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About Process Guide
When you work with Creo Simulate, your goal is to create a simulation model that reflects both the physical nature and the real world environment of a part or assembly, analyze the model, and evaluate the results of the analysis. To help you complete these tasks efficiently, Creo Simulate provides a tool—Process Guide—that leads you through each step in the simulation process. Process Guide is available for 3D Structure modeling in both native mode and FEM mode. You can use Process Guide for both parts and assemblies.
Process Guide also provides the user interface to Creo Simulate Lite, the free limited functionality version of Creo Simulate.
Process Guide serves several purposes. In its simplest form, it leads you through the process and workflow and prompts you to complete the following steps involved in successfully creating and analyzing a basic simulation model:
Modeling phase—Guides you through assigning materials, defining constraints, and assigning loads.
Analysis phase—Lets you create structural analyses for your model.
Results phase—Opens the Results user interface so you can define results windows and review the analysis results you are interested in.
For complex applications, expert users can enhance the Process Guide by creating unique templates that capture a specific series of modeling and analysis activities and instruct users in how to perform those activities to a given standard.
 
* You cannot select a process guide template in Creo Simulate Lite mode.
For example, an automotive firm has specific design processes and instructions that all members of the design team should follow as they develop the various components of a drive train. In this case, an expert user can create a Process Guide template that leads the design team through each step of the design process for a specific component. When a design engineer begins working with a component, the engineer selects the correct template for the component. Process Guide then uses the template to lead the engineer through all the steps required to set up and analyze that component. Thus, the members of the design team have a consistent approach to apply to the components they are responsible for, promoting more streamlined communications and design checks.
In working with a model in Process Guide, you perform all activities within a Process Guide session. A session is the start-to-finish walkthrough of all the modeling activities in a template. You can start a Process Guide session using any of these methods:
Click Tools > Run Session.
Set the simulation_process_prompt configuration option to automatically invoke Process Guide whenever you enter Creo Simulate.
Start Creo Simulate in Creo Simulate Lite mode.
After you access Process Guide, you can begin a Process Guide session.
Return to Working With the User Interface or Creo Simulate Lite.