Product View Express - Cannot see original ProE file's decals/color texture

My first question to you is can other Pro/e users view you textures/bmps/decals on their own machines. Because, if other Pro/e users can't view them, PV is definitely out of the question. Prior the WF3, you had to store the graphics files referenced in textures, decals, etc. in a special folder that everyone's (or some corporate) config file pointed to. I don't remember what it was exactly but it was something like PRO_TEXTURE_DIR followed by the folder path name. I'm not 100% sure that PV will pick this up since it may be unaware of config.pro, but I'm sure that it will be impossible without the directory setting. I think the need for this option and directory pointer goes away in WF3 which stores the graphics with the part.

David Janes

Thanks David for the post... Only one Mec Eng & ProE seat in the company (me) - what Im trying to do is give some of our sales team visibility of new product designs. We've tried PV Express and they can see all of the shaded prts/asms but I cannot figure out a way to get the textures/bmps/decals to display. Also worth noting is I have to send them a folder with all the ProE files included so they can open the files while they're out in the field doing their sales thing...so far if I send them a folder with all .prt & .asm files as well as the jpgs/bmps for the decals - the decals do not display. (Ive also included the appearance.dmt file in the folder - but PV Express probably cannot read/understand this?). Do you reckon this is asking a bit much of Product View Express?

To your last question, might it be a bit much to expect of the free, stripped down version of PV? It just might and I haven't yet checked to see if the full blown, professional version can do it.

On the other hand, people who are trying to snazz up marketing's presentations often do several renderings. True, you can't get the full solids effect of being able to spin/pan/zoom a model. But you can do some pretty life-like shots of the product in a natural setting that marketing people love. Maybe that plus the unadorned models would be okay. Another fun thing that marketing loves is RP models, either machined or SLA or cintered metal or FDM in ABS. Did you investigate the config setting and what it does?

David Janes

I just found out what I have at work in config.pro that gets me to where the textures are stored. It's an option called texture_search_path. When you browse to a path, it appends this path name to a search string. Done repeatedly, the string can be composed of many path names, separated by semi-colons.

David Janes

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textures are stored. It's an option called texture_search_path. When you browse to a path, it appends this path name to a search string. Done repeatedly, the string can be composed of many path names, separated by semi-colons.

David We have settled with using eDrawings - which does very good rendering

- however it does not work with the jpg/bmp textures. I have had to work around that by cutting text into the surfaces rather that relying on photos of a real label. I was talking to a PTC distribuitor and he reckons that this feature of pasting the jpg onto a surface as a texture will not transfer out of ProE to another 3D rendering package. He also mentioned WF4 is equipped with a tool that will create 3D pdfs that you can pan/zoom etc.. in Adobe 8 (again it will not transfer the texture/jpg though). Thanks for the help on this one Mark