PTC has announced the release of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 and there are lots of interesting new features for Cabling, Piping and ECAD users.

Highlights include:

• ECAD/MCAD collaboration

• Ribbon cables

• Lightweight pipes

ECAD/MCAD collaboration 

PTC has introduced a whole module for the purposes of handing collaboration between ECAD and MCAD designers. It uses a new XML format to handle the communication of differences from the ECAD tool to Pro/ENGINEER. The collaboration tool can allow parallel development whilst keeping track of the changes.

Pro/Cabling

WIldfire 4 introduces several new features for Pro/Cabling:

• Support for ribbon cables with bends and folds

• Checks for network discontinuities

• Auto-route cable shields

• Ability to fix locations when references are missing so they don't fail

Pro/Piping 

• Support for thick/thin pipes like Pro/Cabling

• Display of routing environment information in graphics window

• Support for external representations

• Weld control in spec-driven piping

Find out more here