So last week we got a demonstration of CoCreate which is a new 3D CAD package being offered by PTC (Pro/E Wildfire). I am a long-time Pro/E user and also used Solidworks for a few years.

The CoCreate software interface is really, really impressive. Very slick, and very easy to create and modify geometry. It also uses a new paradigm (buzz word) for 3D modeling called 'Explicit Modeling'. Basically the feature tree is flat, that is there is no build history. It is like all of the features were created at the same time. That is a little strange but has some benefits. Parent/Child relationships can still be created however.

Anyone here using it? How do you like it? We are getting some eval copies to try out but I'd like to see what any current, daily users of it think.

PTC ? CoCreate ? Explicit Modeling ? 3D CAD software ? CAD design software

 

not to get you off track in your curiosity, but is CoCreate a replacement for pro/e or a "lighter" version or what?

 

Good question. They are marketing it like a parallel product or something. I think the deal is PTC bought the company that wrote CoCreate and is integrating it into their product line.

CoCreate right now really exists on its own because once you move models from CoCreate to Pro/E they act as if you imported a STEP file. All of the parametric features are now just unmodifiable geometry. The hole in your part will still be there, in the right size, and in the right place, but you cannot change its diameter for example. If you move Pro/E parts/assemblies into CoCreate you lose all of your design history (the feature tree gets flattened). STEP file parts/assemblies can be modified. I do that a lot. But you have to create new geometry to do it.

CoCreate has a much, much better interface than Pro/E so it is a lot easier to use. So if you are just designing all-new prototypes from scratch (like we basically do), and not reconfiguring/making tweaks to an existing product line, it is a good fit. But it cannot do everything Pro/E does. For example, CoCreate cannot perform an automated design study where you can modify a part based on FEA results to converge on an optimized solution. In Pro/E you can set up an analysis, let it run tens or hundreds of iterations (modify feature, run FEA, check results, modify feature based on results, run FEA again, etc. etc.) overnight, and come back the next day to look at the results. Mechanica (in Pro/E) can do that. I think Solidworks (with COSMOS) can also do automated design studies. I do not use it often but when I do it is a pretty useful feature.

The guy giving the demo said (have not verified this) that Wildfire (Pro/E) and Solidworks are headed in the same 'explicit modeling' direction as CoCreate. We are still using Wildfire 3 (due to intralink issues) so I do not know what Wildfire 5 looks like.

 

man, I hate pro/e but love solidworks. This looks interesting... wish I had a way to try it out.

 

Word. The Solidworks interface is a lot better than Pro/E. I started on Pro/E, then switched to Solidworks, then had to switch back to Pro/E. The first transition was a lot easier than the second one.

 

been through that same proe-solidworks-proe situation myself. I miss solidworks even though it's "not as powerful". which is bullshit for 95% of most cad work.

 

Agreed. I really never ran across an insurmountable shortcoming when I was using Solidworks. I am only using Pro/E now because I have to since it is what the group I work with now uses.