1. Michigan Regional User Group Siemens NX Session
Tata Technologies
December 8, 2015

2. Agenda NX Knowledge Driven Automation Vision & Objectives
What is a template?
What is Product Template Studio?
What is a Product Template?
What kind of Product Templates can be created?
PTS Demonstration
What’s the difference between Part Families and Product Templates?
What’s the difference between UDFs and Product Templates?
UDF Demonstration

3. NX KDA Vision and Objectives
Knowledge-Driven Automation must be a high-impact, low-overhead engineering activity in which all designers, engineers & analysts can participate without specialized skills and training.
Codeless methods for capturing knowledge of everyday workflows
Support complex real-world engineering challenges
Efficient author and capture for a broad range of re-usable design knowledge
Rapidly find the right content at the right time in a design process
Objectives
Create innovative codeless methods for capturing knowledge as an integral part of everyday workflows
KDA tools for supporting the complexities of real-world engineering challenges
Efficient author and capture for a broad range of re-usable design knowledge
Rapidly find necessary content at any point in the design process

4. NX Automation Strategy
NX supports new automation technologies as they emerge; providing flexibility for automation while preserving automation investments.
Directions:
Support PLM Open Initiative
Capture and preserve customer intellectual capital
Provide best in class tools for Knowledge Management
Offer Flexible Solutions:
NX Open API for traditional automation
Codeless toolsets for easy automation
Knowledge Fusion as core rules evaluation engine
VB.NET/C#
SNAP
Journaling
Knowledge Fusion
Knowledge
.NET Java C/C++/C#
Programming NX
Common
API
Uniform Object Model
NX supports new automation technologies as they emerge; providing flexibility for automation while preserving automation investments.\
Knowledge Fusion
Knowledge Fusion is an interpreted, object-oriented language that allows you to add engineering knowledge to a part by creating rules which are the basic building blocks of the language. The language is declarative, rather than procedural, which means that, in general, the rules are only evaluated when referenced or demanded. In addition, you can also access external knowledge bases, such as databases or spreadsheets.
NX Open
NX Open is a collection of APIs that allows you to create custom applications for NX through an open architecture using well-known programming languages (C/C++, Visual Basic, C#, Java, and Python). You can automate complex and repetitive tasks, integrate third party applications, and customize the NX interface in your preferred programming language.
GRIP
Graphics Interactive Programming (GRIP) allows you to automate some operations in NX. In some cases, it can perform advanced, customized operations in a more efficient manner than using interactive NX. GRIP uses a vocabulary of English-like words, which makes it similar in many ways to interpretive BASIC or FORTRAN.
SNAP
SNAP Getting Started Guide is an easy-to-learn programming tool intended for mechanical designers and other typical NX users – not just programmers. It can speed up your work by automating simple repetitive tasks. SNAP is based on the Visual Basic (VB.Net) language and can be used with the NX Journal Editor or with IDEs, such as Visual Studio.

5. NX Knowledge-Driven Automation System Overview
Requirements Validation
Product Templates
Knowledge Features
Check-Mate
ICE
(Interactive Class Editor)
Vehicle Design Wizards
Progressive Die Wizard
NX KF Navigator
Knowledge-Driven Automation
Languages
Rule Engine
Vehicle Packaging Wizards
Shipbuilding Wizards
Product Template Studio
CAM Templates
Optimization
Vibration Process Templates
DesignLogic
Design Studies
Strength Process Templates

6. What is a Template?
1. An overlay tool used as a guide to the form of something being created.
(This kind of template is generally not part of the finished product – just a tool used in its creation.)
Motorcycle Modification Temaple
Scallop Edge Template
Drafting Shape Templates

7. 2. An overlay tool used to collect information about a product.
What is a Template?
2. An overlay tool used to collect information about a product.
(This kind of template is also generally not part of the finished product, but collects information used either in a future step of a process or to verify that the product has been created correctly.)
Boat Hull Shaping Templates
Tile Contouring Template

8. What is a Template?
3. An adaptable object, copies of which can be adapted or modified to suit specific related purposes.
(This kind of template generally *does* become all or part of the finished product.)
Microsoft Word Letter Templates
Website Design Templates

9. = = = What is a Template? Summary: Creation Guidance
An overlay tool used as a guide to the form of something being created.
An overlay tool used to collect information about a product:
for use in a future step of a process or
to verify that the product has been created correctly.
An adaptable object, copies of which can be adapted or modified to suit specific related purposes. =
Creation Guidance =
Progress Validation
Adaptable Objects =

10. What is Product Template Studio?
CHALLENGE: Effectively communicating the intended interaction with a useful parametric model can be difficult
Product Template interfaces simplify interaction with complex designs
PTS can be used to package a design along with its documentation and analyses for simple reuse
Modularizes parametric designs into easily reusable templates with no coding
PTS users report 80+% gains in productivity

11. What is a Product Template?
Product Templates ALWAYS contains an NX Design Part or Assembly
A Product Template MAY ALSO contain any of the following:
Useful and Robust Parametric Model
Product Template
Simple Code-Free User Interface
Documentation (Drafting/PMI)
Motion Analysis
Kinematics
Dynamics
Finite Element Analysis
Structural
Thermal
Flow
Etc.

12. NX Product Template Studio
How does Product Template Studio help?
Template interfaces simplify interaction with complex designs
Modularizes parametric designs into easily reusable templates with no coding
Design validation and simulation can be built into the template
Templates can snap together into larger systems of templates
Part template
System template 12 12

13. NX Product Template Studio Packaging Design Assets for Reuse
Product Template Studio “wraps” NX parts and assemblies for subsequent reuse, documenting the intent contained in the design and streamlining future interaction with the model.
Product Template Studio dramatically reduces the “learning curve” when:
Reusing a design created by someone else, or even…
Coming back to a design created months or years ago.

14. NX Product Template Studio Codeless Automation Authoring
Product Template Studio uses a simple drag-and-drop environment to help users add a simple interface to their design, identifying critical inputs, and possibly feeding back useful outputs as well.
Template creation is very fast, because “hand-coding” has been completely eliminated.

15. What kinds of templates can be created using SPLM software tools?
Hinge Location Wizard Wiper Design Wizard Glazing Shade Bands Wizard Mirror Certification Wizard Stone Impingement Wizard Tire Envelope Wizard Check-Mate Checkers Requirements Validation Checks User-Defined Features Carryover Parametric Parts Product Templates or “Archetypes” Vehicle Architectures (…and many more.) =
Creation Guidance =
Progress Validation
Adaptable Objects =

16. Example Template (Spur Gear)
PTS Template includes:
Parametric design part
Targeted simple UI for adapting shape based on geometric input
NOTE: Basic part shape only. (Some finishing required.) No internal validation of inputs.

17. Example Template (Acme Buckets)
Acme Bucket PTS Template includes:
Parametric design part
Part Simulation
Part documentation
NOTE: Basic part shape only. (Some finishing required.)

18. Example Template (Aerospace Mechanism Link)
PTS Template includes:
Parametric design geometry
Targeted simple UI for adapting design geometry
FE strength analysis validating adapted design
Targeted simple UI for adjusting loading forces
Drawing describing the part for manufacturing
Templates become self-documenting, self- validating, well-packaged units of associative design.

19. PTS Template Creation (Arm)

20. Demonstration

28. What is the overriding purpose of templates?
Electrical Box Cutout Template

29. What’s the difference between Part Families and Product Templates?
Perfect for standard parts that will never change or be modified
Family Members are read-only and cannot be modified independently
Changes made to the Family Parent can be pushed to all children
Family Parent fully defines variation of all children in a spreadsheet
Interface for using Family Members can be somewhat cryptic
Teamcenter manages Part Families as a group of children
Product Templates
Perfect for parts that change shape or will be modified after copying
Template usage creates fully independent and modifiable copies
Changes made to Product Template are not pushed to subsequent copies
Product Template interface outlines intended variation and guides usage
Product Template interface and interaction is fully user-definable
Teamcenter manages Product Templates just like all other NX parts

30. User-Defined Features (UDFs)
What’s the difference between User-Defined Features and Product Templates?
User-Defined Features (UDFs)
UDFs package a set of modeling features for reuse within parts
When a UDF is used, it creates new features within the target part
The tools for creating the UI for a UDF are somewhat limited
A very specific set of objects can be packaged in a UDF
UDFs must be exploded to modify the underlying defining features
UDFs can be delivered to users via the Reuse Library
Product Templates
Product Templates package an entire part or assembly for reuse
When a Product Template is used, it creates new part files
The tools for creating the UI for a Product Template are very flexible
A Product Template includes the entire contents of a part or assembly
Product Templates can be freely modified using traditional methods
Product Templates are also delivered to users via the Reuse Library 