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SharmaKona-Adro10-Marble
10-Marble
January 7, 2025
Solved

How to Convert a Table of Coordinates (.pts file) into a Sketch Feature in Creo Parametric?

  • January 7, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 3860 views

I’m working on a project in PTC Creo where I need to plot hundreds of points on a curved surface based on predefined X, Y, Z coordinates. I’ve already created a table with these coordinates and successfully imported it into Creo, which generated an accurate set of points. However, in the Model Tree, the points are recognized as a Table Feature rather than a Sketch Feature. My goal is to have these points appear as part of a Sketch Feature to enable better manipulation and integration into downstream modeling tasks. Is there a way to directly import or convert these points (or a .pts file) into a sketch? Alternatively, are there any efficient workarounds or automated methods within Creo to achieve this? Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Best answer by StephenW

@Chris3 & @pausob are coming up with great methods of extracting data and all I can think of is, well, once I get the points in and get them projected, I would just measure each one and make an X-Y-Z spreadsheet...Brute force! In a few hours, or days, I'll have a spreadsheet riddled with typos and transposed numbers!!! 😂🤣 That's best case scenario...for worst case is a pencil and paper with typos and transposed numbers! How do i know, well...

StephenW_0-1736457339793.png

 

3 replies

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23-Emerald III
StephenW23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
January 7, 2025

I don't know how to import points to a sketch.

You can import as datum points, using points offset from coordinate system. Does that help?

You can also create one point at 0,0,0 and then use a pattern table to get your points.

StephenW_0-1736248956370.png

 

    KenFarley
    KenFarley21-Topaz II
    21-Topaz II
    January 7, 2025

    (1) Sketches in Creo are 2D representations of geometry, not 3D. Defined in a plane.

    (2) Even if you could, trying to import hundreds of anything into a sketch is a recipe for disaster. There is a tendency for the sketch to become "unstable" which in turns leads to the user becoming (justifiably) unstable.

    (3) Are you trying to use the points to build a surface? Depending on how the points are laid out on the surface you might want to look into the use of .ibl or "blended points" files. I've used these to model surfaces in the past. It's a relatively straightforward file format that lets you define a set of sections that are imported and converted into a surface. Maybe that would be a good approach for you.

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      SharmaKona-Adro10-MarbleAuthor
      10-Marble
      January 7, 2025

      Hey there, thanks a lot for your response. 
      My final objective is to import the points which has to be placed "on a surface". (ref: the points image I have attached above have to be positioned on a surface which I find a bit tricky). To be entirely precise, the point coordinate data I have made in my table needs to be imported into creo and all those 100s of points have to be placed directly on the desired curved surface. 

      Chris3
      Chris321-Topaz I
      21-Topaz I
      January 7, 2025

      Did you try what @StephenW suggested? Thats the best approach. Make a CSYS on the surface where you want the 0,0,0 to be and then import the points as a point feature using that CSYS. The pts file format is just X Y Z with spaces in between the numbers.

      S
      23-Emerald III
      StephenW23-Emerald IIIAnswer
      23-Emerald III
      January 9, 2025

      @Chris3 & @pausob are coming up with great methods of extracting data and all I can think of is, well, once I get the points in and get them projected, I would just measure each one and make an X-Y-Z spreadsheet...Brute force! In a few hours, or days, I'll have a spreadsheet riddled with typos and transposed numbers!!! 😂🤣 That's best case scenario...for worst case is a pencil and paper with typos and transposed numbers! How do i know, well...

      StephenW_0-1736457339793.png

       

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