Pro/E Foundation II

[airion]

When my company first got Pro/E about 2 years ago they only bought the base package Foundation I, which is not even sold anymore. I am currently looking into upgrading to Foundation II , mainly for the surfacing capabilities, but it also includes other things like mechanism and model check.



For the most part I have been able to model what I need without surfaces, but if I recieve a model from someone else that uses surfaces, I would not be able to redefine any of those features.



How useful is surfacing? Would it justify the cost of upgrading? Some examples of when surfaces would be necessary, or any opinions about surfacing would be appreciated.

 

[eServ]

Surfacing is the most powerful 3-d CAD program out there, as far as I'm concerned. It's capability is almost unlimited and most design applications these days almost require surfacing. Products are becoming more streamlined. Myself, I have just touched the surface of Surfacing capabilities (no pun intended) and I'm am just blown away. I tried to create a flat, sheetmetal part just recently and I was unable to create it, until I tried it using Pro/Surface. So, to answer your question.....Yes, it is well worth it's weight in gold. As far as surfacing model examples....look on this website under Files.

 

[dougr]

Basically there are 3 food groups in Pro/E:



Datum features.

Solid features.

Surface features.



I've been using surfaces for about 7 years and couldn't model half the stuff I do without them, they add a 3rd dimension to modeling...

 

[bhayden]

eServ wrote:



I tried to create a flat, sheetmetal part just recently and I was unable to create it, until I tried it using Pro/Surface.



Huh? I do a lot of sheetmetal using the sheetmetal module that came with 2001. I can't imagine why surfacing would be needed for any sheetmetal part let alone a flat one. I would tend to believe that the use of surfacing for sheetmetal would give many fab shops fits trying to import the data into their CNC programing tools.



Not knowing what area of engineering or design you're primarily concerned with it's impossible to say how much you'd gain from surfaces. You mention the potential problem of receiving a model with surfaces and not being able to redefine those features; but the fact that that hasn't happened in two years doesn't make it sound like it's a big issue.



We purchased the Foundation II package primarily for the ability to create simplified reps. If you work with large assemblies this can be a big time saver.



Model Check sounded like a cool feature but I've yet to use it in the year since adopting Pro/E. But it still looks like a cool feature :+)



If I remember right, the basic Foundation package did not include a Pro/Intralink licence? If that's the case then I'd say that would be the most compelling reason to upgrade your licence.



Bernie Hayden

XKL LLC