Configuring the Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate
Introduction to the Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate
This section provides instructions on how to configure the Adapter for Creo Illustrate. This configuration leverages a bundled command-line version of Creo Illustrate Batch (ILLUSTRATE_BATCH) to convert Creo Illustrate 3D Illustration (C3DI) files to Creo View structure (PVZ) files.
This conversion process is referred to as publishing. First, you must configure the Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate using the illustrate2pv_config tool.
Publishing is accomplished in one of two ways:
• Convert files in a command shell using a method referred to as command line publishing. This method is described in the section “Creo Illustrate Command Line Publishing”.
• Run the Adapter for Creo Illustrate in the background to convert files as needed, without direct intervention. This is referred to as server controlled (worker) publishing. This method is described in the section “Creo Illustrate Server Controlled Publishing”.
In publishing, recipe configuration provides the administrator with complete control of the conversion process. See
Introduction to Recipe Editing for Converting CAD Data for an overview of the recipe concept.
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• Based on the configured Creo Illustrate publish settings, this adapter may generate additional files, not referenced by the published representation structure, such as, WMV, MP4, and U3D.
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Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate Prerequisites
To run the Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate, ensure the following:
• The Adapter for Creo Illustrate is supported on the operating system and meets the minimum requirements as documented in the
Creo View Adapters Software Matrix.
• This FlexNet License Feature CREOILLUS_PUBLISH is available to perform the conversion.
• The operating system has adequate CPU and storage system.
Configuring the Creo View Adapter for Creo Illustrate Using illustrate2pv_config on Windows
To configure the Creo View adapter for Creo Illustrate using the configuration tool, follow these steps:
1. To install the Creo View Adapter Worker files required for the Creo Illustrate adapter, browse to <installation directory>\bin, and then double-click illustrate2pv_config. The Creo Illustrate Configuration dialog box opens. To set a new configuration, skip to step 3.
2. To use an Existing Configuration, next to the Setup Directory box, click 
, and then browse to your configuration and click Open. The installation is configured.
, and then browse to your configuration and click Open. The installation is configured.3. Under Parameters, select the Client/Server Version of your adapter from the box.
4. For the Setup Directory box, perform one of the following actions:
◦ Accept the default path.
◦ Click , and then browse to or create a setup directory for the adapter and click OK.
, and then browse to or create a setup directory for the adapter and click OK.| | Make sure there are no spaces in the path to the directory. |
5. Enter the port and server in the License Server box for a license server that has an available CREOILLUS_PUBLISH license feature, such as, 7788@servername.
6. Use the Components group settings in the Illustrate Adapter Configuration dialog box to define the publishing components to configure and the way your system locates the Visualization server host and port. The Components group box includes the following:
◦ Create illustrate2pvbatch—Runs Creo Illustrate in batch mode from the command line to convert batch of files to Creo View viewables.
◦ Create illustrate2pvworker—Creates a startup script that Windchill Visualization Service use to start the adapter in worker mode to publish results as part of the Windchill publishing process. To do this, the adapter needs details about the Windchill server.
▪ Server Host—Host name of the Windchill server.
▪ Server Port—Port to use to communicate with the Worker Agent on the Windchill server.
▪ Worker Alias
Optionally, enter the name of the worker alias.
▪ A name for the worker alias is not required to configure the worker.
▪ Do not include spaces in the name for the worker alias.
▪ Test Server
After you specify the server host, port, and alias name in the case of an alias worker, click Test Server to perform the following actions:
▪ Validate the machine name, port number, worker availability, and alias name.
▪ Verify that the test server can connect to the Worker Agent at that location.
A Server Configuration Test window displays the following results:
▪ Worker Type
▪ Server
▪ Port
▪ Alias
▪ Test Connection to Server—Opens the Server Configuration Test dialog box. If the test result shows Succeeded or Failed, and the resulting message commences with Set keepalive ok, then click OK to continue the setup.
7. Click Setup. The Setup Complete dialog box opens when the Creo Illustrate Adapter is configured.
8. Click OK. Your configuration of the Creo Illustrate Adapter is complete.
9. After you set up the configuration, you can click Recipe Editor to edit the recipe file for this configuration.
| | Only advanced users should make changes to the recipe file. |
10. Click Exit. The Exit illustrate2pv_config dialog box opens.
11. Click Yes to exit.
Validating the Creo Illustrate Adapter Configuration
Validate your configuration by following these steps:
1. After exiting illustrate2pv_config, verify that the following files are located in the setup directory specified earlier:
◦ illustrate2pv_config.log——Log file created by the illustrate2pv config utility.
◦ adapter.pvi—Shows the configuration and directory for the worker. Double-click the file to open the configuration tool and examine its settings.
◦ debug_options.txt—Contains extra command line options for running the adapter in verbose (debug) mode.
◦ illustrate2pv.rcp—Configuration recipe file. Recipe files are used to configure the file conversion process itself. See
Introduction to Recipe Editing for Converting CAD Data for additional information.
◦ illustrate2pvbatch.bat—Command line publishing script
◦ illustrate2pvworker.bat—Server controlled publishing script
◦ purge.bat—Removes all log files generated by the worker from the setup directory.
2. You can verify each component of your configuration is working correctly by the following methods:
◦ Follow the instructions in the section “Command Line Publishing for Creo Illustrate Files—Using illustrate2pvbatch” to use illustrate2pvbatch. Successful batch publishing from the command line means the environment of your configuration supports command line publishing.
◦ Follow the instructions in the section “Creo Illustrate Server Controlled Publishing—Using illustrate2pvworker” to setup an illustrate2pvworker.
Command Line Publishing for Creo Illustrate Files—Using illustrate2pvbatch
From a shell command line, you can convert Creo Illustrate data toCreo Viewformat using the illustrate2pvbatch script.
By typing a simple command at the prompt, Worker Agent is converted and immediately viewable using theCreo Viewclient.
The operation of theCreo ViewAdapter for Creo Illustrate involves utilizing a single command to publish files.
The form of command line is as follows:
illustrate2pv [options] <files>
For a list of command line options, refer to illustrate2pvbatch Command Line Options.
Follow these steps for a command line conversion:
1. Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory containing the files you want to convert.
For this example, the directory isC:\\illustrate_data\\.
2. Type in the illustrate2pvbatch command, such as the following:
C:\ptc\illustrate_setup\illustrate2pvbatch -p output Illustration_2.c3di
In this example, you can break the command line down in order from left to right as follows:
a. The setup directory containing the adapter configuration, followed by the command to convert the data:
C:\ptc\illustrate_setup\illustrate2pvbatch
b. Option -p <output path>is shown as output. This is the name of the directory where the converted data appears.
c. The name of the file to be converted isIllustration_2.c3di, and resides in the current directory.
3. Press ENTER and illustrate2pvbatch is started. When the command prompt returns, the conversion is complete.
| | The illustrate2pvbatch command can publish more than one file at a time. To publish a list of files, type all of the names on the command line, separated by spaces. You can also use the asterisks (*) as a wildcard, if you are confident that the data returned will be correct. |
4. Open the converted data output in theCreo Viewclient.
This completes the procedure for converting files to Creo View format using command line publishing.
Creo Illustrate Server Controlled Publishing—Using illustrate2pvworker
When the Visualization server initiates a request to publish an Illustration Document, the server starts the worker, by executing the illustrate2pvworker script. The worker is then used to process the publish job in the background. This Visualization server could be a Windchill server or another customized server environment. The publish worker is an important link in achieving the full functionality of the Visualization server. For more information, refer to
Visualization Server Definition.
The illustrate2pvworker script is created in the <setup_directory>. Configure the Worker Agent to use this worker using the <setup_directory>/illustrate2pvworker.bat execute command.
To learn about configuring the Worker Agent to use the Adapter for Creo Illustrate, refer to
Visualization Server Definition.
Advanced Adapter Configuration for the Adapter for Creo Illustrate
The instructions in this section are intended for advanced users only.
Advanced adapter configurations provide a variety of information for both administrative and end users. This information can include procedures for configuring various additional features of the Creo Illustrate adapter that provide additional functionality. For adapter-specific information about Creo Illustrate recipe settings, see the Miscellaneous subtabs of the Advanced and the Parameters tabs.
Command Line syntax for the Adapter for Creo Illustrate
Creo Illustrate files can be converted from the command line using illustrate2pvbatch. This chapter explains all of the command line options available for command line publishing. See the section “Command Line Publishing for Creo Illustrate Files—Using illustrate2pvbatch” for more information.
| | Most of the command line options can also be used by the illustrate2pvworker script. |
The command string used to publish a file follows the format:
illustrate2pvbatch [options] <illustrate_data>
You can see the command line options by typing:
illustrate2pvbatch –h
where the options returned are described in the following table:
Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
–? –h | For basic help page. |
@<file> | Read options from the response file <file>. |
–CP | Use piped communication to server. |
–CS<host><socket> | Socket communication <host><socket>. |
-DA<alias> | Define the worker alias name. |
–d<depth> | Set the conversion file depth. When converting, an assembly file determines the depth to which the hierarchy is traversed. The default is all. |
-De<variable> <value> | Define an environment setting and set its value. |
-Dr<variable> <value> | Define a recipe configuration variable set to a value |
–ED | Set environment to dvconvert mode. |
–EP | Set environment to publisher mode. |
–EW<type> | Set environment to worker mode. <type> is passed to the Worker Agent to identify the worker type. |
–H | For extended help options. |
–I | Identify the version of the adapter used. |
–o<name> | Set output file base name. |
–p<name> | Set output base path. |
–r<name> | Set recipe file to use. |
–vc | Disable all console printout. |
–vc1 | Redirect all console printout to stdout. |
–vc2 | Redirect all console printout to stderr (default). |
–ve[n] | Increment or set (if [n] is given) the error reporting level. –ve0 disables all error reporting, default 1. |
–vl<file> | Direct all printed output to <file>. |
–vL<file> | Append all printed output to <file>. |
-vm[module] <flag> | Enable monitor logging for the main program or given module. |
–vn<file> | Direct all printed output to new log file <file>_#.log. |
–vp<n> | Set the process verbosity flag. You can list the possible modules using the –I option. Flags are listed in the source code. |
–vt | Give the current date and time stamp with all print outs. |
–vT | Give the process run-time stamp with all print outs. |
–vw[n] | Increment or set the warning reporting level, see –ve[n]. |
The command line <illustrate_data> defines what is to be converted. The tool, illustrate2pvbatch, can publish more than one file at a time. To publish a list of files, type all of the names on the command line separated by a space. You can use asterisks (*) as a wildcard, if you are is confident that the data returned will be correct. An example of a command line using options follows:
illustrate2pvbatch -vl mylogfile.txt -vc -p output file.igs