Justin Roegner: Tips for Exorcising Unwanted Links

Sometimes a drawing in PTC Windchill will reference a part that doesn’t exist. These “ghost objects” are relics from the original CAD file—typically a dummy that’s no longer relevant. But while PTC Creo doesn’t seem to reference the old model anymore, PTC Windchill just won’t forget about it.

This year at PTC Live Global in Nashville, Tennessee, veteran presenter Justin Roegner will address how to rid your system of these artifacts as part of his talk, “Little Known Tricks for PTC Creo Parametric.”

The following is a peek at the presentation.

 

A ghost object (TANK: FINAL WELDMENT) appears in PTC Windchill, while drawing shows no models linked.

To prevent and fix ghost objects, Justin says:

• One source of ghost objects (there are several) is the Replace In PTC Creo Parametric, when you replace an object, make sure to unselect the Remember These Components checkbox to avoid unintended references later on. 

Replace command in PTC Creo. Replace These Components checkbox selected.

• Even though ghost objects first become evident in PTC Windchill, to remove them, go back to PTC Creo. To find the dummy part, open the Reference Viewer in PTC Creo Parametric. From there, you should be able to break the dependency. Then resave your model to update PTC Windchill.

Reference Viewer in PTC Creo shows dummy object.

With the link broken and the model re-saved, the ghost object should no longer appear in PTC Windchill.

Unwanted object removed from PTC Windchill.

Registration for PTC Live Global, June 7-10 has just opened. For more about how to prevent and fix ghost objects, attend Justin’s presentation at this year’s event in Nashville, Tennessee.

See what’s in store at PTC Live Global for PTC Creo users in this slideshare presentation. To learn more visit the event website.

Justin Roegner is an engineering systems lead at Actuant and has been working with PTC software since 1998. At PTC Live Global this year, he will present “Little Known Tricks for PTC Creo Parametric,” a collection of easy but rarely used ideas for getting more out of your CAD software. This is Justin’s third year presenting at PTC Live Global.

He says he has “virtually eliminated” the problem of ghost objects in his current and former employers’ systems.

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