downloading CAD files from windchill

[Sandy7]

Hi,

Can you suggest me some process to download and edit CAD from Windchill. Our team generally does it through Workspace, by loading all the things in server and then saving it as a backup in the local system.

But evidently its a very long procedure.

Windchill version: windchill 12

Thanks in advance...!

Sandeep.

[Hari_Vara]

Hi,

Is this for a study purpose where you don't want to edit the CAD files (which in Windchill requires Checkout).?

If yes, the best way is to use a Project and do that study. The CAD files in PDMLink will continue to be available for others as its original state. Meanwhile you can "Check out to Project" (Called PDM Checkout). Do the editing and study (These edits will not be visible to PDMLink users at all). Later, if the study is successful there are options to check it back to PDMLink.

Working inside the PLM environment is the best practice. These Offline saves create trouble.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers

Hari

[Sandy7]

Hi Hari,

I use it in simulation software for analysis. But I do not edit the CAD that much, only somewhat for my analysis. Hence, my main requirement is to download the CAD assembly and parts.

Sandeep C.

[Hari_Vara]

Hi Sandeep,

The thing is that your downstream process may want to explore the design options / tweaks. 

Add those designers as well to the project. They can do their design tweaks.

Consider ProjectLink as the design(and Simulation) team's your Sandbox environment.

I would recommend you to explore ProjectLink and talk to you Windchill Solution Team. There will be a "Engineering IT" team somewhere. 

Enjoy!

Best Regards

Hari

[avillanueva · Accepted solution]

In order to get the Native CAD, you must use a workspace. There is no direct download unless you are publishing STEP models and want that copy. The workspace does more than retrieve files. If there are meta data changes or renames, it handles all the modifications to the native CAD files before it comes to you. If you do not care to check back in any modifications for your analysis, you can make local modifications in the workspace without checking out and discard when done with your analysis. You can also take a workspace offline.

[Sandy7]

i would go with @avillanueva 's solution as it seems more related to mine. implementing projectlink doesn't seem feasible right now.

BTW, thanks @avillanueva and @Hari_Vara for the help.

Br,

Sandeep C.

[Hari_Vara]

Hi Sandy,

What @avillanueva is a straight forward approach of using workspace, My only caution to you is there is a possibility that you may accidentally check out and perform the changes without you noticing. This happens in Creo, say, you want to touch a datum plane.

It is recommended to "Lock" the objects when downloading. Please do take care of that. There is a setting in Windchill to do that.

Also, as Villanueva says, you may keep the modified version in Workspace. I remember, also that you can use the option "Continue to Modify" when the window appears "Check out to Modify" or "Continue". 

It will work, but you need to take care everytime.

I will leave just one comment here, as Villanueva also knows that, even in projectlink, there is workspace usage only., only advantage there is , it is your own "Sandbox" as you are outside the PDMLink.

Windchill is a wild animal that can scare you but mostly you will be ok with sound working methods. Look out for your company's super users and have a chat with them. Get a SOP from them.

Best Regards

Hari

[Ajit_Kulkarni]

Hello,

If you really do not want to use the workspace approach , you can also consider using the Windchill extension below. 

https://windchill-extensions.ptc.com/get-view?wex-id=com.wincomplm.wex-cadquick.release&wc-version=WIND112

For simple assemblies and parts this extension works well . For large assemblies , user needs to know the references before hand. 

Regards

Ajit

[dnordin]

Sandy7,

One suggested technique for using the CAD part files in a WorkSpace for analysis purposes is to create a new part file, and within the new part, create an inheritance feature of the original part file. This will allow you to make modifications to the part geometry (suppress features, modify dimensions, etc.) via the inheritance feature without affecting the original part. You can lock the original part file in the WorkSpace to eliminate any unintentional modifications. This technique also allows you to update the original part file in your WorkSpace with any new versions from the Commonspace without affecting your analysis setup created in the new "inheritance" part file. Assuming the modifications to the original part file are not too dramatic, you can update the inheritance feature with the updated part geometry of the new version with little to no rework of your analysis modifications necessary. Another advantage of this is that you can checkin the new inheritance part without having to save some modified copy of the original model somewhere. If you're working outside the context of Windchill and Creo Parametric for your analysis work, you can export the inheritance part file natively or to any neutral format (STEP, IGES, etc.). This technique works with assemblies as well, but the inheritance feature is more complicated because you can only inherit one part at a time.

Regards,

Dan N.