What About Creo?
Creo Brings Both Excitement and Uncertainty
PTC's announcement of Creo™ has caused a great deal of buzz in the 3D CAD Community. At AI MAXTools™, we're definitely excited about the possibilities that Creo may bring to the CAD world. At the same time, we also understand the uncertainty and concern that many current Creo Elements/Direct (CoCreate) customers feel about the new platform and what impact it will have on their processes and infrastructure, and whether it will be worthwhile for them to make the change. We've also had quite a few questions about how Creo will impact the AI MAXTools products, how our current customers will be affected, and what our plans are for future development. The short answer: we'll take care of you, whichever path you choose!
Please see this link if you have any questions about the differences between Creo Elements/Direct (i.e. CoCreate) and Creo Direct.
Looking Forward: What's Next? (updated June 2011)
We understand that some users may want to move immediately to the Creo platform, while others may choose to take a much longer time to determine what benefit Creo will have for them. To ensure that we address the needs of all our users, regardless of where they fall on this spectrum, we are currently planning a two-pronged approach:
- Current CoCreate (Creo Elements/Direct) platform: We are continuing to actively enhance and support the existing AI MAXTools product suite for the versions of Creo Elements/Direct (CoCreate) Modeling that we currently support (v14-v18). This allows current Modeling users to get great benefit from our tools right now, and increased benefit in the future -- we won't forget about you!
- Creo platform: As a Gold member of the PTC PartnerAdvantage Software program, we have been given some visibility as to what to expect. We still don't have all the answers, but based on the information we have received from PTC, we expect that it will be quite some time before the Creo Direct platform will contain a significant portion of the CoCreate functionality. However, we still want to ensure that our customers can get the benefits of our tools. As such, we plan to port our existing applications to Creo Direct once we obtain the developers' kit from PTC and determine which of our capabilities will be most useful in that app. We are also planning to develop new applications and capabilities for the Creo platform as we see opportunities develop.
Licensing Flexibility for Maximum Value:
To help ensure that we are providing maximum value and flexibility to our customers, we are planning to provide all AI MAXTools customers with licenses for the equivalent Creo tools (as applicable) during their currently active AI MAXTools license term. This will allow our customers to make the switch to Creo when the time is right for them, without being constrained by license periods.
Summary
This is definitely an exciting time in the CAD world, but many people are feeling a great deal of uncertainty. AI MAXTools is committed to do everything we can to help all Creo Elements/Direct (CoCreate) users get the maximum benefit from their tools, whether with the Creo platform or with a current or previous version of CoCreate Modeling -- we're here for you!