CREO.0 – GETTING STARTED WITH CREO

Figure 1: Creo Parametric 3.0 start-up screen.

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Learning Targets

In this exercise you will learn:

Setting up Creo for the first use. This includes the understanding of working directory

concept and saving procedure.

Customizations made for Creo Parametric 3.0. Some of the default settings are changed to

help you to get familiar with the software, but if you want, you can make your own

customizations. However, all exercises are made using our customizations.

Using this exercise as a quick help document. In the appendixes some basic concepts are

explained.

About the Current and Future Exercises

Common for all exercises:

Used program is PTC Creo Parametric 3.0 M050 (64 bit).

Operative system is Microsoft Windows 7 (64 bit).

Char # means number.

Marking text with square brackets, e.g. [file name], means parametric text.

RMB is right mouse button.

LMB is left mouse button.

MMB is middle mouse button (press the wheel).

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Setting Up

Working Directory

Creo uses one folder as a working directory. It is a location where Creo saves normal, temporary and

log files and from where Creo reads user’s customization files (if they exists). For this reason, it is

highly recommended to create an empty folder into your network drive (Z:\). The user must have

reading and writing rights to the working directory. That’s why Creo’s installation folder (C:\Program

Files\PTC\Creo 3.0) can’t be the working directory.

The first task is to create an empty folder on your network drive. The user can decide the name of the

folder. One example of working directory is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Working directory, program just started.

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Files you may found in the working directory:

Trail.txt.#, a file that contains all user actions when using Creo. When new session starts,

Creo creates a new version of the trail file.

Std.out, an output log file.

Std.err, an output log file for errors.

[name].prt.#, a part file.

[name].asm.#, an assembly file.

Shortcut

In order to force Creo to use the previously created Working directory at every startup, it is necessary

to create a custom shortcut.

Select Windows ( ), and type Creo in the search field (or go to All programs PTC Creo). Drag and

drop Creo Parametric 3.0 M050 shortcut into your desktop. Then RMB (right click) shortcut in your

desktop and choose Properties (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Right click menu of a shortcut.

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In Properties window, change the field called Start in to point the folder you have created previously

as shown in Figure 4. When ready, click Apply and then OK.

Figure 4: Shortcut's properties.

From now on, every time you start Creo using this shortcut, the working directory is automatically

defined (the folder in Start in field). You can define several shortcuts in order to start the program

using different working directories.

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UI Customization

Importing existing settings

User Interface (UI) customizations are stored in the user profile

(\\home.org.aalto.fi\[username]\windows\AppData\Roaming\PTC), making the customization

available on every computer you might log-in in the future. In order to make your Creo look like

exactly the figures of the exercises of this course, you need to load our UI customized setting.

Start Creo using the recently created shortcut. Wait until the program is up and the home screen

appears (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Part of the Creo's home screen.

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Select File tab and then Options ( ). The Options manager appears. From the left side, select

Customize Ribbon, then from the right bottom corner select Import/Export button and then Import

customization file (Figure 6). The customization file is called aalto_creo_parametric_customization.ui

and it is located in our course net folder (\\work\courses\T\Kon\41\3006\general\Creo settings\).

Therefore, when the Open window appears, choose the address bar line and write \\work (use \ , not

/) (Figure 7) and hit ENTER (or copy-paste address). Then you can browse the right file and finally

select Open. When the Customizations alert window appears, select Import All Customizations. Now

your graphical UI should look same as in our exercises.

Figure 6: Creo options manager and importing an existing setting file.

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Figure 7: Open window and manually written text (\\work) to header.

This concludes our exercise.

The rest of the exercise contains additional information that may be helpful during this course;

especially the sketch constraints part. You can take a look at them when working on Exercises 1.1 and

1.2.

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Setting Files

Reopen (if needed) the Creo Parametric Options window. Here you can define most of the settings.

Default settings are normally read from the installation folder. However the user can overwrite the

default configuration; by defining his/her own custom configuration file(s) and placing them in the

working directory.

Config.pro

On the left side clicking on Configuration Editor you can see the options loaded from file called

config.pro that is located in Creo installation folder. It is highly recommended to use settings provided

by the course staff.

In case you want to create your own customization; you need to select the related file from the one

listed in the Configuration Editor, click on Export all option to configuration file, edit the exported file

as you wish and finally save it in your working directory using as name config.pro.

Additional information about the options customized by the course staff:

mdl_tree_cfg_file

This option points to file that holds information about model tree. To use your own tree.cfg file you

need to define its location in config.pro using option mdl_tree_cfg_file. By default it is set to point to

tree.cfg in the installation folder.

System_colors_file

This option points to the file that holds information about color schema used in Creo. We have

changed the default color schema and saved it into syscol_aalto.scl.

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List of customization files in program folder

These files are part of our settings package:

Located at C:\Program Files\PTC\Creo 3.0\M050\Common Files\text\

o config.pro

Basic configuration file

o tree.cfg

Model tree configuration file

o syscolor_aalto.scl

System colors configuration file

o iso_aalto.dtl

2D drawings configuration file (based on iso.dtl)

o pen_aalto.pnt

A configuration file for printing 2D-drawings

Located at C:\Program Files\PTC\Creo 3.0\M050\Common Files\formats\

o a3_aalto.frm

A3 2D drawing format

o a4_aalto.frm

A4 2D drawing format

Located at C:\Program Files\PTC\Creo 3.0\M050\Common Files\templates\

o mmks_steel_part_solid.prt

Default part using mm, kg and sec as units and steel as a material

o mmks_steel_part_sheetmetal.prt

Default sheet metal part using mm, kg and sec as units and steel as a material

Located at \\work\courses\T\Kon\41\3006\general\Creo settings\

o aalto_creo_parametric_customization.ui

User interface settings file

Those files can be found also at \\work\courses\T\Kon\41\3006\general\Creo settings\

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Sketch Constraints

Here are listed all nine geometric constrains for sketched geometries. They can be accessed and used

from Constrain group when in Sketch mode.

Vertical

Figure 8: From left: vertical line, two points vertically aligned, two lines vertically aligned.

Horizontal

Figure 9: From top: horizontal line, two points horizontally aligned, two lines horizontally aligned.

Perpendicular

Figure 10: On left arc and line perpendicularly, on right two lines perpendicurally.

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Tangent

Figure 11: From left: circle and line tangentially, line and arc tangentially, arc and ellipse tangentially..

Mid-point

Figure 12: On left line attached to the mid-point of the line, on right point on middle of arc.

Coincident

Figure 13: From left: point on start point of the line, start point of the line on line, point on end point of the line,

point on the line.

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Symmetric

Figure 14: On top start points of the lines on same distance from centerline, on bottom two points on same distance

from centerline.

Equal

Figure 15: Two arcs have same radius (R1), two lines have same length (L1) and curvature (2G continuity) between

line and spline.

Parallel

Figure 16: Two lines are parallel.

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Making dimensions

Here is showed different kind of usage of the Normal ( , Dimension group) tool in the sketcher. The

basic workflow is to select one or more entity (line, point, arc, reference) and then press MMB.

Depending on what was selected before and where the MMB was pressed, the dimension appears.

Here different kinds of situations are presented. Notice that there are more options available.

One entity selected

Figure 17: On left: Line selected (1) and pressing MMB. On right: Dimension appeared after MMB.

Figure 18: On left: Arc selected (1) and moment before MMB. On right: MMB pressed.

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Two entities selected

Figure 19: On left: Two points selected, a moment before MMB. On right: MMB pressed and dimension appeared.

Figure 20: On left: Two points selected, a moment before MMB. On right: A new dimension created.

Figure 21: On left: Two points selected, a moment before MMB. On right: A new dimension created.

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Figure 22: On left: Two lines selected, a moment before MMB. On right: A new dimension created.

Figure 23: Two lines selected, a moment before MMB. On right: A new dimension created.

Figure 24: On left: Same arc selected twice, a moment before MMB. On right: A new diameter dimension created.

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Three entities selected

Figure 25: On left: Line selected (1), then centerline (2), then line again (3), a moment before MMB. On right: A new

diameter dimension created.

Figure 26: On left: Point (1) selected, then arc (2), then point (3), a moment before MMB. On right: a new arc length

dimension created.

Figure 27: A point selected (1), then arc's center point (2), then other point (3), a moment before MMB. On right: A

new arc angular dimension created.