Expanded CAD Support – PTC Creo Parametric 2.0

New CAD Transfer (Push) Workflow for Creo Parametric 2.0

In the original release of Simulation Mechanical 2015 (April 2014), Creo Parametric 1.0 files could be brought into Simulation Mechanical in two ways:

• Push: Initiate the transfer from within the CAD application using a plug-in (or add-on) feature. You use a command within the CAD program (ribbon, toolbar, or menu) to transfer the model into Simulation Mechanical. The CAD application must be installed on the same computer as the simulation software.
• Pull: Use the Open dialog box within Simulation Mechanical to select and open the CAD model file. In most cases, the third-party CAD application does not have to be installed on the simulation computer. For several applications, you have the option of using Autodesk Inventor Server to import the model or the native CAD translator (assuming the CAD application is installed on the same computer).

However, for Creo Parametric 2.0 files, you previously had to Pull the model into Simulation Mechanical.

Now, in the Simulation Mechanical 2015 R1 release (August 2014), you can also Push a model from Creo Parametric 2.0 into Simulation Mechanical.

When pushing a model from either Creo 1 or Creo 2 into Simulation Mechanical, the native CAD translator is always used. When pulling a Creo 1 or Creo 2 model into Simulation Mechanical, Autodesk Inventor Server is always used for CAD translation. The native CAD translator option is not available for the Pull workflow. Therefore, your model translation results may differ somewhat depending upon which workflow you use.

For associativity between the original CAD model and the analysis model, use the Push workflow. However, if you encounter any problematic features that result in meshing difficulty, try the Pull workflow.

Add-In Installation Procedure

Note: You must manually install the CAD transfer add-on for Creo Parametric. This add-on is not automatically installed when the Simulation Mechanical software is installed. Use the program SimMechConfig.exe, to do so.

1. Locate the executable file, SimMechConfig.exe within the Simulation Mechanical installation folder (by default, the path is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Simulation 20xx).
2. Double-click this file to start the installation process.
3. A dialog box will appear in which the available CAD add-ins are listed.
4. Use the checkbox next to each available add-in to specify whether or not you want to installed it. When the CAD package is not present on the system, the corresponding option is disabled. For Creo Parametric (versions 1 and 2), use the Pro/Engineer option to install the plug-in.

CAD Transfer (Push) Procedure

1. Access the Tools ribbon tab within Creo Parametric.
2. There is a Tools pull-down menu within the Toolkit panel:
   • Click Tools.
   • Access the Simulation Mechanical fly-out submenu.
   • Click Start Simulation.
3. Within Simulation Mechanical, choose the desired analysis type (assuming that you have not set the program to automatically assume a default analysis type). The model will then appear in the FEA Editor environment.