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Parameters Shared Between Parts

jordana
4-Participant

Parameters Shared Between Parts

I'm trying to share dimensional parameters between parts. For example, I have a solid piece of roundstock inside a pipe, and I want them to be the same length, but I will be adjusting the length as design continues. I created a parameter for the length in one of the two parts, then tried to share that parameter with the other part to no avail. Solutions I've seen in this forum (e.g, this one) requires a session ID, which I don't think is very robust or shareable, and doesn't translate to other uses like drawings or calculations very well. Ideally, I could save these in an external file (like a spreadsheet or MathCAD sheet) and point all my parts/drawings/calculations to that external file, but I can't find a way to do this.

 

In other CAD systems (Inventor), you can create dimensional parameters in one part, and link it to another with almost no effort. Granted, parameters are not just dimensions in Creo, so the approach it takes is fundamentally different. What is the best way to share parameters between files in Creo?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
John.Pryal
12-Amethyst
(To:jordana)

I have put together a very simple example of my approach to this. Hopefully it will explain how parameters can be shared & even controlled between parts. Parameters can be accessed by opening the a relations window & picking part in the 'Look In' drop down menu, then pick a part to activate it. You can then write a relation, add a parameter into a relation etc. 

Good luck

 

 

View solution in original post

11 REPLIES 11
dnordin
15-Moonstone
(To:jordana)

Jordana,

Use a notebook for shared parameters.  Search the help pages for "notebook".

 

The notebook is declared to the parts, and the shared parameters of the notebook are available in the parts.

 

Regards,

 

Dan N.

This really depends on your intent.  "Notebooks"/"Layouts" do "work" - but they create "baggage" (dependency) when it comes to reuse of the same item(s) in other designs. 

 

If you are doing this specific to a design.  One way would be to use Pro/PROGRAM to require an input parameter to each part then "execute" a change to the parts from another Pro/PROGRAM in the assembly they are in.  But this depends on how deep/separated they are from each other (same level in the assembly tree - or one higher/lower than the other in the assembly structure.

 

The Session/Component ID reference via an assembly relation does work - but it is not pretty to look at or understand later (comments are your friend). 

 

Hope that helps.

 

Dave

John.Pryal
12-Amethyst
(To:jordana)

My method for doing something very similar is to create another part file with nothing but a co-ordinate system (used for assembly purposes) & 100's of my parameters. This 'parameter part file' is present in all my assemblies & drawings & controls all my part dimensions & relationships between part dimensions. It took a lot of work as i have lots of parameters but it works very well.

Good luck!

 

John 

KenFarley
21-Topaz I
(To:jordana)

Here's a discussion of a similar situation and my responses.

Top Down Design Discussion

A brief summary: I use what I call master assemblies to drive designs. I use an assembly not as an collection of parts positioned as a mechanism or whatever, but as a "factory" where I build the individual part models. The driving sketches, overall parameters, and all that stuff is done in the assembly.

As mentioned in the discussion, it would probably be more convenient or "proper" to use something like Notebook or Advanced Assemblies, but we don't have those modules and probably never will.

jordana
4-Participant
(To:jordana)

First, thank you everybody! I'll give some of those a try.

 

Thanks, dnordin. I will take a longer look at these. Notebooks appear to be a legacy thing that's been cobbled into current workflows, but it appears to be the best that a multi-million dollar CAD powerhouse can do to manage shared dimensions between parts (sarcasm aside, the ability to use shared parameters is generally good design practice for reuse, so I would hope that PTC takes notice and makes this easier in future versions).

 

DavidBigelow, I have also noticed from research on notebooks that they create some difficulty in reuse. The Pro/PROGRAM approach would probably work, but I want to link parts that are not necessarily in the same assembly, so it would be isolated part-to-part sharing. I've also found the session/component ID reference to be unreliable, and easy to break. Especially if I want to also reference that parameter in MathCAD or do parametric studies on it in Simulate.

 

John.Pryal, I'd be interested in a little more detail on how you do this. I am somewhat new to Creo, and haven't quite figured out how to pull out parameters from other parts in the model consistently. Would you be willing to share a little more about this, and maybe include a little example? Or help me know what to research in the PTC help stuff to figure it out. I also really like this approach.

 

KenFarley, I really like this approach as a general solution that will work for everybody. Thanks for sharing this!

John.Pryal
12-Amethyst
(To:jordana)

What version of Creo are you using?

jordana
4-Participant
(To:John.Pryal)

Version 4.0 M080.

John.Pryal
12-Amethyst
(To:jordana)

I have put together a very simple example of my approach to this. Hopefully it will explain how parameters can be shared & even controlled between parts. Parameters can be accessed by opening the a relations window & picking part in the 'Look In' drop down menu, then pick a part to activate it. You can then write a relation, add a parameter into a relation etc. 

Good luck

 

 

jordana
4-Participant
(To:John.Pryal)

This is really cool! For parts that are in an assembly, this works really well! Thanks for putting together an example--I really appreciate it!

tbraxton
21-Topaz II
(To:jordana)

If you are new to Creo and have not investigated the use of Layouts you should take look and determine if it would work for you. Layout is not mentioned much these days as I think PTC wants to sell Matchcad to fill that functionality but it can be used to great effect in controlling design intent. Some methods being proposed here create external references and may not be optimal for what you need to do.

 

See my response in another thread with a simple example showing how it can be employed.

Layout example

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Involute Development, LLC
Consulting Engineers
Specialists in Creo Parametric
jordana
4-Participant
(To:tbraxton)

This is a neat approach! It's definitely good for some of the things I'm doing! Thank you!

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