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In this video I want to showcase AutoCAD Mechanical's
BOM Migration Tools. But before that let me describe the context
in which these tools work. This folder contains a drawing project with
several drawing files. This is my main assembly drawing. In here
I have the subassemblies I used in the main assembly drawing.
Each sub assembly is in its own drawing file. In this folder I have my part drawings. Just
like the subassemblies, each part drawing is stored in its own drawing file as well..
Now let me open the main assembly file and show you something.
Look at the properties of the parts list over here.
It is a block reference, not an AutoCAD Mechanical Parts list.
Look at this balloon, it is a multileader. And let me tell you a secret - these drawings
are not even AutoCAD Mechanical Drawings, they are AutoCAD drawings.
Let me show you what happens to this drawing after I use the migration tools on them.
Look at the balloons. There is a part reference at the start point
of the leader. Checkout the tooltip for the balloons and
parts list. And watch what happens when I double click
the drawing border. They have all been migrated to AutoCAD Mechanical.
Now let me edit the part reference of the cross head assembly to show you something
interesting. Check this out. The Part reference is attached
to the BOM of the Cross Head Aseembly drawing. Not only has this drawing been migrated.Even
the subassembly and part drawinga have been migrated and their BOMs have linked together
to reflect the hierarchy Now lets get back to the unmigrated drawing
and the migration tools. When I first saw this I thought to myself
why two commands, shouldn't this command be enough? What's more, the name itself
looks pretty cryptic and I was quite confused, but then I soon realized why I needed the
extraction template when I was confronted with this problem.
There is nothing special on this block to say that it is a title block.
There is nothing special here to say that this is a parts list data row; it is just
another block reference with attributes. With extraction template I point to the various
elements of a typical drawing, to get it to recognize this block as a title block and
this as a parts list, this as a balloon and this as a drawing border.
Then it generates a set of rules to extract information crtical to the BOM.
It stores the rules in a file called an extraction template.
The BOM migration tool over here uses the extraction template to tto recognize the varoius
objects in the drawings and extract infromation and populate the BOM.
In the next two videos I will show you how to use.