What are your top 3 pain points regarding CAD?

[gmentink]

As mentioned in my other answer, too much activity for the amount of outcome.

I would go so far as suggest having someone from Apple to come and help make the whole package a lot more user friendly.

Trying to find functions which I don't use often or to find why something does not work the way you expect it to is painful. One should not have to have a PhD in Creo to be a productive user, it should be intuitive and it most definitely is not. Geeks love this complexity but it is sometimes enormously frustrating, the most frustrating thing in my whole work life ever, in fact.

I never had these problems with any other CAD packages: AutoCAD, SolidWorks and SolidEdge.

[ptc-3905195]

!. lack of ability to do meaningful 2d drawings in Creo. We should be able to include wiring diagrams, plumbing and electrical schematics in the same tool and even the same drawings of the 3d assemblies and components.

2. The inability in assemblies to see components that were added downstream of the component you want to move or modify.

3. lack of robust piping / tubing tool.

[cmoreno]

1. Usability

2. Usability

3. Usability

PTC is literally the worst software vendor I use. Even this "survey" is different than literally anyone else on the planet would do things. Its forum topics. That's not a survey, its the laziest thing you could do. I challenge you to name something you could do you would call a survey that would be lazier than this.

The choices PTC makes routinely blow my mind, and the only thing that blows my mind more is that anyone is ever satisfied with it as a piece of software and not in open rebellion about its usability choices.

The way PTC thumbs their nose at Windows conventions and rules should have microsoft revoke their ability to sell software for Windows.

People always suggest I just need more training. I say the opposite. I have plenty of training. I have used Windows nearly every day of my life for twenty five years. The same is obviously not true of whoever programs PTC products. They are the ones who need training.

I expect everything I do there, every convention, every best practices to carry over to any software I use on Windows.

I'm tired of people talking about the capability of the software that nobody every uses, because its too difficult or time consuming to use.

I pay more for Apple products because they work. That's table stakes now. And PTC doesn't have it.

[ahaas]

FYI - Multi-Body is coming in Creo 7.

[ahaas]

1. Improve the Overall Quality of Creo - I often wonder if I'm the only person using Creo based on the bugs I find late in builds. Examples are Layers not working as they should (C15090383), anything ECAD related, there is always something broken.
2. Creo Entity/Object Display Control - I don't have the answer as to how to improve it but the number of methods for displaying or hiding the display of entities and objects is overwhelming for my users. Users Hide objects/entities from the model tree and don't understand how this is related to layers. GD&T entities are Erased and Unerased in Combination States. But you can erase a cosmetic feature from a view (using a menu manager menu). But you have to use a view dependent layer to hide a curve.... it goes on and on, just a big cluster. It's as if it was all developed by putting band-aids on holes rather than having a real plan.
3. Material Database - In Solidworks I can easily select from a very robust standard set of Materials (and appearances for that matter) yet in Creo, I have to develop them myself. It's been over 30 years PTC, give us some materials for God's sake.

And while I'm here, a few other's from my list:

• Embedded Sketches - A "Sketch" feature used in an Extrude for example, should be able to be "embedded" just like a Datum Plane or Axis can be. Then I wouldn't have to teach beginners the difference between Internal and External Sketches, Internal could probably go away. This functionality was a band-aid approach to match what Solidworks had back in the day, Datum Curves were rebranded as Sketches.
• Config.pro Documentation - With every new release, I spend hours trying to understand what many new options actually do. The fact that each option doesn't have a detailed description (they all have a description, just rarely detailed) is inexcusable.
• There is a lack of robust comparison tools for parts AND assemblies. I should be able to easily compare different versions (1.1 with 1.10 for example) of a part or assembly. I cannot easily do this.

That was therapeutic; I feel so much better now 🙂

[jellis]

1) 2D drawing application (like compete with autocad). In my opinion a large number of PTC customer's still use 2D drafting applications and will for the foreseeable future. Creo has Detailing, Schematics and Layout. All offer some level of 2D drafting for limited application but none are considered a good 2D drawing tool. PTC has avoided this topic for a decade or more.

2) Related to #1, Creo Detailing. Each release shows enhancements to modeling but the performance and development of Detailing lacks significant improvements. A large model can be opened relatively quick, 5 mins maybe, but opening a multi-page drawing of that same model can consume times exceeding 30 mins. MBD is not the answer.

3) Welding. Disappointing to use. We should be able to model solid welds reliably and reap the benefits from an accurate 3d model like weight and cost. Often times we get crashes and have to revert to some workaround to get Creo to keep running.

[PhilatCADActive]

@ptc-3905195 - thanks for the post. 

I would be more than happy to talk through the 2D side of Creo with you, as well as cover some piping/tubing capabilities. Creo's piping tool isn't intuitive, you're right. We have developed some add ons that help with the piping tool. 

Feel free to reach out to phil.clukies@cadactive.com to have a further conversation here, or, check out our website - cadactive.com

Thank you!

[PhilatCADActive]

@ptc-3905195 - thanks for the post. 

I would be more than happy to talk through the 2D side of Creo with you, as well as cover some piping/tubing capabilities. Creo's piping tool isn't intuitive, you're right. We have developed some add ons that help with the piping tool. 

Feel free to reach out to phil.clukies@cadactive.com to have a further conversation here, or, check out our website - cadactive.com

Thank you!

[zmiller]

Before I forget I wanted to add one specific thing to my point #2.  Having a better way to control the display of supplemental geometry (sketches, axis, datums) in combined views is really needed.  Using layers and layer states is not intuitive for this and most users struggle with the concept.  Going back to something like what we had in Creo 3 would be a step in the right direction.

[RCNewton]

1. Unexpected Exits (15-25% of my users have unexpected exits every week. The software should be mature enough by now not to have that high of unexpected Exits. 5.0.4.0) 

2. Lack of clear and up to date documentation and training materials. Lots of times I find myself digging through old documentation and building our own internal documents for the simplest of issues.

3. Drawing BOM Balloons are just dreadful. Getting experienced CAD users from NX to work with them is excruciatingly painful and they are very time-consuming.