Is there any way to open student edition files on commercial version

[pmedina-2]

Hello, I am the CAD mentor for one of the First teams and we have been using the student edition of Creo.

Being a small school, resources are very limited. Not only computers, they don't have a student accessible network for printing.

The stock Creo PDF writer creates PDF files 50 megabytes and larger so I have to take them to work to print out.

I use Creo full time at work and recently I have the opportunity to use a company laptop with the commercial version of Creo.

I know the student files and commercial files aren't interchangeable.

It would be really handy to be able to work with the student edition files on this computer, and generate much smaller size PDF files for printing.

My question is it possible to get the student files "unlocked" somehow so I can open them in the commercial version?

Particularly the Creo drawings.

It would really save us a ton of headache!

Thank you

[dschenken]

This really should be on the splash screen for the Academic license version: Pretty much, no. I'm certain that they want to prevent organizations outsourcing work to schools and Univerisities as a way to get the benefits of their products without paying for their products.

PTC apparently does have translators/converters, but I don't think that will work for your situation.

I am curious as to what makes the files so large - that's an avenue that can be worked on. 50Mb is a pretty large file.

How are the files being created?

Some things that might make files large:

1) shaded views

2) bitmaps as part of the format

3) complicated fonts, possibly with the 'stroke fonts' config option

To better diagnose this, make an empty drawing - no part and no format - and draw a line and print that to a Postscript file and post that file.

Also post Creo Version and datecode. I doubt it has anything to do with it, but it makes looking for info easier for people who might have the same problem later.

[sm · Accepted solution]

No. Student files can never be opened in commercial software and there is no converter. I would suggest installing a student license on your laptop. Then you can choose the license type at startup.

I've never looked at the size of the PDF created by Creo. Are you creating PDF from drawings? Can you share a screen shot of a sample?

[dschenken]

I can't say that you are wrong, what without inside info and such, but what about the information mentioned in http://communities.ptc.com/message/252001#252001 or http://communities.ptc.com/message/238191#238191?

I still think a big splash screen for the education market would be a good addition.

[pmedina-2]

Scott,

You mentioned installing a student license and choosing the license type at startup.

Can you provide more information on exactly what would need to be done to make this happen?

- Do I install a license, or physically install the student edition of Creo?

- If only a license file, can this be done without administrator password?

- If the second installation of Creo is required, how do I handle configuration files/settings between the two?

- How does the license selection happen - at Creo startup, or menu selection?

Thanks in advance

[MicalaTaylor]

How do I install just a student license? 

[pmedina-2]

Thanks everyone for the responses, it's really too bad as it seems entire unrealistic a company could or would try to outsource CAD work to schools. At least where I work, it could simply never happen.

Large PDF files were from shaded robot assembly drawings with muliple views and sheets.

These worked best to communicate design concepts, but files are too large to email to a teacher to print.

I think the individual part drawing PDF's were much more reasonable in size.

I just know from experience at work the stock Creo PDF writer makes big files.

I would love to install the student edition on the company laptop, but unfortunately they have a very strict policy that keeps it fully locked down. No software installation is allowed, no exceptions. If there is a way to install the student edition without requiring admin access I'm all ears.

The PDF issue we can work around, the bigger issue is training.

I was hoping to load the company laptop with all the robot files from last year and kit of parts files for training demos, how to and such. It's so much more productive to teach them when using the same models they are working on, and you can't demonstrate editing/creating parts from a step file.

[sm]

Paul,

You could try printing to JPG instead of PDF as an option. PDF is not very efficient with images unless configured for it. There is also a Save As option in Adobe Acrobat to create a reduced size file. As far as I know, it is only available in Acrobat Pro, not the Reader.

[dschenken]

If one is strapped for cash, Acrobat Standard also has the option, though it doesn't appear on the version comparison: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/product-comparison.html

One feature that Pro version does have is a 30 day Free Trial period; it's on the above page.

Some of the options are described here http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2009/08/reducing-the-file-size-of-scanned-pdfs/

What is confusing is that PDF supports a great number of compression schemes for raster images, including JPEG and a method used byTIFF. There should be no large advantage in using a different format unless Creo is not using a suitable compression scheme. The following are all options:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format#Raster_images

• ASCII85Decode a filter used to put the stream into 7-bit ASCII
• ASCIIHexDecode similar to ASCII85Decode but less compact
• FlateDecode a commonly used filter based on the zlib/deflate algorithm (a.k.a. gzip, but not zip) defined in RFC 1950 and RFC 1951; introduced in PDF 1.2; it can use one of two groups of predictor functions for more compact zlib/deflate compression: Predictor 2 from the TIFF 6.0 specification and predictors (filters) from the PNG specification (RFC 2083)
• LZWDecode a filter based on LZW Compression; it can use one of two groups of predictor functions for more compact LZW compression: Predictor 2 from the TIFF 6.0 specification and predictors (filters) from the PNG specification
• RunLengthDecode a simple compression method for streams with repetitive data using the run-length encoding algorithm and the image-specific filters
• DCTDecode a lossy filter based on the JPEG standard
• CCITTFaxDecode a losslessbi-level (black/white) filter based on the Group 3 or Group 4CCITT (ITU-T) fax compression standard defined in ITU-T T.4 and T.6
• JBIG2Decode a lossy or lossless bi-level (black/white) filter based on the JBIG2 standard, introduced in PDF 1.4
• JPXDecode a lossy or lossless filter based on the JPEG 2000 standard, introduced in PDF 1.5

The worst branding Adobe ever did was to use the name Acrobat in relation to the read-only version of software and confuse it with Acrobat Standard, but maybe they were pushing to sell Pro licenses, though I'll bet a lot of people skipped both and went NitroPDF or CutePDF or any of the many other PDF manipulation programs.

[dschenken]

Another thing that occurs to me is if the resolution is high. Help suggests available resolution are from 100dpi to 600dpi with 300dpi as the nominal. Dropping from 300 to 200 should decrease the file size by about 50%; if it is 600dpi then that will drop by a factor of 36:4 or a factor of 9.

There's also a mention of PDF/A format. This format is the 'archive' format and is all plain text and can be much larger that the usual compressed format for the PDF file. Unless you expect the PDF to be opened 20 years from now, skip the PDF/A format.

As to commercial vs education:

Many companies might not, but some would hire students who bring their own copy of the software with them. In a totally honest world there would be no need for licensing at all.