Pro/DESKTOP

Pro/Desktop
File:ProD Splash Screen.jpg Pro/DESKTOP 8.0 Splash Screen
Developer(s)	Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC)
Platform(s)	PC (Windows),
Release	unavailable
Genre(s)	Design tool
Mode(s)	Single person

Pro/DESKTOP (commonly referred to as Pro/D) was a Computer-aided design (CAD) program from Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), that allowed users to design and model in 3D and create 2D drawings. It can transfer a 3D design into a 2D engineering drawing format and also create photo-realistic views using Album Views. It is part-compatible with Pro/ENGINEER, and uses the Granite kernel, but otherwise is a freestanding CAD system.

Pro/DESKTOP had particularly distinguished itself in the education market. From a start in the CAD/CAM in Schools Initiative in the UK, Pro/DESKTOP has been donated free of charge to over 14,000 secondary schools worldwide, and is used by nearly 4 million students each school year. Its main educational rival was AutoCAD, which is widely used in secondary schools to teach 2D drafting and technical drawing. The use of Pro/DESKTOP in schools for 3D design has far exceeded AutoCad as it is generally considered too technical for the education market. It's minimal system requirements further cement the software as the program of choice for those just starting out in CAD.

Pro/DESKTOP is no longer available for download or activation, but PTC instead now offers up to 300 seats of Pro/ENGINEER Schools Edition to high schools free of charge.

in 2012 PTC continued its support of schools by making it's latest Creo 3D Modelling software available free to schools. Creo represents a major update of Pro|ENGINEER with ribbon style menus, streamlined workflows and the addition of several major new features including; direct modelling, flexible modelling and freestyle Sub Division surfacing tools. The use of a common data model supports seamless movement between the different modelling tools with no loss of data. PTC Schools Programme.

Areas

Design Window

This is the main area of the program as it is where the other two areas get information from. The user uses different workplanes to draw their sketches (design) on to. These can then be projected from a 2D format into a 3D format. This can be done in multiple ways, here is a selection:

• Extrude
• Project
• Revolve
• Sweep
• Loft

From this simple shape detail can be added by rounding edges or shelling the solid for example.

To help with getting the design drawn there is a selection of different views, these are:

• Wire Frame- Design is only shown using lines to represent the edge of the solid
• Transparent - Design is visible with translucent areas representing the areas that are the faces of the design, the edges and also shown as solid lines
• Shaded - Opaque areas represent the areas that are the faces of the design, the edges are not shown
• Enhanced - Same as the 'Shaded' view but with the edges shown in solid lines

Drawing View

Drawing View of a Coffee Table Designed in Pro/DESKTOP

This area allows the user to generate technical drawings from their design. The drawing view supports a number of industry standards including:

• AFNOR
• ANSI (Inch)
• ANSI (mm)
• BS308
• DIN
• ISO
• JIS

This view allows full linear, radial and angular dimensioning of designs and also supports part lists for assemblies of 2 or more components.

Album Views

Album View Of a Coffee Table Designed in Pro/DESKTOP

Photograph of the coffee table shown above

This area allows the user to create photo-realistic view of their design. There is an array of different options available to alter this view. Options available are:

• A large library of different materials (sometimes called textures, with the option to add more, which can be applied to whole components or individual faces).
• A Choice of five different lighting options (Default, Room Lighting, Day Lighting, Flood Lighting and Spot Lighting)
• A Choice of eight different camera lenses, these digitally alter the view to give the illusions of the chosen camera lens. These are:

• Fisheye, 16 mm
• Ultra Wideangle, 20mm
• Wideangle, 28 mm
• Moderate Wideangle, 35 mm
• Standard, 50mm
• Moderate Telephoto, 70mm
• Telephoto, 110mm
• Reflex, 1000000mm

External links

• The Pro/DESKTOP Site
• The Parametric Technology Corporation Website