Exercise 14.2 - Creo to SysML with Compare and Sync
Objectives
The new learning objective of this exercise is to:
Generate a SysML block structure from Creo assembly structure, as shown in the previous exercise 14.1.
Update parts in the Creo assembly.
Compare the SysML block structure and Creo assembly structure, including mass properties.
Sync changes from Creo → SysML.
Preparation
This exercise assumes the student has:
Cameo System Modeler 2022x (or MagicDraw with SysML plug-in) or later installed correctly on their machine with a valid license for use,
Syndeia 3.6 or later installed as a plugin for Cameo/MagicDraw with a valid license for use
Creo integration configured in the Syndeia plugin. See details here: Using Syndeia with Creo.
Creo Parametric 7.0 or later with Creo Object Toolkit, installed correctly on their machine with a valid license for use.
The Creo CAD model(s) used in this exercise can be downloaded here:
It should be copied to a folder on your computer that is available as part of a Local File System Repository. To learn more, refer to the following.
See the section Local File System in Adding a Repository to learn how to add a specific folder on your computer as a local repository.
Watch a video demo on adding a repository in the section Creating a Repository Connection in Part 1 - Introduction
Note that the specific folder where you add your Creo model needs to be available via a Local File System repository. This implies either that specific folder or one of its parent / ancestor folders is added as a Local File System repository.
Exercise
Create a new SysML project in Cameo/MagicDraw project. Add the Syndeia profile and an empty package (creo_model in this example) in your SysML model.
Launch the Syndeia Dashboard from the creo_model package in Cameo. Select a Syndeia Cloud project if your Syndeia Client is configured for Cloud mode. Go to the Settings tab in the dashboard and make sure:
Use mapping setting (under General) is unchecked, and
Associate prt files with Creo setting (under Creo) is checked.
Then, click Apply.
Go to the Connection Manager tab, expand the SysML model in the left column and your local file repository in the right panel. In this example, my local file repository is called ‘KNLocal’ and you will have named yours as you like. You can find details for adding a local file repository in the above Preparation section of this tutorial. Find the Creo assembly model (.asm) within your local file repository.
Expand the .asm file to view the Creo model structure. This will initialize a Creo session if this is the first time you are accessing Creo models after creating/opening your SysML project. Once the Creo session is initialized, you will see an assembly icon under the Creo (.asm) file, as shown for the ASSEMBLY model below.
Select Model Transform connection type in the middle panel and drag-and-drop the Creo model from the right column to the creo_model SysML package in the left column, as shown below. Select Yes at the prompt.
This generates a SysML block structure from the Creo model, as shown below. Notice that the blocks for the assembly and child parts have all been generated in SysML. For each SysML value property on the left, observe that the part properties in the Creo artifact have the same numeric and string values.
Create a SysML block definition diagram in Cameo and display the ASSEMBLY block, its parts compartment, and its value properties by dragging it into the diagram window as shown below. *Note that the Block symbol in Figure 4 is dependent on your specific user settings and may not appear identical to the one in this tutorial.
Go to the Connections Browser tab in Syndeia and navigate to the SysML package where you imported the Creo assembly block. Expand it to view the Model Transform connection as shown below. Right click and select 'Compare Source & Target'.
The Comparison Result screen should display the SysML element that corresponds to the Creo model and its associated value properties. Notice that everything shows green and the values between Creo and SysML are matching at the assembly level.
Go back to your SysML model and right click on the block named ASSEMBLY. Hover over the Syndeia menu option and then click 'Open Connected Artifacts' as shown in the Figure below.
The ASSEMBLY model should open in Creo Parametric. From the parts tree, select the PEG part and open in a new window as shown below.
In the feature tree of the PEG prt model, change the value of the ‘Extrude’ feature as shown below to update its height. Click 'Ok' and save the Creo model. Return to the assembly and save the file.
Return to the Syndeia client dashboard. In the Connection Browser, navigate to the connection for the ASSEMBLY block as shown in the Figure below. Right click and select 'Compare Source & Target' then select 'Yes' to confirm.
View the Comparison Result screen and notice the values for mass, volume, z-coordinate, and other properties of the assembly have changed and are now showing red compared to the SysML block values. This is caused by the change made to the PEG part of the creo assembly in Step 12.
To sync the updated values to the SysML model, go to the ASSEMBLY connection in the Connection Browser. Right click and select 'Sync Target -> Source' as shown in the figure below.
Compare the connection once again. Everything should now show green, which indicates the values are now matching between Creo and SysML.
When viewing the Creo Assembly block in SysML now, you will see the mass value property is now updated along with the other new values. The changes have been successfully synced to SysML as shown below. This concludes our learning objectives for this tutorial.