What’s New in PTC Creo 3.0?

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

PTC released version 3.0 of its PTC Creo suite of design software last week at its premier event PTC Live. In broad terms, PTC Creo 3.0 sees enhancements in three major operating areas: Multi-CAD technology, concept design and efficiency. Multi-CAD is the big one, but we’ll get to that in a second. First, let’s take a quick look at the other two areas.

PTC Creo 3.0 offers both new and enhanced concept design tools. PTC Creo Parametric has a new design capability inside of its Freestyle functionality called Align. What Align does is it lets you combine organic geometry creation and modification with associative parametric design intent. That sounds extremely handy. It should provide fast and flexible concept development.

PTC Creo Layout has been enhanced with new tools that support 2D concept engineering with seamless re-use in the 3D parametric environment. Additionally, PTC Creo Direct lets you quickly develop concept designs that are fully reusable in PTC Creo Parametric.

On the efficiency front, PTC Creo 3.0 marks the debut of some new and enhanced capabilities and workflows. PTC Creo Parametric, for example, has been updated with the PTC Creo Design Exploration Extension, an environment for developing design alternatives, investigating modeling approaches and safely understanding the consequences of design changes within your parametric environment. It eliminates the need to manage multiple versions of data, and you can move back and forth between design branches seamlessly, which should save you lots of time and effort.

Version 3.0 also offers hardware libraries and automated fastener assembly workflows, new support for graphical realism and an improved help system with dedicated tools for new users. PTC Creo’s analysis tools and sheet metal modeling capabilities have also been enhanced in version 3.0.

Now onto Multi-CAD: Creo 3.0 marks the introduction of PTC’s new Unite technology. You can easily tag Unite as an efficiency enhancement. Then again, you could just as easily tag it collaboration and data exchange too. It’s pretty neat. The gist of Unite technology is that it increases your ability to use CAD files from third-party systems directly in the PTC Creo Parametric, Creo Direct, Creo Simulate and Creo Options Modeler apps.

Specifically, what Unite lets you do is open CATIA, NX and SolidWorks models without any additional software. You can also import Autodesk Inventor, CATIA, NX, Solid Edge and SolidWorks files, again, without additional software. This means that you can convert data as you need it and when you need it. Further, you can convert only the data that requires modification. Let me be clear on that last point: You do not have to convert an entire assembly when you need to modify just a single part. You just convert the part you need to work on.

With Unite technology, you can also export any model made up of PTC Creo data or in PTC Creo with non-PTC Creo data as a single CATIA, NX or SolidWorks model.

The incredible cost, time and effort savings as well as the elimination of many hair-pulling frustrations by this technology might just mean nirvana. The cascading effect of these efficiencies range from faster time to market to you and your design teammates spending more time actually designing things and less time on time-eating, stressful and tedious tasks like recreating design intent.

Today’s Check it Out link has two videos to offer you. The first link takes you to a 4-minute 30-second video on what’s new in PTC Creo 3.0. The second video is the PTC Creo 3.0 launch presentation from last week’s PTC Live event. This is 48 minutes long, so schedule time to settle in to watch it. A good plan would be to hit the first link and watch the short video now. Then come back later to this message and watch the full presentation with some of your teammates. (Hint: It’s the third presentation on the menu.) Good stuff. It’s worth the effort.

Thanks, Pal.  – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Go here to learn more about what’s new in PTC Creo 3.0.

Watch the PTC Creo 3.0 launch presentation from the 2014 PTC Live event.