FREEWARE IGS viewer

ptc-592606 · ‎Jun 04, 2004

Freeware is the key....

Does it exist?

Happy Friday

unknown1 · ‎Jun 05, 2004

Not sure about a free IGES viewer, but why not import the IGES to Pro/E and
use ProductView Express?

--
Rui

"Allen Weston" <aweston@ny.diam-int.com> wrote in message
news:48396@model...
>
> Freeware is the key....
>
>
> Does it exist?
>
> Happy Friday
>
>
>
>

gbon · ‎Jul 01, 2012

Hello alls,

I seem to remember there was a free viewer named ''creo view express (or
lite)''.

Is it true ?

If so where could we download it ?

I would try to send it to my client for visualization purpose.

If this don't exist, what could be a replacement solution ?

Thanks,

GB

BrentDrysdale · ‎Jul 01, 2012

Hi G Bon,

There is exactly what you describe available from the PTC website. The
Express is the free version.

FredMatthis · ‎Jul 19, 2012

G Bon

another way to view your parts is with adobe reader.
Save your models in pro-e as PDF U3D(.pdf)

These files can be opened with standard adobe reader.
The vendor can rotate the parts and see 360 degrees.
If it is assembly the vendor can hide individual parts in the assembly
or make them transparent.
I just started to use this and it's pretty cool.

I am using Creo1 so I don't know if this is possible in earlier versions.

good luck.

Fred J. Matthis
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SteveBarnhart · ‎Jul 20, 2012

The 3D PDF is very convenient since it works with the ubiquitous Adobe Reader, but the file size seems to be much larger than for theCreo Viewer. If you'll be transferring files, check out the file size first.

BrianMartin · ‎Jul 21, 2012

Creo View has

BrentDrysdale · ‎Jul 21, 2012

Hi Folks,
Have just been trying Creo View 2.0 Express, the free version I had some
reservations compared to the free view for eDrawings. [We have the full
publishing licence of eDrawings]

The latest version of Creo View did not have sectioning and I had to go
back to the initial release version to get this functionality (which works
well).

I find it strange though that eDrawings faithfully used my ProE colours and
transparency yet Creo View uses the colours but not the transparency.

Regards,

*Brent Drysdale*
*Senior Design Engineer*
Tait Communications

BrianMartin · ‎Jul 22, 2012

Hi Fred...

Okay... since you've asked, I will take a closer, more empirical look at both packages and try to come to a logical, engineering-style conclusion.

But first, we need to clear some things up. We need to compare apples to apples. We cannot compare Creo View Express (which is free) to E-Drawings with a full license. I believe we can all agree this is not a fair comparison. The issue is further complicated in that the E-Drawings professional/licensed version gives you the ability to publish e-drawings files with advanced capabilities... but in Creo View, the advanced capabilities are not tied to the way the file was published. In Creo View, if you have a free license, you get limited functions. With the professional/licensed version you get advanced functions. These differences make a head-to-head comparison tough.

You cannot compare the free E-drawings viewer with the free Creo View Express tool if you're considering that you published your E-drawings file with the Professional Licensed Edition.

So then the only fair comparison is E-drawings published with the limited edition versus Creo View Express. Or E-Drawings published with the Professional Edition compared to a fully licensed Creo View product. For this comparison, let's just compare both fully licensed products. I'm sure someone will take exception to this comparison because, comparing both full products, in technical engineering terms Creo View mops the floor with E-Drawings. The table below is only a portion of the differences between the two packages.

[cid:image003.jpg@01CD6865.38EB1B10]

Some may say this comparison table is unfair. It ignores the areas where E-Drawings is clearly superior. For example... E-Drawings does a wonderful job of opening files produced by E-Drawings and Solidworks. Creo View can't open a SolidWorks file at all!! E-Drawings also does a wonderful full of extracting $1800 per seat out of it's Creo/ProE customers.

In conclusion, my opinion is that Creo View is clearly superior to E-Drawings. Although this is my opinion, I arrived at it through careful analysis of both packages. Hopefully the chart above backs up that opinion with empirical evidence and makes the case that Creo View is a product well worth consideration by any current users of E-Drawings.

Thanks!
-Brian

Brian K. Martin
Sr. Mechanical/Application Engineer
SGT, Inc. under contract to
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

301.286.0059 (NASA Office)
443.421.2532 (Cell)
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nrollins · ‎Jul 23, 2012

Hi Brian,

Thanks for taking the time to type that up. In spite of the persuasive flavor of the comparison, it is good stuff to know as an eDrawings (free) user.

I have a couple of questions that I could answer with a little research, but here is a discussion, so I’ll ask you first:

How much is Creo View?

eDraw – even the Free version – has a publisher for Pro/E that allows me to send a ZIP file of a fully executable model. This means that my PC-illiterate client can double click the file and see what I am showing him – without the need for him to install any viewer software. Does Creo View have anything like that?

With eDraw free, xsects and measuring are not available (from the publisher’s side) What about Creo View free? Do both parties (publisher and viewer) need to have the paid version to allow xsects and measure?

The animation functionality alone sounds intriguing. I may look into it, but one other thing you forgot to mention in terms of cost… The $1800 for a seat of eDraw comes “free” with a license of SolidWorks. It sure would be nice if my Pro/E license came with Creo View…

Thanks again,

-Nate

BrentDrysdale · ‎Jul 23, 2012

Hi Folks,
Thanks Brian for the table of the Creo View MCAD V eDrawings for the paid
versions. Was this the full Creo View MCAD or the intermediate Lite
version?

In my situation I am concerned about what the free viewers can do as these
are what people outside the CAD system can get to view 3D files. Since, at
our end, we have both Creo and an eDrawings professional licence we can use
either export method and I am only concerned about what the end user of the
free viewer can see.

From what I can test the F000 version of Creo View Express does do the
cross sectioning OK as does eDrawings free. For some reason the M010
version of Creo View express does not support cross sections so sure hope
that is just a bug.
Looking back on some correspondence with my VAR I see there is a "recipe"
file for how Creo (ProE) saves the PVZ file and transparency can be enabled
though pity it is not set by default as it seems to be for saving an
eDrawings file.

I am keen to go down the more Creo View route as this will tie in with
Windchill should we ever get there.

I have also used the Publish functionality of eDrawings to embed the viewer
in the file but mostly I have had them download the viewer themselves as it
reduces the sent file sizes plus it is still useful for later files.

Regards,

*Brent Drysdale*
*Senior Design Engineer*
Tait Communications

BrianMartin · ‎Jul 25, 2012

Hi Nathan...

Sorry it took so long to get back to this! I tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with my PTC Sales Rep to inquire about the costs for Creo View and all the various options. He'll be onsite in a few days. I'll be sure to ask and get back to the group with additional data. It's really tough to get pricing without getting it right from the sales rep.

You've asked a good question about the fully executable zip model. I actually think the viewer does have to install at least Creo View Express to view files. That is, I do not thunk there is a standalone, non-installation version of the viewer that will just fire up and run with an executable zip. However, with a full version of Winzip, you can certainly bundle Creo View Express and configure it to run during the extraction process. I realize this isn't what you were asking. I was just offering a potential workaround.

For measurements... even the free viewer in Creo View Express has the ability to perform measurements and cross-sections. I wanted to verify this before stating it as fact but I was able to confirm this today running E-Drawings and Creo View Express (free version) side by side. Also... there's a button on the E-Drawings publisher side which allows the viewer to use measurements. Even the E-drawings free viewer can use measurements if the publisher has enabled this feature. Maybe you're already aware of that... but if not, I can point you to the switch in E-Drawings if it would help.

I'm not sure what you get with Creo... but I know there are some Creo bundles that have Creo View included. I'm not sure what version or options might come alone with it (if any). Because I'm a Creo user, we have to pay that $1800 for E-Drawings. We have access to Creo View with all the options... but I'm not sure if it was part of a bundle or if we paid a la carte for it. I'll discuss it with the sales rep and see how the two packages compare.

Oh... and yes... my chart was colored a bit to the Creo View side. I tried to remove most of the bias. I kept going back and trying to take out the jabs at E-Drawings. But in all honesty I do not care for E-Drawings and that probably came through in the chart. Mostly I'm glad PTC finally overhauled ProductView (which was really poor in my opinion). The Creo View product finally gives E-Drawings some competition. We'll likely continue to own and use both... along with U3D (3D PDF's) so I'll have access to all the best features of each package. I hope people give Creo View a look, though... it's really come a long way.

Thanks and best regards...
-Brian

Brian K. Martin
Sr. Mechanical/Application Engineer
SGT, Inc. under contract to
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

301.286.0059 (NASA Office)
443.421.2532 (Cell)
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SteveBarnhart · ‎Jul 25, 2012

How does the file size compare between E-drawings and Creo View (and 3D PDF, for that matter). Do they handle various geometry more or less efficiently during publishing or opening?

SteveBarnhart · ‎Jul 25, 2012

Ok, I did an informal comparison. See the attached table for a comparison of file sizes.

For the comparison, I used a convenient part and assembly from Creo Elements/Pro 5.0. I saved it in 3D PDF format and Creo View format. I also saved it as a STEP file for comparison. I then opened the native .prt and .asm files in E-Drawings and generated .eprt and .easm files. E-Drawings took a long time to open the assembly, but the resulting file sizes were amazingly small.

I then generated an STL file from a Creo Elements/Pro model. I was using Creo View Express (2.0) so I couldn't open the STL file and export to pvz. E-Drawings (Professional 2012)did this quickly and produced a small .eprt file. I don't know what options might affect the file size for any of these viewables during generation. If anyone has other insight, I'd be interested.

In Reply to Steve Barnhart:

How does the file size compare between E-drawings and Creo View (and 3D PDF, for that matter). Do they handle various geometry more or less efficiently during publishing or opening?