PTC Acquires Mathsoft 1

[JohnAndrews]

PTC has bought MathSoft:

http://www.ptc.com/company/mathsoft/index.htm

How does this affect Pro/E users?
Will the integration between Mathcad and Pro/E be of benefit?
Do any Pro/E users use Mathcad also and think this could be a good thing?
I don't use or know anything about MAthcad but wonder if this could be a good thing for me.
Any other comments.....

 

[Guest0527211403]

I would imagine a MathCAD/ProE combination would be a very powerful engineering package indeed. Hopefully regular Pro/E users will be able to benefit from this integration. From what I've seen of it, MathCAD is something like a spreadsheet on steroids, which has a lot of implications for a parameter-driven model in Pro/E.

Is it me or has there been a lot of action going lately in terms of CAD companies being acquired by others? One worthy of mention here (IMO) is Google's acquisition of @Last, makers of SketchUp 3D software. Just today they announced a release of a free version of SketchUp... Worth a look for the price:

http://sketchup.google.com

 

[mloew]

JKG,

There has a lot of activity on the M&A front in the PLM/CAD/CAE space. PTC alone made 4 deals in the last year (Mathsoft being the latest and largest).



Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

CoMeT Solutions


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

Did anyone get the chance see the presentation about the upcoming Pro/E / MathCAD integration at the user conference in Texas?

We use both here, and I'm trying to see how we may be able to take advantage of this integration, but I can't seem to find any details outside of the press releases (which are sketchy at best).

 

[mloew]

JKG,

I was there. What specifically are you interested in?

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

CoMeT Solutions


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

Hi Matthew,

I'm mainly interested in whether or not the way the programs integrate is along the lines of a Layout, or along the lines of an Excel analysis.

Ideally, it would feature the best of both.

I'd prefer the layout-like functionality, that is, declaring the Pro/E model to a Mathcad file so that the .MCD document's parameters are visible to the model.

On the other hand, I'd like to see the bi-directionality(?) that Excel analysis offers, so that we can take model measurements and use them in the Mathcad calculations. The downside to Excel analysis in my opinion is the need to manually declare each dimension to the spreadsheet. For large models with many controlled parameters this tends to become cumbersome.

I'll get off my soapbox now.


Thanks!

 

[mloew]

For Wildfire 2.0 they will be offering a toolkit application to integrate the two programs (due in July). For Wildfire 3.0 there will be integration through an analysis feature very similar to the current Excel Analysis feature. This is due out in the M030 maintenance release in August. It will be bidirectional (just like Excel) with the added benefit of both programs being unit cognizant (which Excel lacks).

Also of interest is the longer term goals of moving analysis features out of BMX and into foundation (Yeah!) and ultimately using a MathCAD-like interface for the relations editor. That will be very slick (and will not require a separate licence of MathCAD if they do it!).

I hope that answers your question. It should be very slick.




Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

CoMeT Solutions


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

"...a MathCAD-like interface for the relations editor..."

I'm almost salivating at the thought of having Pro/E evaluate differential equations within my models... But it may just be lunch time.

 

[mloew]

It was the first thing I thought of. I talked to the Product Line Manager (PLM) for this integration and congratulated him on this. Don't expect this before WF 4.0, however. I wish I was a user of MathCAD!



Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

CoMeT Solutions


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

So do I!

The aerodynamicists here are the mathcad pros, and I'm picking up what I can from them (when I can figure out what they're saying, that is).

 

[mloew]

JKG,

I can't believe we have not managed to meet yet!

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew

CoMeT Solutions


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

Yeah, they don't let me out much here

 

[Guest0527211403]

I don't know what's going on with the WF2 toolkit app, but WF3 M030 was released today, for anyone who is interested in this integration.

 

[zifos]

MathCAD is the best software since Pro/E!!!

I did all my homework in college using MathCAD. It's like a word document that does math and is very easy to input equations, make graphs, solve complexe equations, track units, and etc. All you have to do is type and a document appears complete with equations and all. It works great for report writting when you need text and equations together and want it to look nice.

(for those of you who have not used MathCAD)