In the Creo-Windchill connected mode, make sure that you do not create several Translated Image Models (TIMs) for the same non-Creo models. When TIM parts and assemblies exist for the non-Creo models on the Windchill server, you must avoid converting the non-Creo models to additional TIM parts and assemblies each time you intend to make design changes to the non-Creo models. You can reuse the existing TIM parts and assemblies instead of converting the non-Creo models to additional instances of the TIM parts and assemblies. The reuse of the TIM parts and assemblies is also useful when the same non-Creo models are used in unrelated assemblies.

When TIM parts and assemblies exist on the Windchill server for the non-Creo components, the Warning — TIM models already exist on server! warning dialog box opens when you are about to convert the non-Creo models to TIM parts and assemblies. The warning dialog box lists the TIM parts and assemblies that exist on the server. It suggests that you replace the non-Creo components with their existing TIM models from the server. It recommends the reuse of the existing TIM parts and assemblies for the design changes.

You can select one or more non-Creo components and click Operations > Replace or right-click and click Replace on the resultant menu to replace the non-Creo components with their TIM models from the server. You must select the Reference Model option from the Replace By list in the Replace dialog box to replace the non-Creo components with existing TIM parts or assemblies. References are forwarded from the non-Creo components to the TIMs. The component placement references of the non-Creo components and the TIM parts and assemblies are automatically mapped.

Replace, unlike the conversion of all occurrences of a component by default, does not replace all occurrences of a non-Creo component with the TIM parts and assemblies. To replace all occurrences of a component, you must make sure that you select all the occurrences of the component. To selectively replace occurrences of the non-Creo component with the TIM parts and assemblies, you must select the occurrences of the component that you intend to replace.