Mechv5,
First, you'll have to do all the work in the assembly environment. (At least, I did. This is really my first time using frames, so if I'm wrong, please someone correct me.)
1) Like I said above, on the tools tab select frame to open the frame tools.
2) Click pathXpres. This let's you select your start point and end point.
3) After you select those points, you're given an option to set port length. As far as I can tell this is the length of each of the ends coming off your keypoints. I just leave it at one because I'm going to come back and manually adjust it anyways.
4) Click finish. You should now have a blue path between your keypoints. This path is the most direct between your points and may interfere, so now is the time to adjust it manually.
5) Back in your toolbar you have a "Move Segment" command and a "Split Segment" command. These are the tools you'll use to tweak the route of your path. Move Segment is obvious enough I think. Split segment adds a control point along the path wherever you click, which you can then use Move Segment to adjust.
6) I like to make sure sure that I only adjust the path when I'm oriented to a reference plane (just easier). I guess the easiest way to explain this is that you should see where your intereference(s) are and then go to a right, front, top, bottom, etc view before moving paths rather than trying to do it from an iso view where you just won't get the control you're after.
7) Once you're comfortable with the new path and its adjustments select "Curve Segment" from the toolbar and select the path, and then accept. It should take the path and smooth it out into a curve. Sometimes thsi doesn't work exactly how you wanted it to, and you'll have to delete th ecurve and rework the path a bit, then try it again.
8) Once you're set with that, the next step is to choose "Frame" from the menu. When you do, a dialog box appears with options. In this case, make sure that the radio button for "Browse for component" is selected...click OK.
9) Now you're in the Select Path Step. Choose the path you want to use. Before you accept you will ahve to define the cross section to use. Click the folder option and navigate to the cross section part file you want to use for the cable. (This should have been mentioned earlier as something you'll want to create before starting.)
10) Once you've selected the cross section, click on Accept and with any luck you should have a cable where you want it.
If it didn't work exactly right, it's a matter of deleting and trying again.
11) If you have more to create, then create anothe rpath, adjust it, sweep it, and move on. Each one will be listed under frame components as individual frames.
I think with some practice it'll be easy to get the hang of it. I'll attach another image to give you an idea of my application the routing challenge I had.
I'll check back later to see if you have any other questions, or in case I missed anything.
Jason
