Tip of the Month Excerpt from the PTC Technical Specialists E-Newsletter September 2010 Edition

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You can download the complete newsletter, w/ this portion authored by Matt Mason, by clicking here.

Tip of the Month

Pro/ENGINEER Visibility Study Analysis Feature

This section is intended to outline the steps required to set up an assembly level visibility study.  The resulting analysis feature will show distinct “visible” and “non-visible” lines of sight.  Downstream deliverables include a saved analysis feature and a 2D drawing.  *Note: Pro/ENGINEER’s Behavioral Modeling Extension (BMX) is required…*  More notes are included at the end of this section…

1. Start by creating a “Visibility Study” assembly in Pro/E. This assembly has a generic “Ground” component with graduated markings used to measure visibility angles.  There is also a collection of datum curves that can be modified to match the final analysis results and subsequently passed to a 2D drawing.
   

2. Add the desired product assembly (a solid shrinkwrap or envelope component can be used in place of a top-level assembly) to the Visibility_Study assembly.
   

3. Make sure that the product assembly has a datum point for the operator’s eye location
   

4. Add a Field Point to the Visibility_Study assembly.
   
   • Field Points are found in the datum point flyout menu
     

5. Place the Field Point on the top surface of the Ground.prt.  Location of the field point on the surface is not critical.  Rename the newly created point “FIELD_POINT” to help differentiate from any existing points in the assembly.
   

6. Create a new Datum Curve to connect the Eye Point to the Field Point.
   
   • Keep the defaults that appear in the menu manager and click Done.
     

• While holding the Ctrl key, select the Eye Point and the Field Point.  Click OK, Done, OK to close the menu manager and create the new datum curve
  

7. Create an Analysis Feature to measure the distance between the newly created datum curve and the product assembly.
   
   • Analysis > Measure > Distance from the Pro/E toolbar.
     

• Measure From: Datum Curve, To: Product Part/Assembly/Shrinkwrap/Envelope, etc…
  

• Change the Analysis type to “Feature” and click the Green Checkbox to complete the feature.
  

8. The following three features should be in consecutive order in the model tree:
   
   • FIELD_POINT
     
   • Curve id xxx
     
   • ANALYSIS_DISTANCE_1
     

9. Select the three features mentioned above and group them together to create a new UDA group feature in the model tree.
   
   • Select the three features, Right-Click in the model tree and choose Group from the Right Mouse button  menu
     

10. Create a new User-Defined Analysis to see the line of sight analysis for the assembly.
    
    • Select Analysis > User-Defined Analysis… from the Pro/E toolbar
      

11. In the User-Defined Analysis window, leave the settings proved as their default values.
    
    • Expand the “Computation Settings” and “Saved Analyses” drop-down menus.
      
    • Type a new name for the saved analysis feature and click the “Save” icon to store it
      

12. Click the “Settings…” button in the results section to change the analysis settings.
    

13. Change the Display Setting to “Two color shading” as well as changing the “Middle value” to .01.  Click OK when finished.
    

14. Click the “Compute” button to run the analysis.
    

15. The accuracy of the analysis can be adjusted in several ways.
    
    • When using a “Quality” based analysis, the scope can be set from Low to High
      

• When using a “Numeric” analysis, the number of points can be adjusted from 0 to 100
  

• When using a “Step” analysis, the increment between measurements can be adjusted
  

16. When the analysis is complete, choose “Add Feature” to place the analysis feature in the model tree.
    

17. With the analysis results still displayed on the screen, note where the green/purple boundary lines match the scale tick marks.
    

18. Select VIEW_POINTS from the model tree and Edit Definition to change the point locations
    

19. Move the point locations to match the markings noted in step 17.
    

20. Create a new drawing and place the Visibility Assembly study.  Use the TOP view to display the newly created line of sight indicators.  Hide any excess curves as needed.
    

** General Notes **

• The analysis feature is NOT persistent, meaning it will not show up in a drawing, or during the redefinition of existing features in the assembly
  

• The same analysis feature can be reused for different settings of the EYE POINT
  

• In order to delete the analysis group in the model tree, you must first delete the saved analysis from the Analysis > Saved Analysis menu
  

• If using a shrinkwrap, best results are obtained by creating a shrinkwrapped solid; also make sure to include any necessary datum features
  

• To improve analysis time and resolution of the analysis feature, the surface of the “GROUND.PRT” can be divided into any desired number of separate surfaces (i.e. quadrants)
  

• 64-bit machines are recommended for larger/more complex assemblies
  

• More information can be found by searching for “user defined analysis” in the Pro/E Help menu as well as the Behavioral Modeling Analysis Pro/E Help Topic Collection PDF
  

You can download the complete newsletter, w/ this portion authored by Matt Mason, by clicking here.

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