I'm new to 3D annotations, and I'm interested in it's use cases, best practices, and industry standards. What are you using 3D annotations for in your workflow and why? If you could share/explain some examples with me, that would be awesome!
More specifically my questions would be:
- Do you use 3D drawings in themselves too, without any 2D views (or vice versa)? If so, why?
- Do you actually annotate directly in 3D view? If so, why? If not, why?
- Specifically, what details are best to annotate directly on the 3D view, if anything?
- If you annotated directly in 3D view, can it be used in 2D views too? And vica versa? If so, how, what’s your workflow?
If you could answer any of these questions it would be helpful.
Thank you in advance!
Where possible, we are migrating to a workflow that skips the drawing almost entirely, and are targeting to release just a token into PLM documenting overall dimensions and weight; mostly for the benefit of Shipping and Receiving. Everything else will ultimately live in the model, with annotations placed in principle orthographic planes, and consumed by Third Parties as either native SW files (if they have the capability) or (if not) as a SolidWorks eDrawing, a 3D PDF, or a STEP242 file. Maturity in this respect varies from industry to industry, and it's worth noting that contractors serving the U.S. Department of Defense are well along the trajectory with many operating their enterprises nearly exclusively from the models.
In SolidWorks, there is a Dynamic annotation viewing mode where annotations on the various planes sort of fade in and fade out as you rotate the model. You have the ability to Show annotations from any created view, and if you Show them all, you'll see the whole of it as you rotate your model. That can be quite a forest if it's got very many complex features. In the modeling context, we typically go with Solid Works' defaults, annotate only on the principle planes for the Standard views (Front, Back, Right, Left, Top, Bottom), with only the annotations for the current view being shown (all others Hidden). The views we want are Captured as 3D Views. Then we select an ISO view (or trimetric, or dimetric) and Activate that for placement of Notes, (and a BOM, if it's an assembly). Those annotations are not shown in any other 3D View, and no annotations from other 3D Views are shown in that ISO view.
At that point, if my target manufacturer has SolidWorks, I can just send them the native file with my Production Request. They read the annotations right out of the saved 3D Views, and query model geometry directly if there's any deeper questions. My other options are to Publish my 3D Views as a 3D PDF using SolidWorks' tools, create an eDrawing, or export my model in STEP242 form.
I'd advise you to get a copy of ASME Y14.41-2019 and study it thoroughly. This 3D annotation process is part of Model-Based Definition (MBD), a component of Model Based Enterprise (MBE) practices under which industries are migrating to use of the model -- whether part or assembly -- as THE canonical dataset for EVERY aspect of the lifecycle from Conception to Obsolescence. There's a raft of new terminology involved that which will flesh out the necessary background against which to properly understand the "why" behind 3D annotation, which, in turn, informs the "how" you are asking about.
Digital Product Definition Data Practices - ASME
It is instructive to note that SolidWorks' Annotation Schemes generated by the MBD / DimXpert tool place the toleranced dimensions and GD&T annotation on the principle orthographic planes, and viewing any one of them one sees only the annotations placed normal to that view. There's more to it than just that, but how SolidWorks does it "out-of-the-box" comports well with the requirements of ASME Y14.41; probably because Dassault Systemes has a seat on the ASME Standards Committee that has charge of that Standard.
You may also be surprised to learn that the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has been hosting an MBE Summit annually for a decade, now. Much of the material from the last three years' meetings is available for download from NIST, and past presenters have included names from academia, big industries, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)...this is a concept that is at quite an advanced stage of maturity in many sectors, and it all impacts the future of CAD modeling, the data embedded in the model by the engineer, the tools used to do so, and the subsequent use of that data by CAM programmers, CMM equipment, and every other downstream function that has to interact with the part or assembly.
Model-Based Enterprise Summit 2019 | NIST
That's a lot to digest, but I hope it not only gives guidance to your immediate questions, but gives you a sort of GPS for where you stand in relation to the larger universe of creators and users of 3D models.