Creo: Your Best Designs in Less Time

Creo has a wide variety of customers, from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations. A truly global company, we have customers with operations on every continent and representation in nearly every major industry. Visit ptc.com/case-studies to learn more about how Creo helps customers like you solve problems every day.

Built on the legacy of Pro/ENGINEER, CoCreate, and ProductView, Creo is a family of design software that helps companies unlock the potential within their organizations. Product designers and engineers are more productive with Creo, enabling better data sharing and design reviews with customers and suppliers, and preventing unforeseen service and manufacturing issues.

Pro/ENGINEER, CoCreate, and ProductView provide the foundational elements of the Creo vision, delivering proven performance in 2D and 3D CAD, CAE, CAM, CAID, and visualization. Creo protects your existing investment in these products and provides a smooth path to the future.

There are many CAD solutions available, but none of them match up to the combined benefits of Creo:

• Parametric: PTC was the innovator of parametric modeling, and we continue to lead the way with Creo. Parametric modeling captures the design intent, not just the dimensions. When a part is changed, perhaps years later by another engineer, the original design intent is maintained, helping to ensure a quality design.
• Integrated: Many competitive CAD systems are challenged when a part design is exported to a third-party software and then reimported. With Creo, there are so many deeply integrated design capabilities that the 3D model can be maintained throughout the design process and beyond. With Creo, the design intent and integrity of your model is maintained.
• Powerful: Creo is recognized as a technology leader. A powerhouse in the world of model-based definition (MBD), Creo is award-winning for breakthroughs in generative design, real-time simulation, and additive manufacturing, to name a few. You may not use all of these technologies today, but Creo has them available when you need them.
• Easy to use: PTC has invested millions of development dollars and thousands of development hours to make Creo intuitive and easy to use. PTC University offers best-in-class live and virtual, instructor-led and self-paced training courses for Creo, including certification courses and an innovative subscription-based service with unlimited virtual, instructor-led classes.
• Scalable: Creo is competitively priced for start-ups through major enterprises. And unlike other CAD systems that have distinct CAD systems for different types of customers, Creo companies, customers, and suppliers of all sizes can share data files effortlessly.
• The PTC family of products: Creo seamlessly integrates with PTC’s suite of market-leading industrial software solutions like Windchill PLM, ThingWorx IoT, and Vuforia AR, just to name a few.

If you’re looking for the best in CAD solutions, you search starts and ends with Creo.

AI-driven tools, like those in PTC's Creo, can automate repetitive tasks, optimize designs, and predict potential issues. The integration of AI with CAD can help engineers create superior products faster. Learn more about AI in Creo.

Creo is supported on the following operating systems:

Creo System Requirements:

Notes:

• PTC will only test reported issues on a Microsoft supported OS release. You may continue to run Creo on published releases which are no longer officially supported by Microsoft; however, PTC security policy does not allow use of unsupported software.
• The Server operating systems are not supported on Creo Schematics.
• Creo Simulation Live and Creo Simulation Live Advanced extensions require a dedicated NVIDIA CUDA-based GPU with a minimum of 8GB of video RAM and latest NVIDIA drivers.

Creo+ is the cloud-delivered SaaS solution that is equivalent to Creo. Creo+ delivers all the same core functionality of Creo on-prem, but with added capabilities around cloud-based collaboration, simplified license management, and real-time multi-user design review.

Creo+ is fully compatible with on-premises Creo installations, enabling companies to adopt a hybrid approach that gets the benefits of cloud-based systems without disrupting workflows or data.

Creo is a parametric 3D CAD system typically deployed as an on-prem solution with Creo+ offering a SaaS variant that takes advantage of real-time collaboration and simpler license administration. Creo supports part and assembly modeling, and integrates directly into the Creo environment for simulation, manufacturing, or any other need across the development cycle – generative design, additive manufacturing, MBD, etc.

Autodesk Fusion is a cloud-based product development platform that combines CAD, CAM, and electronics design in a single environment. It supports direct, parametric, and surface modeling along with simulation, manufacturing, and data management capabilities.

Creo, SOLIDWORKS, and NX are all 3D CAD systems used for modeling parts and assemblies before creating prototypes.

Creo was the first parametric 3D CAD system. It is widely used among engineering teams for part and assembly design with deeply integrated tools for simulation, MBD, manufacturing, and advanced design capabilities (generative design, additive manufacturing, electrification, etc.), in one environment. Creo is primarily deployed on-prem but has a SaaS offering in Creo+.

Similar to Creo, SOLIDWORKS is also a 3D CAD system that is used for modeling parts and assemblies. It is widely used for mechanical design and includes add-on tools for simulation, PDM, and manufacturing both within desktop and SaaS environments.

NX is another 3D CAD system that supports product design, engineering, and manufacturing. It supports parametric modeling and includes tools for simulation, design, and manufacturing in a unified system.

Creo supports a broad ecosystem of engineering and enterprise software. Across design and manufacturing, Creo integrates technologies like Ansys simulation, additive and subtractive manufacturing, AI-powered generative design, model-based definition, and more! These powerful technologies are integrated directly into the Creo environment, so your design workflow doesn’t get interrupted by switching tools.

Yes, within the PTC digital thread, Creo connects to Windchill to form a powerful CAD/PLM connection that supports model-centric engineering at scale. Creo delivers structured, design intent-rich models and Windchill helps carry the context of your designs across the enterprise.

Absolutely, Creo is designed to effectively work in multi-CAD environments. Using Creo Unite technology, users can open, reference, and interact with CAD data from other systems – such as SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, Siemens NX, Inventor, etc. - without requiring full data translation. When combined with Windchill, organizations can manage multiple CAD formats within a single PLM system while preserving design intent.

Yes, Creo includes integrated manufacturing and CAM capabilities. Creo supports additive and subtractive manufacturing, and mold design workflows directly within the Creo environment. CNC machining, mold design & analysis, 3D printing, lattice optimization and more can be done in Creo without ever breaking the connection between the original 3D model, and the manufacturing information. This means you maintain associativity across the CAD/CAM process, saving time leading up to production.

In short—nothing. Creo and Creo Parametric are the same CAD software offering the same capabilities, power, and reliability. Creo offers both parametric and direct modeling functionality that enables faster time to market, reduced development costs, and improved manufacturing. Don’t worry, it’s the same product, just with a shortened name.

Check out our Creo trial page to see if you qualify for a free trial. Creo offers a 14-day free trial to check out the latest enhancements and discover how Creo can meet your design needs.