Selecting surfaces by boundry, feature, or "all solid" to assign appearances in WF5

[Ken.L.Nunn]

We seem to have lost some (minor) functionality that was very helpful in pre-WF5 releases.

When attempting to assign colours/appearances to surfaces in (at least) WF3 & 4, it was possible to select a large number of surfaces quickly by using 'surface & boundry', or 'all solid surfaces'. I cannot find these options, or an alternative method, in WF5. I design a lot of aluminium castings that are machined, and I typically design the product as a casting then apply cuts to the casting model to produce the finished component, which enables an instance to be used for (casting) mold design. By assigning a colour to the part & a different shade to all the surfaces of the casting prior to machining, the machined surfaces become very obvious.

Has anyone dicovered how to select large numbers (or all) surfaces in the appearance selection function ... RMB & 'Pick from list' does not offer any grouped items?

WF5, M020, Win7 x64, Dell T7500 Nvidia FX4800

Thanks in advance.

Ken L. Nunn, Managing Director
Southways Consulting Pty Ltd
P:+61.3.9561-0372M:+61.427-454-511

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[Ken.L.Nunn]

Several good suggestions by forum members have been forthcoming, however none were able to render success.

Acall to our local distributor's support line (LEAP Australia) had a resolution within an hour! It's not often we see praise for the resellers, but this time the team did well & deserve the recognition.

The trick is to select first:

• Select a surface of the solid
• RMB - select "Solid Surfaces"
• <u>Then</u> select the appearance editor & choose the color/texture.

It is not possible to select the 'solid surfaces' after entering the appearance editor.

Thanks to all who responded.

Ken L. Nunn, Managing Director
Southways Consulting Pty Ltd
P: +61.3.9561-0372 F: 9561-0374 M: +61.427-454-511

[bkurth]

Ken,

We do a lot of castings, as well. We bring the casting in and then add our machined cuts to the part. We then apply the color RED to all the features created on the machined part. Instead of trying to go in and manually pick the items, we use a mapkey that automatically finds all the machined surfaces and then appies the RED color to those surfaces. This mapkey will complete automatically, unless there are surfaces that need direction information. If these surfaces exist,you will have to click through the surface prompts and then click Close. We are using WF4 (M092). I don't know if anything changed in WF5that would prevent the mapkey from working. Hope this helps...Brian

Just in case someone reads this that doesn't know how to use the mapkey: To use the mapkey, copy all the lines belowthat begin with mapkey to your config.pro file. Save the config.pro file and then open ProE. Once you have your machine model open, type "rms" (without the quotes) and the mapkey should run. If you don't know how to edit your config.pro, you should check with your administrator to find out how.

Here is the mapkey for you to try:

mapkey rms @MAPKEY_LABELRed Machine Surfaces;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Command `ProCmdViewAppearances` ;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `pgl_appearance_editor` `AppSamples.NamesList`1 `ptc-painted-red`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentType`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentType`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentType`1 `Surfaces`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `main_dlg_cur` `ProCmdMdlTreeSearch.edit_t`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `SelOptionRadio`;~ Close `selspecdlg0` `SelOptionRadio`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `SelOptionRadio`1 `Surface`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `LookByOptionMenu`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `LookByOptionMenu`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `LookByOptionMenu`1 `Feature`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `RuleTypes`1 `Type`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `CascadeButton1`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `CascadeButton1`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `CondBuilderCheck`1 ;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `CascadeButton1`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Chamfer#1, 914`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Corner Chamfer#1, 930`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Cut#1, 916`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) `Extruded#3, 51`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Hole#1, 911`;? Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Protrusion#1, 917`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) ` Round#1, 913`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) `Sweep#3, 55`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`1 \
mapkey(continued) `Variable Section Sweep#3, 60`;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `AddRuleBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Open `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `selspecdlg0` `ExtRulesLayout.ExtTyperuleLayout.TyperuleTypesList`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `EvaluateBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Select `selspecdlg0` `ResultList`-1 ;~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `ApplyBtn`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `selspecdlg0` `CancelButton`;~ Activate `GET SELECT` `done_sel`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `pgl_appearance_editor` `AssignmentSet`;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Activate `pgl_appearance_editor` `StdClose`;


In Reply to Ken Nunn:

Several good suggestions by forum members have been forthcoming, however none were able to render success.

Acall to our local distributor's support line (LEAP Australia) had a resolution within an hour! It's not often we see praise for the resellers, but this time the team did well & deserve the recognition.

The trick is to select first:

• Select a surface of the solid
• RMB - select "Solid Surfaces"
• <u>Then</u> select the appearance editor & choose the color/texture.

It is not possible to select the 'solid surfaces' after entering the appearance editor.

Thanks to all who responded.

Ken L. Nunn, Managing Director
Southways Consulting Pty Ltd
P: +61.3.9561-0372 F: 9561-0374 M: +61.427-454-511