Automatic Rep best practices?

[Pettersson]

Hi, all.

A client opened an assembly from disk in Automatic Rep, then saved it into Windchill, which resulted in a bunch of ghost parts. Lesson leaned: Don't do that. He says he likes Automatic Rep but he's afraid to use it in case there are other problems like this. He asked me if there are other things to look out for, and I couldn't think of any, as my experience with Automatic Rep is limited. He also said he didn't trust PTC documentation, "since that just says it's great".

So I thought I'd ask here about your experiences with working with the Automatic Rep. Do you use it? How do you use it? Are there things to watch out for? My limited experience has been that it makes models quicker to open but slow to work with (since new data must be loaded as you are working). What are your experiences?

[Michael]

Automatic Representation (Auto Rep) in Creo Parametric is a powerful tool for managing large assemblies. It enables quicker opening of models by loading a lightweight version of the assembly, which can be quite useful for viewing or navigating without the need for full detail.

It is used for Viewing not Editing: Auto Rep is best used for viewing or analyzing large assemblies where detailed editing is not required. It’s not recommended for editing or saving back into a data management system like Windchill, as your client experienced with the ghost parts issue.

[Pettersson]

Yeah, this is not what it's sold as, though. Supposedly you should be able to work in the assembly more or less as normal. My limited experience hasn't had many problems in this area, as Creo is supposed to load in any necessary information as you work, so anything modified should be in session and be saved without issues. I have only used it a bit, though, and only on my local computer, not with Windchill. Perhaps the problems are larger when connected to Windchill?

[RandyJones]

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@Pettersson wrote:

Hi, all.

A client opened an assembly from disk in Automatic Rep, then saved it into Windchill, which resulted in a bunch of ghost parts. 

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Which is the expected result of that workflow because opening in Automatic Rep your session does not have all the models in session.

That is not how you should import models into Windchill. You should use the embedded browser workspace Tools > Import to Workspace

Automatic Rep works just fine with or without Windchill.