Tim,
We are an old I-deas shop and have thousands of I-deas package files archived on DVD.
I had to contact my VAR and sign a form to be able to download the free CMM software from GTAC.
I run this CMM software in solo mode even though I have Teamcenter. I do not want to automatically bring in the I-deas data into my Teamcenter database.
After running the package file through CMM solo it will generate UG files in a directory that you specified.
It works very well since it keeps drawings associated to the parts/assemblies. You can even have the UG parts contain the history of your I-Deas parts. You also still have your configurations etc. In CMM7.5 even your user defined attributes were maintained, it was broken in CMM8, there is a new CMM8.5 but I have not yet tried it. I then run UG in stand alone mode and view the translated data.
If absolutely necessary then I will bring the data into Teamcenter using Import Assembly into Teamcenter.
What I think is a good feature of the CMM software is that I can select a single part/assembly or drawing to convert and not have to bring in the entire package file. You also do not need to have I-deas installed.
Regards
Jurgen
NX8 Win7 64bit