what the hell is this pro/desktop!!!

we downloaded pro desktop from ptc last week and for the life of us cant understand why the hell anyone would want to use it.



its god damn awful. admitedly, we dont have the user guide , just the online tutorials.



having tried the basic tutorial i can whole heartly say i could produce it 10 times quicker on proe2001 and probably 5 times faster on wildfire( due to ptc moving the control key to the shift key)



anyone who uses please let me know why you use it. to me its a waste of time.



end of thread.

Pro/Desktop is for people that can't justify the expense of a ProE license or the casual CAD user that doesn't want to learn a complex program like ProE.



I thought it might be useful as a viewer and mark-up tool. Wrong, it barfs on family table parts which makes it useless. The ProductView Express software is almost as useless since it restricts viewing to a postage stamp size window and doesn't give any method of measuring features or interogating BOM information.



SodidWorks, AutoCAD, CADKEY all provide good free viewing software. Another example of PTC not playing well with others. Or in the case of Pro/Desktop; not even playing well with there own software.



For the last design review I exported the assembly to SolidWorks via STEP and then made the SolidWorks files available for review. SAD!



Bernie Hayden

XKL LLC

Pro/Desktop is like a gift from PTC for CAD area. This ... only because is free ))

I did some work for a company whose former employee only could use 'AutoCad etch-a-sketch' not even Autocad LT.



So I downloaded Pro/D and did a couple of 3D drawings and told them if they want me to work for them they have to buy the real licence for Pro/E and send me to PTC training.



It worked. Other than that, I have to agree with you, its pretty lame. In sending as Pro/D drawing to a vendor, they couldn't use it, it lost the dimensions when they converted it to IGS and it can't handle family tables so downloading vendor librarys is useless. They have a different method for family tables.



Like the man says, its free. I found that by using it I had a problen unlearning it to get up to speed with Pro/E. It doesn't do sheetmetal either.



jperkins

Does anyone know of a better 3D solid modelling package for the price? (US$0.00) I would suggest it's actually pretty good value for hobbyists and students who want to learn the basics (and I do mean BASICS) of 3D modelling, and can't afford a copy of Pro/E, Solid Edge / etc. Surely, it can provide good grounding in the principles, for when you actually graduate to play with the big boys' toys.



I will willingly grant that Pro/D and Pro/E shouldn't really be compared against each other. But how many of you actually have acees to a legitimate copy of Pro/E on your home PC?

I was told that PTC bought someone up but I don't remember who it was. Pro/D was their product and it got a small facelift from PTC and they made the files importable into Pro/E.



I guess you could call it their bastard child. Maybe the manager who made the decision to buy the company had to justify his/her decision.



Personally I would rather use the student edition of Pro/E if I just wanted to have a personal 3D program. At least that way the knowledge is transferable to the real world.



jperkins

PTC claims this to be equivalent to Pro/E R9:



http://www.ptc.com/solutions/asktheplm/prodesktop/index.htm



I assume your comments pertain to Pro/DESKTOP Express ??



PS Only Pro/DESKTOP Express is free...

Yes Pro D Express does suck, but don't confuse it with the actual Pro Desktop program. The full program of Pro Desktop is much more user friendly for the newbie and lays down the basic principles of Pro E quite well. Also it handles assemblies with motion much better than Pro E ever has. All you need to do is create your assemblies, constraining each part. Then you can click and drag each individual part through it's range of motion, with all other parts following.

Pro Desktop was a program PTC received from Computervision when PTC aquired them. It was a program CV developed and called it Designwave. It was there entrance into the 3D market just before they folded.