Newsletter 3

CAD Systems Integrators in the Future?

More than 10 years ago some people were talking of a future time, when CAD users could select whatever modules they wanted from different software vendors, and have them all work together. For example, drafting from vendor A, solid modeling from vendor B, assembly structure from vendor C, NC programming from vendor D, sheetmetal unfolding from vendor E, and so forth.

Might sound farfetched, but right at the conference we had a modest example, a prototype of the possible future: Bob Singer, who has a design business in North Palm Beach, called Beyond The Board. Bob uses these CAD tools:

• Pro/Desktop, because he doesn't want to have to fully constrain his sketches
• Pro/E, for part modeling, using the Pro/Desktop sketches, and for sheetmetal unfolding for his supplier in California
• CADDS5 (Computervision) for his assemblies, Bob doesn't want parametric assemblies

And these 3 packages are all integrated with PTC's Associative Topology Bus (ATB), and Bob reports it works, his updates and changes get transferred back and forth.

PTC has already linked the ATB to CATIA, and will be linking it to Unigraphics (see next article on Data Exchange). And PTC is thinking of SDRC (I-DEAS). So PTC might be best placed, of the major CAD vendors, to become a CAD Software Systems Integrator. It'd be a strong pitch:

"Mr. Customer, you no longer have to compromise here and there when selecting a CAD system. Let our experienced consultants study your business, and recommend the exact mixture of different software modules which will best meet your needs".

True, some customers, given a free choice, might chose Unigraphics for NC programming, say, and not Pro/E. But PTC as a Systems Integrator (might have to be a spinoff, perhaps) could be very profitable, using the ATB technology to bring together different packages. Systems integrators are often more profitable than the poor hardware and software vendors whose products they are integrating.

And what would drive the other CAD vendors to cooperate? Might be just their customers:

"Mr. Vendor, unless you offer us a modular choice of your software and other software packages in the overall system of our choice, we are going to abandon your entire package, and start to build the system we need from the offerings of vendors like PTC, who are letting us select and build a modular system of our own".

So, Bob Singer in 5 years or so might be seen as a pioneer in mix-and-match CAD software. And we might see a new company, the CAD Software Systems Integrator.

Data Exchange

A key point that Asa has made before at other conferences, but which is worth repeating, is that when you export any MCAD data the quality of the exported data won't be any better than the quality of your own native data. You may use ModelCheck to examine your Pro/E parts and assemblies. Watch out for unnecessary construction geometry, which can make the results of an exchange very confusing. Unless you have a transfer process absolutely perfected, read back in what you're sending out, to make sure you know what you are sending.

Some useful lists for reference. Here are the available direct translators:

• Pro/CDT and Pro/CDM, for CADAM
• Pro/Data, for PDGS
• AutoCAD: DWG for 2D drawings, and AutoCAD 2000 (new)
• Interface for Medusa (Pro/E to Medusa, also new)
• Pro/Interface for CATIA
• Interface for CATIA II with ATB (the Associative Topology Bus)
• Pro/Interface for CADDS5 (Sun, HP, and SGI, with NT this August)

2000i2 User Interface

Obviously PTC has been making major changes to the user interface since R20. Obviously those changes aren't yet all done. Obviously any major software project like this user interface work takes time, years. Not to mention stopping to get feedback and making adjustments. And certainly Pro/E users have had problems adjusting to work in process on something as fundamental as the user interface. Sort of like having the street outside your house torn up here or there for a few years.

But in the Modeling session, Frank Desimone from PTC gave out 4 principles for the ongoing user interface work. If you can keep these 4 principles in mind, you may have a useful guide through current and future changes, better than being buffeted by changes without seeing where they lead. Here are the 4 UI Principles:

• direct manipulation (spend less time going to menus, less picks)
• object action (select what you want, then select what you want to do)
• progressive features (simple things first, then more complex if needed)
• smooth flow (smooth workflow, regular and consistent sequences)

So, your impression right now, after a couple of years of major changes, may not be quite smooth flow. But if you keep the 4 principles in mind, you may be able to see a direction, that could help a good deal.

Mike Campbell ran through the main 2000i2 user interface changes. Here is a list:

• select features/3D notes/components in graphic window, then use right mouse
• cursor changes form depending on situation (eg, looks like No Entry sign, circle with slash though it, when window isn't active)
• create datums any old time (like, in middle of feature create)
• model tree graphical icons to distinguish entities
• model tree embedded in graphic window, so, every window has a model tree
• can filter out entities in model tree
• drag and drop features in the model tree---if you drag a feature above the parent, then the parent comes along too
• config.pro custom interface, no more Pro/Table, can sort entries alphabetically or by category, list all possible entries
• check for any config.pro option where it's coming from, whether set in config.sup or at the loadpoint or in the home directory or in the current directory
• family table custom interface, replaces all menu choices
• edit the family table with Excel on NT
• PTC has added a 'Update Pro/E' menu button to the Excel menu
• graphical custom interface for holes, UNC or UNF or ISO or your own standards (you specify your standards, if you want, in text file)
• trim sketcher entities by dragging line across entities to trim, trims back from that intersection
• top menu bar for sketcher
• templates, stored at proe loadpoint, for new drawings/parts/assemblies
• File > Open graphical preview window, geometry will lose level of detail when spinning, then recover detail when you stop, so that you don't lose track of position. Graphical info has been stored since R18 with these config.pro options:

  save_model_display	shading_lod
  save_drawing_picture_file	enabled

Just looking over that list, you can see there's a lot of work in progress on the user interface. If you feel lost, just try and remember those 4 UI Principles. Frank repeated them twice, that's probably a good idea, I'll repeat them here too:

• direct manipulation (spend less time going to menus, less picks)
• object action (select what you want, then select what you want to do)
• progressive features (simple things first, then more complex if needed)
• smooth flow (smooth workflow, regular and consistent sequences)

Modeling Update

Here are white papers currently under preparation in the Pro/User Modeling technical committee:

• Sketcher
• Alternate Dimensioning Schemes
• Drawingless Models
• Simplified Reps.