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Denisha Padley
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling is the most comprehensive direct modeling system on the market, with a full range of extensions to meet your specialized needs. So, bring on your most radical design change or that one-off product: the software is intuitive, robust, and up to the task even with massive assemblies. Moreover, you or anyone on your team can pick up and work on a direct 3D product with minimal ramp-up time. Try it. You can easily incorporate multi-CAD data from partners or suppliers and then go on to produce a digital prototype or proposal quickly.
When you're facing down design challenges or in a race for time, you'll appreciate how straightforward and flexible Creo Elements/Direct Modeling is. With Creo Elements Direct Modeling, the faster your product gets to market, the more rapidly revenue is generated for your business.
I'm still looking for a straight answer to all of this. From what I hear, there is CoCreate as Creo Elements Direct and it has an -optional- drafting extension (?!) and then you have the extension to Creo Parametric that is "flexible modeling" or "direct modeling" (often mixed in the same conversation). I am in the market for upgrading but I really don't know what to buy or even what the final cost will be. Still waiting for an answer. Its been a week!
Creo/Elements Direct is actually CoCreate Modeling, a complete high end 3D CAD Direct (non-history based) modeling system. It includes the Annotation module for creating 2D drawings that are associative with the 3D models and assys. Additional modules include an excellent Sheetmetal module, a Surfacing module, FEA, mechanism simulation, etc.
Where Pro/E is great for parametric modeling, Creo/Elements Direct is great for development, especially when you're not sure were your design will end up. I have modeled thousands of models in Creo/Elements Direct without ever needing tore-model a part.
Creo/Direct is actually a lightweight Pro/E engine with a user interface that hides the history tree. So, the commands work like direct modeling commands, but in reality, a history is building up. When you open a Creo/Direct model in Creo/Parametric, you will see this tree. This means that if someone is using Creo/Direct in a messy way, you will end up with an unusable part. In Creo/Elements Direct there is no such history, so the user doesn't have to think about modeling strategies. On the other hand, if you open such a model in Creo Parametric, the tree is empty.
So, Creo/Direct is aimed at non-CAD users, who can makesimple modifications onCreo Parametricmodelswith it. For serious modifications on ProE models,Creo Parametric's Flexible Modeling Extension is the way to go, because it allows powerful direct modeling without messing up the history tree.
in the latest version of Creo Elements Direct you can open native .PRT and .ASM files. Since Creo Elements Direct has no history tree, modifying imported models is not different from modifying native models, so it's very easy to work on imported Creo Parametric models.
Along with the other functions Jaap mentioned, Creo Elements Direct Modeling also has a parametric module called advanced assembly, which we have used to create parametric models for steel bridge cross member; a complete animation module with we have used to make avi movies to animate fabrication and erection procedure from our 3D models; and there is a fully functional stand alone 2D drafting package called Creo Elements Direct Drafting (formally CoCreate Drafting). It is a pretty awesome package.
Despite the power and popularity of parametric modeling, another CAD paradigm has its own share of proponents: direct modeling. In direct modeling, geometry is king. Users no longer need to worry about the history of their part and can instead act directly on the 3D geometry as is. Some modern CAD systems use direct modeling instead of history-based parametric modeling, while others provide a blend of parametric and direct tools.
To better understand the differences between parametric and direct modeling, what use cases they might be best for, and how they might continue to evolve, we spoke to experienced CAD users and industry insiders for their take on the two paradigms.
In direct modeling, designers can push and pull on their model to change it. One benefit of this capability is the ease with which designs can be altered, enabling rapid iteration and prototyping. For that reason, direct modeling has found a niche in the world of industrial design, where fluid curves and bold aesthetics play a big role.
The ability to change a model without worrying about breaking it can mean a lot, especially for companies looking to extend the utility of their CAD model. Schwarz described CAD models as assets, and like any other asset, they require an investment to secure.
What Bartlett is referring to is that even though these tools act like direct editing tools, they still create features in the history tree. Since true direct modeling is history-free, this approach is only quasi-direct. Like Onshape, SOLIDWORKS also offers direct editing tools that can be handy to users for certain tasks, but ultimately leave features in the history tree, maintaining the potential problems of parametric design.
Siemens takes another approach, which it calls synchronous technology, in its NX and Solid Edge CAD software. Synchronous technology claims to uniquely marry the best of parametric and direct modeling capabilities in a single environment.
While some CAD users may have reservations about the claims of synchronous technology, those who use it practically sing its praises. Does this mean the question of parametric vs direct modeling is moot, and synchronous technology is the way forward? That depends who you ask.
Over time, however, as new generations of engineers enter the world of CAD modeling, perhaps the old history-based methods will give way to something more like synchronous technology, and the distinction between parametric and direct modeling may no longer be relevant.
Parametric modeling is a design paradigm that involves stipulating dimensions that define the geometry of a part and subsequently establishing and outlining the relations between the dimensions both across and within the part. Thus, the entire model will be automatically modified or rebuilt whenever one or more dimension values are changed. This captures the design intent. After all, all the dimensions have a predefined relationship.
To better understand how parametric modeling works, let us consider figure 1 above. A designer wants the hole in the block shown (figure 1a) to remain centered even when the length of the block changes. To capture this design intent, the engineer must create a sketch profile of the block (figure 1b) with dimension d2 as the design variable.
Generally, parametric modeling requires design professionals to anticipate design changes (think ahead) and consequently define features with this in mind. It also mandates them to add parametric relations to sketch profiles. To boost this process, the software creates a history tree that contains all the sequences of features or changes generated by the user using the predefined relations. In addition, it stores data associated with any modification to the geometry.
Parametric modeling is popular and has been implemented in equal measure by developers of most of the 3D modeling software in the market. From Onshape, CATIA, FreeCAD, and SolidWorks to PTC Creo, Siemens NX, Solid Edge, and Autodesk Inventor.
PTC Creo was the first to market with parametric modeling capabilities when it launched as Pro/Engineer back in 1988. In 2011, PTC Inc. renamed Pro/Engineer to Creo and created different software products. What came of the rebrand were, among others, Creo Parametric, Creo Design, and, as we will discuss below, Creo Direct.
Creo Design is a powerful, all-encompassing software with industry-standard 3D CAD capabilities. These include parametric modeling and surfacing, 3D part and assembly design, sheet metal design, additive manufacturing, augmented reality, mechanism design, and automatic 2D drawing creation, just to mention a few.
On the other hand, Creo Parametric is an advanced 3D modeling software with capabilities like additive manufacturing, generative design, augmented reality, smart connected design, model-based definition, and more. In addition to offering parametric modeling capabilities, it supports direct modeling to a certain degree. As highlighted below, it is an example of a hybrid system.
CATIA offers parametric modeling capabilities through a number of options. The first, which is parametric modeling using CATIA V5, works by automatically creating intrinsic parameters as the user creates geometries and features. Alternatively, the user can create user-defined parameters that then control the dimensions. In addition, the software allows users to utilize formulas to define relationships between parameters and geometries.
In addition, the parameters can be defined in a CATIA design table, creating different configurations of the same model. For instance, if a model calls for five cylinders with different thicknesses and diameters, the design table is created, and all these measurements are entered. Thereafter, whenever a given configuration is selected, CATIA generates a variation of the cylinder.
Furthermore, whenever a user creates a dimension, Inventor automatically regards it as a parameter for the model. The parameters can be used in equations to create new parameters. To put it simply, Inventor uses parametric equations to define the relationships between parameters.
Onshape is available as a software-as-a-service, accessible via a web browser. This means you must have an internet connection to use the software. Though the software is a relatively new entrant in the CAD space, having launched in the early 2010s, it still packs a punch. Over the years, the developer has fundamentally improved parametric modeling within the software.
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