Future plans of Elements Direct

[mverhoeven]

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?

[bhug]

Sorry about updating the system requirement not in time. It still needs some days to be available. Please use the following links to get access to the latest updates of the system requirements fir the Creo Elements/Direct 20.0:

• PTC Creo Elements/Direct - Modeling 20.0
• PTC Creo Elements/Direct - Drafting 20.0
• PTC Creo Elements/Direct - License Server 20.0

Regards,

Berthold

[rlampa]

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

If you are interested in a free version check here for Modeling Express, a

OK, but I couldn't find any download link for Elements/Direct, and no price information either. Also I could not deduce whether the so called Extensions are separtate products, or just standard modules of Elements/Direct std product?

I also could not find any comparison matrix between Elements/Direct and Parametric.

I also have no idea what the difference is between the following products (from the right pane of the product page):

CAD Products

• Creo
• Creo Parametric
• Creo 4.0

For anyone new to Creo, there's piles of info about this and that, but no simple statement about how things relate to each other, what is included in the std package, no comparison matrixes between products, different product names on different pages with no explanation of what is this or that, or are they all the same (can't find any product but Parametric in the store)... and so on. Really confusing.

I'm a Rhino user with little or no experience of other CAD packages (tried Fusion 360 very little).

// Rolf

[PeterKehoe]

A matrix would be nice, but I've not seen anything like that.

Here's a quick summary of the differences:

Creo Parametric: Parametric 3D modeler

Creo Direct: Direct modeler to be used with Creo Parametric when direct modeling is needed to make changes

Creo Elements/Direct: Direct modeler to be used when creating parts/products using just a direct modeling approach

Creo: Family of products which include the three above, plus more

[GerardLeclercq]

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).

[bcritchley]

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.

 

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

‌

[JE_5178930]

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