Create a symbol

Create drawings from models (Creo Elements/Direct Annotation) > Modify drawings > Add and modify symbols > Create a symbol

Create a symbol

Creo Elements/Direct Annotation provides the following types of symbols:

• GD & T

The orientation and position of the datum symbols and their reference lines, if drawn, depend on the drawing elements to which they are attached.

The datum targets in particular denote specific points, lines, or areas on a view that are used in establishing a datum reference frame.

The GD & T menu contains the tolerance symbols. You can add modifiers and datums to tolerance symbols to build up geometric tolerance groups.

GD & T symbols are contained in the hp_symbols2 font (which has the filename hp_symbols2.fnt). When you add these symbols to a drawing, Creo Elements/Direct Annotation uses this font.

• Datum

• Datum ANSI

• Datum ISO/DIN

• Datum Target

• Datum Target Area

• Datum Target Point

• Movable Datum Target

• Tolerance

• Surface

• Welding

• User defined

Each of these is created in a separate menu.

To create a symbol,

1. Click Annotation and then, in the Annotate group, click the arrow next to

Symbol.

2. Click

Create Symbol.

3. Double-click the desired symbol in the Template Browser or select an existing symbol on the sheet. The dialog box for that symbol appears, displaying the default values, and the symbol appears on the cursor when it is placed in the Creo Elements/Direct Annotation viewport.

4. If needed, click Owner and specify the owner of the symbol.

5. Position the symbol in the viewport.

You can drag the symbol to a new position at any time.

• Eligible reference elements (geometrical entities, dimension text, tolerances, dimension lines, dimension reference lines, and points) to position the symbol are highlighted when you hover over them.

• After positioning a surface symbol, you can change its reference element by selecting the symbol and clicking

Change Reference on the CMT.

• Surface symbols are grouped with reference elements; if you move the reference element, the symbol is also moved. However, if you make major changes to the reference element, or if the reference element is an angular dimension, you must reattach the symbol using

Change Reference.

6. Complete the operation as described below.

To specify symbol parameters,

1. Choose among the following:

◦ For a Datum symbol, enter a datum text for the symbol in the Datum box.

◦ For a Datum ANSI symbol, enter a datum text for the symbol in the Datum box. Optionally select the position of the symbol on the reference line from the Adjust box.

◦ For a Datum ISO/DIN symbol, enter a datum text for the symbol in the Datum box. Optionally select the position of the symbol on the reference line from the Adjust box.

◦ For a Datum Target symbol, enter a name in the Name box, and/or enter a value in the Value box. To add a diameter symbol (Ø) to the specified value, click the Ø switch on.

◦ For a Datum Target Area symbol, enter a radius for the target area symbol in the Radius box.

◦ For a Datum Target Point symbol, directly place the symbol in the viewport.

◦ For a Movable Datum Target symbol, enter a name in the Name box. Optionally enter a value in the Value box. To add a diameter symbol (Ø) to the specified value, click the Ø switch on.

◦ For a GD & T tolerance symbol, specify the following parameters:

Multiline

Create a multiple-tier tolerance symbol.

Tolerance

Select the type of tolerance symbol.

Composite

Create up to four lines of tolerance information (see below). Composite symbols span two or more lines of text in height.

Value

Click the Value box, the symbol pallet or widget opens. Type the tolerance value.

Datums

Type or select the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary datums. To specify multiple datum references, click Primary, Secondary or Tertiary. The symbol pallet or widget opens. Type the datum reference characters.

Indicators

Select one of the available indicators, Intersection Plane, Direction Feature, Collection Plane and Orientation Plane.

You can create a maximum of four indicators per line. In case of composite symbols, the indicators appear only in the first line.

Fix text

Click Fix Text. The Fix Text dialog box opens. You can add a prefix, postfix, subfix, and superfix to the symbol. Special characters can be added to fix text. You can also store text in tables for future use.

• Click Prefix, Postfix, Superfix, or Subfix to open a text editor. Click Spec Chars to use special characters. Specify the value and click

. Alternatively, type the text in the boxes or select from the list.

• Use the buttons above Superfix and below Subfix to align and add a text box to the superfix and subfix, respectively.

• Click Put All to add the current fix text to the all fix texts symbols table.

• Click Get All to retrieve predefined fix text from the all fix texts symbols table.

For detailed information on fix text, see the dimensioning fix text help or the related links at the end of this topic.

In the Composite section, select the number of lines to be added. You can add a maximum of four lines to the composite symbol. Click

and

to switch the composite tiers. Following is an example of a composite symbol.

You can also create a multiple-tier tolerance symbol:

Click Insert in the Parameters section to add another tier to the symbol. Click

and

to switch tiers. Click Delete to remove a tier.

◦ For a Surface symbol,

Three versions of the surface symbol are available in the Template Browser: Surface (ISO 1302–1992), Surface (ISO 1302–2002), and Surface (ASME Y14.36–2018). Double-click any one symbol in the Template Browser and specify the following parameters in the respective dialog boxes:

Symbol Location

If the symbol is snapped to dimension text that is not parallel to the dimension line, select either TOP or RIGHT to place the symbol. The default is TOP and left-aligned.

Form

Select the surface symbol form.

Unit of Proposal

Select the unit of proposal. This determines which sets of predefined parameters appear in some menus below.

Finish Val a1

Enter the upper roughness value.

The position of Finish Val a1 differs in the Surface (1992) symbol version.

Finish Val a2

Enter the lower roughness value (Surface (1992)) or middle roughness value (Surface (2002) and Surface (2018)).

The position of Finish Val a2 differs in the Surface (1992) symbol version.

Finish Val a3

Enter the lower roughness value (Surface (2002) and Surface (2018)).

Add Surface Finish Rows

Select to add an additional two values for the surface finish or roughness in the Surface (2018) version: Finish Val a4 and Finish Val a5.

Process b

Enter the manufacturing process code.

Cov Length c

Enter the covered length.

Specify Cov Length c only in the Surface (1992) version. This parameter is not available in the Surface (2002) and Surface (2018) versions.

Measure f

Enter another roughness measure.

Specify Measure f only in the Surface (1992) version. This parameter is not available in the Surface (2002) and Surface (2018) versions.

Allowance e

Enter the machining allowance.

Groove Dir d

Specify the groove direction.

Standard

Specify the surface symbol version: 1992, 2002, or 2018.

Depending on the default Standard setting, you can select any one or all the surface symbol versions. See Set default symbol parameters. If the default Standard setting is All, you can change any symbol to the other version. However,

• If the default setting is ISO 1302 - 1992, show only, you can only change a Surface (2002) symbol or Surface (2018) symbol to Surface (1992).

• If the default setting is ISO 1302 - 2002, show only, you can only change a Surface (1992) symbol or Surface (2018) symbol to Surface (2002).

• If the default setting is ASME Y14.36 - 2018, show only, you can only change a Surface (1992) symbol or Surface (2002) symbol to Surface (2018).

Note that the horizontal bar of the symbol is not drawn if none of the b, c, and f values is given for the Surface (1992) version.

See Examples of how surface symbols are placed in different scenarios.

◦ For a Welding symbol,

Specify the following parameters:

Shape

Select the type of welding symbol.

Position

Select the orientation of the symbol.

Geo Var

Toggle the menu to display the geometric variable fields g1 to g7. Select the required geometry elements from the cascade lists. The elements comply with the DIN 18800-1 standard.

Text Var

Toggle the menu to display the text variable fields t1 to t7. Enter the required values in the data entry fields.

You can add multiline text for t7; click t7 and use the text editor.

If you are modifying a welding symbol, you can click Swap Side to exchange parameters between the arrow side and other side of the welding symbol.

2. Under Appearance, at any time during creation of the text, you may specify various attributes. Most of these settings are intuitive, but it may be helpful to know:

Style:

Select Default (no Style), Datum Target, or Surface.

Because Surface and Datum Target symbols have settings that other symbols do not, Creo Elements/Direct Annotation does not use the default style specified in the Default Settings Table for these symbols.

Angle:

Specifies the angle between the text base line and the horizontal.

If you set the value of the angle to Auto, Creo Elements/Direct Annotation will use the angle of the selected element to set the angle of the symbol. The Get Angle button will change to Flip Symbol so you can position the symbol on the other side of the element.

To avoid an overlap of the text and symbol, define the angle before you place the symbol. For example, if you create and place the symbol at an angle of 0, and then change the angle to 225, the text and the symbol overlap. However, if you change the angle to 225 before placing the symbol, there is no overlap.

Size:

Whether the size of the symbol is relative

Ratio:

The ratio of character width to height.

Slant:

The deviation from vertical of the characters in the text; values must be between -80 and +80 degrees (approximately ±1.39 rad or ±88.88 grad).

3. You may change any parameters for the symbol until you click Position Next Symbol or OK.

4. To add another symbol, click Position Next Symbol, specify its position, and edit as required.

5. Click

to complete the operation.

The Ref Line button is active when the owner of the symbol is a valid reference line owner (a view or a sketch). Click it to open the Create Ref Line dialog box and draw a reference line from the current symbol to a target element in the drawing.

Limitations

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling splits multiple-tier GD&T symbols into separate symbols when you save your drawing to a format older than 2008.

Examples

The following table lists some examples of placement of surface symbols.

Type of placement	Example
Symbol location is TOP
Symbol location is RIGHT
Symbol is snapped to geometry
Symbol is snapped to geometric tolerance • Single tolerance • Stacked tolerances • Tolerance with fix text
Symbol is snapped to dimension text • Dimension text for a horizontal dimension line • Dimension text for a vertical dimension line • Dimension text with fix text
Symbol is snapped to dimension line • Linear horizontal dimension line • Linear vertical dimension line • Circular dimension line • Angular dimension line