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Best Import Format To Use: IGES, STEP, STL, or ??? (#3415)
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mlochala  
#1 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 11:49:06 AM(UTC)
mlochala

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I've been using some imported solid models lately with varying degrees of success. And this leads me to my question:

If getting a part from another CAD application, what is the best format to use? IGS, STL, STP, or DXF?

Also, I've had some imports that took it took forever before VC7 either didn't load them or just basically went into a never-ending loop. What are the rules for importing other formats into ViaCAD?
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Jean-Francois Jacques  
#2 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 1:48:58 PM(UTC)
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For me ACIS SAT is very good.

SolidWorks export / ACIS SAT to Shark is almost time perfect!
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Jean-Francois Jacques, Industrial Designer
SharkCad Pro V14 B1653
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mlochala  
#3 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 2:56:41 PM(UTC)
mlochala

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Hey Jean,

My SAT imports come in as surfaces. Is that normal?
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Jean-Francois Jacques  
#4 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 3:04:46 PM(UTC)
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No, not normal. To be clear is an export to Shark and my experience is with SolidWorks. From an other app....I cannot tell you !
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jdi000  
#5 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 4:53:49 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: mlochala Go to Quoted Post
Hey Jean,

My SAT imports come in as surfaces. Is that normal?



Hi mlochala


Maybe the source that created the sat file was surfaces already?


Regards

Jason
Windows 11, 10
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go3d  
#6 Posted : Friday, October 8, 2010 10:11:08 PM(UTC)
go3d

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Originally Posted by: mlochala Go to Quoted Post
If getting a part from another CAD application, what is the best format to use? IGS, STL, STP, or DXF?


My personal preferences for importing data, when I can't import native files are as follows:

For 3D Solids or Surfaces
(1) ACIS SAT
(2) STEP
(3) IGES

For 2D
(1) DWG
(2) DXF

For 3D Meshes
(1) STL

If you can import in the native format e.g. from Rhino as .3DM then that should be the (1) choice instead.

My preferences have been shaped over the past 20 years on various CAD packages..but what you find that works best for you is all that really matters.
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zumer  
#7 Posted : Monday, October 11, 2010 6:42:15 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: mlochala Go to Quoted Post
Hey Jean,

My SAT imports come in as surfaces. Is that normal?


Are they faces that make up a volume, or standalone surfaces? ACIS is tolerant, so when trimmed surfaces that are meant to compose solids don't quite get there, .sats will generally try to take up the slack. Can you select the surfaces and stitch them to solid?
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jlm  
#8 Posted : Tuesday, October 12, 2010 7:00:45 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: go3d Go to Quoted Post

For 3D Solids or Surfaces
(1) ACIS SAT
(2) STEP
(3) IGES
Fo


I agree with you, for export and import !
With SAT and IGES, we must take care of the parameters, depending of third party software.
Ie : one of my tool makers using TurboCad wants Acis version 17 only...
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ZeroLengthCurve  
#9 Posted : Friday, December 3, 2010 6:10:05 PM(UTC)
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I earlier realized that VC 2D/3D imported .igs files as gree. The 947 or 949 builds seem to correct that. I now am using Delftship Pro which lets me export my current models to .iges and i want to use that format on occasion versus using DXF 3D Mesh (Punch! won't thicken meshes, and to get surfaces which i can thicken requires converting the mesh tu a bazillion surfaces, which i then have to join, then re-build the surfaces and then color them.

So, has anyone got any feedback i can use? I won't soon be able to go to Shark, but i don't want to go to VC 2D/3D 7 unless it is already superior to VCP 6. Can anyone point out some items i should know or feel if i go to VCP 2D/3D 7? Does anyone know whether there will be or if there is a VCP 7 coming anytime soon?

---

Corrections: I don't get a bazillion "surfaces". It's the facets that result that cause a lot of work.

Also, I not only need the VCP import of iges to bring in the colors, but i also need layer names to come along. Right now, i have to import the iges file and then import the DXF 3D Mesh (since it does retain the colors and layer names on import) and keep the two different layers.

I then elevate one on the z axis. Then, area by area, i select items with the eye dropper. I initially thought i would only be able to grab color, but i then notice on the tool option that layers could be applied, too. Since i had only about 25 items in my test case, i decided this was a reasonably ok workaround.

But, if in the future i have a more complicated model, it will be necessary to sub-sub layer items in the iges and dxf mesh trees so i can more granularly manipulate layers so i can get at things.
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zumer  
#10 Posted : Saturday, December 4, 2010 12:58:35 AM(UTC)
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IGES surfaces can be spline surfaces, polygon surfaces or meshes, but only spline surfaces will thicken, so even if you import an IGES surface, if it's a polygon mesh it will behave the same as a .dxf. I've attached a picture showing you the ability of PolyCAD to create a surface using the vertices of a mesh as the control points of a spline surface. That's the difference between them.
zumer attached the following image(s):
polycad mesh to surface.PNG (39kb) downloaded 5 time(s).

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Tem  
#11 Posted : Monday, December 6, 2010 2:19:45 AM(UTC)
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I Agree. BTW, Good list.
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Tem  
#12 Posted : Monday, December 6, 2010 2:28:16 AM(UTC)
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I remember having a similar issue years ago. A client sent us what he had, a huge mesh object (facets). At the time I used Rhino. It had a tool to turn points, or a series of straight curves (lines) into a spline. There was an expensive CAD tool/plugin/addon available at the time to automate the process, but the trial version seemed to require a lot of hand holding to get the surfaces w needed before handing those off to Pro_e as iges surfaces. It was a lot of manual work, but the client was happy with the result.
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