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| Original author | Parametric Technology Corporation |
|---|---|
| Developers | David Taylor,Parametric Technology Corporation |
| Written in | C++, Granite |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Platform | PC |
| Available in | multilingual |
| Type | Computer-aided design tool |
| Website | ptc |
Pro/DESKTOP (commonly referred to asPro/D and formerly known as DesignWave[1]) is a discontinuedcomputer-aided design (CAD) program fromParametric Technology Corporation (PTC), that allowed users to design and model in 3D and create 2D drawings. It can transfer a 3D design into a 2Dengineering drawing format and also createphoto-realistic views usingAlbum Views. It is part-compatible withPro/ENGINEER, and uses the Granite kernel,[2] but otherwise is a freestanding CAD system.
Initially written by David Taylor inCambridge,England,[3] the original software is registered to Cyril Slug of the fictitious company Bimorcad Ltd.[4] Dialog box 356 shows a picture of the author, wearing a red and black checked jacket sat on a wall, drinking a cup of tea outside his house.
The software was built usingMicrosoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Foundation Class 4.X) and also software modules fromD-Cubed to implement geometric constraint solution[5] as well as parametric sketching and other part features required for file support withPro/Engineer.[6] The Pro/DESKTOP interface was available in English, French, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional) and Japanese.[7]
This area allows the user to generatetechnical drawings from their design. The drawing view supports a number of industry standards including:
This view allows full linear, radial and angular dimensioning of designs and also supports part lists for assemblies of 2 or more components.
This area allows the user to create photo-realistic view of their design. There is an array of different options available to alter this view. Options available are:
Computer
Display
Hard disk
There were multiple versions of the software release:
The Express versions did not support some features of the full software such as the use of bitmaps for rendering images. Threads were represented as cosmetics rather than geometry on the part. This limited use with saySTL exports as the resultant exported surface in the data would be a smooth rod rather than a thread form. The 2008 Express release also removed support forVisual Basic for Applications (VBA) available in the 2001i version. The resolution of STL exports was also limited in the Express versions e.g. external diameters limited to 0.1° resolution in the export dialog box.
License keys were required, for the Express variants which were obtained from the PTC website without charge.[8] The returned keys (8 groups of 4 numeric digits) had expiry dates encoded to prevent use of the software after a certain date. The key obtained was based on data from the computer, which limited use of the key to the computer generating the license request. The key was based on the computers hard disk'sVolume Serial Number (8 characters) and additional data about the computer (5 bytes). The number was passed to the web server in an obfuscated by alphabetic shift re-arrangement technique in order to make decoding of the transferred data more difficult. e.g. a Hard disk Volume ID of 0000-0000 would be encoded as petssssssssscs where the s is equal to the 0.
Pro/DESKTOP had particularly distinguished itself in the education market. From a start in the CAD/CAM in Schools Initiative in the UK, Pro/DESKTOP has been donated free of charge to over 14,000 secondary schools worldwide, and is used by nearly 4 million students each school year. Its main educational rival wasAutoCAD, which is widely used in secondary schools to teach 2D drafting and technical drawing. The use of Pro/DESKTOP in schools for 3D design has far exceeded AutoCad as it is generally considered too technical for the education market. Its minimal system requirements further cement the software as the program of choice for those just starting out in CAD. However, Pro/DESKTOP's user interface provides difficulty due to the lack of a multiple string undo function and the program's grouping of entities into work-planes that must have the same characteristics.
Pro/DESKTOP is no longer available for download or activation, but PTC instead now offers up to 300 seats ofPro/ENGINEER Schools Edition to high schools free of charge.[9]
In 2012 PTC continued its support of schools by making its latest Creo 3D Modelling software available free to schools. Creo represents a major update of Pro|ENGINEER with ribbon style menus, streamlined workflows and the addition of several major new features including; direct modelling, flexible modelling and freestyleSub Division surfacing tools. The use of acommon data model supports seamless movement between the different modelling tools with no loss of data.PTC Schools Programme.
DESIGNWAVE 3 (ProDesktop 3) REPORT
