Select the midpoint of an edge

[Philip_Olieux]

It surprises me that, while running through the different PTC forums, I did not find the answer to a lack in Creo Parametric that seems so obvious to me and to other users who have worked with other CAD systems like SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, NX...

In all these CAD systems, it is possible to select the midpoint of a line or an edge (eg to measure between two midpoints). No problem at all. In Creo Parametric, this simple functionality isn't available at all. Or am I wrong?

Any comment is appreciated, as long as it is polite!

Kind regards,

Philip Olieux

[tbraxton]

It is certainly possible to measure the distance between the midpoint of two curves/edges in Creo. In most cases you would need to create a datum point on the curves at the midpoint which can be done within sketcher or as a feature if you anticipate the need for them.

Within the measure tool you can create datums on the fly (midpoints) to get the result. There is a config option that controls whether these on the fly datums are temporary or not.

Option: keep_info_datums

[Philip_Olieux]

Hello, thanks for your reply.

I know about the possible answers you mention, but these take too much effort to get the expected result. PTC should enhance the Creo Parametric program with this kind of stuff if they really want to compete with other CAD systems...

Kind regards,

Philip Olieux.

[tbraxton · Accepted solution]

You can submit product ideas for enhancements here:

https://community.ptc.com/t5/Creo-Parametric-Ideas/idb-p/creoparametric 

I would strongly suggest that you create a whitepaper that goes into detail about the issue to define workflows and how the UI could be structured to improve things. Just stating that it needs to be more like product X because it is better is not going anywhere within PTC.

If you really want to maximize your input I would suggest getting involved with the technical committees to get enhancements discussed in that forum. The TCs have more exposure directly to the product managers responsible for developing the product.

[Philip_Olieux]

Hi tbraxton,

thanks for your reply. I didn't know that it was that simple to propose an idea, so thanks for that. Nevertheless I fear that it is possible it will take ages before somebody from PTC gets to it, be so be it then. 

I have been working for 13 years as a SOLIDWORKS consultant, so I am an expert in this CAD program. Now I am a consultant for a PTC reseller in Belgium and getting into deep on Creo Parametric. Sometimes, it is frustrating for me to notice that a lot of those basic functionalities have never been added into Creo Parametric. And not only for me, but for many of our customers as well ☹️.

The problem here is that PTC should be aware that they must do better in adding enhancements into the program if they want to keep in competing with other CAD resellers. As an example, there is a new functionality in Creo 9.0, which scales the initial sketch on entering the first dimension. That has been in SW since 2014. You can imagine how I must feel if I am presenting a "What's New" session on Creo Parametric 9.0...😉

Anyway, thanks for the input!

Kind regards,

Philip Olieux. 

[pausob]

Good luck!  I hope you have some sway with PTC and can accelerate the implementation of product enhancement ideas.  As this forum member since ~2012, I feel that there have been signs that PTC has been listening more to its users lately and improving the user experience of Creo Parametric software.  But the sheer number of ideas proposed decades ago and still "under consideration", or now "archived" - it is just baffling.  Having tried Fusion360 recently, I am stunned that PTC is reportedly recovering market share.

[remy]

If you feel like product manager should consider that functionalities, feel free to file an enhancement request by browsing here.