This section examines the configuration requirements as well as the steps to launch the connection capability from Creo Parametric. The procedures outlined here assume that you have a working knowledge of Creo Parametric and Mechanical APDL, and that both of these products are installed on your system.
Before using the connection for Creo Parametric, you must run the installation setup or the CAD Configuration Manager .
All Creo Parametric users must have copies of the WBPlugInPE.dat file and the config.anscon.242 files. The config.anscon.242 file is placed in the Ansys 2024 R2 installation directory. The WBPlugInPE.dat file is also placed in the Ansys installation directory, usually located in <drive>\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v242\aisol\CADIntegration\ProE\ProEPages\config. This file defines the name of the executable, the path to the executable, the path to the message file, and the current revision of Creo Parametric.
For more information about the files used, see the Ansys, Inc. Windows Installation Guide.
The following procedure describes the steps to launch Mechanical APDL from within the Creo Parametric application. Please note that a part or assembly file must be open in Creo Parametric before Mechanical APDL can be launched.
Choose from the Creo Parametric Menu Manager. The File Open dialog box appears.
Select the part you wish to open from the appropriate folder.
Click . The part.prt file opens in the top window.
Select from the Ansys 2024 R2 menu (part of the Tools menu in Creo Parametric). The Creo Parametric part is converted into a Mechanical APDL model database. If you encounter difficulties or the model does not display, please refer to the Troubleshooting an Imported File section listed below.
Note: On Windows, you may see the following message: INSTALL_SIGNAL_HANDLER: Failed to Install: Invalid argument. If so, ignore the message and continue.
Analyze the part with Mechanical APDL. If you have any questions about running a Mechanical APDL analysis, see the Basic Analysis Guide.
When the Mechanical APDL analysis is complete, select .
Troubleshooting an Imported File
If the model does not appear in the Mechanical APDL window, select or to display the model.
Note for Windows Users: An additional window may open when the connection to Mechanical APDL is launched. The window title bar contains the full path to the connection executable; the executable is named ac4pro.exe. After the message Releasing Connection license... appears in the window, close the window. These messages are caused by Creo Parametric and have no effect on your process.
If the Ansys menu buttons do not appear, the WBPlugInPE.dat file may not be properly installed. Based upon your platform, please refer to Windows System Configuration for Connection Functionality for Creo Parametric for additional information about installingtheWBPlugInPE.dat file.
When spawning a Mechanical APDL session from Creo Parametric, the CAD will be unresponsive until the user closes the Mechanical APDL session.
Creo Parametric 7 (versions 7.0.4.0 and higher) and Creo 8 (versions 8.0.3.0 and higher) must be installed with Legacy Toolkit Application Runtime selected in order for the Mechanical APDL interface to function properly. This install option can be found under API Toolkits in the Application Features area of the Creo Installer.
Before starting Mechanical APDL from Creo Parametric, you may wish to modify some Mechanical APDL configuration settings. These configuration settings are stored in a text file called config.anscon.242, which you can copy into your working directory.
An example config.anscon.242 file might look like this:
ANSYS_CMD "%AWP_ROOT242%\ANSYS\bin\%ANSYS_SYSDIR%\ansys242.exe" ANSYS_GRAPHIC_DEVICE WIN32 ANSYS_SOLVER Sparse** ANSYS_SELECTED_LAYERS 1-256** ANSYS_GEOMETRY_TYPE Solids Only** ANSYS_NEUTRAL_FORMAT Yes** ANSYS_PRODUCT_NAME ANSYS
** These variables are not supported by Creo Parametric and are ignored.
The table shown below summarizes the default settings for the config.anscon.242 file. For additional information, please refer to Appendix A: Setting Mechanical APDL Configuration Parameters.
Table 3.1: Mechanical APDL Default Configuration Settings
| Keyword | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ANSYS_CMD | Path name to the version of Mechanical APDL to be run. | |
<drive>:Program Files\ANSYS Inc\V242\ANSYS\bin\<platform>\ansys242.exe
| ||
| ANSYS_GRAPHIC_DEVICE | win64 | Graphics driver for Ansys.[1] |
| ANSYS_NEUTRAL_FORMAT | YES | Store the part as a neutral file or as a solid model file.[2][4] |
| ANSYS_PRODUCT_NAME | ANSYS | The default Ansys product.[3] |
| ANSYS_SOLVER | Sparse | Included for compatibility only.[4] |
| ANSYS_SELECTED_LAYERS | 1-256 | [4] |
| ANSYS_GEOMETRY_TYPE | Solids Only | [4] |
Additional References
For additional information, please refer to the following:
Set this value to the default product for your machine. See the Ansys Product to License Feature Mapping table located on the Ansys, Inc. Customer Portal (refer to Product to License Feature Mapping in the Ansys, Inc. License Management Guide for directions on how to access the mapping table).
This setting is included only to maintain compatibility with the config.anscon.242 file for the connection for NX. It is no longer supported.
The file containing the configuration settings may reside in a number of different directories.
The connection for Creo Parametric on Windows searches for
config.anscon.242 in the
\ac4\data\<platform>
subdirectory.
When you save a new version of the config.anscon.242 file, the new version is always saved to your working directory.
Add Creo's path to the PATH variable to be able to edit config.anscon (for example, <Creoloadpoint>/bin).
The problem scenario and solution discussed below is one that you may encounter when running the connection for Creo Parametric. Additional troubleshooting information may be found in Appendix B: Troubleshooting Connection Issues.
- Mechanical APDL does not load when you select the button.
This generally happens if you forgot to set the ANSYS242_DIR environment variable as mentioned earlier in the Launching from Creo Parametric section. Reset this variable and try again.