Product Manufacturing Information 
Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) is an implementation of the Digital Product Definition Data Practices, which establishes requirements for preparing, organizing, and interpreting three-dimensional digital product images. SAP Visual Enterprise Author provides a way to render PMI data such as tolerances, dimensional data, and other markup annotations.
PMI comprises different types of markups and conveys information on the design of a product’s components for manufacturing. You can extract and display all the PMI data and any associated metadata from within CATIA 5 and JT files.
SAP Visual Enterprise Author automatically displays the PMI toolbar for files that contain PMI data. You must first import the PMI data contained within a file via the file’s import properties to view that data. You can then establish PMI settings through the Tool Assistant, and then select the various types of PMI markups to display.
The PMI markups are the following:
Markup |
Functional Description |
|---|---|
Text |
Text markups |
Rich Text |
Special formatted text markups |
GD&T |
Measurements, tolerances, material data, and reference datum |
Dimensions |
Detailed dimension line markups |
Datum |
Special reference points or planes for measurement markups sometimes shown as a single letter enclosed within a box |
Roughness |
The roughness markups |
Welding |
The surface finish weld point markups |
The PMI markups that a file can display depend on the file type as follows:
File Format |
Text |
Rich Text |
GD&T |
Dimensions |
Datum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JT |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
CATIA 5 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Using PMI, you can do the following:
View and hide PMI markups
Edit and delete markups.
Modify the PMI markup settings
Note that certain rules apply when viewing PMI data:
You must import the PMI data contained within a file to view that data.
If you are using the SAP Visual Enterprise Viewer to view models, PMI data is automatically displayed if it exists in the current .rh file.
As .jt file PMI BOM data is derived from the BOM in the file itself when publishing to PDF documents, you must ensure that all object names in the Scene tree match those in the PMI metadata. This ensures that the assembly structure is maintained so that all objects and assemblies can be viewed via the BOM in the published PDF document.
Markup Naming Conventions
Markups within JT files must include certain text to ensure the markups’ related metadata can be displayed. The markup text strings are:
BOM: Only markups that include BOM in the name, and for which the associated metadata strings are over 0 characters long, are displayed as metadata.
NOTES: Only markups that include NOTES in the name, and for which the associated metadata strings are over 100 characters are displayed as metadata.
NT: Only markups that include NT in the name, and for which the associated metadata strings are over 100 characters are displayed as metadata.
TITLE: Only markups that include TITLE in the name, and for which the associated metadata strings are over 50 characters are displayed as metadata.
TOLERANCE: Only markups that include TOLERANCE in the name, and for which the associated metadata strings are over 0 characters long, are displayed as metadata.
Activities
Using PMI
To begin using PMI, do one of the following:
Choose Window > Toolbars > PMI on the menu bar.
Right-click the application menu bar and choose PMI.
Right-click the application menu bar and choose Customize Layout > Toolbars tab page, select the PMI checkbox, and then choose OK.
Note
If a part contains PMI, SAP Visual Enterprise Author automatically loads the PMI toolbar.
Viewing Individual PMI Markups
Open a 3D file (ensuring all PMI data is imported)
Ensure that the Show Markups command is selected on the Scene Settings menu. The Scene Settings menu is accessed from the Navigation toolbar.
Select the markup on the PMI toolbar for the current model view.
Click the down arrow beside Show/Hide all PMIs , and select either Show/Hide all PMIs, or Show/Hide all PMIs in Activated Viewport .
Hiding a Markup
To hide markups, do one of the following:
With the PMI data displayed, click the related markup button on the PMI toolbar for the type of markup you want to hide.
Clear the Show Markups command on the Scene Settings menu to hide all PMI markups.
Toggling Points on Top
Open a 3D file that contains points, ensuring all PMI data is imported
Ensure that the Show Markups command is selected on the Scene Settings menu. The Scene Settings menu is accessed from the Navigation toolbar.
Choose Toggle Points on Top to bring the points to the front.