Creo 4.0 Can 3D Print in the Cloud

Creo 4.0 users will be able to 3D print their designs directly through the Materialise cloud-based i.materialise platform. PTC and Materialise announced the integration as part of a new alliance.

“When we launched the i.materialise platform in 2009, we did so with the aim of giving more consumers, home professionals, and small businesses access to the best that professional-quality 3D printing had to offer, giving physical form to creative ideas in a variety of materials and finishes to match our customers’ functional, aesthetic and budgetary needs,” said Materialise CTO Bart Van der Schueren. “Today, we are excited to be partnering with PTC to expand the reach of these benefits to an even greater audience through a planned integration with Creo 4.0, and we look forward to working together with their team to even further improve the experience of their users.”

“[In] recent years, [3D printing] has proven increasingly useful for final production parts, in part because 3D printing makes it possible to manufacture ultra-light components by enabling lattice structures that provide all of the strength, with a fraction of the material,” said Paul Sagar, vice president of product management at PTC. “Therefore, in Creo 4.0, we’re adding capabilities to design, analyze and optimize these highly complex lattice structures directly inside the model. In addition, the planned integration with i.materialise will allow Creo 4.0 users to directly order professional-grade 3D prints in the material and finishing required.”

Earlier this year, Materialise announced a similar deal that allowed Microsoft users to print finished designs created in the 3D Builder app directly from the i.materialise 3D printing factory. PTC also has an existing alliance with 3D printer company Stratasys.

In addition to the 3D printing capabilities, Creo 4.0 also includes Granta Design’s material database.

Other enhancements include new model-based definition features, intelligent parts mirroring, geometry search, improved visualization, augmented reality capabilities, and other improvements. The solution became available for download on December 15.

Source: Materialise