Page 1 of 3
One of the consequences of Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) acquiring Computervision in 1998 was the addition of the Windows native, design centric modeller DesignWave to their portfolio.
Despite the potentially uneasy market positioning alongside the Pro/Engineer product line, DesignWave developed through several versions with the addition of Pro/E routines to the Parasolid based modeller and was subsequently rebranded as Pro/Desktop.
This gradual process of integration has resulted in the latest 2001 version being wholly based on PTC's range wide componentised modelling technology Granite One.
Significantly this offers compatibility with Pro/E part and assembly data and although feature and dimension information is not accessible once in Pro/Desktop, files remain associative so any modifications in Pro/E will ripple through the Desktop design.
Pro/E surfaces are not supported and although this should be a minor limitation as in most cases surfaces are integrated into a final solid design it is likely that the next release will offer this capability.
Similarly Pro/E 2001 can associatively open native Desktop designs or exported Associative Topology Bus (ATB) files.
Through this associative interoperability, Pro/MECHANICA can be used for finite element analysis (FEA) and Pro/NC for tool paths of Pro/Desktop parts and Desktop can be used to create drawings of Pro/E parts.
The move away from Parasolid also strategically removes PTC's reliance upon their competitiors Unigraphics for a core technology.
The other major strategic factor with this release is pricing.
The full Professional version is now priced at £700 plus annual support option for £350 that adds telephone support, service packs, and version updates.