Advanced Assembly Extension

[bmarchand]

I am decideing to purchase creo parametric and am wondering if I need the AAX package

I do top down modelling, with descent size assemblies

Would I be able to get along without it?

Thanks

Brian

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[svillafuerte]

Depending on what decent size assemblies means, but we mess with assemblies of a couple hundred parts all the time ans have never had the need for AAX. Although we do have one license that we have had since the mid 90's but just don't use it to that capacity. Hope this help a little.

Shane V.

[bmarchand]

The die I'm working on now has about 300 components, so i guess that's about average

[TomU]

Advanced assembly doesn't have any impact on the number of files you can work with at a time, rather it adds additional functionality that can help with top down designs.  Things like:

• Assembly Include
• Assembly level Pro-Program
• Publish Geometry
• Copy Geometry
• Motion Skeletons
• Interchange Assemblies
• Skeleton Models
• Assembly Level UDFs

Take a look at these links for more info:

• AAx benefits
• PTC Creo Advanced Assembly Extension | PTC
• http://www.ptc.com/File%20Library/Product%20Families/Creo/Model/Creo_Advanced_Assembly_Ext_DS.pdf
• Large Assembly Management using Advanced Assembly Extension Webinar - YouTube
• Top-3 reasons why Creo and Pro/ENGINEER users need the Advanced Assembly Extension (AAX) - YouTube
  

[dgschaefer]

Personally I consider AAX a must have simply for the ability to use skeletons & copy geoms.  I wouldn't buy Creo without it.  The time savings and additional control over your design through skeleton modeling is easily worth the additional cost.

I rarely do an assy - a few parts or hundreds - without a skeleton anymore.  It's become an essential tool in my workflow.

You can do TDD without AAX, but it's harder.

[bmarchand]

I build all my tools top down, use UG NX currently, All geometry is referenced from a main construction assembly (like a skeleton)

All parts below this have geometry linked in from that main part

So what I am hearing is that the non AAX has no copy geom or publish geom

[dgschaefer]

Yes, but that's not to say that there aren't ways of copying geometry from one model to another, they just aren't as pretty.

[bmarchand]

I'm downloading creo 3 with the AAX for a 30 day evaluation, I will see if I can run it without the AAX first and see whats there, then I can try with it and compare (Hopefully I can do that)

[dgschaefer]

Make sure you play with skeleton modeling with copy geom & publish geom pairs.  That's the real power of AAX, in my view.  There was a good overview of skeletons in the knowledge base at one time involving an office chair.  As I recall, it did not use publish geoms, unfortunately, but did illustrate the power of the skeleton.

A robust skeleton driven assy can take days off your development cycle when late changes com in.  I've made significant changes in databases of dozens of components and thousands of features very quickly because of a complete and robust skeleton model.  These changes should have taken days to complete but were done in hours instead.

My current project is 80-100 components and nearing tooling release.  A routine database check discovered an electrical component too close to a metal component.  The fix involved shifting one of the core features of the product that would directly change 5 of the tool ready injection molded parts and potentially impact several more.  I changed one dimension in the skeleton and regenerated the assy (6,000+ features!) and corrected the problem.  It actually took longer to double check the assy after than it did to make the change itself.