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PTC Introduces Modular Product Design Creo App and Windchill Mobile

Creo 2.0 includes updated versions of the nine original apps in the Creo family, plus a new tool for building 3D-based product assemblies, while Windchill expands to iOS devices.

Earlier this week, PTC announced Creo 2.0, the latest release of its new generation of product design software. This follows the company's introduction last June of the first nine apps in the Creo family, which are intended to enable a wider range of roles to contribute to the design process with a set of integrated, purpose-built tools. With Creo 2.0, PTC introduces a new role-specific app supporting modular product design, and delivers productivity enhancements to its existing Creo apps.

At the same time, PTC announced the latest version of its Windchill product lifecycle management (PLM) software, which is now also integrated with its recently acquired Integrity software system lifecycle management technology. In addition, Windchill Mobile is now available from the Apple iTunes store for the iPad and iPhone. The new Windchill Mobile app gives users access to current product and process information from any location, and includes includes a "shake and break" capability that allows users to explode a product assembly by simply shaking their mobile device to see the internal parts in greater detail. Windchill also now supports Apple users even if they aren’t on a mobile device, with support for Mac OS X.


The new Windchill Mobile app is now available for the iPhone and iPad.

New Creo App for Modular Product Design 

With Creo 2.0, PTC adds a tenth app to the Creo family. Creo Options Modeler, which will be available this summer, is a role-specific app built for designers who need to create or validate modular product designs in 3D early in a design cycle. The new app delivers a dedicated set of capabilities to build 3D-based product assemblies of any size or complexity. When used with Creo Parametric, Creo Options Modeler enables teams to validate precise mass and center of gravity, and to check and resolve issues such as interference for modular designs.

Thanks to interface tagging and easier reuse of existing 3D models, the new app can reduce process errors and engineering rework, says PTC. As a member of the Creo product family, Creo Options Modeler also leverages and shares data with other Creo apps, and with other people involved in the design process and beyond, potentially increasing detailed design and downstream process productivity.

Creo Options Modeler contributes to PTC’s AnyBOM Assembly technology vision, which promises to give teams the power and scalability needed to create, validate, and reuse information for modular product architectures. By combining Creo Options Modeler with PTC’s Windchill product lifecycle management software, manufacturers can generate and validate 3D representations of product configurations defined by an individual bill of materials.

Updated Apps Support Concept Design

Many companies prefer to start concept designs in 2D to quickly explore multiple options before moving to build more complex 3D models. Creo 2.0 supports PTC's vision of enabling companies to make the most of this early stage of their product development process. The new releases of Creo Parametric, Creo Direct, the free Creo Sketch (now available on Mac OS X with this release), and Creo Layout are intended to enhance collaboration, innovation, and design exploration during concept design. Since all Creo apps share a common data model, 2D geometry and design data can be shared by all users and apps and can be re-used later in the design process to accelerate the transition to the detailed design phase.

In Creo Layout 2.0, PTC addresses the problem of transitioning from 2D to 3D, enabling users to create a layout of complex assemblies, explore design alternatives, import a variety of 2D CAD file types, sketch and modify 2D geometry, and organize information with groups, tags, and structure as well as dimensions, notes, and tables. Once created, a 2D design in Creo Layout can serve as the basis for 3D models, allowing users to create assemblies in 2D or reference 2D geometry to create part features, and any changes made in 2D are reflected in 3D upon regeneration.


Creo Layout 2.0 is designed to help companies transition product concepts from 2D to 3D.

Productivity Enhancements

Creo Parametric offers an improved user experience, new capabilities, automation of common tasks, and streamlined workflows. In the new release, PTC delivers more than 490 enhancements to the Creo app family, including:

• Freeform surfaces. With enhanced freestyle capabilities, designers can create more refined surfaces with higher levels of detail while maintaining top-level control over the general freeform shape. This can reduce the time required to move concepts to precise, highly detailed aesthetic product designs.
• Cross sections. Designers working in 3D cross sections can gain product insight with new ways to create and dynamically reposition the sections, including instant access directly from the model tree. Real-time interference detection within a section, together with 2D visualization, helps designers to visualize the design and design changes, and to detect and address potential issues early.
• Measurement. With the new measure tool, designers can gain insight into key dimensions and measurements of any selected surface. By controlling how and where measured results are displayed on-screen, and allowing for simple reuse of the displayed values in other applications, such as Word documents, designers can improve the efficiency and accuracy of leveraging precise measurements during the design process.
• Change tracking. This capability in Creo Parametric allows designers to view, accept, or reject model changes made by others using Creo Direct. Designers can now work with a broader range of roles across the company while still maintaining full control of how changes are reflected in the parametric model, helping ensure that design intent is fully maintained.

Beyond Creo Parametric, PTC also delivers enhancements to other Creo apps. New capabilities in Creo Direct help accelerate bid proposals and early concept design. Casual users can now create new 3D designs, modify models by reference to existing geometry of available parts and assemblies, and place multiple parts and assemblies into position with intelligent snapping capabilities. And as Creo Direct works seamlessly with Creo Parametric and other Creo apps, any 3D design can be shared by users across the enterprise design process.

In addition, this latest release greatly simplifies the installation process for Creo, only downloading and installing the Creo apps specific to a customer’s environment and license entitlement. This speeds download and simplifies installation and configuration.

Availability

Creo Options Modeler is available for purchase now as an extension of Creo Parametric. It is expected to be available as a stand-alone app in June 2012. All other Creo 2.0 apps are available now. PTC will share more information about this release at its annual user event, PlanetPTC Live, which will be held June 3-6 in Orlando, Florida.