About Generating Drawings from a Layout

About Generating Drawings

When you click Add > Content to open a new drawing, the Drawing Information section in the Drawing dialog box displays various options depending on the active object (a 2D layout or a product) when generating a drawing.

The following table depicts the possible cases:

Note: The word "range" in this section refers to the sheet indices for drawing generation.


Drawing Information section	A 2D Layout is Active
Drawing generation options list	Empty sheet: Generates an empty sheet. All Design Sheets: Generates a drawing from all the design sheets. Current Sheet: Generates a drawing from the current sheet. Selected Sheets: Generates a drawing from the selected sheets. Custom Sheet Range: Generates a drawing from the defined custom range of sheets.
Sheets range box	Automatically fills with selected sheet indexes for the Selected Sheets option. For all other options, except for Custom Sheet Range, the Sheets range box is cleared.

If the product to generate the drawing is of large range, and the current range option is lower range, the drawing generation options are not displayed and an appropriate message is displayed in the dialog box.

Information About the Custom Sheet Range

You can define the custom range of sheets in the Sheets range box, when the Custom Sheet Range option is selected. As soon as a text is entered in this box, the drawing generation option is switched to Custom Sheet Range. You can enter the sheet numbers or sheet ranges, or both, and separate them by commas ",". A sheet range is defined by two sheet indexes separated by a dash “-”. For example, 1, 3-5, 7.

The following checks are performed when a custom range of sheets is defined:

Whether the entered sheet numbers are valid or ranges are defined using the recommended syntax (commas ",' or dashes "-").
Whether a sheet index is greater than the existing design sheet number, or whether a sheet index matches a detail sheet, or a hidden sheet, or there is no sheet to be generated.

An appropriate message is displayed if the system fails to comply with any of the above checks.

3D Polyhedral Data: 3D polyhedral data is supported when a drawing is generated from a 2D layout view using the Exact View generation mode.
Select the 3D Polyhedral Data check box from Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > Mechanical Systems > Drafting > View, under View generation, click Configure next to View generation mode.

Monitoring of Layout/Batch Drawing Generation Dialog Box

The monitoring dialog box appears when a batch is run. It displays the progress of the drawing generation batch process started during the current session, and gives an access to the batch report and the generated drawing.

Each section corresponds to a drawing generation batch. The batches are displayed in the order of the oldest batch to the most recent.

If the monitoring dialog box is already displayed and if a batch is newly started, a new line corresponding to the newly started batch generation is added.

In the case of a running batch, the corresponding line of this dialog box shows:

The progress bar showing the batch progress (it is visible in green on the background).
The name of the object being generated with the indication of the current step (Initialize batch and later the index of the processed view vs. the total number of views to be generated).
Cancel : stops the batch. (If clicked, the report is not generated.)
Remove : removes the line from the monitoring dialog box. (If clicked, the line is removed, the batch execution still continues, but no information is interactively displayed.)

In the case of an ended batch, the corresponding line of this dialog box shows:

The name of the generated drawing representation. You can click to open it in its own editor.
Report : opens the generation report as an html page in the default browser.
Warning : opens the global report as an html page in the default browser, displaying warnings or errors encountered during the generation.
Remove : remove the line from the monitoring dialog box.

Notes:

If you close the monitoring dialog box before the process ends, or if the current session is stopped, the batch execution process still continues and an html report is generated. In such cases, you can access the html report from the dedicated directory. The html report is generated by the batch infrastructure and its location is described in the infrastructure documentation. For more information, see 3DEXPERIENCE Native Apps: Batches.
Whenever you run the remote drawing generation command, an .XML file is created in the file system. For more information about this file and its location, see 3DEXPERIENCE Native Apps: Batches .

Monitoring Dialog Box Behavior

The monitoring dialog box is docked to the upper-right of the 2D layout window.

You can minimize it to the right of the screen. The appearance of this minimized dialog box differs depending on the status of the batch process.

However, if you use such a minimized mode of the dialog box, it is stored as a preference and it is displayed in the same mode for the next usage.

Automatic View Creation Using the Design Range Management

When a product or a 3D area part or a 2D layout is active and a drawing is created, you can create a set of views automatically.

Note: The word "range" in this section refers to the scale of the drawing. For more information, see Introducing Design Range Management.

The following table explains the two cases of automatic view creation using the design range:


Cases	View Generation Options for the Compatible Ranges	Comment
A 2D layout is active	Empty sheet All Design Sheets Current Sheet Selected Sheets Custom Sheet Range	If the ranges are not compatible, a message is displayed in the Drawing Information tab of the Drawing dialog box informing you that the current range prevents the view generation.
A product or 3D area part is active	Empty sheet All views Front, Bottom, and Right views Front, Top and Left views

Notes:

A drawing contains one range corresponding to a set of tolerances: there is only one range for a given drawing. That is, all views of a drawing use the same range. Once created, you cannot modify the range of a drawing.
When the drawing to be generated is under a product, ensure that the design range of the drawing is less than that of the product. Else, an error message appears to diagnose the issue. In this case, the views are not generated.
When the drawing to be generated is not under the product and the drawing is of smaller range compared to the product to be represented, an error message appears. In this case, the views are not generated.
When the drawing to be generated is not under the product and the drawing range is greater range compared to the product to be represented, the following scenarios are possible:
- The views are generated without any checks performed.
- A warning message appears and no views are generated.
- A warning message appears and views are generated.
You can select the preferences to change the behavior. See Generation.

When a product or a 2D layout is active and the app is opened, a warning appears if the ranges of the two are not compatible. In the warning dialog box, you have the following choices:

Click OK to automatically adapt the range of the drawing with the 3D part to be represented.
Click Cancel to ignore the warning and use the preferred or default range.

Generative View Creation Scenarios

The following scenarios are possible when generating views:

If the drawing range is lower than the product range: It displays the message that it is not possible to generate views. After you click OK in the message box, an empty drawing is generated.
For example: The drawing range is normal and the product range is large.
The drawing range is same as the product range: Views are generated.
If the drawing range is larger than the product range: The views are created based on the value of Allow view creation from 3D data of smaller range check box available in Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > Mechanical Systems Drafting > Generation expander, under View:
- If Allow view creation from 3D data of smaller range option is set as Yes (no warning): The views are created.
- If Allow view creation from 3D data of smaller range option is set as Yes (warning): A warning message appears informing that the drawing large range is greater than the physical product normal range. When you click OK in this 3D View Extraction message box, the views are generated.
- If the option Allow view creation from 3D data of smaller range is set as No: A warning message appears informing that it is not possible to generate views because drawing large range is greater than the physical product normal range. When you click OK in this 3D View Extraction message box, the views are not generated.

View from 3D

You can create views from 2D Layout for 3D Design or 3D Tolerancing & Annotation only if the range of the reference view is equal to the drawing range or according to the value of Allow view creation from 3D data of smaller range.

When creating a view from 3D, the compatibility between the drawing range and the root product context range is checked prior to view creation. If the ranges are not compatible, a warning message appears and the view is not created.

View Dress-up

You can create 2D geometry and annotations using the range of the layout. That is, you can create and modify annotations as long as they are attached to a representation or a 3D area shape located inside the layout geometrical limit. Sketched geometry can be created and modified in Drafting and 2D Layout for 3D Design exactly like in Sketcher.
You can create annotations selecting 3D area geometry located in the layout representation favorite context (if any) or the parent product structure, as long as this geometry is contained inside the layout geometrical limit.
You can create and modify an area fill, axis line, center line or thread as long as they are attached to a representation/3D area shape located inside the layout geometrical limit.
You can create and modify dimensions on generated geometry using the range of the layout (whatever the range of the product pointed by the generative view).
Note: The dimension value precision is strongly dependent upon the range of the layout.

2D Components: You cannot instantiate a 2D component in a layout which has a smaller range than its own representation.

Geometry Import and Export: Import and export of geometry is independent of the range of the layout. For DXF, IG2D, and DWG formats, the export generated data is computed according to the sheet paper unit.; When importing a DXF, IG2D or DWG file, the drawing representation is created with the default range.

Grid: The characteristics of a view geometry grid depend on the range of the representation containing that view. You can customize it for each range.

Paper Grid: This grid is used for snapping the position of annotations and dress-up elements. It is adaptive to the view ratio and independent of the range of view representation.