ProductView Express

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Troubleshooting

General

What is ProductView Express?
ProductView Express is a plug-in that you can use to dynamically view Pro/ENGINEER objects directly in your Web browser.

What file types can I view?
You can view the following Pro/ENGINEER file types using ProductView Express:

  • Parts
  • Assemblies (including manufacturing assemblies)
  • Drawings
  • Formats
  • Layouts
  • Diagrams
  • Reports
  • Sections
  • Picture (.pic) files.

What can I do with the objects within ProductView Express?

  • 3D objects (parts and assemblies): spin, pan, zoom, and fly-through
  • 2D objects (drawings, formats, layouts, diagrams, reports, sections and picture files): pan, zoom, and view sheets

How much does ProductView Express cost?
ProductView Express is free for everyone.

Where can I get ProductView Express?
You can download ProductView Express from the ProductView Express product page on the PTC Web site.

Do I have to be a PTC customer?
No. ProductView Express can be downloaded for free from the PTC Web site.

Do I need a Pro/ENGINEER license or any other PTC applications to use ProductView Express?
No. ProductView Express is an independent viewing tool that does not require any PTC applications.

How do I view the files?

  • In your Web browser, navigate to a directory that contains Pro/ENGINEER files. Select the file you want to view. ProductView Express automatically opens.
  • Right-click a Pro/ENGINEER object and select 'View with ProductView Express'.
  • Drag a Pro/ENGINEER object into the Web browser.

Do the files have to be local to my machine?
No. Multithreaded implementation enables incremental loading of files, so you can interact, pan, zoom, and fly-through designs as they are streaming over the Internet or loading from your disk.

To further increase file-loading time, you can use the Select and Navigate capability. While the object is in the process of streaming into ProductView Express, can select any part of the object to be the next part to stream in and load.

What browsers are supported for ProductView Express?
The following browsers are supported for ProductView Express:

  • Windows 2000, XP (32-bit):
    • Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 and later
  • UNIX and Linux (PVX will be a 32-bit executable on these operating systems):
    • Mozilla 1.0

What platforms are supported for ProductView Express?
The following platforms are supported for ProductView Express:

  • Windows 2000, XP 32-bit (Home and Professional)
  • SGI IRIX64 6.5.18
  • Sun Solaris 8, 9 (64-bit only)
  • HP HP-UX 11.0, 11i
  • HP Linux Red Hat 7.3

What display options are available in ProductView Express?
When using ProductView Express, you can view Pro/ENGINEER objects in Wireframe, Hidden Line, No Hidden Line, and Shaded display. You can also view the objects from an orthographic view or a perspective view.

What release or releases of Pro/ENGINEER does ProductView Express support?
With ProductView Express, you can view Pro/ENGINEER objects created in Pro/ENGINEER Releases 2000i through Wildfire 4.0.

To view parts and assemblies, you must set the following config.pro option:

save_model_display - recommended setting: shading_lod

Note: After setting this option, in order to view the data in standalone ProductView Express, you must reload the objects into Pro/ENGINEER and save them using the configuration option. Assemblies have to be backed up in order for this config option to act on every part and sub-assembly. This is a default setting in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0, so setting the config.pro option in Wildfire 2.0 is not required.

To view drawings, formats, layouts, reports, and diagrams, you must set the config.pro option:

save_drawing_picture_file - recommended setting: embed or both

To view sections, you must set the following config.pro option:

sketcher_save_preview_image - recommended setting: yes

Note: After setting these options, in order to view the data in standalone ProductView Express, you must reload the objects into Pro/ENGINEER and save them using the configuration option.

Can I control the size of the ProductView Express viewing area?
You can control the size of the viewing area in the Web browser by using the following environment variables. You must set the variables before starting the browser:

  • PTCPVX_WIDTH-Specifies the width in pixels. The range of values for this variable is 600 through 1000.
  • PTCPVX_HEIGHT-Specifies the height in pixels. The range of values for this variable is 600 through1000.

Do I need to obtain any other plug-in to use ProductView Express?
Windows users do not need to download any other plug-ins to use ProductView Express. The only browser supported for Windows is Internet Explorer 6+, and ProductView Express uses Internet Explorer ActiveX components.

UNIX and Linux users must download the Java 1.3 Runtime Environment plug-in to use ProductView Express. This plug-in is available from the following hardware vendors:

For UNIX, you need to set the MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH variable to the full path to the directory that contains the file libjavaplugin_oji.so (Sun) or libjavaplugin_oji.sl (HP).

E.g. If the path to this file is /usr/j2re1_3_1/plugin/sparc/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so, you need to type:

setenv MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH /usr/j2re1_3_1/plugin/sparc/ns600 in the shell from where you invoke the browser for PVX viewing.

How is ProductView Express different from ProductView?
ProductView Express is intended to be a quick visualization tool for Pro/ENGINEER. Its capabilities are limited to spin, pan, zoom, and fly-through, with various display modes only.

ProductView is a full-featured collaboration and visualization tool and features the following capabilities:

  • View heterogeneous product information
  • View product structure and metadata
  • View and analyze 3D models (cross sections, measurements, and so on)
  • View 2D data
  • Create animations
  • Create markups

For more information on ProductView, refer to the ProductView product page.

Does ProductView Express work with objects stored in Pro/INTRALINK?
No. All objects must be accessible from a Web browser, and, therefore, all files must exist outside of Pro/INTRALINK.

As of Pro/INTRALINK Release 3.0, ProductView Express has been integrated into Pro/INTRALINK to eliminate the need to create separate bitmaps for viewing the stored objects.

Troubleshooting

Is Technical Support available?
Technical Support is available to active PTC maintenance customers only. To contact PTC Technical Support regarding ProductView Express, you must log a call using the PTC Technical Support Call Logger. Live phone support is not offered at this time.

To facilitate the processing of your call, select "Pro/ENGINEER" as the Product and "ProductView Express" as the Module. Make sure to review the links to the ProductView Express FAQ, ProductView Express Troubleshooting, and TPI documents for further assistance prior to contacting Technical Support.

Is documentation available for ProductView Express?
Yes. A brief technical document is available on the ProductView Express product page.

ProductView Express does not function properly, after I have installed?
Exit all programs, especially any browsers, before installing ProductView Express. If after installation, ProductView Express does not function properly, close and restart the supported browser. If ProductView Express still is not functioning properly, check the following items:

  • Ensure that the pvc.dll, ptcpvx.jar, and ptcpvx.exe files are in the loadpoint directory.
  • Ensure that the environment variable PVX_INSTALL_DIR is set to the ProductView Express installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\ProductViewExpress\). You can check the value of the PVX_INSTALL_DIR environment variable by typing the following line in a MS-DOS command prompt window:
    echo %PVX_INSTALL_DIR%
  • The file extensions .prt, .asm, .drw, .pic, .lay, .mfg, .frm, .dft, .dgm, .rep, .sec and numbers from .1 through .99 are registered by the installer to correspond to ProductView Express. Double-clicking any file with one of these extensions opens ProductView Express in the default browser because these extensions are associated with the executable file ptcpvx.exe. This file should be in the installation directory. If one particular file extension isn't working, that extension is most likely not associated with ptcpvx.exe. You can fix this by associating the file type with ptcpvx.exe. If you want extensions numbered extensions higher than .99 to be associated with ProductView Express, you must manually associate the file types to ptcpvx_exe.
  • If you have any Java run time errors, you check the value of the MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH variable (on UNIX, type echo $MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH at the command prompt). If this variable is not defined, or wrongly defined, you will have to set the correct path.
    You need to set the MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH variable to the full path to the directory that contains the file "libjavaplugin_oji.so (for SUN) or libjavaplugin_oji.sl (HP). E.g. If the path to this file is /usr/j2re1_3_1/plugin/sparc/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so, you need to type:

    setenv MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH /usr/j2re1_3_1/plugin/sparc/ns600 in the shell from where you invoke the browser for PVX viewing.