Using Syndeia with Creo via Workspaces of Windchill

Owned by Debesh Roy Chowdhury
May 20, 2022
4 min read

This document will offer guidance on how to configure existing services in CREO and in Windchill to expose PTC CREO Parametric assembly information to Syndeia through the Windchill repository.

Through these Windchill Workspaces, an organization may make CREO content accessible to its user community without having to exchange files through shared folders or email.

Note that a Syndeia User will still require a licensed local copy of CREO parametric.exe in order to navigate via “More Details” from a Syndeia Dashboard to a CAD Viewer of the components of the assemblies.

Steps:

  1. Install Windchill

    1. This guide is no substitute for Windchill Administration documentation and assistance. Begin at “Installation and Upgrading”(https://support.ptc.com/help/windchill/whc/whc_en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center%2FInstallationUpgrade_LP.html%23) and work with your local IT and PTC Support staff.

  2. License Windchill

    1. See “Basic Administration > Managing Licenses > Windchill Licensing” (https://support.ptc.com/help/windchill/whc/whc_en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center%2FLicenseMgmt_Intro.html%23 )

  3. Install CREO

    1. This guide is no substitute for CREO Administration documentation and assistance. See “Introduction > Welcome“ (http://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/usascii/index.html#page/introduction%2Fabout_PTC_creo_help.html%23 )

  4. License CREO

    1. This guide is no substitute for CREO Administration documentation and assistance. See “Working with Licenses > About Creo Parametric Licenses“ (http://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/usascii/index.html#page/fundamentals/fundamentals/fund_five_sub/About_Pro_ENGINEER_Licenses.html)

  5. Confirm that Syndeia and Windchill are integrated by following the instruction at

    1. Using Syndeia with Windchill.

  6. Confirm that Syndeia and CREO are integrated by following the instruction at

    1. Using Syndeia with Creo.

  7. Confirm that the ECAD_COLLABORATION features for CREO are enabled.

    1. The PROE_Flex3c license feature provides this. There may be other CREO License Features which suffice. Consult your PTC CREO specialists.

    2. CREO features are asserted in the Parametric Startup File(s) read by parametric.exe when it is launched. Which PSF file is used depends on external configuration of the CREO environment. Consult your IT specialists.

    Default parametric.psf showing CREOPMA_FEATURE_NAME environment variable with the PROE_Flex3c Feature

  8. Confirm that the PTC PDMLink Module License “License Profile” is available in Windchill and that the Windchill User who will be using CREO has been added to the Group

Standard and License Profiles for an Organization in the Windchill application

Note that there are other licenses available for Windchill that are more focused on specific content-authoring tools (such as CREO) which might be suitable in place of the PDMLink Module. Here, the more-general license policy is used because it enables Workspace service for all content-authoring tools not just for CREO. (See CS282719 at PTC for the definitive information.)

  1. Set up Windchill Attribute Templates for CREO Assemblies and Windchill Part Properties

  2. Configure CREO Parametric to access Windchill Workspaces

    1.  Using Creo Parametric with Windchill > Getting Started with Using Creo Parametric with Windchill > Some Quick Basics (Visit https://support.ptc.com/help/windchill/wc110_hc/whc_en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center%2FProEWCIntegGWQuickBasics.html%23wwID0EEABT )

    2. See Troubleshooting for potential issues at this stage

  1. Create or Activate a Windchill Workspace within which to retrieve and store CREO content

    1. See Using Windchill Workspaces > Creating and Activating a Workspace (https://support.ptc.com/help/windchill/whc/whc_en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center%2FWWGM_GS_CreatingWorkspaces.html%23wwID0EQERY)

  2. Find or author CREO Parametric content.

    1. This is no guide for how to become a CAD author or to use CREO. Consult PTC for extensive literature and training.

  3. Import or Save the CREO Parametric content into Windchill through the Workspace.

    1. See “Importing Files into Windchill” https://support.ptc.com/help/windchill/whc/whc_en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center%2FWWGM_GS_FilesImportWC.html%23

  4. Use a web browser to confirm that the CREO file(s) stored into the Windchill Workspace are visible and readable and at the proper revision to match the editing done within CREO.

    1. If the Windchill application cannot retrieve and expose the latest CREO content, then neither will the Syndeia user be able to access that CREO content through the Windchill Workspace service.

Troubleshooting

Lack of Windchill and CREO Licenses

When attempting to use Windchill Workspaces from within CREO Parametric, the administrator or the users might encounter messages that indicate that either or both of CREO and Windchill are lacking licenses for the CAD/PLM integration capabilities.

For example, while attempting to register a new Server from within Creo, after having provided a proper URL to the Windchill HTTP service and after having provided proper user credentials, CREO might present the following Message Dialog and not complete registration of the Windchill Server.

CS282719 - Minimum Windchill license profile requirements for CAD integration with Windchill