{"id":29546,"date":"2016-06-27T09:31:24","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T13:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/?p=29546"},"modified":"2016-06-27T09:31:24","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T13:31:24","slug":"mbd-implementation-dos-donts-customize-standardize-templates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2016\/06\/mbd-implementation-dos-donts-customize-standardize-templates.html","title":{"rendered":"MBD Implementation DOs and DON’Ts \u2013 Customize and Standardize Templates"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know the benefits of templates: they provide the ability to reuse data to avoid duplicated effort, maintain consistency, and improve quality. Here in the context of Model-Based Definition (MBD), templates can help with many areas too, such as 3D annotations, notes, 3D PDF, properties, tables. Let\u2019s look into several examples.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 3D PMI Templates<\/strong>. Defining detailed 3D annotations can take lots of time. A car manufacturer deployed the MBD approach in their Body-In-White production using CATIA. A floor panel model was added with over 100 3D annotations and a powertrain cylinderhead with over 800 annotations, which took days or even weeks. Fortunately, they were able to save these 3D annotations into PMI scheme templates and apply them to similar models later. Yes, they still had to spend several hours to tweak the 3D detailing here and there in new models to define unique features, fix dangling annotations, and improve presentations, but templates saved the majority of the time and effort, while maintaining the consistent layout, tolerance styles, and associativity, where possible.
    \n\"mbd_templates_image1.jpg\"
    \nSOLIDWORKS MBD provides similar capabilities, called Copy Scheme, to reuse 3D annotations across multiple configurations. The fully defined shaft in in the image above\u00a0has two holes at two ends. The configuration in Figure 2 has no holes at all. To avoid redefining all the annotations from scratch, we can simply copy them over as shown in Figure 3. You may notice several annotations in yellow along with red warning signs on the left tree. This is because these annotations associated with holes are no longer applicable in this configuration with no holes. These errors are caught by SOLIDWORKS automatically thanks to its built-in intelligence. We can easily fix these by deleting the irrelevant PMI in this case or reapplying unique PMI in other cases. This Copy Scheme function is also shown in action with another model in a quick animation in one of the MBDinSeconds tweets.<\/p>\n
    \"Copy
    Figure 2: Copy tolerance scheme from a shaft configuration with holes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"mbd_templates_image3.png\"
    Figure 3: 3D PMI copied to a new configuration with minor tweaks needed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/li>\n

  2. Notes templates<\/strong>. From one design to another, we can often find many similar and standard notes such as \u201cDEBURR AND REMOVE ALL SHARP EDGES,\u201d or \u201cDIMENSIONING AND TOLERANCING PER ASME Y14.41-2012.\u201d Most of the time, we don\u2019t want to and shouldn\u2019t need to retype them. As one manufacturer pointed out: \u201cWe really don\u2019t want ten engineers to come up with ten different surface finish notes or anodize notes.\u201d This is where templates can help. As shown in Figure 4, SOLIDWORKS can save notes and annotations as templates in the Design Library. We can simply drag and drop selected notes into a model and make unique adjustments as needed. This can save lots of manual typing and human errors while ensuring consistency and quality.\n
    \"Figure
    Figure 4: Drag and drop a notes template from the Design Library to a model<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/li>\n

  3. \u00a03D PDF Templates.<\/strong> 3D PDF is well received because it\u2019s viewable in the free and popular Adobe Reader to lower the 3D communication barriers, but one 3D viewport in a PDF isn\u2019t enough because there are many types of communication documents, such as part specifications, assembly specifications, and Request for Quote (RFQ). Each of them has their own characteristics, and most of them are specific to a company, a department, or even a site. For example, part specifications may need part numbers and materials. Assembly specifications read better with Bills of Materials (BOMs) and exploded views. Some technical documents are under Export Administration Regulations (EAR), or International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), so must show these regulations or statements on the first page.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    SOLIDWORKS MBD provides a 3D PDF template editor as shown in Figure 5 to customize templates for various kinds of documents. Document properties can be mapped from SOLIDWORKS to 3D PDF. BOM holders can be placed on templates to extract BOM table details from SOLIDWORKS. Multiple sheets, viewports, and tables can be inserted to present complicated technical information professionally. In the U.S., Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) defined 39 key requirements on 3D PDF for Department of Defense procurement activities. SOLIDWORKS MBD 3D PDF meets all these requirements.<\/p>\n

    \"Figure
    Figure 5: SOLIDWORKS MBD 3D PDF template editor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Above are just three quick examples. There are many more areas where templates can help and we will share more in future blogs. Next let\u2019s move onto a controversial topic: \u201dDon\u2019t exclude paper printouts.\u201d It will discuss long-term visions, short-term realities, and sensible strategies for today\u2019s MBD implementations. To learn more about how SOLIDWORKS MBD can help you customize and standardize templates, please visit its product page<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0Also welcome to discuss this topic with me on\u00a0Twitter (@OboeWu<\/strong><\/a>) or LinkedIn (OboeWu<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We all know the benefits of templates: they provide the ability to reuse data to avoid duplicated effort, maintain consistency, and improve quality. Here in the context of Model-Based Definition (MBD), templates can help with many areas too, such as<\/p>\n... Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":29541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1863],"tags":[1620],"class_list":["post-29546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidworks","category-solidworks_mbd","tag-mbd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}