ProE Interoperability

New SolidWorks user. No Pro-E experience.

My fabricator uses Pro-E. Is there a way to interoperate with Pro-E users
such that the parametric data is retained? I'd like to be able to move
parts back and forth and have each camp be able to modify the design without
loosing parametric information. I know that I can make and open .prt files,
but they come in as a dumb solid that you have to slice and dice in order to
get back to useful and editable entitites.

Thanks!


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:

where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

Martin,

There "may" be direct translators available now that will work one way or
the other. However, there is nothing available for the kind of back and
forth scenario your describing. It's probably not even possible.

Pro-E and Solidworks produce very similar types of data, but they get there
in different ways. As such, there will allways be translation involved. This
will (and does) cause rounding errors in just one translation. In a one
time, one way translation, the error may not be large enough to cause a
problem. Do this several times in two directions, and you'll have a real
mess. This would happen even if features were being generated on both ends,
as opposed to dumb solids.

Regards


Mark

 

I'll keep it unidirectional then. Thanks!

-Martin

 

Martin,

Have you tried the Pro/E feature base import capabilities that SolidWorks
includes? The latest version works with Pro/E V17 thru Wildfire 2 parts and
assemblies.

While not perfect, they are the only CAD vendor (I'm aware of) that provides
this type of advanced technology. There are 3rd party feature based
translators, but they seem pretty expensive.

FeatureWorks (part of Sw Office & Office Pro) is another option to consider.
I don't believe that Pro/E has any equivalent "feature recognition" tools.

My 2 cents.

CG

 

Wouldn't it be nice if we just all got along. But we don't. I predict
that some day SolidWorks will be the MicroSoft of CAD and somewhere out
there will be the Linus Torvalds that strikes back.

 

No, I haven't. I'll look for it and try it. I have SW Office.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:

where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

What you are asking for may be one of the reasons eDrawings was
developed by Solidworks with user Sectioning, Markup, & Measuring.

That means you can send a small file to the vendor to be reviewed and
the person can check specific design elements and bring up any
questions or markup needed changes before the design is finalized.
eDrawings is a relatively small download and free for your vendor.

I just did this again in September with a moldmaker I use in Auckland,
N.Z. who checks out my part first as an eDrawing prior to me sending
the "dumb solid" for EDMing the part cavities.

To get advanced Measure/Markup features in eDrawings (assemblies or
single parts) in Swks 2004, you need to go to File/Publish eDrawing
2004. eDrawings works slick.

I like to use suppliers using SolidWorks, but there are good
toolmakers out there who use ProE I can not ignore.

Some observations:

What I see in moldmaking, is that once I use a part to create a cavity
in a mold plate, then the mold plate is, guess what..., a dumb solid,
though it can be updated by changing the part. So we have to deal
with these issues in one way or another even within Solidworks.

I would much rather take all responsibility for being the person
controlling my design documents rather than giving a vendor a chance
to do something I don't understand, or that may adversely affect my
design in some way I don't realize. eDrawings works very well to keep
me in charge of my designs.

Bo

 

In my tests I could open 2000i, Wildfire 1 & 2 parts but no assemblies.
I haven't tried feature recognition because it seems to depends more on who
and how built ProE
model than anything else.
HTH
Eric

 

http://www.deskeng.com/articles/02/aug/cover/

Couple of years old, but might help you get an idea. I thought I'd seen SW
listed on someone's literatue, but can't remember where (or even if). Just
FYI, I think that some of these (Proficiency?) are very pricey; ~ 20K and
up.