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mverhoeven1-Visitor
1-Visitor
December 19, 2016
Question

Future plans of Elements Direct

  • December 19, 2016
  • 8 replies
  • 21413 views

Hi All,

The future of Elements Direct is pretty clear now, it seems:

1. Elements direct has entered 'maintenance mode', as no real development efforts are made anymore, it's in some distant corner of the website, and the original development team doesn't exist anymore.

2. Creo Direct (positioned as the new direct modeler where we could migrate to) is not going anywhere and isn't positioned as next step for Elements Direct anymore. It's not even mentioned as Creo CAD anymore (only parametric is there now).

3. Parametric has some 'direct capabilities', and they seem to work hard to make transitioning to Parametric as easy as possible (migrating 2D drawings for example).

So, PTC has clearly decided that Elements Direct is going to be phased out. I would like to know what the future plans of users are. I can think of a few options:

1. Switch to Parametric

2. Switch to another CAD system

3. Hold on as long as possible and keep maintenance

4. Hold on as long as you can keep it running without maintenance

5. A combination of the above

For our business the direct modeling is vital and there currently is no good alternative available. Also, we have a lot of software developed on top of Elements Direct. So we decided to hold on (for now with maintenance), but start investigating other CAD options and keep an eye on all the developments. My first impression is that we will definitely not switch to Creo Parametric. PTC doesn't seem to keep our interests high on their priority list and parametric doesn't match with our business. I think we will start testing Solid Edge Synchronous technology as our first step. At this point maintenance is only an insurance for future platform support, but even new versions can be tricky. For us version 19 already had more new bugs than features, but there was windows 10 support. Not sure how long we will keep maintenance. It's a gamble how long the software works nicely on new versions of windows and graphics cards.

What are your plans? Are you going to switch as soon as possible or are you going to hold on as long as possible?

    8 replies

    T
    ThomasKirkman16-Pearl
    16-Pearl
    December 19, 2016

    My hope has always been the PTC sells elements/direct modeling off.  It is a good program despite PTC.

    Regards

    Tom

    M
    mverhoeven1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    December 19, 2016

    That would be nice, but I don't see it happening. If the core developers are gone it is hard to get the knowledge back. But I don't understand why they bought it in the first place. If they don't need/want the direct modeling technology, why buy it? I can't imagine they needed it to make the flexible modeling extension, as that is completely different technology. It part still puzzles me.

    But I still keep some (very small) hope they change course and put more effort into it, because I really like CoCreate Modeling. It is very well designed, very powerful and very nice to work with.

    G
    GerardLeclercq1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    December 19, 2016

    Same feeling, but still hoping.

    No other good solution. Even SolideEdge, which is still parametric, but hidden under the name Synchronus Technology. And it has his big brother too, NX. SE could disappear as well.

      U
      udyna1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      December 20, 2016

      It seem pure direct modeling market is becoming smaller and smaller. 

      The fashion design style is parametric+direct modeling, so Creo Parametric add flexible modeling extension and new app Creo Direct. Creo Direct can data exchange Creo Parametric with "zero" gap. So after Creo Direct 5.0, 6.0 or 7.0.... become more stronger, PTC WILL expire Creo Elements/Direct Modeling completed.

      T
      ThomasKirkman16-Pearl
      16-Pearl
      December 20, 2016

      That may be great for them, but we are heavily invested in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.  With many lisp routines created for it as well as having customized Model Manager.

      Creo Direct does not work with these custom lisp files.  This leaves us little choice but to stick with what we have.  When support is over, we will start looking elsewhere for our cad packages. 

      B
      bhug5-Regular Member
      5-Regular Member
      December 23, 2016

       

      Dear very concerned customers:

       

      As PTC has executed its Creo strategy since 2010, we have seen a remarkable response in the marketplace from all of our customers, including our Creo Elements/Direct customers. Some of those customers have been excited to adopt Creo to access the broader capabilities that it offers, while others have decided to stay with Creo Elements/Direct in anticipation of the future expansion of direct modeling capabilities in Creo.

       

      Some of you, as stated in this discussion thread, are concerned that PTC would soon ‘sunset’ our Creo Elements/Direct products, leaving you no choice but to move to Creo. As we stated from the early stages of the Creo strategy, we have no intention of doing this. In reality, we remain committed to support both types of customers. We will further support and develop Creo Elements/Direct Modeling for many years to come and we will extend direct modeling in Creo . We see the market requesting parametric and direct modeling capabilities in combination, and our strategy is to offer both within Creo as evidenced by the advances in Creo 4.0. Be encouraged to take a look at examples such as:

       

      • New Flexible Modeling capabilities in Sheet Metal (view video)
      • New Geometry Search capabilities that can provide powerful geometric de-featuring recipes when stored as queries in parametric features (view video)
      • Adoption of geometry-based selection and interaction workflows with context sensitive mini toolbars throughout Creo Parametric (view video)

        

      Going forward we also plan to expose more flexible modeling capabilities in the assembly environment, a key aspect and benefit of the direct modeling environment you use today.

       

      Although Creo Elements/Direct 20.0 shows fewer enhancements compared to previous releases, it continues to add value. This includes for example:

       

      • Full Windows 10 support
      • New out of the box native import capabilities for Solid Edge and NX as well as updated version support for existing data exchange capabilities
      • A mix of usability and productivity enhancements including improved DXF/DWG drawing import, a new cable spline editor in Cabling (planned for M010) and more
      • Hundreds of solved customer SPRs removing reported issues to increase software performance in your day to day usage.

        

      Focus over the past few years has also been to develop and/or improve

       

      • our Creo Elements/Direct Windchill Workgroup Manager
      • a set of migration tools that will aid you in moving your data from Model Manager to Windchill as smoothly as possible allowing you to benefit from the industry’s broadest and best product lifecycle management solution – Windchill
      • increase data upwards compatibility allowing you to leverage the design intent stored in your Creo Elements/Direct data within Creo. The recent releases add associative drawing import, automatic transfer of Round & Chamfer meta data, as well as Unite technology support. The latter allows to open and embed native Creo Elements/Direct assemblies inside Creo assemblies to ease coexistence and transition scenarios.

        

      All of the above reflects the importance for PTC to protect your investment in the product. Whether you stay with Creo Elements/Direct and adopt future versions of it (next version is currently in planning) or whether you want to move to Creo to benefit from its broader set of capabilities and integrations with the whole PTC product suite.

      Thank you for your loyalty to PTC. If you have further questions, you can contact your PTC sales team or PTC partner.

        U
        udyna1-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        December 24, 2016

        Does Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.0 import support the following 3-rd software native file?

        • SolidWorks 2016
        • Inventor 2016
        • NX 10.0
        • SolidEdge ST8
          A
          akhare1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          January 2, 2017

          Yes, Creo Elements/Direct 20.0 supports all of the above versions!

          Cheers,

          Ashish

          B
          bcritchley1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          January 6, 2017

          Hi,

          PDS Vision (UK), are having an "Open Day" at the end of this month, where we've scheduled several key PTC personnel to present and speak about the latest Creo Elements\Direct applications, it's direction and roadmap.  It should be a good platform that would hopefully ease various concerns that have been raised on this thread!  I appreciate not all of you are UK based, but for those that might be available to attend, we'd love to see you there, so please feel free to register on the link below:

          http://www.pdsvision.co.uk/event/event

          Thanks
          Barry

          R
          rlampa1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          January 7, 2017

          Hi all,
          New to Creo (Rhino user) I got interested in Creo Elements/Direct 20.0, but I can't seem to find anywhere to download/try it nor where to buy it.

          Can someone here post the links?

          TIA,
          // Rolf

          B
          bhug5-Regular Member
          5-Regular Member
          January 10, 2017

           

          Further information about Creo Elements/Direct Modeling you get here.

           

          If you are interested in a free version check here for Modeling Express, a stripped down version of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.

           

          If you want a Creo representative is contacting, follow this link.

          Regards,

          Berthold Hug

          U
          udyna1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          January 16, 2017

          Hi Hug, could you please share me the system requirement of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling & Drafting 20.0, before I log a case about system requirement about V20.0 and the support engineer reported he is still waiting for further inform product manager, now two weeks ago, until now no any update and response at all.

          As you know, v20.0 was released after over one month, some customers are interested it and want to upgrade from 18.1 to 20.0, but no system requirement, it is very urgent for me. Thank you very much for taking care of this.

          G
          GerardLeclercq1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          January 17, 2017

          This question is focused on Modeling. One should not forget Drafting which is used for:

          - non 3D models such as diagrams

          - layout for enormous installation which cannot be done by Annotation with the computers of today

          - modifiication of old 2D drawings (since 1987).

            B
            bcritchley1-Visitor
            1-Visitor
            February 3, 2017

            Hi All,

            As per comment 6th Jan, we held our "PDS Vision Open Day" this week, with several key speakers from PTC.  It was excellent, and I was pleased to see the sentiment of the PTC speaker to iterate the importance of the Elements\Direct within the suite (see attached).

            Of course there was a lot of talk about the suite of the applications (Parametric\Windchill\Thingworx\Vuforia etc...), and how they align with each other and with CED.  On the whole, an enjoyable, positive and excellently delivered set of presentations.

              PTC_CED_OpenDay.jpg

            Additionally, if anybody has the opportunity to visit the AMRC site in Sheffield, UK (where the PDS Vision event was hosted), you absolutely must.  PTC have an investment there at the facility where they showcase and develop their IoT technology.  This alone is worth the visit, but to see demo's of other emerging technologies, and the enthusiasm of the young engineers involved is great to see

            Thanks

            Barry

            ‌

            J
            JE_51789301-Visitor
            1-Visitor
            October 2, 2023

            Hi All,

             

            As far as I can see - CREO Elements Direct is indeed in "Maintenance Mode" - just as this old Post has stated.

             

            It's 8 years later and CREO CED is still in v20!??

             

            Has everyone moved to CREO Parametric?  

             

            Cheer

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