Tracking changes within Drawings

[agaribay]

From time-to-time we see production drawings that were unintentionally
modified (i.e. Missing, Deleted or Modified Dimensions); whether that is
User Error or software glitch. Besides checking the drawing completely
with each Revision Change (which may be our only option), what are you
doing to make sure Production Prints are %100 correct? Do you rely on
Intralink (or whatever Data Management software you may use) to be your
system of Checks and Balances?



Is there something within ProE that can help?



WF2

Intralink 3.4





Thank you,



-Art


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[dbowles]

Art,

A good check is Productview. Productview has a function for overlaying
drws to check for differences.
A good check between revisions to assure noting has changed.
Relying on as stored released versions is dependable. Seems Revisions is
where things can get risky.

Productview takes a little getting used to, not much to it, but very
useful.


Douglas K. Bowles
Advanced Systems Harn/Des
520-746-2019 Office
520-490-9395 Cell
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Art Garibay <->
10/16/2009 03:25 PM
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Art Garibay <->


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Subject
[proecad] - Tracking changes within Drawings






From time-to-time we see production drawings that were unintentionally
modified (i.e. Missing, Deleted or Modified Dimensions); whether that is
User Error or software glitch. Besides checking the drawing completely
with each Revision Change (which may be our only option), what are you
doing to make sure Production Prints are %100 correct? Do you rely on
Intralink (or whatever Data Management software you may use) to be your
system of Checks and Balances?

Is there something within ProE that can help?

WF2
Intralink 3.4


Thank you,

-Art
. . This message (including any attachments) contains confidential and/or
proprietary information intended only for the addressee. Any unauthorized
disclosure, copying, distribution or reliance on the contents of this
information is strictly prohibited and may constitute a violation of law.
If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately by responding to this e-mail, and delete the message from your
system. If you have any questions about this e-mail please notify the
sender immediately.

[TerryMcFall]

We use a product called Brava (from Informative Graphics) which compares PDF files. It takes a little getting used to, but I found we could overlay 2 PDF images of separate drawing revisions and see even minor differences with very good clarity.

Brava isn't as expensive as a Productview server and if you don't mind generating PDF images it might be a good solution.

-Ter

Terrence (Terry) McFall
CAD Systems Administrator

Varian Medical Systems
911 Hansen Way
Palo Alto, CA 94304
650-424-6039 desk
650-799-0179 cell

[patharris]

Hello Art,
For a simple system "Release to PDF only" works well. The only drawings
that leave engineering are PDFs. The only released drawings that are
printed are PDFs. Insures that purchasing, QA, vendors, clients, etc. are
always reading the same document. Also reduces the number of users who need
access to live CAD data.

Printing directly from Pro/E or (SolidWorks, etc.) is only allowed for
unreleased work, unreleased drawings are marked with a HUGE "PRELIMINARY" by
default which must be removed prior to release, a big shredder located with
the printers prevents marked up preliminary drawings from confusing the
workflow or wandering off into the wrong hands.

A side benefit of this approach is that if a Pro/E drawing does get
unintentionally changed or corrupted, and your backups fail or are uncertain
you have a good image of the correct released version in the PDF to change
the Pro/E drawing back to or to confirm your backup against.

Regards,

Pat Harris
Principal Engineer
Product Design, Inc.
5133 Washington St., Suite 9
Downers Grove, IL 60515

[CM10]

This is a problem with ANY CAD system that uses a representation of a model that could be used in many drawings. If someone changes the model, it can have far-reaching complications. I use the setting "create_drawing_dims_only" in my config.pro to help minimize changes to the model. The setting "draw_models_read_only" can also be used, but there are problems in that flexible parts will not work right unless the part or assembly is retrieved first, and you cannot regenerate the model from the drawing. Revision control and locked files/folders are crucial to help combat this.

[dgallup]

Pro/E has this capability built in:

To Compare a Drawing to a Saved Image File

<h1>To Compare a Drawing to a Saved Image File</h1>

You can compare a drawing sheet to a previously saved .pic file of the sheet. You can compare the whole sheet or use any portion of it in magnification.

1. Click Analysis > Compare Sheet to Picture. The File Open dialog box opens.

2. Select the .pic file to compare. The pic file is "layered" over the drawing page. Common items are suppressed, and any different items, either added or deleted, are shown.

1. To return to the current drawing click Repaint.

Note: To save a drawing sheet in PIC format, use the File > Save As command.