Registering CAD to Upchain

In this lesson, we’ll walk you through how to register CAD files into Upchain. We’ll also discuss common ways this process can go wrong and how to recover from it.

Before you start:
You should have a sample assembly ready to register into Upchain.  To keep it simple as you get started, your sample assembly should not be larger than about 50 components or so. 

The lesson will cover the requirements of this assembly before it can be registered into Upchain. Remember, Upchain supports Catia, Inventor, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, and SolidWorks for 3D CAD.

Preparing an assembly for registration

In this video, we discuss key points you should consider before registering an assembly into Upchain. In general, when your assemblies are well-organized prior to registration, the registration process will be easy.

Key takeaways

1. The better you prepare your parts and assemblies before registration, the easier the registration process will go.
2. While preparing for registration, consider: 
   • File names (filename+extension) need to be unique.
   • Suppressed files should be unsuppressed for initial registration.
   • Missing file references should be removed.

Registering CAD files into Upchain

In this video, we’ll show you how to register an assembly into Upchain. As a CAD user, this is a frequent task you’ll perform in the CAD plugin as this is how you are able to upload new designs as new items in Upchain.

Key takeaways

1. CAD files are registered into Upchain using the CAD plugin.
2. You use the Create item function to register CAD files into Upchain and create items for each model file. The cBOM structure drives the eBOM structure:
   • It is important to register CAD to items so that it is easier to manage the BOM in Upchain as items are visible to other users and phantoms are not.
   • The BOM wizard helps you compare the cBOM to the eBOM and allows you to decide which CAD files get items during registration.
3. You can always create an item from a phantom file at a later time.