smartassembly_skill

Overview

This skill provides expert-level SmartAssembly scripting patterns and utilities for automating PTC Creo Parametric workflows at SIGMAXIM quality. It bundles reliable .tab script structures, UDF creation templates, GUI/table patterns, Excel/JSON/XML integrations, drawing and PDF export flows, and advanced geometry/feature manipulation. Use it to speed up repetitive modeling, assembly, drawing, and manufacturing tasks while keeping error handling and modular reuse consistent.

How this skill works

The skill inspects and generates SmartAssembly .tab script fragments and patterns for common Creo automation tasks: UDF creation, feature grouping/iteration, surface and edge analysis, drawing/export automation, Excel and JSON data exchange, XML feature edits, and PowerShell orchestration. It includes error-catch templates (BEGIN_CATCH_ERROR), reference/parameter tracking, path handling (lib: prefix and SA_Paths.txt), and sample control structures for robust flows. Outputs are concise, copy-paste ready SmartAssembly constructs and usage notes.

When to use it

• Automating repetitive Model→Drawing→Export→PDF manufacturing workflows
• Creating and managing UDFs with dynamic references and fallback logic
• Building multi-stage GUIs or table-driven configurations for operators
• Integrating BOMs or parameters via Excel, JSON, or REST APIs
• Performing geometry analysis (normals, contours, vectors) and field-joint detection
• Modularizing scripts using INCLUDE and path-system patterns

Best practices

• Declare all variables grouped by type at the top of BEGIN_ASM_DESCR for clarity and maintainability
• Wrap risky operations in CLEAR_CATCH_ERROR / BEGIN_CATCH_ERROR and provide fallback UDFs or recovery paths
• Use SET_FEAT_PARAM and SEARCH_MDL_REFS to tag and later find features instead of brittle name parsing
• Avoid hard-coded paths; use SA_Paths.txt and lib: prefix for portable UDF/document locations
• Normalize vectors before comparing directions; use tolerance checks for distance/angle comparisons
• Keep GUI logic small and conditional—show inputs only when needed to avoid confusing operators

Example use cases

• Generate a family of product modules (Counters, WorkTables, Wall_Panels) via UDFs and feature-parameter tagging
• Auto-create drawings and export PDFs for each assembly variant, with Excel-driven BOM and sheet control
• Detect opposing surfaces and generate field joints for modular assembly fit checks
• Modify feature XML to inject references or reorder surface collections for complex rebuild avoidance
• Drive Creo from PowerShell for batch processing on a build server, using JSON for job configuration and status callbacks