Skip to content
CAD UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Model Based Definition with Creo Parametric 7.0
GitHub

Creating and Associating Appearance States to Combined States

You can associate a saved appearance state with a combination state to improve communication of design intent through the use of colors.

  • Default Appearance is assigned.

  • Create new appearance states in the view manager

  • Redefine a combined state to assign the appearance.

Figure

Figure 1 - Default Model

Figure

Figure 2 - Assigning an Appearance

Figure

Figure 3 - Associated Appearance

Creating and Associating Appearance States to Combined States

Figure

Figure 1 - Default Model

Figure

Figure 3 - Associated Appearance Appearance states enable you to assign and capture multiple appearance combinations of the same part or assembly. Appearance states solve the problem of having only a single appearance per component occurrence. You can associate a saved appearance state with a combination state to improve communication of design intent through the use of colors.

You can create and switch appearance states on the Appearance tab in the view manager. You can also copy an appearance state. Simply double-click an appearance state to activate it. When you create an appearance state it automatically becomes the active appearance state, and any appearance you subsequently apply to a model or surface is applied to that appearance state. Unlike view orientations or explode states, there is no need to re-save the appearance state if a change is made to it. The appearance state saves the trouble of using cumbersome workarounds for setting different colors in a model.

The default Creo Parametric start model templates include the following appearance states:

  • Default Appearance — The initial appearance state which can be altered.

  • Master Appearance — Similar to the Default Appearance, but its appearance state cannot be altered. If you do alter the Master Appearance, it displays as modified in the view manager. You can right-click it and select Save to save the modified Master Appearance as a new appearance state.

If the same appearance is used in more than one appearance state and you edit that appearance, the system notifies you of this and alerts you that editing it will influence those other appearance states.

Associating Appearance States to a Combination State

Figure

Figure 2 - Assigning an Appearance

Once an appearance state has been created, you can assign it to one or more combination state. Of course you can create multiple appearance states and assign each one to a different combination state. To assign an appearance state to a combination state, perform the following:

  • Redefine the combination state you wish to associate an appearance state to.

  • In the dialog box, select the desired appearance state from the Appearance drop-down list.

The appearance state now displays for that specific combination state.

You must now redefine all other combination states and assign the Default Appearance value from the Appearance drop-down list. Otherwise, the system retains the last-activated appearance state even when switching to combination states that have no appearance assigned.

Creating and Associating Appearance States to Combined States

Close Window

Figure

Erase Not Displayed

Figure

Figure

MBD\Combined-States_Appearance

Figure

SENSOR-MOUNT_APP-STATE.PRT

Steps

  • Task 1. Create an appearance state. Disable all Datum Display types.

  • From the In Graphics toolbar, click View Manager Figure .

  • In the view manager, select the Appearance tab.

  • Notice the two existing appearances, and that the Default Appearance is active. Figure

  • In the view manager, click New . Type Holes and press ENTER.

  • Notice that the Holes appearance is created and automatically activated. Figure

  • From the In Graphics toolbar, Select Shading With Edges Figure from the Display Style types drop-down menu.

  • In the ribbon, select the View tab.

  • In the Appearance group, expand Appearances Figure and select ptc-glass .

  • Select the SENSOR-MOUNT_APP-STATE.PRT node in the model tree and click OK from the Select dialog box. Figure

  • Query-select the inner cylindrical surface of the right hole. Figure

  • Press SHIFT and select the angled surface to create the seed and boundary selection of all hole surfaces. Figure

  • Press CTRL and query-select the inner cylindrical surface of the left hole. Figure

  • Press SHIFT and select the angled surface again to create the seed and boundary selection of both hole surfaces. Figure

  • In the Appearance group, expand Appearances Figure and select ptc-painted-red .

  • From the In Graphics toolbar, select Shading Figure from the Display Style types drop-down menu. Figure

  • In the view manager, double-click Default Appearance . Click Close .

Figure

  • Task 2. Assign the appearance state to a combination state. In the ribbon, select the Annotate tab.

  • Select the 7D combined state tab.

  • Right-click the 7D combined state tab and select Redefine .

  • In the 7D dialog box, select Holes from the Appearance drop-down list. Click OK .

  • Notice the appearance state has been associated to the combination state. Figure

  • Select the 7C combined state tab.

  • Notice that the Holes appearance has not been assigned to this combination state. Figure All other combined states have had their appearance set to Default Appearance .