In its seamless design environment, Pro/CONCEPT generates three basic types of data: images, curves and 3D geometry. All of this data can be transferred to Pro/ENGINEER, allowing conceptual data to be reused and design intent to be maintained as the concept progresses. This tip will focus on the techniques involved in transferring curves from Pro/CONCEPT 3.0 to Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0.
Sometimes concepts are laid out roughly in Pro/CONCEPT and need to be redefined once they are in Pro/ENGINEER. In other cases the concept has been carefully designed and should not be altered in Pro/ENGINEER. Pro/CONCEPT curves can be loaded into Pro/ENGINEER as either modifiable (flexible) or non-modifiable (rigid). Flexible curves allow for the refining or tweaking of a concept within Pro/ENGINEER, while rigid curves cannot be changed. (Figure 1 shows curves in Pro/CONCEPT.)
Here are a few important notes about saving curves from Pro/CONCEPT:
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To transfer flexible curves to Pro/ENGINEER you will be loading a Pro/CONCEPT scene file (*.cpt), so you need to save the scene in this format. Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0 can load only .cpt files, so be sure to use this format. Future versions of Pro/ENGINEER will be able to load both .cpt and .cpz formats
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To transfer rigid curves you need to save the curves as a Neutral file (*.neu). This is the native format of Pro/CONCEPT, so if you are transferring all of the curves from a scene, you can simply load the curves.neu component of the scene cpt. If you want to transfer just a few curves, you should isolate these and use File > Export > Visible Model (Figures 2 and 3 show non-modified and modified curves respectively in Pro/ENGINEER)
Loading ‘Flexible’ Curves into Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0. To load flexible curves into Pro/ENGINEER, you need to use ISDX. Insert a Style feature (Insert > Style) and then select Styling > Trace Sketch > File > Open Scene.
Loading the .cpt file into the Trace Sketch editor in Pro/ENGINEER will load the curves and any workplane sketches. These curves are now native Style curves in Pro/ENGINEER and you can use the Style curve-edit tool to modify them.
Loading ‘Rigid’ Curves into Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0. Starting in Pro/ENGINEER, use Insert > Shared Data > From File. You can use these rigid curves as references for following features (profiles for protrusions, cuts, etc.) but you will not be able to modify them. (Figure 4 shows rigid curves cut in Pro/ENGINEER.)
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