LearningExchange is the go-to place for free tutorials on PTC products. PTC University developed this new web app to provide you with direct access to free tutorials created by our own PTC product experts. We want to share our knowledge with you and make it easy to find the training you need when you need it. Just sign in (it’s free!) to track your history and rate tutorials and more.

With LearningExchange you can…

• Explore free short tutorials
• Discover new ways to use the PTC products you use everyday
• Share what you learn with your peers and colleagues

Start learning today!

LearningExchange from PTC University

Explore. Discover. Share.

Get free learning materials at PTC’s LearningExchange: The go-to place for free tutorials on PTC products

KeyShot 3.0.96 improvements

• Improved importers for SolidWorks, Solid Edge and Inventor
• Added manipulation tool for labels
• Added ability to position textures and labels interactively
• Improved render performance and quality for diffuse materials
• Improved quality of background in rendering
• Improved quality for compressed video output formats
• Fixed issue with HDRLightStudio plugin
• Misc. bug fixes

Maya Importer

Luxiona have also included the Maya importer in 3.0.96. Please note that it is in BETA. In order to use the importer on PC or Mac make sure you have either MAYA 2011 or 2012 installed AND licensed (Maya import works a bit different from other importers.)

Latest download links

You can request  all the updated version of KeyShot at Keyshot’s downloads section

Source:
http://blog.keyshot.com/keyshot-update-maya-importer-improved-render-performance-and-more/

FloVIZ is a fully functional software module – it does not have a time limit nor does it have limited functionality.

Open and view files of any size with FloVIZ as long as they were originally created withFloTHERM, FloTHERM PCB or FloVENT.

The download file is quite small – it is 60MB – therefore it can be downloaded easily. FloVIZ itself is quite intuitive but the download file still contains a complete set of documentation aimed at showing you how to get started quickly and maximize its visualization power.

The download file contents:

• FloVIZ software
• License agreement
• Installation instructions (in the Release Document folder)
• FloVIZ 9.2 release highlights
• Documentation including a couple of examples

Download free eDrawings Viewer software to view, print, and review all types of eDrawings files.

In addition, eDrawings Viewer allows convenient viewing of supported AutoCAD^® DWG and DXF files and native SolidWorks^® parts, assemblies, and drawings. The eDrawings Viewer is intended primarily for people who do not use CAD software and thus do not need to publish eDrawings files themselves. Innovative built-in interpretation tools include 3D Pointer, Virtual Folding, Point-and-click Animation, and Hyperlinking.

eDrawings Publisher

Publish and share product designs more effectively via email

Download eDrawings™ Publisher software to publish eDrawings files directly from SolidWorks®, AutoCAD®, Inventor®, Pro/ENGINEER® CATIA® V5, Unigraphics/NX®, Solid Edge®,  CoCreate’s OneSpace software, Google SketchUp® and eDrawings RapidFire Lite (View IGES, STEP & STL files). You can reduce bandwidth requirements more than 95% by publishing and emailing eDrawings files instead of CAD files. Each of the four free eDrawings Publisher products also includes the free eDrawings Viewer. eDrawings Publisher products are intended for CAD users who need to share products designs more effectively.

eDrawings Professional

Generate accurate representations of 2D and 3D product designs that anyone can view, mark up, and measure

Purchase or try out eDrawings™ Professional software free for 15 days — you will be provided with a code that will enable all the capabilities of eDrawings Professional. You will also need to download the appropriate eDrawings Publisher unless you use a current version of SolidWorks® 3D mechanical design software, which has the eDrawings Publisher built in. eDrawings Professional lets you create review-enabled eDrawings files that allow an unlimited number of recipients to mark up and provide feedback on product designs. eDrawings Professional products are intended primarily for CAD users who need to both share product designs and coordinate design reviews.

AutoVue solutions are designed to view, digitally annotate and collaborate on a variety of engineering, CAD and business documents without requiring investment in specialized CAD or authoring tools, and without compromising security or precision. With AutoVue, comments or feedback are captured within the design context and recorded and tracked digitally.

Register for a 30 Day trial of AutoVue and discover how you can immediately start working with a variety of document types, including 3D CAD, 2D CAD, EDA and Office document types such as Office, PDF, TIFF.

Free – Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Personal Edition

3D CAD Software for free lifetime use

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Personal Edition (PE) – formerly CoCreate Modeling PE – is the world’s first free direct 3D CAD software. Download it today, and get all the flexibility of our standard Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 3D CAD system free for assemblies up to 60 parts.

The best in direct modeling

This free software stands apart from any other 3D CAD system, free or otherwise. With Creo Elements/Direct Modeling PE, you work directly on the geometry you want to modify and design your models without investing in upfront engineering. It’s easy to learn, helps you create lightweight designs fast, and responds to unforeseeable change requests easily, even if they came late in the development process. Plus, you can use it to create associative drawings automatically and analyze design ideas quickly.

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling PE puts the extraordinary power of direct modeling into the hands of any engineer, designer, or student. Even casual users and hobbyists can use it for their home projects, especially with the help of our Quickstart projects, online help, and user forums. Download Creo Elements/Direct Modeling PE FREE today, and see how the direct modeling approach to design can help your products come to life.

Download here

Using Pro/PROGRAM to Replace Components in an Assembly
This tip describes the procedure for using Pro/PROGRAM to replace or exchange components in an assembly in Creo Elements/Pro 5.0.

Analyze Data with new Box Plots in Mathcad 15 and Prime 1.0
Analyze your data with new plots types introduced in Mathcad 15 and Prime 1.0. Here’s how to create a box plot, which provides an efficient way to quickly scan data and compare datasets.

Importing Data from Excel to Mathcad
Did you know that there are many different ways to import data from Excel to Mathcad? In Mathcad 15 and earlier versions, you can use the Excel Component or Data Import Wizard to import data.

by Romeo Ridel

Geometry and Construction Sketcher Tool

In Creo Elements/Pro 5.0 (formerly Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0), there are separate sketching tools for creating points and centerlines. Namely, construction points, construction centerlines, construction coordinate systems and geometry points, geometry centerlines and geometry coordinate systems.

While some are familiar with the pre-5.0 functionality of being able to add axis points (e.g., in 4.0 for internal sketches only, use >Sketch >Axis Point), users can now make use of geometry sketch tools that allow entities to convey feature-level information outside of Sketcher. On the other hand, construction points, centerlines and coordinate systems are sketching aids and cannot be referenced outside Sketcher.

For example, in the case of a sketched curve, a geometry point will generate a datum point whereas in the case of a geometry centerline, this will create a datum axis. For an internal sketch of an extrude feature, a geometry point generates an axis through the point and normal to the sketching plane (identical to pre-5.0’s Axis Points). In the case of a sketched pattern, a pattern instance is created by a geometry point.

Some of the benefits of using these tools include the capability of adding information to the sketched curve features, simplifying dimensioning schemes and also minimizing the number of items in the model tree.

Design Animation and Assembly Exploded States

An exploded view of an assembly shows each component of the model separated from the other components. You can define and save multiple exploded views and then, toggle between these views.

What’s new in the latest release of Creo Elements/Pro (Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0) is that you can now animate exploded or unexploded sequences. Several config,pro options and model display dialog can help customize this process.

In addition, you can add exploded states to the animation timeline using Design Animation module. In combination with other options in Design Animation (such as transparencies, orientations, etc) you can generate useful animations for use in the manufacturing process. Also -in Design Animation- there is the capability to record these sequences for later use or presentation purposes in AVI or MPEG format.

Use of Intent Features in Creo Elements/Pro Mechanica

Intent objects are powerful Creo Elements/Pro features that are automatically created based on the model geometry. Intent objects are families of associated points, curves, edges or surfaces that logically define boundaries of geometry created or modified for the feature. Intent objects are regenerated for even small changes, such as modifications in the sketch.

In the latest release of Creo Elements/Pro (Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0) you can manually create intent objects in Mechanica using the Datum Reference tool. Mechanica allows you to select intent objects as references when creating simulation modeling objects in which surfaces, edges, curves, or points are available for selection. You can select multiple intent objects for a single simulation modeling object.

For example, several surfaces of multiple features are subjected to a pressure load. You can create a datum reference feature of all surfaces independent of the parent features. Two main advantages: if the parent feature changes form or shape then, the load will not require extra selection or deletion of references and, the selection of references is done with one single mouse click.

Source: PTC Express

While today’s design engineers are fully capable of creating highly accurate sheet metal designs, they are challenged to do so quickly to get new products to market in the shortest possible time.

If the above statement is true for you, you can’t miss the opportunity to read our free Feature Article: Best Practices for Sheet Metal Design

By using state-of-the-art sheet metal design tools and following four best practices, engineers can quickly create accurate sheet metal designs that improve downstream manufacturing efficiency.

Learn, how you can

• Use Space Constraints to Drive Your Design
• Reduce Design Time by Using a Configurable Tool
• Use Libraries to Drive Consistent Design Practices
• And more

YES! Please send me this free feature article and best practices report!

Please make sure to enter a valid email address, so any new titles in this series can be sent automatically to your mailbox.