Creo Parametric, formerly known, together with Creo Elements/Pro, as Pro/Engineer (commonly referred to as Pro E) and Wildfire, is a

solid modeling Solid modeling (or solid modelling) is a consistent set of principles for mathematical and computer modeling of three-dimensional shapes '' (solids)''. Solid modeling is distinguished within the broader related areas of geometric modeling and ...

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD),

computer-aided manufacturing Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) also known as computer-aided modeling or computer-aided machining is the use of software to control machine tools in the manufacturing of work pieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most ...

(CAM),

computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the general usage of technology to aid in tasks related to engineering analysis. Any use of technology to solve or assist engineering issues falls under this umbrella. Overview Following alongside the con ...

(CAE), and associative

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based Computer representation of surfaces, representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in Three-dimensional space, three dimensions vi ...

application, to run on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. ''Creo Parametric'' should not be confused with ''Creo Elements/Direct Modeling'', formerly CoCreate ME10 (2D) and or ME30 (3D) CAD Products. The ex-CoCreate CAD Products are now owned by PTC and renamed ''Creo Elements/Direct Drafting'' and ''Creo Elements/Direct Modeling''. ''Creo Parametric'' is an application of a suite of 10 that provide collaborative

, assembly modelling, 2D orthographic views,

finite element analysis Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical models, mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural ...

parametric model In statistics, a parametric model or parametric family or finite-dimensional model is a particular class of statistical models. Specifically, a parametric model is a family of probability distributions that has a finite number of parameters. Defi ...

ling, sub-divisional and

non-uniform rational B-spline Non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) is a mathematical model using B-spline, basis splines (B-splines) that is commonly used in computer graphics for representing curves and Surface (mathematics), surfaces. It offers great flexibility and pr ...

(NURBS) surface modeling,

technical drawing Technical drawing, drafting or drawing, is the act and discipline of composing drawings that visually communicate how something functions or is constructed. Technical drawing is essential for communicating ideas in industry and engineering. ...

(drafting), and

numerical control Computer numerical control (CNC) or CNC machining is the automated control of machine tools by a computer. It is an evolution of numerical control (NC), where machine tools are directly managed by data storage media such as punched cards or ...

(NC) and

tooling Tooling may refer to: * Machine tools and the tooling, such as cutting tools, fixtures, and accessories, that is used on them ** Cutting tool (machining), any of hundreds of kinds of cutters ** Fixture (tool), a fixed workholding or support device ...

functionality for

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

designers.

Creo Parametric Creo Parametric, formerly known, together with Creo Elements/Pro, as Pro/Engineer (commonly referred to as Pro E) and Wildfire, is a solid modeling or computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CA ...

competes directly with

CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and product li ...

SolidWorks SolidWorks (stylized as SOLIDWORKS) is a brand of software used for solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE). It was one of the first 3D CAD applications designed to run on a desktop PC. The brand is owned ...

, NX/

Solid Edge Solid Edge is a 3D computer-aided design (CAD), parametric feature and synchronous technology solid modeling software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides solid modeling, assembly modelling and 2D orthographic view functions for mechani ...

Inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Fusion 360 Autodesk Fusion is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE) and printed circuit board (PCB) design software application, developed by Autodesk. It is available for Windows, ...

IRONCAD IRONCAD is a software product for 3D and 2D CAD ( computer-aided-design) design focused mainly on the mechanical design market that runs on Microsoft Windows. It is developed by Atlanta, GA based IronCAD LLC. History IRONCAD was originally develo ...

, and

Onshape Onshape is a computer-aided design (CAD) software system, delivered over the Internet via a software as a service (SaaS) model. It makes extensive use of cloud computing, with compute-intensive processing and rendering performed on Internet-bas ...

. It was created by

Parametric Technology Corporation PTC Inc. (formerly Parametric Technology Corporation) is an American computer software and services company founded in 1985 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was a pioneer in parametric, associative feature-based, solid com ...

(PTC) and was the first of its kind to market. The software uses a specific file naming scheme, not allowing certain characters like ä, ö, é, ő, ł, Đ, ... (including spaces).

Overview

Creo Parametric (formerly Pro/Engineer), PTC's parametric, integrated 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software, is used by manufacturers for

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

, design, and manufacturing. Pro/Engineer was the industry's first rule-based constraint (sometimes called "parametric" or "variational")

3D CAD In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and ...

modeling system. The

parametric modeling Procedural modeling is an umbrella term for a number of techniques in computer graphics to create 3D models and textures from sets of rules that may be easily changed over time. L-Systems, fractals, and generative modeling are procedural modeli ...

approach uses parameters, dimensions, features, and relationships to capture intended model behavior. This design approach can be family-based or platform-driven, where the strategy is to use engineering constraints and relationships to quickly optimize the design, or where the resulting geometry may be complex or based upon equations. Creo Parametric provides a complete set of design, analysis and manufacturing abilities on one, integral, scalable platform. These required abilities include solid modeling, surfacing, rendering, data Interoperability, routed systems design, simulation, tolerance analysis,

(NC) and tooling design. Creo Parametric can be used to create a complete 3D digital model of manufactured goods. The models consist of 2D and 3D solid model data which can also be used downstream in

rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design ( CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing ...

, tooling design, and CNC manufacturing. All data are associative and interchangeable between the CAD, CAE, and CAM modules without

data conversion Data conversion is the conversion of computer data from one format to another. Throughout a computer environment, data is encoded in a variety of ways. For example, computer hardware is built on the basis of certain standards, which requires ...

. A product and its entire

bill of materials A bill of materials or product structure (sometimes bill of material, BOM or associated list) is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an Prod ...

(BOM) can be modeled accurately with fully associative

engineering drawing An engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing that is used to convey information about an object. A common use is to specify the geometry necessary for the construction of a component and is called a detail drawing. Usually, a number of ...

s, and revision control information. The associativity functionality in Creo Parametric enables users to make changes in the design at any time during the product development process and automatically update the end products. This ability enables

concurrent engineering Concurrent engineering (CE) or concurrent design and manufacturing is a work methodology emphasizing the parallelization of tasks (i.e. performing tasks concurrently), which is sometimes called simultaneous engineering or integrated product develo ...

– design, analysis and manufacturing engineers working in parallel – and streamlines product development processes.

Summary of abilities

Creo Parametric is a software application within the CAID/CAD/CAM/CAE category. Creo Parametric is a parametric, feature-based modeling architecture incorporated into a single database philosophy with rule-based design abilities. It provides in-depth control of complex geometry. The abilities of the product can be split into the three main headings of Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing. This data is then documented in a standard 2D

production drawing Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

or the 3D drawing standard

ASME Y14.41-2003 ASME Y14.41 is a standard published by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) which establishes requirements and reference documents applicable to the preparation and revision of digital product definition data (also known as model-based ...

Product design

Creo Parametric offers a range of tools to enable the generation of a complete digital representation of the product being designed. In addition to the general geometry tools there is also the ability to generate geometry of other integrated design disciplines such as industrial and standard pipe work and complete wiring definitions. Tools are also available to support collaborative development. A number of concept design tools that provide up-front Industrial Design concepts can then be used in the downstream process of engineering the product. These range from conceptual Industrial design sketches, reverse engineering with point cloud data and comprehensive free-form surface.

Analysis

Creo Parametric has numerous analysis tools available and covers thermal, static, dynamic and fatigue finite element analysis along with other tools all designed to help with the development of the product. These tools include human factors, manufacturing tolerance, mould flow and design optimization. The design optimization can be used at a geometry level to obtain the optimum design dimensions and in conjunction with the finite element analysis.

Surface modeling

Creo Parametric has good surface modeling abilities, using commands like Boundary blend and Sweep. Advanced options like Style (Interactive Surface Design Extension - ISDX) and Freestyle provide more abilities to create complex models easily.

Manufacturing

By using the fundamental abilities of the software with regards to the single data source principle, it provides a rich set of tools in the manufacturing environment in the form of tooling design and simulated CNC machining and output. Tooling options cover specialty tools for molding, die-casting and progressive tooling design.

Release history

The

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

version was discontinued after 4.0, except

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set architecture, instruction set. It was announced in 1999 and first available in the AMD Opteron family in 2003. It introduces two new ope ...

Unix on

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

. It was renamed Creo 1.0 after Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0 (rebranded PTC Creo Elements/Pro), occurred on October 28, 2010, which coincided with PTC's announcement of Creo, a new design software application suite. For the first 10 years, PTC generally released 2 versions per year, with some exceptions. The initial release (Rev 1) was in 1988.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Computer-aided design software Computer-aided manufacturing software Computer-aided engineering software 1987 software