Alight, we've been let into the Castle across the street from our hotel. The inside is decked out like a prison, for we have entered CAD PRISON! There is a holding cell, spotlights are sweeping the floor, gray tables, aluminum chairs, six pieces of bread per table, water, and blues music on the squawky speakers.
It looks like PTC has pulled a SolidWorks here, inviting everybody who is anybody. I met one Dutch CAD journalist (who remembered me from the ODA meeting in Leiden a few years ago). He flew in yesterday, flies home to The Netherlands this afternoon. Based on the number of chairs and tables, 288 could be here.
We've been given the "turn off all cellphones and Blackberries" warning.
The show begins! Sirens go off. Prisoners in orange jump suits are being marched into the holding cell, and handcuffed. "Prisoners creativity and teamwork are in lockdown." The prison warden is addressing us, telling us we are in prison because of irresolvable problems. "Over time, you have come to accept it, because you have realized it is your fate. With CAD, this is the way things are.."
The evil prison warden wants to keep you in your CAD prision.
He is interrupted by someone yelling, "No, there is a better way: unlock potential." Big video screen starts up, showing clips of people running away.
Jim Heppleman is on stage. We're being given a brief history of CAD. He remarks that he was part of CoCreate, first of HP, then purchased by PTC. He is linking 2D with Autodesk and Bentley; 1987 was the dawn of PTC and its then-radical 3D parametric modeling + assembly modeling + automatic generation of 2D drawings from 3D models.
Everyone else copied PTC "verbatim" he remarks. Then CoCreate had a different approach (direct modeling). The need is to model objects the way they are in the real world, something that does not exist.
New PTC ceo Jim Heppleman on stage.
(Follow the conversation on Twitter: #projectlightning.)
Now he is saying that analysts were wrong in claiming the CAD industry is mature. There are four unsolved problems:
- hard to use, overkill for many users (you won't accomplish anything the first week you acquire parametric modeling, he says)
- no interoperability, forced standardization
- technology lock-in; it does not matter if another vendor innovates, you cannot switch without great cost and time. If customers cannot switch, then there is no need for vendors to innovate.
- realistic assembly modeling, no validation or downstream use of serial-number-specific configurations.
Mr Heppleman is saying PTC is unique by having the best software in every area of CAD -- 2D, 3D direct, 3D parametric, PLM, etc.
Next video: Unlocking the Potential. Letters are dropping down, fireworks, and the new name:
CREO, a PTC product.
Creo is the Latin word for "create" and is used in other languages to mean "think, believe, create."
PTC is announcing a suite of simple apps today: 2D, 3D, and Assemblies. As well as powerful apps for 2D, 3D, and Assemblies.
Creo Architecture consists of a PLM Platform + Data Compatibility Layer as the basement. It has elements of PRo/E, CoCreate, and ProductView + patent pending technologies. It has four "breakthrough" technologies:
1. AnyRole Apps -- apps that are tailored for different job roles. Getting our first look at the UI. And the ribbon is in. No parametrics; just the tools needed, such as interference checking, markup. Note that these are specific to the role of design checker.
Now we see a different version meant for conceptual designers. Surface creation tools, no analysis, no parametrics. Specific features are exposed for each role. There is a 3D CoPilot cursor that looks like the one in SE ST.
Another version is for analysts, who don't need surface creation; instead, this role gets direct modeling to modify parts, and then apply loads to do FEA. "He's not overwhelmed, he's not overserved."
Another version is for deliverables, creating animations, generating technical documents, assembly instructions.
And now a 2D drafting environment. Looks like it has auto-dimensioning.
Another one: validating tool paths. Mould design. Progressive die design. Marketing wanting pretty pictures, so there is yet another app dedicated to rendering. UI had two tabs, seven buttons.
All those apps are associative, whether 2D, 3D, rendering, or whatever. Some apps from PTC, a larger number from third-party developers.
2. AnyMode Modeling -- includes a 2D conceptual design environment, meant for the start of a new model, based on existing parts or from scratch. Not a sketcher, not parametric. Not 2D drafting. This sketches in 2D, meant for exploring ideas, and then adding intelligence, such as dimensions and relationships. "This fluency between 2D and 3D has never been done before."
Now showing a purpose-built app that does direct modeling. Not a subset of a larger program. In tis case, able to interactively change: translation along an edge, relocating parts from one side to another; can create ribs, etc. All is done on a common data model.
The model can be opened in any other Creo app. Here he opens the direct model in a parametric app, which shows the changes made by the direct modeler. ("Knocking, knocking on Fusion's door.") Changes can be accepted or rejected.
He switches to the 2D editor, makes some changes to a rib, which show up in the 3D model. "This is build on the most powerful geometry kernel on the market is now unleashed on direct modeling."
The point of Creo is to "work in either paradigm with no loss of design intent or flexibility."
3. AnyData Adoption -- this is the item I am interested in: how has PTC solved the file exchange problem. "We live in a multi-CAD world that isn't going to change any time soon. What about CAD data created in another system; how does it move into Creo?"
They are showing parts of a turbocharger designed in NX, Catia, and Pro/E. All four parts are now assembled in Creo. They call it "any data adoption" to indicate that they can be edited inside Creo, using direct modification.
Clearly, it is one way. So, out of the CAD prision and into the PTC prison. There is no export back to other CAD systems. PTC is suggesting that you won't want to: "the ability to move forward the data from legacy systems." The analysts sitting around me are astounded that data flow is one-way, instead of round-trip to other CAD systems.
4. AnyBOM Assembly -- here the idea is to easily generate lots of variations of a model, also known as configuration management. These create tons of BOMs (bills of material). WindChill is the configuration kernel; this is optional.
(On Twitter, Deelip Menezes notes that PTC does not own the creo.com domain name; it belongs to a printing company.) More info at www.creo.ptc.com
Delivery date: It'll be a long wait. First seven apps due out next summer. Next set plus updates in Fall 2011. Beta is Spring 2011.
---
And that's it for the live coverage here on WorldCAD Access. We'll have more about Creo in next Monday's upFront.eZine.
[Disclosure: PTC provided airfare, lunch, corporate gifts, and a night's hotel stay.]
Comments