software change...

[deeherk]

i know this a mastercam forum ,so forgive me if this is a no-no, but rumor has it at our company that we will switch to pro e....it's probably wrong to ask at this forum, since if i wanted pro e info, i should be in a pro e forum, but any pro's and cons from my fellow matercamians...

dan

[jimspac]

Is the company switching to ProE for CAM or just CAD? Mastercam has support to import Pro E files thru Wildfire 2.0 without conversion to Parasolid. If you have no experience with ProE you may find it daunting to learn as ProE has a similiar steep learning curve comparable to Unigraghics. Our company purchased a seat of Unigraphics to read customer files, but still draft in Cadkey and program in Surfcam and Mastercam.

[gcode]

Pro-E is very powerful, very expensive and has a learning curve like a brick wall.

Some years ago I took a class in Pro-E design, but quickly dropped it in favor of SolidWorks.

 

I have no experience in the manufacturing module,

but from discussions on this fourm and talking to people in the industry, the hign end cad/cam systems are rated

Unigraphics

Catia

Pro-E

A lot of people will fight over whether UG or

Catia is better. I don't think I've heard anyone putting Pro-E at first or second place.

In fact I've heard many people say the Pro-E

design module is first rate, but the manufacturing module is very poor.

 

My company just bought a seat of Catia and I'm

just starting to learn it. Right now its kicking my butt, but hopefully I'll get some classes soon

and get moving up the hill.

I will say one thing I know for a fact.

The cost of ownership for a seat of Cati/UG or

Pro-E is stunning.

The boss lays out huge chucks of money to buy the stuff and expects instant results. It can make

for some very unpleasant days at work.

[deeherk]

THANKS FOR THE REPLY JIMSPAC, I ONLY WISH I COULD ANSWER YOUR QUESTION...WHAT'S HAPPENING IS THAT THE COMPANY GLOBALLY IS SWITCHING TO PRO E AND I HEARD THAT WE WILL UPGRADE TO PRO ENC ALSO...DON'T KNOW SQUAT ABOUT IT SO I'M NOT SURE IF WE WILL STILL USE MASTERCAM OR WILL BE ABLE TO IMPORT AS YOU SAY...I'VE BEEN DRAWING IN MASTERCAM WIRE FOR AROUND 4 YEARS NOW, SO NOT EXCITED ABOUT CHANGING...HAD HEARD THAT PRO E CAN BE A BEAR,SO A BIT INTIMIDATED...THUS WONDERING WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT...THANKS AGAIN FOR REPLYING...

DAN

[Kannon]

Deeherk,

calm down, calm down!

Just wanted to know if your shouting, or did you forget the caps lock on?

 

I have a question for you? Is your company gonna allow you to keep your mastercam while your learning Pro E or are they gonna throw you in the fire. Many of the computers are not able to hold such programs together if your system is not beefed up. You might want to check if you will be able to hold Mastercam and Pro E on the computer. I think Pro E takes up quit a bit of space in the old p.c.

Good Luck,

Brian

[Threept82]

I have Pro-E. It is a very good piece of

software, a little tricky at first but nothing

you won't get a handle on soon enough.

I dont mind Pro-E, or CAPS ON.

[deeherk]

thanks for everything...this is a very informitive forum....i feel a nightmare coming...

dan

[jimspac]

deeherk, Schroff Deveopement Corp has excellent beginning and intermediate instruction manauls that I can personally vouch for as I have used them in Pro classes They also have manual for Pro NC or mfg.

 

http://www.SDCpro.com

[jimspac]

By the way, do everything in sequence, or pay dearly afterwards

[deeherk]

thanks again people and for the record, sorry i had caps on...i was just going through guidelines again and now i know what brian meant by "was i yelling"...i'm used to emailing in caps most of the time..if i knew how to type,this may help...

dan

[wtsylvester]

ptcuser.org is the place for info on ProE

[mayday]

I just completed a week of training for peo-e wildfire 2. I have used Mcam full time since ver 4. I must say pro-e is full of power. the design side is unique to anything i have seen yet and actualy very intelegent for software.

learn the term Parent/Child because it will be the life or death of your design

I am crashing myself into this because of a large customer. mostly doing 2d layout for fab and inspection GDT. but altering the models for manufacturing is really nice. adding stock for roughing or whatever, sure is nice to use the native software. much more powerfull than Mcam to design in, but hey thats what its for. I dont ever see using the milling modual in pro-e. thats what Mcam is for

[cadist]

The upgradation from surface modeling to parametric modeling can some time be very difficult. When we had options between proe and UG. I insisted on UG. After seeing the way proe handles it.

IMO It is just like that Proe do it the other way than anyother parametric modeling software. A little off the way.

[deeherk]

cadist,

i only wish we had an option between pro e and something other, but that is not the case here...

and mayday, we will be using this for mill modual and wire modual...i am from a company of around 600+ employees and our design dept.,including the design depts. of all our other divisions are doing the pro e swap so they can send a drawing to any plant in the world and they can see the 3d part of it..i'm sure this is overkill for us in the wire dept,but have to go with the flow!!!!

thanks for replying..

dan

[jimspac]

Sorry that the link I provided in earlier post no longer valid. You can path to the ProE manuals at:

 

http://www.schroff.com

[The Iron Chef]

I have Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 and MasterCam 8.1.1 at work. The more I use wildfire the more I like it. The CAM side is still sucky. They added a module feature called "Expert MAchinist" and it seems as though it was done for those that dont know much about machining. At least that is the impression I got from reading the docs. Ir has a slighly different interface that helps you choose the appropriate machining sequence. FAcing, profiling, slotting, pocketing (limited options)..... ect. I guess that it is really macros with a gui overlay. It works, (shrug).

I still use MCam for most of my toolpathing but i often remodel a part in Pro/E for fun.

It is pretty easy really, given the proper TRAINING! I got a full week in wildfire 1.0 and 3 full days in the Sheetmetal module.

 

-Keith from home