Question
Creo M070 no longer opens SW IMPORTED files...
I just ran onto something today, that I thought was worth sharing with the user community.
We work with a LOT of vendors, who use a LOT of different CAD systems. One of those CAD systems is SolidWorks. We know that in the past SW has had the "ability" to write Pro/E files directly, and often times, we would have asked vendors for those files, since they would appear to be Pro/E files on our end. But often times, we get files from vendors, and we do NOT know that they do this with SW. We ask for a Pro/E file, and they send us a Pro/E file, BUT they have used the SW converter on it to create the Pro/E files. We didn't ask them to do that, they just did. It has always worked for us (others mileage may vary), and it hasn't been that big of a deal.
Now today, I tried calling up such a model and I can't call up the assembly, because the parts under it are failing. It doesn't tell me why, it just says that the models aren't available, BUT I know that they are, because they are in the directory that I'm currently in, and I can see them there. I log a call with PTC. They call me back quickly, which I'm very impressed by, and they tell me that I cannot open these files because they are SW files saved as Pro/E files. OK. I'll take their word for it. I have no idea one way or the other, except I know that they are vendor files. The ONLY solution that they really have for me is that I'm supposed to get the original data from the vendor as either an IGES or STEP file, and then reimport the data into a Pro/E model. Well, that's a great plan, except I have other geometry built on this part, that will all fail now if I can't get this model to come up. Doesn't matter.
As it turns out, the tech person tells me that they have had so much problems with this, that they have DISABLED this functionality in later cuts of WF 5, starting above M040 (I believe. Tech wasn't for sure). What that means is that you may have models that you could successfully call up in M040, that you will NOT be able to call up in M070. BE AWARE THAT THESE WILL FAIL IN LATER BUILDS!
The tech sent me the following links:
If you look at the second one, there is a work around IF you have SW, or the SW Explorer. Fair enough, but I currently don't have those things on my machine. What this TPI does NOT indicate, is that they have turned it completely OFF in later datecodes, and models WILL fail without this resolution. There may be such a TPI out there, but the tech did not give me that number. Apparently there is no hidden config to turn this back on either. It's just simply gone. Period. In my case, I don't know if that will help me either, because I don't have the original files SW files. All I have are the .prt and .asm files that the vendor sent me. I would have to call and get those, but I'm sure that also means that I have to start over.
What I really wanted to pass along to users is that using SW files created this way may suddenly explode without warning, and your ONLY recourse at this point are these things:
1) Call vendor and get NEW export geometry as IGES or STEP, and reimport geometry. That, of course, means that you'll most likely have other issues in your downstream models
2) Get a version of SW and everything will magically fix itself. That's only $5000. But, it only APPEARS from the TPI that this will only help if you have .sldprt or .sldasm, and you START with these files to begin with.
My understanding from talking with the tech, and looking at the TPI's is that IF all that you have are the .prt or .asm files, you're only recourse to fix the problem is to get ALL new models from vendor that are IGES or STEP and do reimports, and fix all of the downstream data / geometry...
This thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.
We work with a LOT of vendors, who use a LOT of different CAD systems. One of those CAD systems is SolidWorks. We know that in the past SW has had the "ability" to write Pro/E files directly, and often times, we would have asked vendors for those files, since they would appear to be Pro/E files on our end. But often times, we get files from vendors, and we do NOT know that they do this with SW. We ask for a Pro/E file, and they send us a Pro/E file, BUT they have used the SW converter on it to create the Pro/E files. We didn't ask them to do that, they just did. It has always worked for us (others mileage may vary), and it hasn't been that big of a deal.
Now today, I tried calling up such a model and I can't call up the assembly, because the parts under it are failing. It doesn't tell me why, it just says that the models aren't available, BUT I know that they are, because they are in the directory that I'm currently in, and I can see them there. I log a call with PTC. They call me back quickly, which I'm very impressed by, and they tell me that I cannot open these files because they are SW files saved as Pro/E files. OK. I'll take their word for it. I have no idea one way or the other, except I know that they are vendor files. The ONLY solution that they really have for me is that I'm supposed to get the original data from the vendor as either an IGES or STEP file, and then reimport the data into a Pro/E model. Well, that's a great plan, except I have other geometry built on this part, that will all fail now if I can't get this model to come up. Doesn't matter.
As it turns out, the tech person tells me that they have had so much problems with this, that they have DISABLED this functionality in later cuts of WF 5, starting above M040 (I believe. Tech wasn't for sure). What that means is that you may have models that you could successfully call up in M040, that you will NOT be able to call up in M070. BE AWARE THAT THESE WILL FAIL IN LATER BUILDS!
The tech sent me the following links:
If you look at the second one, there is a work around IF you have SW, or the SW Explorer. Fair enough, but I currently don't have those things on my machine. What this TPI does NOT indicate, is that they have turned it completely OFF in later datecodes, and models WILL fail without this resolution. There may be such a TPI out there, but the tech did not give me that number. Apparently there is no hidden config to turn this back on either. It's just simply gone. Period. In my case, I don't know if that will help me either, because I don't have the original files SW files. All I have are the .prt and .asm files that the vendor sent me. I would have to call and get those, but I'm sure that also means that I have to start over.
What I really wanted to pass along to users is that using SW files created this way may suddenly explode without warning, and your ONLY recourse at this point are these things:
1) Call vendor and get NEW export geometry as IGES or STEP, and reimport geometry. That, of course, means that you'll most likely have other issues in your downstream models
2) Get a version of SW and everything will magically fix itself. That's only $5000. But, it only APPEARS from the TPI that this will only help if you have .sldprt or .sldasm, and you START with these files to begin with.
My understanding from talking with the tech, and looking at the TPI's is that IF all that you have are the .prt or .asm files, you're only recourse to fix the problem is to get ALL new models from vendor that are IGES or STEP and do reimports, and fix all of the downstream data / geometry...
This thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.