Communication between you and your colleagues, customers, contractors, and suppliers has always been crucial to your success. This is even more critical in this time of social distancing caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the more universal ways of sharing documents is through PDF files. PDF format allows the sharing of 2D and 3D documents electronically. Plus, most computers already have a PDF reader, so anyone can view these documents. Furthermore, the PDF format supports both 2D PDF and 3D PDF documents, which is ideal for communicating CAD data. With Solid Edge, you can save assemblies, parts, sheet metal parts, and draft documents in the PDF format. In this blog article, I will review the steps on how to save your Solid Edge files into the PDF format.

Saving a draft document as a 2D PDF file

To save your draft document as a 2D PDF file, do the following:

1. Choose Application menu→Save As tab→Save As  command, or Application menu→Save As tab→Save As Translated command.

2. Select the folder to save the new document in.
3. In the File name box, type a new name for the document.
4. From the Save As Type list, select Adobe Acrobat     Documents (*.pdf).

Note: Draft documents may contain working sheets, background sheets, and a 2D Model sheet. The sheet-type that is active when you use the Save As command determines what is saved to the *.pdf file.

5. In a Draft document, click the Options button to open     the PDF Export Options dialog box, where you specify which sheets to save,     as well as other options.

Note: You can print the active sheet, all sheets, individual sheets, as well as a range of sheets.

6. In the Save As dialog box, click Save.

When you create the PDF file, the file retains the 1:1 scale set for it with the Drawing Area Setup command in Solid Edge. Therefore, a 2D Model sheet set for printing to an A-size sheet still prints to an A-size sheet from the *.pdf document.

Tips and Tricks for 2D PDF

If your PDF display doesn’t match your draft display, you may want to check the Solid Edge Options>View tab. There is an option called “Display as printed”.

This option allows you to display the draft document as view relative or paper relative. Toggled on, is the paper relative option, which displays what you will see in the print or PDF. This is often referred to as a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) display.With this option turned on, you can adjust your Styles to modify the PDF display. For example, in the Style Dialog image below, you’ll note that you have control of all of your line type display.

Modifying the width, of the Visible line type, would directly affect the display with the “Display as printed” option toggled on.

You can also access the default PDF output properties used to generate an Adobe PDF file. The print driver, Solid Edge Velocity PS Printer 2.0, is used to save a document in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The default options are sufficient for this, but you can access PostScript and PDF output properties using this procedure.

1. Choose Application menu→Paper Print.
2. From the Printer list, choose Solid Edge     Velocity PS Printer 2.0.
3. Click the Properties button.
4. In the Solid Edge Velocity PS Printer 2.0 Document     Properties dialog box, click Advanced.
5. In the Advanced Options dialog box, change the     default PDF Settings and PostScript Options as desired.

Saving a model document as a 3D PDF file

To save your draft document as a 2D PDF file, do the following:

1. Choose Application menu→Save As tab→Save As     command, or Application menu→Save As tab→Save As Translated command

2. Select the folder to save the new document in.
3. In the File name box, type a new name for the document.
4. From the Save As Type list, select 3D Adobe  Acrobat Documents (*.pdf).
5. In the Save As dialog box, click Save.

Note: The following points describe what happens when you save a model to a 3D PDF:

• The active model view is the view saved to PDF. All other standard views defined in View Manager, including user-defined views, are     also saved.
• Colors defined in the Solid Edge document are saved to the PDF document.
• PMI dimensions and annotations defined in the Solid Edge document are saved to the PDF document.
• The Solid Edge document title, author, subject, and keyword properties are copied to the new PDF document.
• The assembly components can be displayed and hidden in the model tree of the PDF viewer.
• Sketch elements are NOT saved to a 3D PDF file.

As you can see, 3D PDFs allow you to send a lot of information without actually sharing your CAD data. As with the 2D PDFs,you can also access the default PDF output properties used to generate an Adobe PDF file. The print driver, Solid Edge Velocity PS Printer 2.0, is used to save a document in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The default options are sufficient for this, but you can access PostScript and PDF output properties using this procedure.

Other methods available to create PDF files in Solid Edge

Although I will not go into detail, it is worth mentioning that there are two add-on packages that produce PDFs. The first is the Solid Edge Technical Publications package. This is a very powerful package that allows you to bring the Solid Edge model and its metadata into your documentation. You can set-up and publish numerous types of documents,such as:

·      Instruction sheet or manual

·      Technical manuals

·      Training documentation

·      Assembly instructions

·      Catalogs

·      Brochures, etc.

For more information on this package, you can download the Fact Sheet form this link:

https://seafile.designfusion.com/f/08e832ef3a/?raw=1

The second add-on module is the Solid Edge Model Based Definition package. This package enables the production of a complete digital definition of parts and/or assemblies using 3D models. Because you are providing a complete digital definition in 3D, this package provides for much clearer manufacturing communication than your traditional 2D draft sheet.

For more information on this package, you can download the Fact Sheet form this link:

https://seafile.designfusion.com/f/07b6227f35/?raw=1

Summary

As I stated in the beginning of this blog article, communication between you and your colleagues, customers, contractors, and suppliers has never been more critical than it is now. The 2D and 3D PDF files provide an excellent means of communication. Everyone can access them with a free PDF reader, and you aren’t giving away proprietary CAD data. Solid Edge provides out-of-the-box tools to create 2D and 3D PDF documents. Furthermore, you can add advanced modules for the creation of technical documentation and model-based definition documentation. If you are interested in more information on these add-on modules, please contact your Account Manager or contact us at info@designfusion.com.

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