Model Display

The VTR Model Viewer is a POD plug-in that displays a graphical model in the Model Viewer Viewport. The graphical model is extracted from an input file and converted for viewing. The input file that is used is determined by the file name in the Drawing Name field of the material that is associated to the SFC number that is currently selected in the POD. The input file can contain either an ECAD model or a 3D solid model.

The following table identifies the ECAD file formats that you can display in VTR:

File Format	Type	Extension	Version/Notes
A3P	Text	`A3P`	Requires ECAD Add-in Module license
GenCAD	Text	`CAD`	Requires ECAD Add-in Module license
GenCAM (IPC-2511)	Text	`GCM`	Requires ECAD Add-in Module license
ODB++	Text	`ODB`	Requires ECAD Add-in Module license
Offspring (IPC-2581)	Text	`CVG`	Requires ECAD Add-in Module license

The A3P and GenCAM file formats can also contain schematic information which can be displayed by the Model Viewer in the form of 2D schematic sheets.

Recommendation

To reduce model load time, you can save an ECAD model as a .rh file via the Export viewport context menu option, and use this .rh file instead of the native ECAD file.

End of the recommendation.

Prerequisites

In System Rule Maintenance, you have defined the location (<host>:<port> and optionally, path) for VTR model files in the VTR Model Location rule (see Visual Test and Repair Rules).
In Material Maintenance, you define file name of VTR model in the Drawing Name field (see Material Maintenance).

Note that omitting the \ at the end of the VTR Model Location text string or not properly sharing the folder where the model files are stored prevents model from loading.

Features

The Model Viewer loads the input file associated to the material for the currently selected SFC numbers, when any of the following actions occurs:

The user selects a button that loads the Model Viewer plug-in into a panel in the POD and an SFC number is already selected, that has a material with an associated model.
The user selects a button that loads the Model Viewer plug-in into a panel in the POD and multiple SFC numbers are already selected, which all have the same material and version and the material has an associated model.
The user selects a single SFC number, that has a material with an associated model, and the Model Viewer plug-in is already loaded.
The user selects multiple SFC numbers, which all have the same material and version and the material has an associated model, and the Model Viewer plug-in is already loaded.

Note that if multiple SFC numbers are selected, but they do not all have the same material and version, then the Model Viewer will not load an input file.

The input file is located by creating a URL by appending the text string from the Drawing Name field of the material to the text string from the VTR Model Location system rule, for example:

VTR Model Location: \\ATLN00XXXXA\MODELS\
Drawing Name: GRDemo.gcm
URL: \\ATLN00XXXXA\MODELS\GRDemo.gcm

In this example, the MODELS folder must be a shared folder accessible by all VTR users.

The figure below illustrates the primary flow of user and system actions to display the ECAD model:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

The model can be displayed using one of the following display rendering technologies:

Software
OpenGL
DirectX

To choose the display technology, click the right mouse button in the Model Viewer viewport, choose Preferences Display Renderer and choose the display technology entry you need.

Recommendation

Choose the display technology that works best on your client device. Experience to-date indicates that DirectX is often the best choice.

End of the recommendation.