Observations From PlanetPTC Live

I traveled to Vegas to see what PTC had in store for users at this year’s PlanetPTC Live. The company made several big announcements, including the immediate availability of Creo 1.0 as part of a larger product development system.

At last year’s event, PTC told us they were going to tackle the big problems in CAD, including usability, interoperability, technology lock-in and assembly modeling.

And this was the year they had to deliver. Brian Shepherd, EVP Product Development at PTC, led the presentation that he claimed would “usher in the next wave of innovation in mechanical design.”

It was clear from the presentation that PTC has been listening to its customers, and has been doing its best to reach out to everyone involved in product development. Their focus on early system design and complete product definition has led to some remarkable innovations, and exciting things are coming down the pike. The company’s acquisition of MKS Integrity shows how serious PTC is about helping engineers integrate software into their designs.

Critical to Creo 1.0 is a set of nine “AnyRole” apps. Each one is designed for a different user type, covering all the roles and point solutions across the product development process. Six of the apps are shipping today, with three more to come online by the end of the year.

Data can be shared, traced, and manipulated smoothly among the apps, giving everyone on the product development team a chance to contribute without deleting anyone else’s work. The apps share a common user experience, but each one’s specific UI is tailored to a different user type.

Here are some quick descriptions of the nine apps and who they’re for:

Creo Sketch
Geared toward the people responsible for product ideas, this app lets artists make quick, conceptual drawings. The data generated in this app can be re-used downstream.

Creo Layout
This app is designed to help engineers organize information and play with spatial arrangements in an unconstrained, 2D environment. It’s also an effective tool for moving from 2D into 3D.

Creo Parametric
The full-featured successor to Pro/ENGINEER is for the professional CAD user. New “freestyle modeling” capabilities make it easy to create on the fly.

Creo Direct
This brand-new app makes it easy to modify new or existing designs. The data is automatically captured in Creo Parametric, without losing earlier versions.

Creo Simulate
PTC took the functionality of Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica to create a new app for analysts, who need to simulate a range of performance dimensions. The app also provides insights into fit and function before the prototype.

Creo Schematics
For the person responsible for the logical interconnect definition of a design, this app helps schematics engineers specify wiring, cabling, piping, etc.

Creo Illustrate
This app allows technical illustrators to create parts diagrams and animations from the CAD data.

Creo View ECAD
This app lets reviewers and collaborators interact with the electrical CAD data as a consumer, not a creator. It’s a great visualization tool for analysis and interference checking.

Creo View MCAD
This app delivers the same set of capabilities for people who need to interact with mechanical CAD data.