Desperate need of a Viewer.

[Albion]

We have a customer that send all their files in a Pro/Engineer Wildfire format. At the present time we only have Pro/E 2000i without maintenance. We are looking for a viewer or translator that will allow us to translate or open Pro/E Wildfire2.0 DRW (Not PRT/ASM) files without having the native Pro/E software. We've tried PTCs ProductView, but that requires our customers to make setting changes in their software which they are unwilling to do. We've also gone through the nightmare of purchasing converters from other companies (MasterCAM, etc...) assuming that their Pro/E converter would handle DRW but we've had no luck.

So, does anyone know of a Pro/E DRW stand alone converter/viewer?

BTW, it would be nice if there wasn't a 6 month lag time between the release of a new Pro/E format and the release of the viewer updates.

Thanks

-Craig

 

[TheTick]

Try PS-Exchange available at <

http://www.delcam.com>.

It is a pay-per-use translator that allows free viewing.

For translation service, I highly recommend <

http://www.mathdata.com>

I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[Albion]

Delcam's product DOES NOT open DRW, only PRT, just like all the other viewers I have looked at so far.

We don't care about PRT or ASM files because we can open those all day long with the MasterCAM Pro/E translator. A translator we purchased because we assumed that it would open not only PRT, but DRW also, but we were incorrect in our assumption.

Thanks

-Al

 

[oldboot]

will this work? I just searched by google.

http://www.cimmetry.com/Pro-Engineer_viewer.html

BTW, are you from Albion Caster company? There is an engineer in Albion Industries Inc who also named Al. I know some of them like Tom Thoisnet, Rob Jordan & Scott Chahalis.

 

[Tofflemire]

Hi Albion2,

I used a product that was called Autoview. I only had a demo version and that expired. This opens all kinds of different file types, including ProE. Search Google to find the Demo version to down load. To buy this package cost around $1000-$1500.

Tofflemire

 

[Tofflemire]

Hi

I think I down loaded it from here

http://www.novedge.com/Cimmetry_AutoVueSMPro.asp?AFTK=NVGGL

 

[Albion]

We're looking at AutoView. It's price is kind of daunting and they can't guarante that if PTC come out with a new format for their files that they'll have a translator avaliable in a timely fashion. I just can see spending $1k to $1.5k plus yearly maint on a maybe.

It might just come down to purchasing a seat of Pro/E. Man them guys got you coming and going, don't them?

-Al

 

[Tofflemire]

If you download the demo, you can view the drawings

Tofflemire

 

[Albion]

Yeah, but we need this to be ongoing to support this customer in the future, so we're going to have to purchase it. Right now the solution is that the customer is sending us .dxf, but they don't like having to translate to .dxf. The customer is Harley Davidson and they are spending a lot of money with us, so we don't want to piss them off, if you know what I mean.

-Al

P.S. For the guy who asked about my name... Actually My name is Craig, Albion is just an online handle that I've had since the early 80's.

 

[Tofflemire]

You can get them as neutral file

Tofflemire

 

[Guest0527211403]

Often times a set of PDFs are created with drawings, so it may be feasible to ask them if they can send these to you.

Chances are a big customer like H-D would have access to batch output capability. If not, it might be worth it for you to upgrade to Wildfire. If they don't have to put in extra work just to send you their files, they might recognize this the next time they need to find a supplier.

( ...daydreaming about working for Harley Davidson...)

 

[Albion]

Harley has so many different types of checks and balances flying around that they probably have one guy to click File Save, one guy to enter the file name, and a last guy to click the save button. That's the problem, they have to get authorization before they can send out an unauthorized file type to their suppliers. So if we need a certain format that's unauthorized then they have to jump through extra hoops to get it to us. Which is why they want us to be able to read native Wildfire 2.0.

-Al

 

[rborders]

Do you want to manipulate this data or just view it?
How about PTC's ProductView Express? It will require HD to make some changes to their config.pro.

To view drawings, formats, layouts, reports, and diagrams, you must set the config.pro option:

save_drawing_picture_file - recommended setting: embed or both

To view sections, you must set the following config.pro option:

sketcher_save_preview_image - recommended setting: yes

Note: After setting these options, in order to view the data in standalone ProductView Express, you must reload the objects into Pro/ENGINEER and save them using the configuration option.

Richard Borders
Komatsu America Corp.

 

[Albion]

Yeah, we looked into that.. Unfortunatly the political situation over there will not allow them to make any changes to their software.

-Al

 

[ediushu]

Here's a good solutions for you. Ask your supplier to install "eDrawings" from PTC websites on their machine and it will be like a plug-in software for Pro/E. Whenever they have to send you the drawing all they have to do is to click on publish from eDrawings menu. This softare is free and can be used not only for Pro/E drawings, but parts and assemblies. It's realy good and easy to use. Give it a try.
Here is the link where you can to download it from

http://www.ptc.com/appserver/it/icm/cda/icm01_list.jsp?group=201&show=y&keyword=3208

I still don't understand why can't they create a pdf file or a TIFF from their pro/e drawings. It's one click away...

Good luck!

ediushu

 

[Albion]

"I still don't understand why can't they create a pdf file or a TIFF from their pro/e drawings. It's one click away..."

Corporate Politics... Harley is a very secure company. They take a lot of extra steps to make sure unnecessary technologies do not get out the door, and one of them is making sure unauthorized copies and translations of company drawings do not get created. It may be easy enough to click file->Save As, but when your job is on the line you tend to stay away unless you have the right paperwork to do it.

-Al

 

[ricebox]

I would strongly recommend "eDrawings" or "Product View Express". They are both free at

http://www.ptc.com.

 

[Heckler]

I use e-drawings professional version and it works great. I know they have a free version but I assume it's limited in functionality.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
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