Creo Diagram For Practice

[Paskasi Coppola]

Now, I'm trying to generate my first live schematic. I have the library of IEEE symbols from Virtual Interconnect. Many interesting components, unfortunately, I need to do diagrams for wiring harnesses and 90% of what's in that library doesn't work for me.

Does anyone have a link to a true tutorial on how to draw in Creo Schematics? THe on-line tutorials are sorely lacking in details of how to do things from scratch. Making sheet templates with a company logo should be easy - once you are shown the secret.

Also - I have looked and looked for a book - actual paper pages in a binding - on Creo Schematics. I have found a few on Creo 2.0, concerning 3D model creation, but nothing for Schematics. Any suggestions? In particular, I want something that explains which parameters are critical in Schematic to link with Creo 2.0 cabling.

Option one is submit the catalog to a central location and then point all new designs to the central location. For now i do NOT recommend you do this until you have completely setup your template design.

While I'm asking for help, regarding that Virtual Interconnect library. I opened my current design via "Create New Design", and it did not link to the Virtual Interconnect library - it gave me a blank workspace. I can't figure out how to include that library in this workspace. If I could get into it, I could recover some fiber definitions I did while I was learning, and perhaps find symbols that i could use. Unless I open a new project with "Autogenerate new Design", I can't see the original library selection.

Chuck; since I am assuming you are a maintenance customer with a relatively new software purchase, you also have access to technical support. If you have not yet signed up for your support features, please take the time to do so. We often have challenges between the forum and customer support to see who can answer first and who is actually right.

Welcome Chuck, I use schematic for piping (P & ID) application. However you also find many person for eletrical application in this forum. I guess you need to proceed for creation of block there only the geometry tool will work. Apart from tutorial if you ask any specific question, I guess I can help you with my limited knowledge in RSD.

I've gone through the tutorials - they show how to recreate things that already exist, but no details on how to make them from scratch. I got 94% on the online training, but again, little information on the details of how things work.

Yesterday, I was poking around in the admin tab, trying to find how to access the purchased library. I must have done something, because now I can see the blocks I drew in the catalog explorer, but when I try to edit them I get the error 'Cannot edit shape for central catalog item'. How do I re-enable editing?

I can use the template from the library - but it brings up a sheet with the Virtual Connect logo, and I can't figure out how to edit that. We have Pro/E and a full set of templates with our company logo - but how do I access them?

So many small details that aren't in the tutorials, but should be in a reference book. I have good reference books for Autocad and my PADS and Altium PCB layout software, but nothing is available from PTC.

After completing these exercises you should have all the basic information on how to create to catalog items, so I am afraid I do not understand you comment about how to recreate everything that already exists and no details on how to make them from scratch.

Re the central catalog have you read the help topic Working with Central Catalog. In this topic it states After an item has been incorporated into the Central Catalog it is locked automatically and only an editor can edit it. The administrator sets a password for the design that the editor uses to unlock for editing. So what this is saying is the design needs to have a password, which will allow you to unlock the catalog and make changes.

I am looking at the pdf tutorial now. On page 47, step 11 has me select 'def_internal-len'. I can't find this parameter in the list on the block properties window, nor can I find 'obj_type'. 'model_name' does appear. Thgis is the kind of issue I am referring to. Is there a hidden switch option that hides and enables parameters?

What I really would like is a one-stop reference for all the little details, like, what does the '#' in the name_format parameter represent? - are there other formatting characters I should know about? - the kind of things that make working with a new CAD program easy. Having to bother people for links to things like this gets old rather quickly.

If any parameter does not exist in the design then choose Admin > Edit Global Parameters. In here you can create all the parameters you want. Once they exist in the global parameters you can then use them on design sheets, block, ports, fibers etc etc.

Your one stop shop is the help center but i can only but emphasize, take some time and go through the basic tutorial, and at the end of each exercise reflect on what you have done and think how it can be applied to your every day work. The tutorial should give you all the tools you need to create your own designs.

With respect to what parameters you require for cabling design under the loadpoint of creo schematics there are CSV files that you can import which will automatically add all the parameters you require for cabling design, e.g. model_name, Def_internal_len etc.- Refer to the image below

I don't understand why my version of Schematics does not come up automatically with those parameters, especially since I am the only person using it right now, and I did nothing to delete or disable any parameters. That is something I would never do anyway, seeing as I don't know what is critical and what is not at this stage.

About the CSV files - I would dearly love to be able to create data tables in Excel and load them into Creo Schematics. Small problems - I am a working engineer and really cannot justify spending much more time than I already have searching for needed data. If I could click on "help" in the main toolbar and get a link to some real documentation, with a serchable index and table of contents, I could look up "CSV" and get a manual page telling me all there is to know about formatting, names, etc. - and where this file should exist if I create one from Creo. None of that information is easily found - there isn't even a "help" tab to click on - just that PDF tutorial which raises more question than it answers. Not to say the tutorial is worthless - I did glean some useful things there - but having to read through the whole thing hoping to trip over the one fact you need is not my idea of efficiency.

I just re-opened Creo Schematics to check on that image you posted. All the selections in Admin are greyed out. I did find the CSV files. Why are the minmum needed parameters in the CSV file not in the default parameter list to begin with? No one should have to load the internal length parameter every time they make a new connector block, or even have to load a parameter file unless they already have modified the default values.

I am very disappointed with Creo Schematics so far. It has such promise, and Creo Parametric 2.0 is a program I would dearly love to own a copy of for my personal use. I have looked at Creo 2.0 Cabling and can't wait to get my hands on that package. At home I have Autocad 2000, so I know what old and crude 3D CAD systems look like.

If PTC would put the Sketcher tools from Creo 2.0 (or even Wildfire) into Schematics, I would have a whole lot less to complain about. Having to use a crude drawing tool like what is in there now after using the 2.0 drafting tools is like going from a late version of a good word processor to a DOS 40-column text editor on a monochrome CRT.

If you have created a new empty design then it will only have the base parameters. The idea is that a customer decides wether they are doing piping, hydraulic or electrical design. If the customer are only designing electronics there is little point in having the user wade through piping parameters. Thus the required parameters for cabling and piping are available under the load point and the librarian simply loads what they need and creates a template design which can then be used for all new designs.

I am sorry that you are disappointed with Creo Schematics, when setup correctly and with some training it really is a very powerful solution. It really does sound like you are struggling and i would suggest that your company employs the services of a consultant to set up your catalog, your template designs so that you can concentrate on your design work.

OK. After digging through the PTC directory in Program Files, I found an executable for installing the Help Center. I also finally noted the little '?' in the upper right corner of the Schematics window. So, now I can access the Help Center.

Once you figure out to actually open the Catalog Explorer. you are faced with a choice of whatever is preloaded into that catalog, but no option to open a different directory or browse for same. I am guessing that Schematics design templates are different than Creo drawing sheet templates, and I won't simply be able to copy our existing Wildfire title blocks and such into Schematics. I hope I am wrong in this thought.

Right now I need to figure out how to access the libraries installed in my C: drive that don't show up in the Catalog Explorer. If I can do that, I can get some real work done. I have many components and fibers already made up, but so far I can't get them to appear in the catalog unless I open the previous design.

I need to get access to these in my new Schematics designs - I used "autogenerate" and got a blank catalog in the latest attempt. I generated many components in the Virtual Interconnect library's folder that should be in the master catalog - the one I was working with yesterday is evidently bound to that design and is invisible to me now.

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