I recently spoke to John Sheehan, VP of Services, of the Mathcad Business Unit here at PTC. He and Matt Bonaccorso, also a member of the PTC Mathcad team, had attended (and presented at!) the Three Rivers Pro/Users Group Spring Meeting 2011 on April 12.
Held at Pittsburgh Technical Institute, Oakdale Campus, and moderated by Eric Holmes of Philips, Inc. the agenda was as diverse as it was busy. Over 110 attendees were treated to topics such as Large Assembly Management, Automation Ala Carte, 3D Printing, Tips and Tricks, as well as product updates on Creo Elements/Pro and – drumroll – Mathcad Prime.
John reports: “The highlight on the agenda for me was listening to Mark Malecki of the Pittsburgh Technical Institute discuss the types projects his students work on for industry. A sample of their ‘Mechanical Capstone Project’ was distributed to all attendees. It is a Briggs and Stratton 4HP Engine Assembly Instructions document. I read it on the flight home and am confident I can assemble one of these bad boys.”
This is a classic example of what is happening in the User Groups – they serve as a local place for networking, where engineers can exchange their experiences and share tips & tricks. A huge portion of the agenda has traditionally been CAD-related, but we have seen many activities and many requests for Mathcad.
Especially since we introduced Mathcad Prime 1.0 in February this year, many of the User Groups have asked us to send a PTC presenter and show this groundbreaking new version.
In this case, John and Matt were our “men on the road”. Curious as I am, I wondered what questions were most frequently asked about Mathcad Prime 1.0:
Q: Can Mathcad 15 and Mathcad Prime 1.0 run on the same machine?
A: Yes both tools can be installed and run simultaneously on the same machine.
Q: How can I use my Mathcad 15 worksheets in Mathcad Prime?
A: Mathcad Prime 1.0 has a new XML schema so the file format is different. Before opening your older worksheets in Mathcad Prime you need to run them through the Mathcad Prime Worksheet Converter. You can run this utility from within Prime or in a standalone mode and you can convert one file or directories of files.
Q: Do I have to buy Prime separately?
A: If you have Mathcad 14/15 and are on maintenance, Mathcad Prime is free of charge.
Matt: “All in all it was a great event – nice venue, good food, interesting people. I am happy to support future events with a presentation!”
So let me ask our readers: Are you engaged with any of the regional users groups around the globe? If you would like to become involved, you can search in PlanetPTC Community, as many groups are represented there already, or you may request for other users to join your own circle.
You don’t have to wait until the next User Group meeting to get your questions answered. If you are curious about Mathcad Prime, you can try it for free here or post your questions and comments on this blog.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Bettina
Image: Impressions from the Three Rivers Pro/Users Group Spring Meeting 2011 – The event was held at the campus of Pittsburgh Technical Institute, just 20 minutes west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This photo shows Three Rivers President, Eric Holmes with Vice President Jaime Clarke
If you are located in the area, and interested in learning more about this regional user group, you can reach out to them via PlanetPTC Community: http://communities.ptc.com/groups/three-rivers
