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Understand the advantages of using Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

Understand the bidirectional associative property.

Know the system requirement of Pro/E.

Learn various important terms & definitions in Pro/E.

Learn various important options in the File menu.

Understand the important of Model Tree.

Understand the function of mouse buttons.

Learn about the default toolbars.

Understand the function of the browser.

Learning Object ives:

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Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0To make the designing process simple and quick, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 has

divided the steps of designing into different modules. This means that each step ofdesigning is completed in a different module. For example, generally a design process

consists of the following steps:

Sketching using the basic sketch entities.

Converting the sketch into features and parts.

Assembling different parts and analyzing them.

Documenting parts and the assembly in terms of drawings views.

Manufacturing the final part and assembly.

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Feature-Based Nature

Figure A Model displaying

the counterbore holes

Example

Figure A shows a part consisting of a counterbore hole at the center and six

counterbore holes around it at some Bolt Circle Diameter (BCD).

Now, consider a case where you have to change all the outer counterbore holes to

drill holes keeping the central counterbore hole and the BCD for the outer holes same.

You also, have to change the number of holes from six to eight.

A feature is defined as the smallest building block and any solid model created in

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 is an integration of a number of these building blocks.

Each feature can be edited individually to bring in any change in the solid model.

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Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 allows you to make this modification by just modifying

some values in the same part, see Figure B. This shows that the solid parts created in

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 are a combination of various features that can bemodified individually at any time.

Figure B Model after making the modifications

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There is a bi-directional associativity between all modes of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire

4.0. The bi-directional associative nature of a software package is defined as itsability to ensure that if any modification is made in a particular model in one mode,

the modification is reflected in the same model in other modes also.

Figure C shows the drawing views of the part shown in Figure A. The views show

that the part consists of a counterbore hole at the center and six counterbore holes

around it.

Bidirectional Associative Property

Figure CDrawing views of the model

before modifications

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Figure DDrawing views of the model after

modifications

Now, when the part is modified in the Part mode, the modifications are automatically

reflected in the Drawing mode, as shown in Figure D.

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Figure EDiameter of the

hole and the bolt

Figure E shows the Crosshead assembly. It is clear from the assembly that the diameter

of the hole is more than what is required (shown using dotted lines). In an ideal case, the

diameter of the hole should be equal to the diameter of the bolt.

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Figure F Figure after modifying

the diameter of the hole

Similarly, if you change the dimensions of the model in the Drawing mode, the

modifications will be automatically reflected in the Part mode. This shows that all the

modes are related to each other.

The diameter of the hole can be easily changed by opening the file in the Part mode

and making the necessary modifications in the part. This modification is reflected in

the assembly shown in Figure F. This is due to the bi-directional associative nature ofPro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

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Parametric NatureThe parametric nature of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 means that the features of a

part become interrelated if they are drawn by referencing each other. You can redefinethe dimensions or the attributes of a feature at any time. The changes will propagate

automatically throughout the model. Thus, they develop a relationship among

themselves. This relationship is known as the parent-child relationship.

System Requirements

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition, XP Professional Edition, WindowsVista, Window Vista X64, UNIX.

Processor 500MHz (2.4GHz or higher recommended).

Memory: 256MB RAM minimum requirement (1024MB RAM or higher recommended).

Swap Memory: 500MB minimum (2098MB or higher recommended).

Hard disk space: 2GB minimum (3.0GB or higher recommended).

An Ethernet adapter interface card or network card.

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Chapter 1

Once you have Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 installed on your system, you have two

options to start it. The first option is to choose the Startbutton at the lower left corner

of the screen and select AllPrograms> PTC > Pro ENGINEER> Pro ENGINEERas

shown in Figure A.

Getting Started with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0

Figure A Windows screenwith task bar and

application icons

Microsoft approved mouse.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.

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The second option to start Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 is by double-clicking on its

shortcut icon on the desktop of the computer. Figure B shows the screen that appear

when you start Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

Figure B Initial screen appearance after starting

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0

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Some important terms that will be used while working with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire

4.0 are discussed next.

Important Terms and Definitions

Entity

An element of a section geometry is called an entity. The entity can be an arc, line,

circle, point, conic, coordinate system, and so on.

DimensionIt is the measurement of one or more entities.

Constraint

Constraints are the logical operations that are performed on the selected geometry to

make it more accurate in defining its position and size with respect to the other

geometry.

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Parameter

It is defined as a numeric value or any definition that defines a feature. For

example, all the dimensions in a sketch are parameters. The parameters can bemodified at any time.

Relation

A relation is an equation that relates two entities.

Weak Dimensions and Weak ConstraintsWeak dimensions and weak constraints are temporary dimensions or constraints

that appear in gray color. These are automatically applied to the sketch when it is

drawn using the Intent Manager.

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The options that are displayed when you choose File from the menu bar, are discussed

next.

File Menu Options

Working Directory

A working directory is a directory on your system where you can save the work done

in the current session of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0. Before starting work in

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0, it is important to specify the working directory, which can

be done in two ways.

Right-click on the folder in the Navigator to invoke the shortcut menu shown in

Figure A. Choose the Set Working Directoryoption.

Figure A Shortcut menu

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Figure B The Select Working Directory dialog box

Choose File> Working Directoryfrom the menu bar. The Select Working

Directory dialog box is displayed as shown in Figure B.

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File name edit box

The File name edit box displays the name of the directory selected in the Select

Working Directorydialog box.

The Typedrop-down list has two options: Directoriesand All Files. If you select the

Directoriesoption then all the directories present will be listed and if you select AllFilesthen all the files and the directories will be listed.

Type drop-down list

Options in the Select Working Directory dialog box

Organize button

When you choose this button, a flyout is displayed. The options in this flyout are used

to create a new directory or rename an existing directory. You can also cut, copy,

paste, and delete the existing folders using the options in this flyout.

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When you choose the View button from the Select Working Directory dialog

box, a flyout is displayed. The options in this flyout are following next.

When you choose the Tools button from the Select Working Directory dialogbox, a flyout is displayed. The options in this flyout are following next.

Views button

List

Details

Tools button

Address Default

Add to Favorites

Up One Level

Remove from Favorites

Organize Favorites

Sort By

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Common Folders and Folder Tree are available on the left of the Select Working

Directory dialog box. The Common Folders contains folders such as Desktop, MyDocuments, Working Directory, and Favorites.

Common Folders and Folder Tree

Working Directory

This is used when you have already set the working directory.

FavoritesThis folder is used to save the location of the directories that are to be used

frequently. You just need to specify the working directory to be used frequently

and save their locations by selecting the Favorites folder.

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New

Figure A The New dialog box

In order to create a new object, select Newfrom the Filemenu or choose New

button from the Top Toolchest. TheNewdialog box is displayed as shown inFigure A.

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Use default template

The Use default templatecheck box is selected to open an existing default template

file which includes three default datum planes and a coordinate system. This check boxis selected by default. If you clear this check box and choose the OKbutton from the

Newdialog box, the New File Options dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B The New File Options

dialog box

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Open

Figure A The File Open

dialog box

The Openoption is used to open an existing object file. File Opendialog box is

shown in Figure A.

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File nameIn the File nameedit box you can enter the name of the existing object file that you want

to open.

Tools button

All Versions

This option, when selected, displays all versions of an object file.

Show Instances

This option, when selected, displays all the instances of the object file.

When you choose this button, a flyout is displayed. All the options in this flyout are

same as the options available in the Tools button of the Select Working Directorydialog box, except the All Versions and Show Instances options.

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Type

The Typedrop-down list contains the file formats of the various modes available in

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

Preview

The Preview button is chosen to see the preview of the model. On choosing this

button, you can see the preview of the selected model in the File Opendialog box.

EraseThe Erase option is used to delete the files from the temporary memory or the In

Sessionfolder. The options used to remove the files from the In Sessionfolder are

discussed in next slide.

In SessionThe In Session folder is available in the Common Folders of the File Open dialog

box.

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Current

The Currentoption is used to erase the file that is opened and is displayed on the

graphics screen from the current session. When the Current option of the cascadingmenu is chosen, the Erase Confirmdialog box is displayed as shown in Figure A.

Not Displayed

This option is used to erase the files present in the In Sessionfolder but not available

presently on the screen. The Erase Not Displayed dialog box is displayed as shown

in Figure B.

Figure B The Erase Not

Displayed dialog box

Figure A The Erase Confirm

dialog box

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DeleteThe Delete option is used to delete the current file or its old versions or both the

current file and its older versions.

Old Versions

This option is used to delete all the old versions of the current file.

All VersionsThis option is used to delete all the versions including the current file from the hard disk.

Component Reps

This option removes the unused simplified representations from the In Session folder.

Save

The Saveoption is used to save the objects present in the In Sessionfolder oran object on the drawing area.

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Backup

The Backupoption of theFilemenu creates a backup copy of an object file that is in

memory. When you choose this option the Backupdialog box is displayed, as shown

in Figure A.

Figure A TheBackupdialog box

The Save a Copy option is used to save a copy of the current object in the same

working directory or in some other directory.

Save a Copy

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Rename

The Rename option in the Filemenu renames the active object that is on the screen.

When you choose this option, the Rename dialog box is displayed, as shown inFigure B.

Figure B The Rename dialog box

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As discussed earlier, a new file is generated whenever you save an object. The

number of files generated is directly proportional to the number of times you save thatobject. So, these files occupy a lot of disk space. The latest version of the object is of

use and should be stored. The rest of the files called old versions should be deleted

from the hard disk, if they are not required.

Managing Files

The Menu Manager is not available when you enter the Part mode, Assemblymode, or the Drawing mode. The Menu Manageris displayed with some selected

options of feature creation.

There are menus and submenus cascaded in the Menu Manager. These contain

the options to complete the desired task in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

Menu Manager

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The Model Treestores and displays all the features in

a chronicle. You can select the feature by right-clickingon it. The shortcut menu will be displayed as shown in

Figure A.

Model Tree

Figure A The Model Tree

with the shortcut menu

When you create a new object file, the Model Tree is

displayed and is attached to the drawing area by

default. But in this case with the Model Tree attached

to the drawing area, the drawing area becomes small

in size. You can hide the Model Tree by clicking the

sash on the right edge of the Navigator as shown in

Figure A.

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The various combinations of the keys and three buttons of the mouse are listed below.

Understanding the Functions of the Mouse Buttons

Figure A shows the function of the left mouse button. The left mouse button is used

to make a selection. Using CTRL+left mouse button, you can add or remove items

from the selection set. Using SHIFT+left mouse button, you can select chain of

entities or set of surfaces.

Figure A Functions of the left

mouse button

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Figure B Functions of

the right mouse button

Figure B shows the function of the right mouse button. The right mouse button is

used to invoke shortcut menus and to query select the items.

Figure C shows the function of the middle mouse button in 3D mode. The middle mouse

button is used to spin the model in the drawing area and view it from different directions.

CTRL+middle muse button is used to dynamically zoom in and out by moving the mouse.

Using CTRL+middle mouse button and moving the mouse horizontally you can rotate the

model about a point that you specified as center. Use SHIFT+middle mouse button to

pan the model on the screen.

Figure C Functions of the

middle mouse button

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Figure D Functions of the middle mouse button

Figure D shows the function of the middle mouse button in the 2D mode (sketcher

environment and Drawing mode). The middle mouse button is used to place

dimensions on the drawing area. It is also used to confirm an option or to abort thecreation of an entity. The middle mouse button is used to pan in the Sketch mode

and the Drawing mode.

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Before starting work on Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0, it is very important for you to

understand the default toolbars and buttons on the screen. Figure A shows variousdefault screen components in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0. Different toolbars in

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 are shown in next two slides.

Toolbars

Figure A Default components on thePro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 screen

Chapter 1

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The Datum Display toolbar The File toolbar

The Model Display toolbar

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The View toolbarThe Help button

NavigatorThe navigator is present on the left of the drawing area and can slide in or out on the

drawing area. A partial view of the navigator is shown in next slide Figure A.

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Figure A The Navigator

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BrowserThe Browser is present on the right of the Navigator. It can slide in and out of the

Navigator and can also be stretched horizontally. When the Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire4.0 session is started, the browser is displayed on the screen. Figure A shows the

browser that displays some part files.

Figure APro/ENGINEER

Wildfire 4.0 Browser