The interface works in both a Plug-in and a Pseudo-Reader mode.
For information about post-release CAD system compatibility with Ansys Workbench, see the Platform Support section of the Ansys Website.
See Product & CAD Configuration Manager for usage information.
For detailed installation information about the Product & CAD Configuration Manager, see:
Support
At the time of release, detailed version support information for the Windows platforms is accessible via Geometry Interface Support.
For information about post-release CAD system compatibility with Ansys Workbench, see the Platform Support section of the Ansys Website.
Document import supported by interface: *.pkg, *.bdl, *.ses, *.sda, *.sdp, *.sdac, *.sdpc,
Table 10: Import Preference Support for Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Geometry Interface
| Import Solids | Yes | ||
| Import Surfaces | Yes | ||
| Import Lines | Yes | ||
| Parameter Processing and prefix/suffix key | No | ||
| Attribute Processing and prefix | No | ||
| Named Selection Processing and prefix | Yes | ||
| Material Processing | No | ||
| Analysis Type |
| ||
| Associativity | Yes | ||
| Coordinate Systems | Yes | ||
| Work Points | No | ||
| Reader Save File | No | ||
| Instancing | No | ||
| Smart Update | No | ||
| Enclosure and Symmetry Processing | No | ||
| Mixed Import Resolution | Yes - for parts that include both Solid and surface bodies AND the Import Solid and Import Surface preferences are set to Yes | ||
| Decompose Disjoint Geometry | No |
The Creo Elements/Direct geometry interface also supports the Selective Update feature.
Parts that are hidden or suppressed in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling are not skipped automatically, because of a limitation in the CAD's API.
Due to a limitation in the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling API, mixed import resolution will fail to correctly filter multi-body parts when one body type is owned by another body type.
SES files are not portable between different versions of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. They should be limited to use on a single machine.
Named Selection Processing — This geometry interface will group each body into Named Selections based upon color when the keyword "Color" is entered as a Named Selection Key. The resultant selection groups will be named with the form, Color:R.G.B. Here R, G and B are values ranging from 0 to 255, which represent the amount of color saturation of Red, Green and Blue color components. For example Color:0.0.0 is black, Color:255.255.255 is white, and Color:255.0.0 is red.
Color Processing — Within Mechanical body colors can be visually altered to match what is displayed in the Creo/Elements Direct session by executing the following steps:
Prior to attach/refresh, enable the Attributes preference.
Add the keyword "Color" to the Attributes Key list.
After attach/refresh is complete, within Mechanical perform Tools->Run Macro and designate this script to be run: <install dir>\ [version]\aisol\DesignSpace\DSPages\macros\BodyColorByCADColorAttribute.js
The Plug-in will import all parts in the model based on body type import filters. Active CAD session models imported from Creo Elements/Direct Modeling can only be updated from an active session unless the model is re-linked to a specified file. A model imported based on its file can only be updated from the file unless re-linked to an active session. Attempting to import a Creo Elements/Direct Modeling file from disk when a session of the CAD is opened will fail so as to not corrupt the active model.
The absence of an Ansys section in the Add-In Modules fly-out menu indicates that the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Plug-in is not loaded. To load the Plug-in into Creo Elements/Direct, you must first open Creo Elements/Direct Modeling and select Modules under the File Ribbon Tab. Select the Add-Ins item and check the box for Ansys. This will load the plug-in for the current session. To have the plug-in loaded on start-up of subsequent sessions select the Startup button, highlight Ansys and select Add. The Add-In manager will then list Ansys 2020 R1 in the Startup Sequence. Note that because the Ansys menu does not appear after installing the plug-in, you must use the preceding steps for loading on start-up. If the plug-in is not available in the Creo Add-In manager you will need to run the Product & CAD Configuration Manager.
If a ".NET initialization failed" error message is seen while activating the Ansys 2024 R2 module, follow the steps below to fix it:
From a command prompt navigate to the Creo Elements/Direct installation directory. There will be a bin <platform> underneath that, cd into it. Then type the following command: SolidDesigner.exe -register
Rerun Product & CAD Configuration Manager for CED.
Due system registry restrictions with Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, the Product & CAD Configuration Manager's option to configure for "current user" will impact the Geometry Interface's availability for all other users if the current user is the admin.
Limitations
The following limitation is specific to the Ansys 2024 R2 Associative Geometry Interface to Creo Elements/Direct. There is a known library conflict with earlier releases of this Plug-In, which causes the 2024 R2 Ansys Plug-In to fail loading into Creo Elements/Direct when a previous release of the Plug-In is configured to load into Creo Elements/Direct.
Use the following procedure to enable these versions to be loaded side-by-side in Creo Elements/Direct.
Open Creo Elements/Direct and choose File >> Modules
Edit the Module Startup List
Remove All Ansys Addin's from list
Add 2024 R2 Add-in
Add All other Ansy Add-ins.