Creo and Windchill

MI Materials Gateway is available for both Windchill® and Creo® Parametric from PTC, and can be configured to support data assignment in an integrated environment. Assignments made to parts in one application are available on the corresponding parts in the other.

Important: When Creo Parametric is configured to assign materials to bodies (also called 'multi-body assignment' or 'multi-material assignment'):
  • MI Materials Gateway supports synchronization of Granta MI assignments in the Creo-to-Windchill direction only. Synchronization in the Windchill-to-Creo direction is not supported, and must not be enabled if you intend to configure Creo to assign materials to bodies.
  • For parts managed as Family Tables, synchronization of body-level assignments from Creo to Windchill is only supported for generics.

This interoperability is achieved via the mapping of attributes between Creo and Windchill. The mapped attributes represent a unique identification of the material, process, surface treatment or color, as defined in the Granta MI database, such that MI Materials Gateway for both Windchill and Creo can retrieve the properties of the material (or other assignment) directly from the database.

Granta assignment data is stored in Windchill using custom data types. For example, when a material is assigned to a part in Windchill using Gateway, two objects are created:
  • A Material Object in Windchill’s Granta Material Library that represents the material in the Granta MI database (unless an object already exists for this version of the material).
  • A link that connects the WTPart to the Material Object.
Similarly, when a process, surface treatment, or color is assigned, a Granta custom data object of the relevant type is created in the Granta Material Library and linked to the WTPart.

In order to set up this custom data model and configure interoperability of assignments between Windchill and Creo, some post-installation configuration is required on the Windchill server, and on any machines running MI Materials Gateways to Windchill or Creo.

In an integrated Windchill and Creo environment, MI Materials Gateway can be configured to support a range of scenarios for material assignment.
  • Granta assignments can be made to parts or bodies in Creo and then synchronized to the corresponding part objects in Windchill.
  • Granta assignments can be made to parts in Windchill and then synchronized to the corresponding CAD models in Creo.
Either or both of these assignment workflows can be enabled, depending on your requirements. For each direction, there is flexibility in how you can choose to configure the synchronization and update of assignments:
  • If synchronization is enabled in the Creo-to-Windchill direction, assignments on Windchill part objects can be updated either when the part is checked in to Windchill, or when it is opened in a Windchill Gateway.
  • If synchronization is enabled in the Windchill-to-Creo direction, assignments on Creo parts can be updated either when the part is opened in Creo, or when it is opened in a Creo Gateway.
You can also configure automatic check-out and check-in of Windchill parts as required, on assignment in the Windchill Gateway, or synchronization from Creo. You can enable menu options in the Creo Gateway that allow you to check out and check in Windchill parts for assignment.