Planet PTC (a new era in the PTC/User experience)

I mentioned in my day 1 update that PTC would be taking over financial support for PTC/User World Event conferences. Upon hearing the news my immediate concern was that these very educational seminars would quickly become a canned PTC marketing event. I was specifically concerned that the “independent voice” of users would be thrown to the curb and replaced with a controlled forum for PTC to push their products to customer management (completely bypassing those with the keyboard and mouse in their hands).

Now, after further discussion with PTC employees, PTC/User board members and longtime conference attendees I feel much more comfortable about the new future of the conference. I will go so far as to say that there is a sense of excitement towards a new era of the still “independent” PTC user voice.

PTC and the PTC/User board are quite aware of these concerns and will be sure to ease these apprehensions by providing a quality event year after year.

This new experience will be called Planet PTC. It will be provided in 3 forms:

• Planet PTC Live: the new name of the PTC/User World Event

• Planet PTC Community: the online “community for PTC customers and everyone dedicated to product development excellence”

• Planet PTC Virtual: a series of virtual educational seminars

PTC/User 2010 day 2 (morning update)

The morning session started off with an announcement by Ron Watson that PTC would be taking over all future PTC/User conferences.
The new slogan will be "The Independent Voice of Communist CAD Users" (all right, I made that last part up).

The key note speaker this morning was Peter Burrows who has 40 years of cool IT experience. After a rocking sports compilation video he shared how Adidas uses PTC products to quickly conceptualize, coordinate and create sports gear to suite a rapidly demanding customer base.
It's always inspiring to see the tools I use everyday make sexier products than hydrogen fuel cells. But the most enlightening thing I got from Mr. Burrows' speech had nothing to do with technology. My wife might not dig it, but I cannot wait to buy a toupee and glue it to my upper lip.














That is bad-ass.

I then sat in on David Haigh’s Putting All the Pieces Together: Pro/ENGINEER Admin 101. David did a great job of front to back Pro/E setup for standardized CAD use. I was impressed with his level of efficient detail. It is definitely worth taking a look at his presentation. Best of all he has one of those deep James Earl Jones voices. It felt like pro/E story time except I wasn’t wearing my pj’s.

Ps.
***WARNING***
Afternoon sessions may be raucous and odorous due to the TexMex lunch.

Day 1 (BTW version)

Apparently I had my "geek" on yesterday because I missed a few significant notes. I guess that's what happens when you're enthralled in CAD lust (have I mentioned WF5 frigging rocks?).

Anyway, here are a couple extra notes from the Corporate Update
- 20% of every PTC dollar goes to product development.
- 40% of PTC employees work in R&D
- MathCAD has been "reinvigorated" with release of MathCAD Prime.
- The bigger news of the day was the tease introduction of "Project Lighting". Jim Heppelman began by stating "there has not been a radical CAD innovation since 1985" (which was the intro of pro/E). With that he introduced PTC's vision of the next 20 years of CAD, Project Lightning. The only real hint was that it would be an app-based platform similar to the iPod/iPhone. There will be a full virtual event intro on October 28, 2010.

PTC/User 2010 Day 1

I shipped off to the 2010 PTC/User Conference in Orlando with 3 learning goals:
1. Assess Pro/E Wildfire 5.0 (comparing it to the incumbent WF3.0)
2. Devise a plan to migrate our Intralink 3.4 CAD data to PDM-Link 9.1
3. Research engineering to supplier CAD data control & transfer solutions.

So here is what I learned on Day 1:
Let’s be clear, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 friggin rocks!!! Here’s why…

• Real-time Dynamic Editing; No more crappy preview display. If the preview shows it, it’s done.
• Smarter regeneration; It only regenerates dependent features (children) of the modified feature.
• If a feature fails due to changes to an earlier feature change you can actually keep going without entering resolve mode, then fix the error later. I know, it sounds like a really bad idea (you could actually hear the CAD Admins in attendance gasping in terror) but there is control. With certain config options you can prevent users from checking in or even saving until these unstable features are resolved. The big idea behind this concept is allowing the designer to keep going while an inspiration is fresh instead of impeding creativity with a trip through Resolve Mode hell.
• Trajectory ribs. This is a rocking idea that is now a reality. No more self created UDF's.
• Surface based coordinate systems
• Patterning is vastly improved
• Lots of great sketcher tool improvements
• You can now mirror and pattern sheet metal wall features (and groups of features)
• Auto-round option on sheet metal form features
• Parting-line round transition control
• The Help Center interface and controls are much better than WF 3.0

As for the other 2 goals…
There aren’t as many CAD data migration lectures this year. It’s a sign that we are way behind the times, as most companies have already taken the plunge.
I am in the process of getting a PTC specialist to come in and give us an assessment of our current software portfolio as it compares to our data transfer challenges.

The good thing is that it’s only day 1.

Just another tip from your Uncle Lar...

Pro/E users; do you use external copy geometry features when transferring data from one model to another in an assembly? (Please say “YES”)

When you copy geometry do you copy all the surfaces of the entire model? (Please, for the love of God say “NO!!!”)

Nothing con-volutes a model more than a bunch of unneeded live geometry. It may be the easy thing to do (and it may look cool), but you should only copy the geometry you “absolutely need”.

There are a few reasons for this:

1. It’s simple, the more copied geometry, the greater your chances of failed features due to the original being modified.

2. Regeneration time. Don’t believe me? Try it both ways with a stop watch. Then consider that time difference if everyone who works on your product modeled the same way.

3. If all of those models have full surface geometries over-lapping each other you most likely are selecting surfaces that you do not intend to select. This could very well be creating circular references (talk about a convoluted mess).

These are only a few reasons you want to be efficient when using shared geometry. Don’t get me wrong, shared geometry is a wonderful tool. But like most wonderful things, it can turn quickly if you are not careful.

Just another tip from your Uncle Lar…

Let the Production Increase BEGINNN!!!

Our CEO just sent an email to the entire company stating that, "Starting today, coffee will be free for all employees". WOOHOO!!!
It looks like we are kicking this thing into overdrive.

You might be an engineer if…

• your idea of good interpersonal communication means getting the decimal point in the right place
• you have "Dilbert" comics displayed anywhere in your work area
• you look forward to Christmas so you can put together the kids' toys
• you know the direction the water swirls when you flush
• you have ever taken the back off your TV just to see what's inside
• a team of you and your co-workers have set out to modify the antenna on the radio in your work area for better reception
• you own one or more white short-sleeve dress shirts
• you have ever purchased an electronic appliance "as-is"
• the salespeople at Best Buy can't answer any of your questions
• you have introduced your kids by the wrong name
• you have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work
• you can remember 7 computer passwords but not your anniversary
• you thought the real heroes of "Apollo 13" were the mission controllers
• you think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get enough sleep
• your lap-top computer costs more than your car
• you comment to your spouse that his/her straight hair is nice and parallel
• your favorite actor is R2D2