{"id":46,"date":"2008-04-01T05:08:08","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T12:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46"},"modified":"2008-04-01T09:12:17","modified_gmt":"2008-04-01T16:12:17","slug":"set-up-of-custom-properties-for-drawing-template-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Custom properties can be deceptively simple in purpose.\u00c2\u00a0 They can be used for a wide variety of functions.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the most basic of these is quickly inserting values into drawing templates.\u00c2\u00a0 This allows the user to quickly fill in the title block and other areas of a drawing with no direct editing of the sheet format or even the sheet itself.<\/p>\n

For those people not familiar with custom properties and how to use them on drawings, I wrote a previous article <\/a>about how to link custom properties to annotation notes on drawings.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, see SolidWorks Help.\u00c2\u00a0 The remainder of this article will assume familiarity with this function.\u00c2\u00a0 In this article, I wish to discuss the issue of when to use particular sources for the custom properties for the purpose of filling out a title block and other drawing areas.\u00c2\u00a0 I do not present my article as a final word on the issue.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, I hope to create dialogue on this issue in the comments of this article.\u00c2\u00a0 So first, let me ask some questions.<\/p>\n

Should one maintain the values for custom properties on the drawing itself?\u00c2\u00a0 Should one maintain the values on the solid model, and refer to those in the drawing?\u00c2\u00a0 Or, should one maintain some values on the drawing and some from the model?\u00c2\u00a0 If there is a mixed answer, which properties come from where?\u00c2\u00a0 Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found.\u00c2\u00a0 (There is no absolute answer for every situation.)<\/p>\n

The solid model is increasing become more important.\u00c2\u00a0 The drawing is the source for far less information in the 3D CAD realm.\u00c2\u00a0 Given this fact, utilizing the solid model\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meta-information at must as possible can prove to be very advantageous.\u00c2\u00a0 Custom properties are no exception to this.\u00c2\u00a0 Values for custom properties can be established on the solid model and utilized directly on the drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 This is very powerful because it allows the user to enter certain data only once in the model and have it applied parametrically to the drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 When the model changes, so does the drawing.<\/p>\n

However, not all custom properties will have the same value in the model and the drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, the originator and origination date may be different between the solid model and drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s also the issue of multiple parts on a drawing (where drawing information isn’t necessarily driven by one or the other or either).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine the use of workarounds to avoid being forced to directly edit the sheet format to account for these scenarios.<\/p>\n

Other issues may arise.\u00c2\u00a0 Engineers may not set up models correctly in the first place; with all the required information properly filled out.\u00c2\u00a0 Many engineers tend to create their own part\/assembly templates that may not interface with the standard drawing template properly.\u00c2\u00a0 Models or drawings may be from outside sources that have different schemes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

In some environments, drawings tend to have more properties than the model due to notation standards.\u00c2\u00a0 Examples of this can be values for the watermark or inspection criteria.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked into this recently at my own company and I found that only 2 of the basic 7 properties are 100% common between the model and drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to create confusion as to where to fill out which properties.\u00c2\u00a0 I also don’t want people editing the sheet format because values from the model is different than the drawing; or still further to have some drawings work differently than other drawings because the method to obtain values was changed via the Properties dialog box.\u00c2\u00a0 So I left the custom properties as a function of the drawing and not the model (the model carries its own information that pertains to it).\u00c2\u00a0 Does one really want to have to open the model every time a text only spec is changed on the drawing?\u00c2\u00a0 Additionally, it is not necessary that a drawing have a model or assembly associated with it at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Where would the values for the drawing come from in that event?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are a lot of rules that must be in place in order for a clean use of solid model properties directly on the drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 Some people call these good practices.\u00c2\u00a0 I just call them rules because at the end of the day it’s 6 one way and 1\/2 a dozen another.\u00c2\u00a0 For me, it’s just a matter of having flexibility on how drawings are created and used.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a one-size-fits-all solution in the case of linking to custom properties from the solid model verses maintaining them on the drawing.\u00c2\u00a0 When setting up a system, it is best to determine what is most beneficial for that particular system.\u00c2\u00a0 I suspect in most cases, there will be a mix between which custom properties on drawings are linked to the solid model, and which are controlled on the drawing itself.<\/p>\n

Some macros that allow copying of properties between files:\u00c2\u00a0 Rigid Custom Properties<\/a>, Migrate Properties<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0and FixProperties<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Websites to explore for more of these types of macros are Lenny’s SolidWorks Resources<\/a>, Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources<\/a>, and Esox Republic<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Custom properties can be deceptively simple in purpose.\u00c2\u00a0 They can be used for a wide variety of functions.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the most basic of these is quickly inserting values into drawing templates.\u00c2\u00a0 This allows the user to quickly fill in the title block and other areas of a drawing with no direct editing of the … Continue reading “Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,9,18],"tags":[90,92,93],"series":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drawing","category-methodology","category-part","tag-custom-properties","tag-links","tag-solidworks-links"],"yoast_head":"\nSet up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use - SolidWorks Legion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use - SolidWorks Legion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Custom properties can be deceptively simple in purpose.\u00c2\u00a0 They can be used for a wide variety of functions.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the most basic of these is quickly inserting values into drawing templates.\u00c2\u00a0 This allows the user to quickly fill in the title block and other areas of a drawing with no direct editing of the … Continue reading "Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolidWorks Legion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-01T12:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-04-01T16:12:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fcsuper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swsuper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swsuper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fcsuper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"fcsuper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/#\/schema\/person\/859d9f25668554f7193852892dbad92b\"},\"headline\":\"Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-04-01T12:08:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-04-01T16:12:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\"},\"wordCount\":853,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/#\/schema\/person\/859d9f25668554f7193852892dbad92b\"},\"keywords\":[\"custom properties\",\"links\",\"SolidWorks Links\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Drawing\",\"Methodology\",\"Part\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=46\",\"name\":\"Set up of Custom Properties for Drawing Template Use - 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