Introduction
Welcome to the Creo Direct 7.0.12.0 Online Help
About Searching from the Help Center
About Home and Topic Pages
To Use the F1 Key for Context-Sensitive Help
What's New: Creo Direct 7.0
What’s New in Creo Direct 7
Creo Direct
Design Intent in Sketcher Is Improved
Multibody Support in Creo Direct
Creo Direct
Creo Direct Overview
Using Creo Direct
About Creo Direct
Creo Direct User Interface Basics
About the Creo Direct User Interface
About the Creo Direct Main Window
About the Creo Direct Status Bar
About Working with a Creo Direct Window
To Open and Close the Creo Direct Main Window
Example: Creo Direct Main Window
To Activate a Window
To Resize a Creo Window
To Select a Parent Assembly or Subassembly from the Graphics Window
About Hiding Features and Entities
The Tools Tab
About the Tools Tab
About Auxiliary Applications
To Work with Auxiliary Applications
The View Tab
About the View Tab
Appearances
Creating Appearances
About Material Appearance
About the Appearance Gallery
To Apply an Appearance to the Model
Editing Appearances
About Appearance Preview and Properties
About the Color Editor
To Display Colors
To Apply a New Appearance to the Model
To Modify an Appearance from the Model
To Copy and Paste an Appearance
About Applying Appearances to Assemblies
To Apply Appearance to a Component in an Assembly
To Search for Appearances
Applying Appearances using the Search Tool
To Remove an Appearance from the Model
Textures
About Textures
Map Appearance Options
Types of Mapping
About Loading or Storing Textures
To Create a Textured Appearance
About Placing Textures
Positioning the Appearance Textures
To Place Textures
To Manipulate Textures from the Graphics Window
To Manipulate Textures from the Model Appearance Editor
To Save Textures
To Display Textures
To Remove Textures
Scenes
About the Scene File
Creating Scenes
To Retrieve and Update an Existing Scene from the Disk
To Remove a Scene from the Scene Gallery
To Save a Scene with the Model
About Lights
About Light Icons
To Create Lights
Modifying Lights
To Delete Lights
To Save a Light File
To Open a Light File
About High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)
To Set the Background
To Set the Scene Environment
Adjusting the Model View
About Dynamic Viewing
About Handles
To Cosmetically Shade a Model
To Display the Default Orientation
To Refit the Model to the Window
To Revert to the Previously Displayed Orientation
To Repaint the Window
To Disable Highlighting of Selected Model Tree Items
To Update a Drawing of Model Geometry
About Viewing a Model Normal to One or Two Directional References
To View a Model Normal to One or Two Directional References
About View Operations
About View Operations
Shortcuts for Changing the Model View
About Using Zoom on the Model
To Zoom in the Model View
To Change the Position or Size of the Model View
About Orientating and Viewing the Model
About Orientating and Viewing the Model
To Orientate Dynamically
To Orientate by Reference
To Set Orientation Preferences
About Disabling the Orientation Center
About Orient Mode
About Activating the Orient Mode
About Orient Types
About Saved Orientations
Tip: Shortcut for Display of Saved Orientations
Tip: Orienting a View by Reference
To Delete a View
To Save a View Using the View Manager
To Change the View Angle in a Drawing
The View Dialog Box
About 3D Mouse Behavior
About Positioning the Floating Dashboard
To Position the Floating Dashboard
About Getting Help
To Get Context-Sensitive Help
About LearningConnector for Creo
Using the Dragger for Precise Placement
About Using the Dragger
To Use the Dragger
Example: Moving and Rotating Entities Using the Dragger
About Shortcut Menus
About the Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts
About Using Keyboard Shortcuts
About Using Mouse Shortcuts
Using the Options Toolbar and Floating Dashboard
Using 2D Modeling Aids
About Guides
To Display or Hide Guides
Example: Guides
Using Grids
About the Grid
To Toggle the Display and Snapping of the Grid
To Define the Grid Spacing and Orientation
Using the Live Toolbar
About the Live Toolbar
To Use the Live Toolbar
Selections Affecting the Live Toolbar
Using the Model Tree in Creo Direct
About the Model Tree
About Windchill Server Status in the Model Tree
About the Model Tree Shortcut Menu
To Customize the Model Tree
To Add Columns to the Model Tree
To Display or Hide Items on the Model Tree
To Locate an Item in the Model Tree
About the Search or Filter of the Model Tree Nodes
Dragging and Dropping Components in the Model Tree
Setting up the Working Environment
About Setting Up the Working Environment
To Change the View Settings
To View Entities Dynamically in 3D Mode
To Set the Model Display Style
Example: Model Display Styles
Configuring Creo Direct
About Configuring Creo Direct
Configuration Options for Creo Direct
To Set Configuration Options
Customizing the User Interface
About Customizing the User Interface
To Change the Environment Options
To Customize the Display of Models
To Customize the Display of Geometric Entities
To Redefine System Colors
About Customizing the Sketcher Environment
To Customize the Sketcher Environment
To Customize the Floating Dashboard and the Tool Gallery
Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar
Customizing the Ribbon
About Ribbon Resizing
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
To Customize the Settings for Windows
Using Selection in Creo Direct
About Selection
About Query Selection and Preselection Highlighting
To Enable or Disable Preselection Highlighting
To Select Entities Using Various Methods
To Clear Selected Entities
Preselection Highlighting for Model Tree Items in 3D Mode
Selection Mechanism for Models with Shaded and No Hidden Line Styles
About Switching Tools and Selecting Geometry
About Inferred References
Selecting Surfaces
About Selecting Surfaces
To Select Surfaces Using Geometry Rules
Geometry Rules for Selecting Surfaces
To Select Surfaces Based on Their Shapes
Example: Selecting Surfaces Based on Their Shapes
Designing in the Creo Direct Environment
To Attach Geometry
To Add Transparency
To Extend a Boundary Edge Loop to a Surface
Using the Parameters Dialog Box
To Select Geometry Rules
About Reopening non-Creo Models After Their Update in Source CAD Systems
About Using Shape Surface Selection to Select Surfaces
About Saving and Renaming Files
Retrieving Models and Environment Settings from the Previous Session
About the Assembly Rename dialog box
About Renaming Assemblies and Components
About Restructuring Assembly Components
Guidelines for Restructuring Components
To Restructure an Assembly
About Designing in the Creo Direct Environment
About Parts and Assemblies
Searching for Geometry
About Searching for Geometry using the Geometry Search Tool
About the Geometry Search Tool User Interface
Selecting the Working Directory
About the Working Directory
To Select a Working Directory from the Folder Tree
To Select a Working Directory from the File Menu
To Select a Working Directory from the Creo Direct Options Dialog Box
Working with Files
Creating Files
About Creating Files
To Create a File
Configuration Options for Specifying Templates
Opening Files
About Opening Files
To Open a File
Using Wildcard Characters to Open a File
Saving and Renaming Files
About Saving and Renaming Files
To Save a File
To Save a File Backup
To Rename a Part or Assembly
Deleting Files and Erasing Objects
About Erasing Objects in Memory and Deleting Files
To Delete All Versions of a File
To Delete Old Versions of a File
To Erase the Current Object from Memory
To Erase Undisplayed Objects from Memory
To Erase Unused On-Demand Representations
About Sending Files as Links and Attachments
To List All In-Session Models
Running Trail Files
About Trail Files
To Rename and Run a Trail File
Printing and Plotting Files
About Printing, Plotting, and Configuring the Printer
To Print an Object: Basic Procedure
To Print a Shaded Model
Working in Part Mode
About Part Mode
About the Ribbon Tabs for Part Mode
Working with Creo Parametric Models in Creo Direct
Working with 2D Geometry
About Working with 2D Geometry
Selecting References for 2D Geometry
To Create Construction Geometry
About the Dimensions Mini Toolbar
Mini Toolbar for Sketch Dimensions
To Change the Location of the Base Point
To Create a Construction Coordinate System
About Same-Point Constraints
About Using Constraints
Additional Methods for Working with 2D Geometry
Modifying Geometry using Dragging
To modify Section Geometry
About Aligning a Sketch and Its Grid
To Align a Sketch and Its Grid
To Complete a Sketch and Start a New Sketch
About Geometry Checking
Creating 2D Geometry
About Creating 2D Geometry
Lines
About the Line/Arc Chain Tool
To Create a Line or a Line Chain
To Create a Line Tangent from an Entity
To Create a Chain of Arcs
Rectangles
About the Rectangle Tool
To Create Rectangles or Parallelograms
Arcs
About the Arc Tool
To Create Arcs
To Modify a Conic Arc
Circles
About the Circle Tool
To Create Circles
Ellipses
About the Ellipse Tool
To Create Ellipses
Splines and Points
About the Spline and the Point Tools
To Create a Spline
To Create a Point
To Add or Delete a Point on a Spline
Fillets
About the Fillet And Chamfer Tools
To Create Fillets
Example: Circular Fillets
Example: Elliptical Fillets
To Create Chamfers
Create 2D Geometry Relative to One or Two Entities
Sketched Datums
About Creating Sketched Datums
To Create a Sketched Datum
Annotating 2D Geometry
To Add Text to a Section
Editing 2D Geometry
About Editing 2D Geometry
To Divide an Entity
To Trim a Corner
To Create a Linear or a Radial Pattern
To Create an Offset Pattern
To Mirror Geometry
To Edit a Sketch
To Trim a Segment
Editing Sketches and Planar Curves
Manipulating 2D Geometry
About Manipulating 2D Geometry
Example: Manipulating 2D Geometry
Example: Moving 2D Geometry Relative to an Entity
Projecting Geometry
To Save and Restore Visibility State
About Projecting Geometry
Example: Silhouette edges of faces
To Create Projection Geometry by Selecting Entities
To Create Projection Geometry by Snapping to a Constraint
Working with 3D Geometry
About Working with 3D Geometry
About the Selection Workflow in 3D Mode
Creating 3D Geometry
Extruded Geometry
About Extrusions
To Create Extruded Geometry
Extrude geometry in an active part in an assembly
Example: Entities Supported for Extrusion
Example: Types of Extruded Geometry
To Create a Tapered Extrusion
Revolved Geometry
About Revolved Geometry
To Create Revolved Geometry
Revolve geometry in an active part in an assembly
Example: Creating Revolved Geometry
Swept Geometry
About Swept Geometry
To Create a Sweep
Sweep geometry in an active part in an assembly
Example: Swept Geometry
Round
About Rounds
To Create a Round
To Edit a Round
About Recognizing Rounds
To Treat Geometry as Rounds
To Treat Geometry as Not Rounds
To Remove Rounds
Example: Editing a Round
Chamfer
About Chamfers
To Create a Chamfer
To Edit a Chamfer
To Delete a Chamfer
To Treat a Surface as a Chamfer
To Not Treat a Surface as a Chamfer
Example: Working with Adjacent Round or Chamfer Geometry
Hole
About Holes
To Create a Hole
Shell
About Shells
To Create a Shell
Example: Creating a Shell Using Various Methods
Draft
About Drafting
To Create a Draft
About Handling Rounds in a Draft Feature
Example: Creating a Draft with One or More Surfaces
Pattern
About Patterning
To Create a Pattern
Example: Creating Patterns
Creating Datum Geometry
About Datum Planes
References for Creating a Datum Plane
To Preselect Datum References
To Create a Datum Plane
About Coordinate Systems
To Create a Coordinate System
About Datum Axes
To Create a Datum Axis
To Specify the Display of Individual Datum Entities
Changing the Appearance of Surfaces and Assembly Components
About Changing the Appearance of Surfaces
To Change Color and Transparency
Editing 3D Geometry
About Editing 3D Geometry
Mirroring Geometry
To Mirror a Geometry
To Mirror an Assembly
Moving Geometry in Parts and Assemblies
About Moving or Rotating Geometric Entities in Part and Assembly Modes
Selecting Geometric Entities for Moving
To Move and Rotate a Geometry
To Translate, Rotate, or Scale a Section
Example: Moving a Surface with the Dragger on an Axis
Example: Effect of Recognizing Geometry as Not a Round while Moving a Surface
To Move a Geometry by Dimensions
Example: Moving an Entity Using Dimensions
Moving Intersected Components in Assembly Mode
Modifying Analytical Surfaces
About Modifying Analytical Surfaces
To Modify Analytical Surfaces
About Surface Sets
Example: Modifying Analytical Surfaces
Offset
About Creating Offset Geometry
To Create Offset Geometry
Example: Offset Surfaces
Example: Solid and Surface Offsets
Substituting Faces
About Substituting Geometric Entities
To Substitute Geometric Entities
Example: Substituting Geometric Entities
Manipulating Quilts and Surfaces
About Manipulating Quilts and Surfaces
Trim
To Trim a Quilt
Example: Trimming Quilts
Merge
To Merge Two Quilts
Example: Merging Quilts
Solidify
To Solidify a Quilt
Example: Solidifying Quilts
Example: Solidifying and Creating a Solid
Example: Solidifying and Creating a Cut
Extend
To Extend an Edge
Example 1: Extending an Edge Along a Surface
Example 2: Extending an Edge Along a Surface
To Extend an Edge Normal to a Plane
Example: Extending an Edge Normal to a Plane
To Copy and Paste Surfaces
To Remove Surfaces
To Treat a Surface as a Chamfer
To Unrecognize a Rounded Surface or a Chamfer
Propagating Tangency to Move, Offset, and Modify Analytic Tools
About Propagating Tangency Using Move, Offset, and Modify Analytic Tools
To Propagate Tangency to Move, Offset, and Modify Analytic Features
About Tangency Conditions in Creo Direct
To Work with Condition Panels
To Remove the User-Assigned Conditions from Entities
Measuring Entities
About Measuring Entities
About the Measure Tools and the Measure Dialog Box
About the Measurement Panels
To Work with Measurement Panels
Example: Open and Closed Measurement Panels
Using the Shortcut Menu for Measurement
To Switch to a Different Measure Tool
Measuring Specific Dimension Types
About Measuring Various Dimension Types
To Measure Specific Dimension Types: General Workflow
To Customize the Display of Measurement Results
To Specify Options for the Reference Entities for Measurement
To Measure All the Dimension Types for the Selected Entities
To Measure a Cone, Sphere, or Torus
To Measure the Length of an Entity
To Measure the Distance between Entities
To Measure the Angle between Two Entities
To Measure the Diameter of an Entity
To Measure the Area of an Entity
To Measure the Volume of an Entity
To Generate a Transformational Matrix
To Replace an Entity Selected for Measurement
Example: Using the Use as Plane Option for Measurement
Example: Using the Use as Line Option for Measurement
Example: Using the Axis Option for Measurement
Example: Using the Center Option for Measurement
Example: Measuring Maximum Distance
To Measure Mass Properties
Viewing Measurement Results
Measurements Shown for Various Entity Types
Measurements Shown for Selections of Three or More Entities
Deleting Geometric Entities
About Deleting Geometric Entities
To Delete Geometric Entities
Undoing and Redoing Actions
About Undoing and Redoing Actions
To Undo and Redo Actions
Considerations for Undoing and Redoing Actions
Working in Assembly Mode
About Renaming Assemblies and Components
About Boolean Operations
About Preferences for Boolean Operations
To Create a Boolean Feature
About Working in Assembly Mode
About the Selection Filter in Assembly Mode
Controlling Display of Active Components in an Assembly
To Create a Sketch on an Inactive Part in an Assembly
To Insert a Component into an Assembly
To Add a New Component to an Assembly
To Create a Copy of a Component Instance
To Create a Shared Instance of a Component
To Activate a Part or a Subassembly
To Activate a Top-Level Assembly
Positioning Components
About Positioning Components
To Set the Placement Transition Animation Option
Using the Options Toolbar to Position Components
To Position Components Using Constraints
Snapping to Geometry When Positioning a Component
Example: Constraint Types Resulting from Snapping
To Delete a Component from an Assembly
Working with Missing and Failed Components
About Working with Assembly Family Table Instances
To Create an Instance Index File
Notification Center
About the Notification Center
To Use the Notification Center
Cross Sections
Creating Cross Sections
About Part and Assembly Cross Sections
To Create a Planar Cross Section
Example: Planar Cross Section
To Create a Planar Cross Section Using the Default Coordinate System
To Create a Planar Cross Section Using Any Coordinate System
planar_xsec_default_type
About an Offset Cross Section
To Create an Offset Cross Section
Example: Offset Cross Section Created to One Side
To Create Cross Section through Assembly Model
To Create a Cross Section through a Single Part in an Assembly
Working With Cross Sections
About Working with Cross Sections
To Change the Location of the Cross Section or Position the Cross Section
To Enable or Disable Free Positioning of the Cross Section
To Display a Cross Section
To Cap the Surface of a Cross Section
About Display of Sections in the Model Tree
About View Clipping
To View Clip a Model Using a Cross Section
To Change the Clipping Direction
To Display the 2D View of the Active Clipping Planes
To Remove a Cross Section
To Modify Section Dimensions
About Redefining an Offset Cross Section
About Interferences between Components in a Cross Section
To Display Interferences among Components in a Cross Section
Working with Model Properties
About Setting Up Model Properties
To View and Edit Model Properties
About Working with Mass Property Parameters
To Generate a Mass Property Report Based on Model Geometry and Density
To Assign Parameters and Generate a Mass Properties Report
To Use Parameters for Assigning Mass Properties
About Material Parameters
To Add and Assign a Material to a Model
Assigning Materials to a Model in Part Mode
To Create or Copy a Material
To Edit a Material
To View Material Information
To Remove a Material from the Model
To Save a Material from a Model to a Library
Importing and Exporting External Data Formats
About Importing and Exporting Data Formats
To Import Files to Creo Direct
To Export Files from Creo Direct
Managing Data in Windchill
About Data Management in Creo Direct
Setting Up Your Windchill System
About the Primary Server
Workspace Operations
About the Workspace
Supported Workspace Operations
Using the Server Manager Dialog Box
About a Locked Workspace
About an Offline Workspace
About Recording Workspace Operations as Frames
Supported Object Operations in the Workspace
Setting an Object as Read-Only
Cache Management
About Cache Management
References
Data Management
Data Management Overview
Using Data Management
About Data Management in Creo
Configuring Data Management
About Configuring Data Management
To Set Data Management Configuration Options
Configurations Options for Data Management
Setting File Retrieval Options
Setting Up Your Collaborative Environment
About Supported Servers
Server Terminology
Managing Servers
About the Primary Server
Connecting to the Server at Startup
To Register a Server
To Change the Primary Server
To Set the Primary Server
To Edit Server Properties
To Remove a Connection to a Server
Using the Server Management Dialog Box
Setting Up Windchill Servers
About Setting Up Your PDM System
To Configure Your PDM System
To Change the Default File Location to the Local Directory
Registering a Project
About Registering Windchill ProjectLink
Cache Management
About Cache Management
About Cache Conversion
About Synchronizing the Cache with the Server
About Changing the Target Cache Limit
About Automatic Cache Cleanup
To View Cache Information
To Clear the Cache
To Clear the Cache for a Specific Workspace
About Managing Caches that Include Frames
Workspace
About the Workspace
About the Offline Workspace
To Work Online or Offline
To Make a Workspace Available Offline
Remaining Online When Server Connection is Lost
About the Portable Workspace
About Workspace Preferences
Workspace Operations
To Create a New Workspace
To Delete a Workspace
To Change the Active Workspace
About a Locked Workspace
To Lock or Unlock a Workspace
To Export a Workspace
To Import a Workspace
Object Operations in the Workspace
Checking Out Objects
About Checkout
To Check Out an Object
To Undo a Checkout
About Dynamic Checkout
Updating Objects
About Updating an Out-of-Date Object
To Update an Out-of-Date Object
Downloading Objects
About Read-Only Downloads
To Set an Object as Read-Only
Checking In Objects
About Checkin
To Perform an Automatic Checkin
To Perform a Custom Checkin
Revising Objects
About Revise and Checkout
About Revising CAD Documents, WTParts, and Family Table Members
To Revise and Check Out an Object
About Revisions
Saving and Uploading Objects
To Upload Objects to the Workspace
To Save Changed Objects to the Workspace
To Save a Copy of an Object
Exchanging Units
About the Bidirectional Conversion of Parameter and Attribute Units
About Explicitly Mapping Parameters and Attributes
Frames for Workspace Events
About Recording Workspace Events as Frames
About Workspace Operations that Create Frames
About Managing Frames
Managing Parts and Documents
About Parts and Documents
About Associating Parts and Documents
Managing Heterogeneous CAD Data
About Locating and Accessing Non-Native CAD Data on Windchill Servers
About Opening Non-Native CAD Data in Creo
To Open a Non-Native CAD Document
About Updating TIM Models
About the Import and Update of Multibodied CAD Models
About the Compatibility of the TIM and Source CAD Model
Troubleshooting in Data Management
About the Event Manager
About Incomplete Objects
Conflicts and Possible Actions
Using Integrated Data Management
Using Windchill Foundation and PDM
Using Windchill ProjectLink
About the Windchill ProjectLink Connection
Using A Co-Installed Windchill Server
About Co-Installed Servers
About Sharing Objects on Co-Installed Servers
Folder Navigator for a Co-Installed Server
Using Pro/INTRALINK with Creo
About the Pro/INTRALINK Workspace
To Browse The Commonspace and Workspace
About Application Behavior
Models and Assemblies
To Open a Pro/INTRALINK Object
To Check Out and Open a File in Creo
About Opening an Object with Dependents
About Viewing Object Attributes in the File Open Dialog Box
About Windchill Table Views Displayed in the File Open Dialog Box
About Sorting and Filtering Objects Listed in Table Views
To Save a File to the Workspace
To Check In an Object
To Compare two Versions of the Same Part in Pro/INTRALINK
Conflicts in Pro/INTRALINK
Language Support
Using Language Support
About Language Support
About Localization Provided by PTC
Configuring Creo Applications for Language Support
About Configuration Options for Language Support
To Set Configuration Options for Language Support
Configuration Options for Language Support
Setting the Language Environment Variable
About Setting the LANG and Pro_LANG Environment Variables
About Locales
To Set the Language Environment Variable on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10
Detecting a Value for LANG or PRO_LANG
LANG and PRO_LANG Environment Variables
Running a Localized Application on an English System
About Running a Localized Application on an English System
Working with a Multibyte Language
About Multibyte File Types and Character Support
About Switching Input Mode for Asian Languages
Working with Multilingual Drawings
About Creating, Viewing, and Editing Multilingual Drawings in Creo Parametric
To Create Multilingual Drawings in Creo Parametric
Welcome to the Creo Direct 7.0.12.0 Online Help
To Create Multilingual Drawings in Creo Parametric