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Design collaboration between Altium NEXUS and PTC Creo® is enabled by the central capabilities the Altium NEXUS Server, where collaborative data is bridged by the NEXUS Collaboration panel and a specialized Altium software addition for Creo – the PTC Creo CoDesigner add-in.
Software:
Altium NEXUS side:
The Collaboration panel is installed by default in Altium NEXUS and can be opened from the button, or by selecting Views » Panels » Collaboration.
Note that the MCAD Collaboration panel is available only when a PCB document is active.
PTC Creo side:
It is assumed that a licensed installation of PTC Creo 5.0 or later is on the test machine.
AltiumCoDesignerPtcCreo_Installer.exe
.The Collaboration plugin is now installed, automatically un-locked and registered in the PTC Creo installation. The Creo application Ribbon will include an Altium section with a CoDesigner button, click this to show / hide the Altium Collaboration panel. All collaboration activities are performed through this panel.
Altium NEXUS side:
PTC Creo side:
To create a new collaboration project on the PTC Creo side, open the Collaboration panel and click New Board Assembly.
The Select Project dialog will open, click the New Project button to open the Create New Server Project dialog. Specify a project name, include an optional description and click OK.
A new project will be created on the collaboration server, the last step is to check out a working copy. The Checkout Project dialog will open, confirm the settings and click Checkout.
A new board assembly with the default board size will be created in Creo.
To synchronize the ECAD design side with the newly created Creo assembly:
Accept
column and click Accept. A new board outline will be applied to the PCB Board in the main PCB Editor.Define a Board Layer Stack at this step.
The CoDesign process allows the board design to proceed in parallel in both Creo and Altium NEXUS, with the two being bought into synchronization through CoDesigner. Typically the board X-Y shape and size will be defined in Creo, while the layer properties (which define the board thickness) are defined in Altium NEXUS. The Push and Pull commands store and retrieve design changes in the Collaboration server, not the entire board design. That means a board design/assembly must be created in both Creo and Altium NEXUS before they can be synchronized.
To synchronize the Creo board assembly with the ECAD design:
The MCAD designer can begin to define the board shape, and then Push that to Altium NEXUS.
Contact our corporate or local offices directly.