Getting the Most from Product Template Studio. 24 October 2017 / 10:30am Taylor Anderson, NX Product Manager

Transcription

1 Getting the Most from Product Template Studio 24 October 2017 / 10:30am Taylor Anderson, NX Product Manager

2 Agenda for this hour: What is Product Template Studio? What is a Product Template? Fundamentals of Product Template Construction Useful Template Techniques Page 2

3 What is Product Template Studio? CHALLENGE: Effectively communicating the intended purpose and interaction with a parametric model can be difficult Product Template interfaces simplify interaction with complex designs PTS can be used to package a design along with its documentation and analyses for simple reuse Modularizes parametric designs into easily reusable templates with no coding Page 3 PTS users report 80+% gains in productivity over just reusing traditional parametric models

4 What is a Product Template? Useful and Robust Parametric Model Simple Code-Free User Interface Product Template Product Templates ALWAYS contain an NX Design Part or Assembly A Product Template MAY ALSO contain any of the following: Documentation (Drafting/PMI) Motion Analysis Kinematics Dynamics Finite Element Analysis Structural Thermal Flow Etc. Page 4

5 What is a Product Template? Useful and Robust Parametric Model Simple Code-Free User Interface Product Template Product Templates ALWAYS contain an NX Design Part or Assembly A Product Template MAY ALSO contain any of the following: Documentation (Drafting/PMI) Motion Analysis Kinematics Dynamics Finite Element Analysis Structural Thermal Flow Etc. Page 5

6 First things first Every good template starts with a robust parametric model. Page 6

7 Why am I building a Product Template? Faster creation of derivative designs? Faster adjustment of model parameters? Both? Faster use of modularity? All three? How can you best present a choice to the designer, so they can make a good decision? How can you present a useful answer to the designer, so they can make a good decision? Are there right and wrong parameter choices? Are there better or worse parameter choices? Page 7

8 What kind of validation does my design need? How can I best evaluate choices? UI widget selection Requirements / Requirement Checks CAE methods (FEA or Motion) Custom validation code When can I best evaluate choices? During parameter input / adjustment After the model updates / evaluates Page 8

9 Product Template Studio: for layout studies A Worked Example... PLM Europe 25 October 2017 Neil Shand

10 The Challenge: The PTS Template: To Evaluate Different Wiper Layouts A Design Tool to develop Wiper layout and Wiper System Hardpoints Easy to learn Easy to use Evaluate some aspects of wipe quality Reporting Validate new windscreen surfaces Page 10

11 Inside this PTS Template: (a kind of agenda!...) Product Template Studio Codeless UI Creation HD3D Tags Requirement Checks WAVE Interpart Modeling Suppression by Expression Visual Rules NX Open (SNAP) invoked from Product Template interface Excel Integration NX Motion integration with PTS Amesim integration with NX Motion integration with PTS Page 11

12 Agenda for this hour: What is Product Template Studio? What is a Product Template? Fundamentals of Product Template Construction Useful Template Techniques Page 12

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15 Useful Template Technique: Suppression by Expression The suppress/unsuppress state of certain objects in NX can be controlled with an expression. Modeling Features* Assembly Components Drafting Objects * Suppressing a Delete Body feature can include or exclude entire bodies at once. Suppression expressions can be driven either by a Boolean expression (false or true) or by a numerical expression (0 or non-zero). Be aware of feature dependencies when suppressing. PRO TIP: Use dialog Dependencies to hide UI related to objects while they are suppressed, as on the right: Page 15

16 Useful Template Technique: Option Menu Tooltip Images If an image will help clarify the meaning of options, then bitmaps can be associated with each option in an option menu. PRO TIP: Keep images relatively small and informative. Adding text to the image is fair game. Page 16

17 Useful Template Technique: ug_find_file() Can also be used to reference data files, help files, Journals, etc. and helps a LOT with template portability. Searches (in order): 1. The explicit path stated 2. Same directory as the part 3. UGII_USER_DIR 4. UGII_SITE_DIR 5. UGII_VENDOR_DIR 6. directories specified in custom_dirs.dat Use like: ug_find_file(my_file.bmp) PRO TIP: Included automatically in PTS image references since NX 8.5. Page 17 For example, if UGII_SITE_DIR is defined as D:\nx", and the part file was located in "C:\parts and the stated filename is "images\test.bmp" then the search directories would include: 1. images\test.bmp 2. C:\parts\images\test.bmp 3. D:\nx\application\images\test.bmp 4. D:\nx\data\images\test.bmp 5. test.bmp 6. C:\parts\test.bmp 7. D:\nx\application\test.bmp 8. D:\nx\data\test.bmp

18 Useful Template Technique: Normalizing Variables When the desired variable range extends between some kind of natural or physical limits, and where the original parameter values are cryptic, normalizing the range to something like 0-10 or can simplify interaction. Example: Here, the datum offset value describing the Empty state is at -85, and the Full state is at -5. So adding a user expression counterweight_fill_percentage (driven by the Product Template interface), the datum offset formula becomes: Lower end of original parameter range -85+(80*(counterweight_fill_percentage/100)) Desired range to normalize PRO TIP: Use in cases like this for empty to full, or range of motion, or start to finish, "or similar concepts. Page 18

19 Useful Template Technique: Highlighting with Visual Rules If a parameter changes something internal, or otherwise difficult to see, adding a small Visual Rule to highlight the object can add clarity. PRO TIP: Be sure to highlight objects that will reliably be visible when the template is exercised. Page 19

20 Useful Template Technique: Synchronizing Duplicate Inputs From time to time you may want to allow a single expression to be controlled by more than one UI control, and dynamically keep these synchronized. The most common request is a Scale (Slider) and Keyin together: The NX Update state does not get the job done here, as the dialog does not automatically refresh after update. The solution is the second-simplest Visual Rule possible. PRO TIP: Remember that the rule fires when a control is changed, so assign the Visual Rule to the When the value changes event for each UI control that you ll use to edit. Page 20

21 Useful Template Technique: Auto-Correcting Out-of-range Inputs Sliders and Spinners and List of Values inputs have some inherent bounds built into them that prevent users from entering values out of a specified range. Keyin controls don t have such controls by default. Requirement checks can flag a Keyin value as being out of range, but sometimes that s just not good enough, and you want to prevent the user from typing in a bad value. Visual Rules to the rescue again Now with a conditional statement. PRO TIP: You can either leave the other end of the conditional blank or add a do_nothing rule containing just a start block. Page 21

22 NX Design Community Your best resource for NX CAD news and tutorials Stay connected with experts More than 43,000 people contribute: 1,000 replies 250 answers to NX Design each month! New articles published every day! Come join the discussion on the NX Design Forum, and while you re there, check out my blog post about the NX 11 Expression Enhancements. Page 22

23 Thank you! Taylor Anderson NX Product Manager Realize innovation.