how to get information in and out of creo illustrate

[AdamJuntunen]

hi,

We already have Windchill and we just purchased creo illustrate and arbortext.

What's the standard practice for getting parts from windchill INTO creo illustrate? I thought we would do file, import, from windchill and then grab a Creo cad part or assembly. In reality, I can't import Creo parts from windchill into creo illustrate. However, I can import pvz files from Windchill, but it can never find any. Windchill creates a pvs/pvz file every time it publishes a thumbnail so we can open it in creoView. Why can't creo illustrate open what creoView can? do i need to publish another pvz of every CAD file just for creo illustrate to be able to open it? I did notice that I can open Creo parametric files from my hard drive, but not from Windchill - this seems like a bug or something.

What's the standard practice for getting parts OUT of creo illustrate and into Arbortext? I thought we would checkin our c3di file to windchill and a publisher would create a pvz file for arbortext to pick up. I can't find anything in the visualization guide that tells how to set up a cadworker for c3di files though.

I realize we could get the job done by doing things manually - save an assembly to my hard drive and then open with illustrate, but then i would lose associativity. I could also manually publish a pvz right from illustrate and import that into Arbortext, but again, I'd lose associativity. This also seems a little clunky if I have to do things manually.

thanks

adam

[JeffreyCoon]

Hello Adam,

As with most Windchill based processes there are configuration questions that need to be answered. Some of what you are seeing as stated above is configuration and some is business process based.

There are a set of publish rules that need to be setup in Windchill. One set for creating the GDD (Graphical Dynamic Document is a type of PVZ file) as an illustration source file and another to post publish the Creo Illustrate files for use in Editor. These publish rules are setup according to what business rules your company wants in place.

As for Creo Illustrate not opening the native Creo Parametric data from Windchill, that is part of the work flow. The system is designed to separate the Illustrators from the native CAD in a controlled manor.

For example:

The Engineer working on a part or assembly may check-in that data multiple times before it is ready for use outside of engineering. So we setup a publish rule that says to create a GDD when the CAD data is released or approved or reviewed or etc, etc....

This GDD is then created and put into a folder for access by the illustrator. This GDD is tracked, managed and iterated just like the CAD parts and assemblies. But this file only updates when the above condition is met for the source CAD data. The GDD is also used to track what illustrations were created from it. This data would have no use for the engineers. But for someone needing to apply a change to the illustrations it is most valuable.

Once the illustrator has created the graphic in Creo Illustrate, it is checked in and the second set of publish rules take effect. This will create a published PVZ attached to the C3DI file from Creo Illustrate. So when someone needs the graphic for use in Editor. It is seen and loaded as needed into Editor.

So the first thing to do is figure out who, what, where and when things need to happen so your environment functions as you want it to.

I would recommend going to your PTC sales team so they can get you in touch with the right resources to get this done.

Regards,

Jeff

[AdamJuntunen]

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for the response. It sheds some light on the subject. Do you know of any documentation that tells how to setup the publish rules and the adapter?

thanks

adam

[AdamJuntunen]

I set up publish rules for 1) creating the pvz from a Creo file to use as an illustration source file for Creo Illustrate and 2) another to post publish the Creo Illustrate files for use in Editor. This also required setting up a thumbnail worker on my cadworker.

I still have one question though. When the user checks in from Creo Illustrate, it will post publish the Creo Illustrate files for use in Editor but if the user checks in directly from the workgroup manager, then it won't publish and I get an error on the cadworker. Then if a user sees the C3DI file, there will be a publish icon (2 rollers) and if he clicks on that then it will go to the cadworker and fail with Creo Illustrate Document has no content.

I opened a ticket with PTC and they referred me to cs129107. It sounds like creo illustrate checkin may be the only way to get a viewable at this point. Has anyone had luck with a direct checkin via workgroup manager or is creo illustrate the only way to checkin to get a pvz for arbortext. Is it really intended to break everything with a workgroup checkin?

thanks

adam

[BjoernRueegg]

Hi Adam

Did you had any luck with the setup? I'm exactly on the same point. Even in 10.2 M030 nothing is happening and I also get the error message

Creo Illustrate Document has no content

It would be great if you could share your experience!

Thanks

Björn