Software company PTC has teamed up with Belgium-based 3D printer market leader Materialise to expand the capabilities of its Creo CAD software.
Taking the form of a new software package, the collaboration will allow Creo users to integrate 3D printing into their manufacturing processes, with a special emphasis on metal additive manufacturing.
Design with PTC, build with Materialise
The new PTC software package is intended for manufacturing end-use products and will be compatible with machines linked up to the Materialise Build Processor.
The Build Processor is a slicing feature of Materialise’s Magic 3D Print Suite, an all-encompassing 3D software bundle.
The enhanced connection between PTC CAD software and the Materialise Build Processor simplifies the integration of 3D printing for discrete manufacturers, making distinct items such as plane, cars and mobile phone.
The software package also includes Materialise’s support generation technology, which gives designers more control over the design and creation of metal support structures.
“This collaboration with PTC will expand access to 3D Printing and help engineers and designers think in terms of additive, rather than traditional manufacturing for rapid product design and development,” said Stefaan Motte, VP at Materialise Software.
“Together with Materialise, we will bridge the gap between CAD design software and the 3D printing machines,” added Brian Thompson, senior VP at PTC.
Integrating CAD, 3D printing and IoT with PTC
Materialise integration is the latest in a number of software integration agreements made by PTC to facilitate interaction between software and hardware.
In May 2017, 3D printer manufacturer 3D Systems announced that it was embedding intelligent features powered by PTC’s ThingWorx industrial internet of things (IIoT) platform into its machines, allowing users to monitor prints in real time.
Later that year, PTC integrated ANSYS simulation into its ThingWorx platform, allowing customers to both analyze the part manufacturing process and predict the component’s performance based on the design and a set of parameters.
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Featured image shows functional end-use part design in Creo. Photo via PTC.
