Compatibility ProE Wildfire 5 vs Creo 3.0 vs Creo 5

[ptc-3131168]

Hello,

We work with PTC CAD for long time. Three years ago we moved from ProE Wildfire 5 to Creo 3 and work with it.

In our system we currently have files create/modify with only ProE Wildfire 5 and other create/modify with Creo 3.

We plan to move soon to Creo 5. As we know it will work perfectly well between Creo 3 and Creo 5 (at least when we move from 3 to 5) but my question is: what about if we want to open / modify with Creo 5 some files saved with ProE wildfire 5 10years ago ?

Do we need to re-open and re-save all files from wildfire 5 to Creo 3 before move to creo 5 to be sure everything will work ?

regards

Cedric 

[StephenW]

There shouldn't be any problems with Wildfire 5 files (or even older) when opening with Creo 5 or even Creo 7.

[ptc-3131168]

thank you for your feedback

[BenLoosli]

My question is why go to Creo 5 when it is no longer supported? Creo 5 support ended in March 2019.

Creo 4 and Creo 7 are considered long-term releases. Creo 4 support ended in May 2020.

Creo 5 & 6 were short-term releases and Creo 6 support ended in April 2020.

If you don't use Windchill or another PLM system, any version of Creo should work and the only supported system is Creo 7.

As to compatibility with older files. Wildfire 5 files should open, but PTC only guarantees 3 versions older to open. If you have any issues with opening Wildfire 5 files in Creo 5, PTC will tell you that your version of Creo is not supported.

[ptc-3131168]

Hello,

Thank you for your answer, I didn't know about the support end date (and naively I though the support end date follow the version number, it looks a bit weird for me the supprot end of creo 5 is before the support end date of creo 4 so thank you for the info).

We don't use Windchill (we use another PLM system: Audros).

So my understanding of your answer is: to be sure everythings work as well as possible:

- we should migrate all wildfire 5 files to creo 3

- save them to our PLM

- migrate all files from creo 3 to creo 5

- save them in our PLM

- plan to move to creo 7 all files when the interface will be ready between creo 7 and our PLM

[StephenW]

PTC does only guarantee 3 releases. My experience is that I regularly open and use file from Wildfire 2 (maybe older) & up in Creo 4. We have lots and lots of data that was released many years ago and has not changed. 

Just looking at my current workspace (large assembly) I have files from 2007 and up. ( I am discounting the library family table stuff that is dated 2003) In 2007 we were using either Wildfire 2 or 3.

If you have support and you can't open a file, PTC will support you. 

I don't know how many files you have but opening and migrating files from one release to another would be a massive undertaking.

[BenLoosli]

One of the tools that Unigraphics (and I suspect NX) offered was a refile utility.

You could run it against a whole folder of older files and it open and resave them in the current release that the refile utility was designed for. They even had one version that would refile files in Teamcenter.

I used to run it over a weekend on our standard hardware library about 2 months after upgrading the users.

Another tool with Unigraphics was a report that would list all files in an assembly and the version of UG that the file was last saved in. Very useful for determining if you may want to run the refile utility.

[ptc-3131168]

Thank you but we don't use Unigraphix so we don't have (at least for now) this kind of "auto migration tool"

[rreifsnyder]

I thought there was something I saw recently that someone successfully opened a file from VERY early Pro/E (like version 1 or 2) in Creo 6 or 7. I know that this has been a major goal of PTC to ensure that data can be used going forward unlike CATIA 4 to 5. That being said, there are other reasons to update your files and save in the newer version. They have improved many of the geometry engine factors for better performance. 

[LukaszMazur]

I think you may be talking about this: https://www.ptc.com/en/cad-software-blog/creo-upward-compatibility-cad-file-open-future

So yeah, PTC is pretty confident in their ability to handle old files, but of course YMMV 😉

[ptc-3131168]

ProE release 7 (1991) to Creo 7 (2020) really impressive

It doesn't ensure the consistency of the way of working for our PLM connector but only about the CAD file versions it is appeasing

[ptc-3131168]

Thank you for this insight which allows us to be optimistic

"They have improved many of the geometry engine factors for better performance" => I think we will share with the R&D team and let them decide if the gains justify the migration of a part or the whole files

[ptc-3131168]

Thanks
We talk about around 20 000 files so yes it will take time and energy to do it and to check the consistency of the results.
So i guess the best ratio energy / efficiency will be to inform the R&D team and let them sort and migrate the files / folders important and currently use and deal with the old ones as they arise with a clear process documented