Assembly/Parts Manuals

How are people creating Assembly/Parts Manuals from SolidWorks. Any
suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

 

Why not just explode your assembly view and bubble the individual parts.
Then put a BOM with whatever info needed on the page?? Jake Barron

 

Most of our manuals have been produced using Pagemaker. We create an
assembly with all the configs and explosions required then create one
drawing (without a border). THe dawing is then imported to PM and
copied and croped to create the sequenced views. It does work quite
well and you get the OLE bit too but I find it a bit to labourious.
Recently we have been experimenting with IPAPublish3D from Immersive
Design, this software creates HTML files with parts lists, Boms,
Animated assemblies/Disassemblies etc, looking very promising. There
are two version available, Standard and Pro both have demo versions
are available to try before you buy.

Regards

Brian

 

Steve,

Here are three.

1. From SolidWorks, File, Save As select Jpeg format. Jpeg is good
for documentation because the file size is small. What you see in the
SolidWorks graphics window is what will be in the Jpeg file. No cost,
but not that much in control.

2. If you have alot of pictures, download or purchase a screen capture
tool, that lets you select a region in the screen. I use snag-it
(techsmith.com). There are alot of nice options if you are selecting
picture after picture.

After the jpeg files are taken, they can be modified in the drawing
tools of snag-it or you can go another application to add text and
additional graphics. Snag-it can be downloaded free for 30 days.

3. Try immersivedesign.com. They produce a gold partner software
application to document the assembly process.


From a technique perspective, I use different configurations to help
document the assembly process. Also, when you make an exploded view,
think about how the components will be assembled and disassembled,
this will assist in the animation as you create multiple screen shots.

Know the type of output you are looking for, paper or electronic.
Paper is usually reproduced in black&white - so pictures will be in
shades of gray or hidden lines removed. Electronic files will see
color - but screen shots do not require high quality as they would for
a product brochure.

Regards, Marie

 

Thank you very much for your posts on this topic. I have been
investigating this subject now for the last couple of months and
believe that there is another solution partner product out there that
has some merit. The website is www.document3d.com. The product has the
ability to import 2D or 3D models/drawings directly from SolidWorks
into the publishing program. The program also is able to produce a
printed document as well as 3D interactive documents readable from
their free viewer. It is a new and interesting program that is
hopefully going to change the way products are documented.

Have you heard of this product before?? Any comments would be
appreciated.

Steven

 

I looked at them a year ago, showed their stuff to our Tech Pub group, but
it never went any farther. I think maybe their price was higher than was
desired to pay here. I also think that maybe our group had other ideas of
their own. I thought it looked pretty neat.

WT