This Pro/Engineer Tip (and our growing library of ProE tips & tricks) is here to help increase Pro/Engineer modeling and CAD design capabilities for everyone interested.  Enjoy the tips, and tell a friend if you like what you see.

I have been asked by several of you to offer an updated opinion the new Pro/Engineer product called Wildfire.  Unfortunately, after using it, I'm not impressed.  To the contrary, it's not a very good tool, and it's full of issues.

If you've seen the sales presentations you know a good salesman can make Wildfire seem really enticing.  Don't be fooled.  It makes a fun toy, and it makes enticing presentations, but it's not very well suited for production work.

On the positive side, Pro/Engineer Wildfire has some really cool new functionality.  The feature creation concepts are great.  The UI is more consistent.  The previews are neat.  It's more stable out-of-the-box than any recent version.  Unfortunately, all the good things are wrapped in a package riddled with issues.

My recommendation  . . .  Wildfire is not ready for production.  I highly recommend that companies do not migrate, and furthermore, new customers should approach purchases of Wildfire with extreme caution -- regardless of propaganda or promises from PTC.

 
Why would I say such things?

  Here are a few highlights from a very long list of issues including Lost and Degraded Functionality:

• You can't create "Make Datums" anymore (all datums are "hard").
• In many cases you must pick datums from the screen (now very cluttered with datums) -- you can't pick them even from the Model Tree for instance.
• You can't modify Part dimensions directly in Assembly! -- you have to enter a Part mode (which means you can't modify or see dimensions of more than one Part at a time -- Not in any mode of Wildfire!)
• In fact, to even see dimensions of more than one feature at a time (in the same Part only), you must pre-select the features all at once!
• Many things that use to be single features are now created as multiple features -- meaning to modify one, you have to find and select multiple features and/or parent features.
• Selection is now difficult and horrible in many ways.
• Poor modeling practices are now the "Default", so a user must be savvy (and willing to fight with Pro/E), or models will be constructed poorly and difficult to change, or reuse.  (Heaven help you when you have to make big changes to someone elses model!)
• And the list goes on.

Although beginning users may be able to create models sooner, in the end it will take more time to complete projects -- meaning companies will pay more for development through a loss in efficiency end up with a longer time to market.

I have spoken at length with PTC and sent PTC's management some very long lists of issues to consider.  I simply asked them to respond and let me know where I'm wrong so I could print their info in our New Article, but PTC has been unable (or unwilling) to respond directly to the issues.  In fact, one note said basically "Get used to it".

Well, as a customer, I don't want this poison pill crammed down my throat.  I think there is great potential with Wildfire functionality (and I'm quite sad about it), but PTC has a lot of work to do to fix it.  In that light, we as users have several options.

Most importantly, I'm asking all Pro/Engineer users to refuse to migrate to Wildfire.  I say try it out, play if you have the time, but it's a big mistake to change over.

For more information, please read the article A New Outlook on Wildfire, and the long list of issues.

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