extracting mass property and dynamic linking

Is there a "simple" way to have the surface area mass property
dynamically display in a drawing? I can do this statically by creating a
custom property, but I have to manually update the value as the part
changes. So It would be nice to have a hook to the calculated mass value.

clay

 

I came up with this cheat. Currently it will display the precision of the
model not the drawing.

"SW-Mass@$PRPSHEET:"SW-File Name".SLDPRT"
for a part

"SW-Mass@$PRPSHEET:"SW-File Name".SLDASM"
for an assembly file

Regards,
Corey

 

Thanks, but this only shows the part mass (weight) which is great. I
need to show the surface area also. How do I find the property
hook/variable whatever for surface area?

clay

 

Just a thought, and maybe not even a good one. You can put a macro feature
in a Feature Tree. Could you use that to poll the mass properties and
update a property in the drawing? That way, every time the drawing rebuilt,
the properties would update.

WT

 

There has to be a simple way to extract the info. The SW-mass@$prp that
Corey posted displays the Weight correctly, which is only ONE of the
mass properties, so there "should be a way to access the others. Hell, I
could do this in Cadkey 15 years ago.

Where can I find the list of all the SW-$prp properties?

clay

 

It is SW-SurfaceArea.

Merry

 

Merry has it. I was going to look it up but I didn't have the time last
night. Anyway you can figure out which ones will work in this manner by
opening a model File>Properties>Custom look under the drop down for Linked
to Value: there is a list of the mass properties. if you select one the
value field will be populated with the string all you need for the drawing
is what is before the @ symbol and replace SW-Mass with the string and you
are set.

Corey

 

That's what I thought also, but I couldn't find area or anything resembling
it in the list. I tried forcing it by typing it, and no go.

BTW, one property in the list is "XXX" and it takes it, returning, in my
case, ".005." What is it? I thought maybe it was the precision of the
primary units, but I changed that and it didn't go with it.

********* GOT IT ********
Create your note and put a property in it like this
"SW-SurfaceArea@@Default@Property test block.SLDPRT"


WT

 

Thanks everyone. this is great. So essentially, you can create or add a
custom property and link it to a mass property value. Hmm.... why would
you ever want to link a mass property value to anything but a mass
property?? anyway, thanks again.

clay

 

You did understand that you don't have to create the custom property didn't
you?