PTC Creo Announced for Project Lightning

Parametric Technology Corporation announced "creo, a PTC Product" at the at the Park Plaza Castle in Boston USA last week. "creo" is the name given to the overall design platform of PTC product development tools for "the next twenty years". According to PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann, creo "is the Latin root of the word create and... means I think, I create, I believe". Creo is slated as successor to the long-successful Pro/ENGINEER product line.

The new PTC Creo design platform is more than a new CAD program. Creo is a completely redeveloped design software framework that delivers a seamless and uniform design interface for modelling, drawing, simulation, detailing, manufacturing and other applications. Creo will accomplish this by means of a common data model capable of merging design information in from multiple design modes - not just parametric. With Creo, PTC answers four ongoing pain issues widespread in product development industries today:

1. Ease of use for casual users and non-CAD personell
2. Interoperability to use CAD files from any given CAD program
3. Switching costs caused by migrating data from other CAD software
4. high-level configuration driven design with multiple variations

PTC Creo will answer these problems respectively via the four cornerstone technologies upon which new Creo applications are built:

• AnyRole Apps - scalable, easy and "role specific" applications for all types of users
• AnyMode Modeling - seamless data portability across multiple CAD drawing modes
• AnyData Adoption - enables direct CAD file editing in Creo from any CAD system
• AnyBOM Assembly - drive 3D CAD assembly configurations using Windchill PLM - watch THIS...

The full event can be watched HERE. What I find interesting about AnyMode Assembly is PTC's departure from today's typical large-CAD business rhetoric, insisting that all CAD users are best served using in-depth 3D design mode tools. In observation, Brian Shepherd Executive Vice President, PTC Product Development stated "some users... are best served working in a 2D mode." He went on to say "We don't need a religious zeal around converting from one mode to another. We're about any mode."

PTC has an initial release target of summer 2011 for the new "Creo, a PTC product". CAD users are encouraged to keep their PTC maintenance current and active, so as to be in best position to enjoy these new technologies when they are released. For more information in Australia about either PTC Pro/ENGINEER or next year's new Creo platform, feel free to contact CADDIT here.

Can TransMagic Really Help Solve 3D CAD Translation Problems?

Recent economics have spawned an increasing need for business to adapt in new markets. And new markets often require companies to read new 3D CAD file formats - but "total cost of ownership" for maintaining additional CAD environments can be costly and time consuming. TransMagic is central, easy-to-use 3D collaboration software for reliably sharing CAD files across multiple CAD programs. TransMagic saves companies time, effort and money by offering a better option than budgeting and maintaining several independent CAD environments.

TransMagic software translates CAD information directly from one modeling technology to another, supporting direct ACIS, ParaSolid *.x_t, CATIA V4 & V5, Unigraphics JT and more, preventing data loss. TransMagic's functionality extends far beyond any basic 3D model translator, with robust tools like "Gap Check" and "MagicSurface". TransMagic repairs model gaps, heals unstitched surfaces and automates much of the rework that often comes with basic STEP and IGES file exchange.

Superlift, one of the largest suspension companies in the off-road market, is one manufacturer using TransMagic to save time. "TransMagic has made it possible to open any neutral or native CAD file we receive, quickly isolate, repair and retrieve what we need," said Kevin Dill, Product Development Lead Engineer for Superlift. "Repairing damaged files and grouping what we need prior to importing has saved us lots of time. Our time is now better spent working with clean, manageable files that we can rely on as we design new products."

ZEMAX Development Corporation, developers of ZEMAX optical system design software, had a similar problem. "Our customers struggle with the handover between mechanical and optical engineering – they are optical engineers and not experts in CAD. Mechanical CAD packages are three orders of magnitude coarser resolution than what is needed for optical design and errors in mechanical designs may not be apparent in the CAD package," says Mark Nicholson, Vice-President, ZEMAX Development Corporation. "TransMagic is able to simply explain what is wrong with a badly-formed CAD file and then easily repair the file with a high resolution before importing into ZEMAX. CAD files repaired by TransMagic are imported into ZEMAX with no problems."

An independent review of TransMagic was recently written by Frank Sherosky of the Detroit Automotive Technology Examiner. In part he writes, "TransMagic appears good for suppliers, because it reads proprietary CAD files in their native formats. (While the operative word is "read," I'm also concerned with "write.") That alone makes for higher data-read integrity, not to mention same-day implementation. Furthermore, the company touts the system is scalable, meaning suppliers can buy value-priced suites and add more capabilities at a later time." The full review can be read HERE.

For more information about if TransMagic can help your business, you can contact us on this page.