-down

- Select the originally routed wire

- Select a start and end location on the wire to define the path you want to follow

--> Click OK

Alternatively, you can just route the remaining wires in simple mode and then use the Reroute tool to define the path you want them to follow. Reroute is very powerful because it lets you change a route even after a wire's been routed through a network or other path.