So if you want to work on a SolidWorks, Inventor, or Solid Edge file, you’ll have to convert it from its native format to a neutral format (IGES, STEP).ĬE/Direct Modeling Express has Realism Enhancement options for you to activate ground reflections, shadows, background colors, and rendered surfaces. The software’s present import, or 3D reading, is limited to neutral formats mostly. It’s a lot easier to design interlocking parts (for instance, creating a shaft that must fit into a hole in an existing part) when you don’t need to launch a new modeling window to create a new part. You can, for instance, create a new part within the assembly environment by sketching a profile on a new work plane and extruding it into a solid. The software makes little or no distinction between the two. In CE/Direct Modeling Express, part modeling and assembly modeling are just a tab away. The software is quite good at guessing your desired constraints, so if you push lines and arcs around in 2D, you’ll find nearby segments reshaping according to how you’re moving the geometry. The software allows you to push, pull, rotate, and move faces and features with little or no concerns for feature history or parametric history-a freedom that’s ideal for exploring design concepts before committing to production or manufacturing.ĬE/Direct Modeling Express’s flexible modeling approach is not just for 3D modeling it extends to 2D sketching as well. You may think of CE/Direct Modeling Express as a trimmed down version of CoCreate, derived from the same underlying technology. CoCreate’s Copilot (the control arrows for moving and rotating features) greets you from its new home, CE/Direct Modeling Express.

If you’ve seen or used Co/Create, PTC’s push-pull CAD modeler, you’ll find yourself in semi-familiar territory. This week, PTC comes out swinging again, with a free direct editing application called Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express (CE/Direct Modeling Express). A few weeks ago, we got the first glimpse of a PTC Creo app, in the form of a free paint and draw program called Creo Sketch.

Ptc modeling express