PTC and Stratasys have set their sights on a joint venture to make 3D printing more accessible to designers and manufacturers.
Working to create a seamless experience between PTC Creo design software and Stratasys 3D Printing Solutions, the collaboration has been designed to give enable geometric freedom and part functionality, economic low volume and on-demand manufacturing, the production of customized products, and more.
This integrated solution will provide users with the ability to seamlessly create, optimise, validate and manufacture parts through the additive manufacturing process without the need for multiple tools.
Available now in PTC Creo 3.0, the two companies are starting by proving a seamless workflow from design to 3D print by allowing users to perform informed design specification, file preparation, print optimisation and print execution for Stratasys 3D printing solutions.
The first 3D printer which can take full advantage of the new joint solution is the Stratasys Objet500 Connex3 Multi-colour, Multi-material 3D Production System, which can produce 3D printed parts with multi-colour and multi-material combinations.
Objet500 Connex3
Stratasys Objet500 Connex3 is the first machine to take full advantage of the joint solution.
"In sharing a common vision of the future of additive manufacturing, Stratasys and PTC have forged a close relationship that begins to benefit our common customers today,” Mike Campbell, executive vice president, CAD, PTC, explained. “I’m excited about the impact I believe our collaboration will have on new designs across all industries as additive manufacturing continues to grow in production usage, and as our integration and respective products’ capabilities continuously improve."
Dan Yalon, executive vice president, business development, marketing & vertical solutions, Stratasys, added: "Lowering the barriers involved in designing for 3D printing and unlocking the vast potential of additive manufacturing are primary goals of Stratasys’ strategic vision. By cooperating together, PTC and Stratasys intend to bring significant value to our customers – making additive manufacturing more accessible while providing practical, easy-to-use tools for designing and manufacturing using 3D printing."
PTC Creo's new features enable engineers to capitalise on the full potential of additive manufacturing while reducing printing errors and productivity loss during the manufacturing process:
- Connect and define settings for multiple printers
- Print parts and assemblies directly from PTC Creo Parametric
- Identify printability issues
- Scale, position, and show a clipped view of the model and support material
- Assign materials, colours, and a glossy or matte finish to the model
- Automatically optimise the position of the model in the tray for printing
- Save the CAD data, model translation, and position in the tray as one STL file
- Calculate the required amount of build and support materials