Heterogeneous design refers to the ability to incorporate design data that was authored in other CAD tools (for example, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling or CATIA V5) into a Creo Parametric design.

Creo supports two methods of working with heterogeneous design assemblies. One method uses images (Translated Image Models or TIMs) of non-Creo (source) files. The Creo Unite method uses non-Creo files directly in a Creo assembly (with certain limitations).