Solid Edge 2D DraftingFrequently asked questions

FAQ

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General questions

What is Solid Edge 2D Drafting?Solid Edge® 2D Drafting is a full functioning and fully associative 2D Drafting software packagecreated by UGS – Solid Edge.

How long does it take to download Solid Edge 2D Drafting from thedownload web page?The download time is dependant on your internet connection speed. Solid Edge 2D Drafting isdownloaded as a self extracting executable and is about 250MB in size. It is suggested that youhave a fast internet connection to download the product.

How much disk space do I need to download and install Solid Edge 2D Drafting?Solid Edge 2D Drafting is a self extracting executable that you download. The size of the downloaded executable isabout 250MB. When the executable is run you will need an additional 250MB of temporary space for installation andthe installed product size is about 600MB.

Does Solid Edge 2D Drafting use associative geometry and dimensions?Solid Edge 2D Drafting is fully associative. The associativity can be turned on and off. With theassociativity turned on, making changes to geometry and dimensions will modify connecteddimensions and geometry accordingly. The drawing does not fall apart when modifying thegeometry. To turn on the associativity, click on Maintain Relationships from the Tools menu.Ensure that there is a check mark beside Maintain Relationships. See the following image.

I create schematic drawings. Does Solid Edge 2D Drafting provide a library of schematic symbols I can use to produce these drawings?Solid Edge 2D Drafting comes equipped with hundreds of standard symbols for creatingschematic drawings for electrical, mechanical (fluid power) and piping purposes. These symbols are delivered as blocksin the ‘Sample block’ folder under the Solid Edge 2D Drafting program folder. This sample block library is one of themost comprehensive set of schematic blocks you will find. These blocks adhere to common standards such as IEEE315-1975 (R1993), IEEE 91/91a-1991, IEC 617, IEC 117, ANSI Y32.10-1967 (R1994), Y32.9-1972, ANSI Y32.2.4-1949(R1998) and Y32.2.3-1949 (R1999). SolidEdge 2D Drafting also provides a smartconnector object that allows you to easilydraw the paths between the blocks youplace on the drawing.

Someone has asked me to download Solid Edge 2D Drafting so they can send drawings theycreate with the Solid Edge Drafting software. Can I open the files they send to me and can I seeall the geometry?Solid Edge 2D Drafting has beendesigned with collaboration in mind.You may receive information from acompany that uses Solid Edge for3D design and drawing creation.You can open the drawings theyproduce from 3D models with theSolid Edge drafting software. SolidEdge and Solid Edge 2D Draftinguse the same file format for thedraft (.dft) files. You can open thefiles and perform the same 2Dgeometry creation as you do withthe files you create initially in SolidEdge 2D Drafting. Once you havemade modifications to the files, youcan send the files back to theprovider where they can open thesame file to see your changes. Thisis far superior to receivingtranslated files. When there notranslation is required, there is no risk of loss of data because of translating the files from one file format to anotherfile format. You can also open the draft files and print the drawings easily. The image shows a simple drawing createdfrom a 3D model in Solid Edge Draft and opened in Solid Edge 2D Drafting.

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Are there any exercises I can work through to help me get started using Solid Edge 2D Drafting?Solid Edge 2D Drafting has simpletutorials that help a new user quicklyget started using the product. WithSolid Edge 2D Drafting running, clickon ‘View all Solid Edge tutorials’. Seethe following image. The topic iscircled in the image.

This displays the Solid Edge tutorials dialog. Click on‘Creating 2D Drawings with Solid Edge’ under the DraftTutorials. This will run the tutorial. Follow through thesteps in the tutorial. You can then return to this dialogand run another tutorial.

Questions from AutoCAD users

I am an AutoCAD user. How difficult is Solid Edge 2D Drafting to learn?Solid Edge 2D Drafting is very easy to learn. Icons on buttons and commands are similar to AutoCAD. Also, as anAutoCAD user you will find terms and functionality that is familiar to you.

One example is the use of the 2D Model environment. This is much thesame as the Model environment in AutoCAD. To get to the 2D Modelenvironment in Solid Edge 2D Drafting, click on 2D Model Sheet in the Viewmenu. See the following image. This adds 2D Model into the sheet tab tray atthe bottom of the application. Select 2D Model.

Where AutoCAD uses Layouts, Solid Edge 2D Drafting uses Sheets for thedrawings. There are many other terms you will already be familiar with suchas blocks, layers and styles.

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I currently use AutoCAD.Where can I get moreinformation about using SolidEdge 2D Drafting in terms Ican understand?Solid Edge 2D Drafting has excellenthelp topics specifically designed foryou the AutoCAD user. With SolidEdge 2D Drafting running, click on‘Solid Edge 2D Drafting Help’ fromthe Help menu. See the followingimage. Read through the help topicsfor valuable information about gettingstarted using Solid Edge 2D Drafting.

Solid Edge 2D Drafting help

Can I open my existing AutoCAD files InSolid Edge 2D Drafting?Solid Edge 2d Drafting has a built in AutoCADtranslator. AutoCAD FILES (.DWG and .DXF) can beopened by selecting the file in the Open File dialog.Options can be set with the AutoCAD to Solid EdgeTranslation Wizard which control how the AutoCADfile is opened in Solid Edge 2D Drafting.

Open file dialog

AutoCAD to Solid Edge translation Wizard

FAQ

I have many libraries of blocks I have created in AutoCAD. Can I use my existing block librariesin Solid Edge 2D Drafting?AutoCAD blocks and block librariescan be used directly in Solid Edge. Allyou have to do is select the blocklibrary (.DWG or .DXF) file in theSolid Edge 2D Drafting Edge Bar. Thendrag and drop the AutoCAD blockinto the Draft file. In this image, theAutoCAD file Drawing1.dwg has beenselected. There are four blocks in thisfile. When you click on the blocknames, the image below the name willchange to display the AutoCAD blockselected. Once you have selected thecorrect block, drag and drop theAutoCAD block into the draft file. TheAutoCAD block will be placed in thedraft file at the drop location.

Use AutoCAD blocks directly in Solid Edge 2D Drafting

How can I set up Solid Edge 2D Drafting to display more like AutoCAD? Solid Edge 2D Drafting can be easily configured to display more like AutoCAD. AutoCAD uses a black background bydefault. Solid Edge 2D Drafting uses a white background by default. Solid Edge 2D Drafting has options built in so thatthe display very closely resembles AutoCAD. If you want to operate in this mode, there are a couple of simple thingsyou need to do.

First, click on Options from the Tools menu and click onthe Color tab on the Options dialog. On this tab changethe Color Scheme to AutoCAD Model. Notice that thecolors change in the preview. See the following images.This should be done on both the working sheet (Sheet1)ad the 2D Model sheet. Now the colors are set to theAutoCAD type colors. This sets up the environmentdisplay. If you want to change back to the standard SolidEdge 2D Drafting display, change the Color Scheme backto Solid Edge Default.

Second, you need to set up the object display for AutoCAD looking objects.When you changed the background display, most of the objects disappeared. Most likely thedraft template you used to create the current draft file has standard Solid Edge object colors.Close the current file and create a new draft file using by clicking on New from the File menu.

Tools-options-color tab

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Click on the ‘More’ tab in the ‘New’ file dialog. There willbe draft templates you can use to create draft files thatdisplay properly on black backgrounds. These template fileshave ‘black_background’ in their names. Click on‘Normeng_black_background.dft’ and click the OK button.

New file dialog

Now when you place geometry, it will look more like theAutoCAD display. See the following image.

Solid Edge 2D Draftingconfigured for AutoCAD like display

When I open an AutoCAD file (.DWG or .DXF) in Solid Edge 2D Drafting I cannot easily see allthe geometry. What can I do to see all the geometry?Solid Edge 2D Drafting can be easily configured to display more like AutoCAD. AutoCAD uses a black background bydefault. Solid Edge 2D Drafting uses a white background by default. Solid Edge 2D Drafting has options built in so thatthe display very closely resembles AutoCAD. If you want to operate in this mode, there are a couple of simple thingsyou need to do.

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The following is an image of an AutoCAD file opened in Solid Edge 2D Drafting. It uses all the default Solid Edge 2DDrafting display settings. Notice that the original AutoCAD colors are not easily seen on the default Solid Edge 2DDrafting white background.

To configure Solid Edge 2D Drafting,first see the Q&A topic ‘How can Iset up Solid Edge 2D Drafting to lookmore like AutoCAD?’. This topic will help you configure the display of Solid Edge 2D Drafting for anAutoCAD appearance.

Next, you need to use a drafttemplate that is specifically createdfor the translation of the AutoCAD(.DWG or .DXF) files. Thesetemplates are provided with SolidEdge 2D Drafting. To use one ofthese templates when opening anAutoCAD file, click the AutoCADfile you wish to open in the Open Filedialog. Click on the Options buttonat the bottom of the Open Filedialog. This will open the AutoCADto Solid Edge Translation Wizard.Click on the ‘Next’ button at the bottom of the dialog. This will present the dialog shown in the following image.

Notice that normal.DFT is the Solid Edge template currentlyused to translate the AutoCAD file. Change the template byclicking on the ‘Browse’ button. This will present an ‘Open’dialog. Double click on the ‘More’ folder in the file list. Click on‘Normeng_black_ background.dft’ as the template file as shownin the following image.

Click on the ‘Open’button at the bottomright hand side of thedialog. Notice that theSolid Edge template haschanged to the file youselected. Click on the‘Finish’ button at thebottom right hand of thedialog. You may get awarning stating that you

FAQ

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cannot overwrite the default Configuration file. Click on‘OK’. Click on the ‘Create a new configuration file’ radio button and then click on the ‘Copy To’ button.

Change the File Name from ‘seacad.ini’ to ‘seacad2.ini’ andclick on the ‘Save’ button. Click on the ‘Finish’ button. Youhave just created your own custom configuration fortranslating your AutoCAD files. With the AutoCAD file stillselected, click on the ‘Open’ button on the Open File dialog.

Now when you open your AutoCAD files in Solid Edge 2DDrafting, they will display more like they did in AutoCAD.See the following image.

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