Wildfire accommodating Mentor and Rhino

PTC is in the process of integrating Pro/Engineer more closely with Mentor Graphics – already a member of PTC’s Partner Advantage Program – and has just introduced an import-only capability supporting the Rhinoceros format. At a recent press event, PTC’s Steve Rosendale said: “Designing mechatronics additionally is very difficult to do.” For this reason, the company is in the process of improving “mCAD and eCAD collaboration”, tying up with Mentor Graphics. It has apparently offered to partner with other companies, but Rosendale said: “Mentor Graphics is the one that really took it on board.” This follows other recent high-profile software tie-ups: one between SolidWorks and National Instruments, collaboration plans by Dassault Systemes and Rockwell Automation, and the purchase of Unigraphics by Siemens. The Rhinoceros import capability has been widely requested by Pro/E users. It is included on CDs for Wildfire 4.0 and available as a free download for Wildfire 3.0. It supports geometry, datum curves, colours, and structure, so that geometry layers map to Pro/E parts. UPDATE: Following the press event, and the publication of this story, PTC contacted Eureka to state that it is working with eCAD vendors other than Mentor. “We also have strong relationships with other eCAD vendors,” it said in a statement.