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11-Garnet
August 4, 2026
Question

Do any one have any resource about creo parametric customization

  • August 4, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 33 views

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for learning resources on Creo Parametric customization using C++ (Creo TOOLKIT / Creo Object TOOLKIT C++).

From what I've researched by looking at job postings and industry discussions, it seems that C++ (Creo TOOLKIT / OTK C++) is still the most widely used technology for advanced Creo customization in many companies, especially for enterprise-level CAD automation and plugin development. If my understanding is incorrect, I'd appreciate any corrections.

I'm specifically looking for paid or free online courses, YouTube playlists, Hands-on tutorials, sample projects or GitHub repositories, books or documentation that helped me learn, any training providers you've personally found useful. If you've learned Creo TOOLKIT/OTK C++ or know of any good resources, I'd really appreciate your recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

4 replies

Michael_Bourque
14-Alexandrite
August 4, 2026
11-Garnet
August 5, 2026

Thank you so much Michael, I will go through those video. Do share if you have more in depth videos like this.

18-Opal
August 4, 2026

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish for customization objectives.

 

Something “in” Creo as a module or “outside” that interacts with Creo; that can impact your path to implementation.

 

I would also ask yourself IF a user is required to be in the loop for usage or is it just a process that analyzes or manipulates data.  The various end user experience paths are important to understand, if it is a simple thing, you can get by with simpler approaches and tools, deeper things require access to lower level capabilities.

 

Generally speaking, a best practice, I would focus on the flow of data and then what customizations enable that.  Then the question of user involved or not involved and what APis would be best suited help bring things to focus pretty quickly.

 

Data flow first, then user experience, then pick the tools to enable.

 

If you are looking to streamline the generation of variations or configurations, it might be better to look at Pro/PROGRAM as a mechanism for part and assembly customizations.  Pro/PROGRAM specifically is a hidden gem that is not obvious, but very powerful when applied in a limited/focused fashion (turn on/or features and components via parameters as an example).  If you are thinking that customization of parts and assemblies is a priority, I would look at Pro/PROGRAM first to see what is possible.  However, I would avoid EXEC statements to pass parameters around if you are going to have item reuse concerns for those scenarios - instead find a way to target the models with data and “trust” they models will regenerate properly.   If you are looking into Drawing Automations, I would not try to automate there (except for some basic things) -- instead I would suggest “trusting” the parametric show/hide of dimensions, notes, driven from the models vs drawing level decisions whenever possible.

 

If you install ObjectToolkit - I think there are working examples in the distribution you can look at and reference.  ObjectTookit is likely a heavier lift for simple things (e.g. open models, pass parameters, regen models, export, etc.)

 

If your customization objectives are more focused on batch processing or one-off generation of derived models and drawings - this is likely easier to get rocking with CREOSON and the python interface CREOPYSON (BOTH free / open source, just requires JLINK to be installed with your Creo installation.

 

if you still need ObjectToolkit - the open source libraries are useful to understand some of the core semantics of how Creo interacts and works (at a lower level)

 

Hope this helps!

 

Dave

 

11-Garnet
August 5, 2026

Thank you, Dave.

I'm looking for resources that cover the complete range of customization options PTC provides for Creo Parametric—from Pro/PROGRAM to Creo TOOLKIT/Object TOOLKIT, including both synchronous and asynchronous custom applications with proper coding practices.

However, my primary focus is on industry-level customization. I'm particularly interested in understanding how companies that use Creo Parametric develop and maintain their custom applications also which coding language is being used by most the companies for customization.

For example 

1. How they build applications using Creo TOOLKIT (C++) or Object TOOLKIT (Java/C++).

2.How they add custom commands, ribbon tabs, buttons, and dialogs within the Creo Parametric UI.

3. How they integrate Creo with PLM systems such as Windchill or other enterprise applications.

4. How they structure large customization projects, manage the codebase, and deploy applications across multiple users.

5. Best practices followed in real production environments rather than simple sample applications.

I'm looking for courses, documentation, or training that reflects these real-world development practices. Free or paid resources are both welcome.

Thank you