concept
CadActive for Creo Parametric
CadActive is a Creo Parametric plugin: platform tiers, discipline modules, how it loads, and command-line automation.
CadActive for Creo Parametric is a plugin that runs inside PTC Creo Parametric. It does not replace Creo. It adds CadActive menus and commands so your team can share environments, put standards into models, and automate repetitive CAD work.
What you see in Creo depends on your contract: a platform tier, plus any modules you purchased. See Understand your CadActive licenses.
Platform and Modules
Platform — three tiers. Synchronize is how Creo launches. Standardize puts conventions into the model. Automate generates models and deliverables from design data.
Modules — discipline add-ons on top of that tier: Cabling, Piping, ECAD, Schematics, Framework, Hardware, Reporting, and Analytics.
What a module can do depends on the tier. For example, Standardize + Cabling includes cabling standards tools, but not the full automation available with Automate + Cabling.
How it loads in Creo
Download the client zip that matches your Creo datecode from the CadActive web app (dashboard Download Plugin, or Organization → Client Downloads). Then install it into %LocalAppData%\CadActive\cadactive-creo and add the creotkdat line to config.pro. Connect Creo with a Creo license token from the dashboard. After that, CadActive menus and commands appear for the modules you are licensed to use.
If Creo itself will not launch, start with PTC Support instead — that is not a CadActive issue.
Command line
You can run CadActive from parametric.exe without the GUI — for scheduled jobs, Windchill workers, and unattended exports. Shared flags (sign-in, models, output, Windchill) are on Creo Parametric Command Line.
Platform
Synchronize Command Line — download a config profile; export or import designation maps
Standardize Command Line — layers and model templates
Automate Command Line — DXF import, 3D export, Auto Export, rename
Modules
Cabling Command Line — AutoRouting
Piping Command Line — download the Piping catalog
Framework Command Line — download the Framework catalog
Reporting Command Line — run a named report
ECAD does not have command-line actions yet.
In this section
Advanced Setup for Creo Parametric — Enable a proxy server, Enable a custom server, Edit the CadActive ribbon tab, Enable debug mode, Configure language settings
In this section
- Install the Creo client — Install the CadActive Creo Parametric client from the downloaded zip and load it when Creo starts.
- Creo Parametric Command Line — Shared command-line flags for running CadActive in Creo Parametric without the GUI: login, models, output, and Windchill.
- Download the Creo Parametric client — Download the CadActive Creo Parametric client zip that matches your Creo datecode from the web app.
- Install CadActive to a custom location — Move the CadActive Creo client or launcher out of LocalAppData and update cadactive.dat plus the Creo config.pro paths.
- Start the CadActive application manually — Register and start CadActive from Creo Auxiliary Applications when it does not load from config.pro.
- CadActive application directory structure — What lives under LocalAppData\CadActive: client folders, config files, cache, and logs.
- Advanced Setup for Creo Parametric — Articles in Advanced Setup for Creo Parametric.
- Submit a traceback.log to CadActive — Find Creo traceback.log, tell if CadActive was involved, and send it to CadActive Support.