The long awaited news about Project Lightning was announced with great fanfare on October 28th in Boston when PTC launched Creo, its latest software product. Addressing the crowd, company president CEO Jim Hepplemann said that the product is being developed to solve the big problems that remain in the mechanical CAD market – usability, interoperability, assembly management, and technology lock-in.
He noted that by providing the right-size product design applications for everyone in a company’s extended product development team, Creo will enable more people to participate earlier and more fully in the product development process “significantly expanding innovation capacity.”
Creo offers a range of applications including photorealistic rendering capabilities.
The software is being designed as a scalable suite of interoperable, open, and easy-to-use product design applications. According to the company, the Creo vision and strategy acknowledges that product development involves many different users with different needs at different points in the product lifecycle. Hepplemann said, “Unlike solutions today, Creo is designed to remedy lingering, unaddressed problems that have plagued CAD for decades.”
Highlights of planned applications include:
AnyRole Apps will offer customers the right tool for the right user at the right time, enabling everyone in the organization to participate in the product development process. The result: new ideas, creativity, and personal efficiency are unlocked.
Creo’s AnyRole app provides the right application for an NC tool designer.
AnyMode Modeling will provide a true multi-paradigm design platform, letting you design in 2D, 3D direct, or 3D parametric. Data created in any mode will be accessible and reusable in any other mode, allowing you to work with your own or another user’s data in their paradigm of choice. Additionally, AnyMode Modeling will let you switch between modes without losing intelligence or design intent, unlocking teamwork efficiency.
The software incorporates 2D data in any 3D mode with its AnyMode Modeling.
AnyData Adoption will help you incorporate data from any CAD system and unlock multi-CAD design efficiency and value. Information created throughout the product development process in the Creo product design apps will be accessible and reuseable by others throughout the product development process. Further, the software will enable reuse of data from legacy systems, reducing the typically high switching costs which drive technology lock-in.
Creo helps you incorporate data from any CAD system with its AnyData Adoption feature.
AnyBOM Assembly will give teams the power and scalability needed to create, validate, and reuse information for highly configurable products. Using BOM-driven assemblies and integration with Windchill® PLM software, you will be able to unlock and realize new levels of efficiency and value across teams and the extended enterprise.
The company also announced that its current design software product families and associated modules, extensions, and packages are being rebranded. Pro/ENGINEER will become Creo Elements/Pro, CoCreate will become Creo Elements/Direct, and ProductView will become Creo Elements/View. Data created in these applications will be upwards compatible with the Creo family of products.
The launch crowd watched several beta user videos that lauded the technology. Since the debut, there have been both positive and negative reactions to Creo on blogs and other news sites. Will Creo solve traditional CAD problems or create new ones? Send me your thoughts at LinkedIn or the Engineering Exchange.
PTC says that Creo 1.0 will be available mid-year 2011. For more information, visit: http://www.ptc.com/products/creo/intro-to-creo-elements/ Or, http://creo.ptc.com.
PTC
www.ptc.com
::Design World::
Source: :: Design World ::
