Viewing Documents in Solid Edge Viewer

Solid Edge Viewer provides commands that allow you to change your display. The commands available depend on the type of file you are viewing. With 3-D models, you can do such things as rotate, apply named views, zoom in or out on the model, and create cross sections of the model. With 2-D drawings, you can fit views, pan views, zoom in and out on views, or rotate views. Once you have the display set the way you want it, you can print it out.

You can use the Preferences command to set 3-D view preferences. The command allows you to control such things as material color, background color, shading, and tessellation lines.

Working with Cross Section Planes

Solid Edge Viewer provides tools that allow you to create and manipulate cross section planes of a 3-D model.

You can use the Create Section command to create the cross section plane. The command allows you to specify the orientation of the cross section plane to position the plane with respect to the X, Y, and Z axes. After you create a cross section plane, you can use the Position Plane command to move the cross section plane around the model to display cross sections at different locations in the model.

You can change the alignment of the cross section plane. The Align command allows you to align a cross section plane to an axis, or to the current horizontal, vertical, or perpendicular orientation. You can also use the Align to Feature command to align the plane to a part or to a point, vertex, edge, or surface on the part.

You can use a cross section plane as a clipping plane. A clipping plane is a planar boundary that cut away the objects they intersect, allowing you to view the interior of the model. Any part of the object that is on the other side of the clipping plane is not displayed. You can clip the near side of the plane, the far side of the plane, or both sides of the plane.

You can use the Preferences command to customize the appearance of cross section planes to suit your needs. You can do such things as change colors, display grids and section lines, and change the width of lines and borders.

Part and Assembly Color

Solid Edge Viewer supports the viewing of Part and Assembly colors. The colors displayed are based on the Part or Assembly settings saved in the opened file. For assemblies and parts, colors are displayed as follows:  If top-level assembly colors are defined in the opened file, then top-level assembly colors will be displayed.  If top-level assembly colors are not defined, but first-level subassembly colors are defined in the opened file, then first-level subassembly colors will be displayed, and so forth.  If neither assembly nor individual part colors are defined, all parts and assemblies will display in the silver default color.

Document Properties

A document's properties are an important part of managing documents. Using document properties, you can store document information with the document itself, instead of in a separate database. This makes it easy to find documents and information about them. Using the Properties command on the File menu, you can view properties for a document.

Viewing Parts in an Assembly

Solid Edge Viewer displays assembly documents in a tree structure. You can click the "+" next to the assembly to display the parts and subassemblies that make up the assembly.

You can use the View command on the shortcut menu to view assembly components. To do this, position the mouse over the name of the part or assembly you want to view and then click the right mouse button. Click View on the shortcut menu to view the part or assembly.

Solid Edge Viewer also allows you to drag and drop assembly components from the tree structure to the view area. To do this, position the move over the name of the part or assembly you want to view and then click. Drag the mouse cursor to the view area and release the mouse button.

Copying Assembly Structures to the Clipboard

Solid Edge Viewer allows you to copy the assembly structure as text to the clipboard. To do this, position the mouse over the assembly and then click the right mouse button. Click Copy Text on the shortcut to copy the assembly structure to the clipboard.

Counting Parts in an Assembly

Solid Edge Viewer allows you to count the number of parts in an assembly. To do this, position the mouse over the assembly and then click the right mouse button. Click Count Parts on the shortcut to display the number of unique parts and total occurrences in the assembly.

Displaying Configurations

Solid Edge allows you to save display configurations of an assembly and exploded views of an assembly. Solid Edge Viewer allows you to display the configurations in an assembly. To do this, position the mouse over the assembly and then click the right mouse button. Click Display Configurations on the shortcut to display the Assembly Configurations dialog box. You can use this dialog box to display the configurations for the assembly. You can select a configuration from the list and click the Set button to set a particular configuration as the active configuration for the assembly.

Viewing Model Views in Solid Edge Viewer

Solid Edge allows you to add Product manufacturing information to a 3D model. Product manufacturing information, or PMI, consists of dimensions and annotations that are added to the 3D model which can be used in the review, manufacturing, and design process. After adding PMI data to a model, you can create a model view of this data. You can use the Save As command to save the document containing the model views to .JT format. While saving the document, set the Save PMI Data option on the Solid Edge to JT Translation Options dialog box . You can then open the .JT document in Solid Edge Viewer.

After a document containing model views is opened in Solid Edge Viewer, the Model Views tab in EdgeBar displays a list of the model views and associated PMI data. To display the information, right-click a model view and on the shortcut menu, click Apply. The PMI data in the model view is displayed in the graphics window. PMI that is not associated with a model view is not displayed.