Electrical Design > Cabling > Using Cabling > Setting Up the Cabling Environment
Setting Up the Cabling Environment
Cabling enables you to set various different features which allow you to display the cabling environment the way you require. You can perform the following operations:
Displaying Reference Designators
• From the Graphics toolbar:
◦ Click in the Graphics toolbar to display the reference designators.
• From the PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box:
1. Click File > Options. The PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box opens.
2. Click Entity Display. The Change how entities are displayed area opens.
3. Under the Dimensions, annotations, notes and reference designators display settings area, select the Show reference designators of cabling, ECAD and piping components check box.
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Select the Show note names instead of note text check box to display the name of the note. Clear the check box to display the reference designator.
4. Click OK.
Displaying Cables as Thick or Centerline
Display centerline cables when you manually route or edit cables as a recommended practice.
• From the Graphics toolbar:
◦ Click on the Graphics toolbar to display thick cables.
◦ Click on the Graphics toolbar to display centerline cables.
• From the PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box:
1. Click File > Options. The PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box opens.
2. Click Entity Display. The Change how entities are displayed area opens.
3. In the Cables display settings area, select the Show cables as thick lines check box.
4. Click OK.
Displaying Hidden Lines
Hidden lines are drawn lines that appear behind other objects in a 3D view. When you set the display style to Hidden Line, the hidden lines appear behind solid objects, but are displayed in grey. When you set the display style to No Hidden, lines behind the solid objects are removed from the display.
Cable HLR is available only if the display style is set to Hidden Line (View > Display Style > Hidden Line).
In cases where cables physically intersect a part or another cable, the entire cable may be incorrectly displayed. This condition indicates cable routing interference. To reduce cable interference, additional locations can be added. You can use routing options for greater control over cable tangency at selected locations.
A cable can be hidden by geometry and can also hide other geometry. You can view the cable or the hidden geometry depending on the setting for the full_hlr_for_cables configuration option.
Other Cabling Hidden Line Display Options
Use the Remove hidden lines for cables options in the Cables display settings area of the PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box. (File > Options > Entity Display.)
• None—Hidden lines are displayed and the overall display process is faster. Cables are hidden by other objects, but do not hide other objects or hidden cables within the harness. This is the most recommended method.
• Full—Cables are hidden by other objects and hide other objects and wires within harnesses.
• Partial—Similar to Full, but does not perform calculations within the harness.
Displaying Cable Portions Inside Components
1. Click File > Options. The PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box opens.
2. Click Entity Display. The Change how entities are displayed area opens.
3. In the Cables display settings area, select the Show cable portions that are inside cabling components check box.
4. Click OK.
Cable Colors
You can define the COLOR parameter for the spool or override the default value using the Appearance Gallery dialog box from the View tab. When you change the color of a cable, all cable segments created from its spool are also updated with the new color. Cables created from the spool after editing the COLOR parameter use the new color. However, the new color is local to the design file and the value of the COLOR parameter is not updated in the spool file. By default, the system color is applied to the wires or cables that have unknown color assigned to it.
Save the new colors that you have added to the appearance palette in the Appearances Manager dialog box as a .dmt file.
To Change the Color of a Cable or Subharness
1. Click View > Appearance. The colors set in the Appearances Manager open.
2. Choose a color. The pointer changes to a paint brush.
3. Select the cable or subharness in the graphics window or Model Tree. The color of the selected object changes.
4. Middle-click to exit the tool.
To Modify the System Color of Segments and Locations
1. Click File > Options. The PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box opens.
2. Click System Appearance.
3. Under Global Colors, click the arrow next to Geometry. The options for the cable environment appear.
4. To change the color of cable and network segments and locations, click the arrow next to the colored square. The Theme Colors box opens.
5. Click one of the colors. The color in the square changes.
6. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each cable color option.
7. Click OK.
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When you set one of the following configuration options, the corresponding option to change the color is not available in the PTC Creo Parametric Options dialog box.
• cable_location_override_color
• cable_segment_override_color
• network_location_override_color
• network_segment_override_color
Cabling Drawing Setup Options
In an open drawing click File > Prepare > Drawing Properties. The Drawing Properties dialog box opens. Click change in the Detail Options line. The Options dialog box opens. Set the following options for the Cabling drawing.
Command
Description
show_cbl_term_in_region
Allows use of the report symbols &asm.mbr.name and &asm.mbr.type to show terminators in Drawing report tables for cable assemblies having connectors with terminator parameters.
Shows terminators if set to yes and if the Cable Info attribute is set for the repeat region. When creating new drawings, the default value is yes. For existing drawings, the default value is no.
Setting Up Configuration Options