Allow to load several revisions of same part into workspace for 3D geometry comparison

[Chris17]

Windchill is lacking a feature to allow the comparison of 3D geometry of different revisions of the same part. This would easily be possible if one could load different revisions of the same part into the workspace. To avoid conflicting filenames revisions other than the latest could be e.g. renamed with a suffix "_revX" or similar.

[BenLoosli]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are other tools that you can use that will allow a comparison.

Loading multiple versions of the same part/assembly is just asking for trouble.

[MikeLockwood]

Noooo!!!! agreed

[TomU]

@BenLoosli and @MikeLockwood,

Maybe you can share your workflow for comparing the geometry (and features) of two different versions of a Creo Parametric CAD model while connected to Windchill.  (Preferably without having to make copies to disk and rename them prior to comparison in Creo.)  This comparison should be done in Creo Parametric, not Creo View, 3D PDF, etc.

[MikeLockwood]

Don't actually have anything to offer on this other than downloading and comparing outside.  Fearful of the problems that would result if one could have multiple versions in the workspace.  Good opportunity possibly for PTC to facilitate comparisons.

Note: For drawings, best is to use Creo View Drawing Compare of published versions.  No such for 3D.

[TomU]

Fearful of the problems that would result if one could have multiple versions in the workspace.

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It's already possible to see all versions from commonspace and then open a specific one (just like when working outside of Windchill.) It would be nice if these multiple versions could also be in the workspace and then more than one opened at a time, even if just in a comparison tool.  Obviously you wouldn't want to allow using multiple versions at the same time in the same assembly.

[BenLoosli]

You cannot currently put multiple versions into a workspace.

It would require PTC to build special naming when adding another version of the same file to your workspace. If you are not comparing the latest version to an older one, what happens when someone accidentally does a save and now has over written the latest version?

The error free solution is to export the 2 versions you want to compare to your disk, rename one and then do the compare.

[RandyJones]

One can compare different versions directly in Windchill with current functionality.

• Add prt to workspace
  • probably latest version however could be any version
• Open in Creo Parametric
• From Creo Parametric: Tools > Compare Part > By Geometry or By Feature
• From the Open dialog select Windchill Commonspace > navigate to containing folder > Tools > All Versions > select version of prt to compare with
• Similar for assemblies.

[sparadis]

What I would envision is an improved "compare part" function in which you can see both parts/versions either by placing them adjacent to each other in the same screen (as when you edit the ref table when replacing a component in assembly) or either superposed in the same screen (as is now the case) or in distinct split screens (similar to the separate window for assembly but with the added possibility to link the movement of both screens like you have in ANSYS when setting up joints, i.e. when you rotate in one screen, the movement is simultaneously done in the other screen). This should be configurable on the fly through a selection in the function's menu. 

Also, it would be better if Creo was able to recognise the user's intent to compare with a previous version when the active part is (re)selected in the "compare part" function's open menu. A new menu could pop in this case, where the user would be asked with which version to compare the active part (with the active part's version being grayed out to indicate what version you currently have). There would be no need to manually add another version of the same part in your local workspace, this would be managed by Creo/windchill seamlessly. Once the compare function is closed, the user would be left with only the initial active part.

[olivierlp]

Hello,

We are archiving your idea as part of a general review. This action is based on the age of your idea and the total number of votes received, as per this announcement.

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