Windchill Fundamentals > Working with Windchill Objects > Visualization Overview > Creating a Representation from Local File Data
Creating a Representation from Local File Data
Use the following procedure to create a representation from a local file for a document or part not associated with a CAD document.
To navigate to the New Representation window, do one of the following:
If you are creating a local file representation for a Document:
Create a New Tab , and from the Customize drop-down list, navigate to General > Representations/Annotations. Locate the Representations/Annotations section, and click the New Representation icon.
If you are creating a local file representation for a Part not associated to a CAD document:
From the Information page of a part, select the Representations item in the General menu, and then click on the new representation icon .
or
In the product structure browser, click the new representation icon on the table header.
The New Representation window divides the creation of a representation into the following steps:
1. Define Representation Attributes
2. Choose Input Source
1. Define Representation Attributes
Enter the details using the following fields and check box:
Representation Details
Field
Description
Name
Enter a name for the representation.
Enter up to 60 characters. If no name is entered, a default value is used.
Description
Enter a brief description of the representation.
Enter up to 4,000 characters. This field is optional.
Set as Default Representation
Enable the Set as Default Representation check box to make this representation the default.
2. Choose Input Source
Click the Use Local Data button as the input source and specify the following options:
Input Source
Option
Description
CAD Type
Select the CAD type (such as Creo Parametric) of the local data from the drop-down list. Available types besides Creo Parametric include CADDS 5, CATIA V4, Pro/Desktop, NX, SolidWorks, CATIA V5, Inventor, and Arbortext Editor.
If the CAD Type field is left blank, the local data is assumed to be pre-converted Creo View data.
CAD Name
Enter any name information required for the CAD data to be converted. Typically, this would be the top level file in the case of an assembly.
Local file name
Use the Browse button to select the local data file. This is a required field.
Note the following:
If the input file is pre-converted Creo View data, the input file is one of the following file types:
PVZ
ZIP
JAR
OL
PLT
HPGL
DWG
DXF
CC
CCZ
An additional file type, as defined by your system administrator.
If the input file is a PVZ, ZIP, or JAR file, it contains a single PVZ file plus any other Creo View supported files that are referenced by the PVZ file.
If the CAD file name contains non-ASCII characters (for example, a file from the CATIA system), you may encounter difficulties using ZIP files. In this case, include the single CAD file in a JAR file and specify the JAR file in the Local file name field.
Generate thumbnail
If you want a thumbnail to be generated for this representation, enable the Generate thumbnail check box.
Note the following about creating representations from local data:
When a CAD system type has been specified in the CAD Type field, the Local file name is the actual CAD file, except when there is more than one file that needs to be specified.
When there is more than one file, the Local file name is a ZIP or JAR file containing all of the required CAD files.
For example, when the representation is to be created from a CAD assembly, the file is a ZIP or JAR file containing all of the dependent CAD files of the assembly, in addition to the assembly file itself. The CAD Name field specifies the name of the top-level assembly file (that is the ZIP or JAR file), for which the representation is created.
The ZIP or JAR file may contain any directory structure that is required by the CAD files for those files to be correctly referenced, and the directories are maintained when the file is unzipped.
The top-level file is not in a directory within the ZIP or JAR file. If the files are referenced by name with no relative directories, do not include directories in the ZIP or JAR file.
When a representation is created from CADDS5 data, where a part is composed of multiple physical files, all the files are included in a ZIP or JAR file, and the CADDS format name of the part specified in the CAD Name field. (Only single parts can be specified in the case of CADDS5.)
If the ZIP or JAR file specified contains only a single CAD file, it is not necessary to specify the name in the CAD Name field.
The single file from the ZIP or JAR file is automatically used.
In CAD systems where a single CAD file can contain a number of different parts and different forms, the CAD Name field is optionally used to specify which of these parts or forms should be used to create the representation.
For example, CAD systems that support this are the following:
Creo Parametric, which refers to family instances and simplified representations.
Pro/Desktop, which refers to configurations.
Unigraphics, which refers to reference sets.
To convert a specific part from a file, the file name should be qualified in the CAD Name field with the specific part to use with the :part: qualifier.
To convert a specific form, the file name must be qualified with the :form: qualifier. Both :part: and :form: can be used together where appropriate.
For example, to convert the family instance "1010.prt" from the Creo Parametric file plug.prt, enter the CAD Name as the following:
plug.prt:part:1010.prt
If a simplified rep "cutaway" is to be used for an assembly "motor.asm", enter the CAD Name as follows:
motor.asm:form:cutaway
If a family instance "1000cc.asm" of the "motor.asm" with the same simplified representation to use, enter the CAD Name as follows:
motor.asm:part:1000cc.asm:form:cutaway
The same convention is also used when using Creo View adapters from the command line.
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