[mcphill]

Well, your interpretation of what I meant by "just camming" and "just molds" was completely wrong, then. My "day job" is as an engineer. I am responsible for building automated assembly lines for medical device equipment. I know what it takes to make molds, and I know what it takes to make GCode.

What I actually meant by "just", is that you don't need the feature tree to do this work if you are "just" camming or making molds. You don't need the source sketches, or the methods behind the creation of the surfaces. You "just" need the model file/shape as provided in some alternative file formats.

I encourage you to look at exporting as a .X_T Parasolid file again. This file type has been very useful for me when working across different systems.

I don't see where you are going with all this, though. It sounds like you know you need SolidWorks. Once you are "hooked", if you want to be able to received files from your customers next year as well, you need to have maintenance. You may not like the communication or sales tactics and policies of SolidWorks, but it seems rather clear that you also need the right tools in order to get the job done. It is a cost of doing business in your chosen field...

[BurrMan]

I beg to differ with some of what you said. Solidworks doesn't convert these files perfectly, but I don't think any software does. It's just the nature of the beast, it's not only a Solidworks issue. For example: During my demo, I had the Tech import a Solidworks file sent to me by a customer with a current version of Solidworks. Because I don't have Solidworks yet, the customer used his Solidworks to send me the file in both stp and iges format. When the Tech imported and converted it back into Solidworks, there were over 50 errors throughout the model. Nothing visible on the screen without zooming in, but little imperfections all the same. I was told by the Tech himself that converting the files to another format is a bad idea and should be avoided if possible on complex parts. Like I said, I don't think any software converts between formats perfectly though.

The imperfections were in the "model itself"..Not the STP format... It's just a defiition of whats there.. Like I said in my previous post Solidwoks will hve mechanisms or dealing with these for it's representation.. A common mistake is "I created it in Solidworks, so it's a good model'....The modeling process has to be proper, no matter what program you use... If t's a well defined model, then it doesnt matter if it is STP or IGES and the translators that any competent modeling program is useing will read the format. Just because your customer sent you a solidwoks model doesnt mean it was well defined.. I see alot of those.

[3D Accuracy]

I tend to agree with BurrMan. It’s usually not the translator that’s the problem, it’s the quality of the initial model in how it was created. A poorly created 3D model can cause problems during export.

In the last 16 years I’ve imported many iges and stp files into Pro/E created in most of the major 3D CAD packages to use for injection mold designs. I’ve had really complex parts from SolidWorks that import clean and I’ve had very simple parts from SolidWorks that had many surface gaps. I can always tell when I receive a file from an inexperienced CAD designer.

I’m not 100% sure about this but the only exception might be AutoCAD Inventor files. I have never received an AutoCAD Inventor file that imported clean no matter how simple or complex the part was. I always cringe a little when a customer tells me the file was created with Inventor.

I’ve also noticed that stp files tend to import cleaner than iges files. Often times customers will provide me with both and many times the iges file will import with gaps whereas the stp file will import cleanly. Here again I think the quality of the original 3D model affects the resulting file translation. It just might be that stp format is better at handling the imperfections.

Have a terrific day!
Robert
3D Accuracy

[BurrMan]

A note on the STP and IGES formats... With STEP, the "SOLID" is defined and stitched or joined together prior to, and in the file... It's transfered that way.. With IGES, the surface definitions/trim boundries and such are defined and transfered, but "unjoined" in the format... The importing program will have options for performing the join upon import... Many of the problems occur with relation to different systems can set tolerances for working and mismatches can produce bad results... I have also "fixed" bad solid definitions that were brought in through a STEP format (solid created with a different tolerance than the importing program, resulting in a solid definition with gaps) by exporting it out as an IGES, then re-importing the same model in again, which redefined the joins with the current systems tolerances!

This doesnt address bad modeling though... Just problems that can occur with interoperability.

[jaybird22]

I don't see where you are going with all this, though. It sounds like you know you need SolidWorks. Once you are "hooked", if you want to be able to received files from your customers next year as well, you need to have maintenance. You may not like the communication or sales tactics and policies of SolidWorks, but it seems rather clear that you also need the right tools in order to get the job done. It is a cost of doing business in your chosen field...

Thank you for your comment mcphil. I decided shortly after the start of this thread that SWs is something that I'll need and it is a cost of doing business, but the tread was still running and comments were still flowing. I still don't agree with the way they do things, but it won't keep me from getting the software.

Now it seems to be a discussion on file conversion, so I'm sitting back and learning as it goes. The people here are far more advance in this subject than I am, and being I'll have to deal with file conversion, I'm taking in all I can!!!!

Jay